Eternal Blossom

Brian woke up with Aiyana’s head on his chest at the bed and breakfast two mornings later, and his fingers began running through her hair as he thought about how much time she’d been spending working on her laptop in his music room where he was working out chord progressions and possible new bits of solos.

The band had been getting ready to record Hail To The King, and had been spending pretty much all of their time in Matt’s in home studio. When he’d broached the subject of her doing some digital work in the studio, she’d gone willingly for the chance to spend more time with him no matter where it was.

It was the end of November, and he couldn’t imagine spending time with anyone else that made him feel so whole. He’d seen all kinds of sides to her, and knew her to be a very laid back woman who laughed easy and was quick to make everyone laugh. He’d first seen her trashed at Zack’s Halloween party, and even that side of her was enthralling to him.

Aiyana woke up slowly, feeling his fingers run through her hair and a soft humming coming from the chest on which she laid. She smiled to herself, recognizing his humming as a song by Stevie Ray Vaughn. She didn’t want to disturb him or break the moment, but she desperately needed to use the facilities.

With a languorous stretch, she told him good morning, and placed a kiss on his chest before heading to the bathroom. Brian watched her naked backside walk off, and smiled to himself at the visual.


“Hiking to see some waterfalls, and then how about we have some room service since it’s our last night here,” Brian said, giving her a look that said she would be desert.

“Sounds great. I’m surprised you want to go hiking with me, but I’ll take it,” she said with a laugh as she tied the laces on her boots.

She stood up from the bed and they walked out the door in search of a good trail. The owner gave them a good path that wasn’t far, and soon they were off.


After the short hike in from the car, Aiyana smiled to herself because there weren’t many people milling about the Natural Falls State Park. This meant that neither of them were likely to be recognized, and they could just enjoy the time that they had together.

A lot of their time was spent with the guys and or Rayne. She loved them all, but there was nothing like being able to get outdoors, and enjoy the beauty of nature just the two of them. Holding Brian’s hand, they walked together towards the falls, walking close to the creek, where the rocks were of varying size.

Brian slid about on the rocks, causing Aiyana to giggle, and attempt to help him regain his balance without crashing down onto the uneven terrain.

“If I fall and bust my ass out here, you’ll have to carry me out like a damsel in distress,” he told her in a high pitched, girly voice while he batted his eyelashes at her.

Aiyana laughed heartily and slid her arm around his waist. She was used to the terrain, having spent many of her summers playing in the creeks and climbing the large boulders. That’s not to say she didn’t slip occasionally either, but she could see which ones were more likely to move under her feet better than Brian, who spent most of his time on sand or in the ocean.

Once at the falls, they stood on the shore looking at the high wonders of nature that allowed the water to crash and cascade down the cliff surfaces and into the pool at their bottom before the water flowed down the creek bed that they had just walked up.

“This is almost as beautiful as you first thing in the morning,” he told her with a grin.

“Whatever, I look like a tumbleweed that blew in sideways in the morning,” she laughed in response to his compliment.

Brian laughed with her before sliding behind her to wrap his arms around her waist and rest his chin on her shoulder, staring at the waterfalls with her. A calmness settled over the both of them. In that moment, they weren’t expected to do or be anything special, and were just able to simply be.

Aiyana rested her hands on top of his and took a deep breath. Something about nature always seemed rejuvenating to her. Maybe that was why she loved Silverado so much, she thought in hind sight. It was a little wooded escape in the big middle of the very civilized and busy world that was Orange County.

Feeling her knees begin to ache after the trek and standing there, she kissed his cheek and patted his hands, letting him know it was time to go.

As they walked back, hand in hand, Aiyana took the path that was closest to the water, smiling and laughing with Brian as they discussed their childhoods and how different they had been. They discussed in depth how she had grown up connected to nature while he had grown up connected to the ocean, and the son of a guitarist comedian.

Just as she was laughing about one of his dad’s favorite jokes, she missed her footing and went down hard, almost pulling Brian down with her. With a sharp outcry as she landed, she curled onto her side, protecting her leg by covering it with her hands and other leg as she rocked slightly.

Brian, having tried to catch her, ended up hovering over her, trying to coax her into telling him what was wrong. When he finally got her to sit up straight, he saw that her knee was bent at an awkward angle, her knee obviously dislocated.

“Please, for the love of god, look away, and don’t puke, or I’ll puke,” she groaned as she grabbed her own thigh.

Brian, a bit confused as to what she was about to do, did as she asked. When he heard the joint pop back into socket, and then heard her strangled gasp of pain, his insides crawled. How was she able to handle a dislocation like that, and then just pop it back into place without crying and demanding a hospital? Hospital. That’s what they needed.

Pulling his phone out, he was stopped by her hand on his leg, and he looked down at her. Her leg now looked normal. At least, it was all pointing in a normal direction.

“We don’t need a damn wah-mbulance,” she joked as she held her hands out. “Just help me up and help me back to the rental. I’ve got my braces in my luggage.”

“Aiya, baby, that looked pretty bad. I think we need to go to the hospital and make sure you didn’t break it,” he tried to reason with her with concern laden words as he helped her up, putting her arm around his shoulders so he could take her weight on the injured side.

“Brian, if I went to the hospital every time I dislocated something, I’d never leave. I don’t need to go to a damn doctor. I put it back in by myself. The only time I need to go to the doctor is when I can’t get it back in myself. Trust me. Please,” she tried to reason with him, her voice turning to pleading as they began to make their way slowly off the creek bed and to flatter ground on the shore.

Brian turned her words over in his mind, keeping a close eye on how she was taking the small bit of a trek that was left on the way back to the rental car. When he didn’t see her do more than wince, and no tears, he decided to relent, and let her have her way.

“Fine,” he said as he helped her into the passenger seat, “I’ll take you back to the hotel, but you aren’t doing a damn thing. You stay in that bed, and I’ll be your fucking maid. I’ll even get an outfit.”

Aiyana laughed, and held her knee while he closed the door and came around to get into the driver’s seat. The idea of him in a little maid outfit complete with feather duster and hat really tickled her funny bone. By the time he started the car, she was in a full on fit of giggles that she just couldn’t stop.

“You have to have crotchless undies….and….and a….overdone French accent, though,” she managed to get out between her giggles.

Brian watched her laugh for a bit before shaking his head and he started laughing with her. That she was still in such a good mood after such a fall just made him fall even more for his strong, hard headed woman.


When they got back to the hotel room, he stopped her as she made her way limping to her bag to get her brace, and instead picked her up bridal style and carried her to the bed where he sat her down gently.

Aiyana smiled up at him as she watched him overly gently take off her boots and then help her out of her jeans. When they both caught sight of her knee that was already turning black and blue, she grimaced and he winced.

“I’ll get you some ice. You take off your jacket,” he said before turning on his heel and walking out the door with the ice bucket.

With a heavy sigh, she leaned back on the pillows after fluffing them and stacking a few behind her back. She placed one under her knee, and eyed her suitcase from across the room. She was guesstimating how much time she had left and if she could make it to the bag to grab her brace before he returned when he came back in with the ice.

“Sorry that took a while,” he muttered as he walked over to her with a hand towel and a zip lock baggy of ice. “I asked the owner for this stuff and she got all overly concerned about you. I had to do some smooth talking to get her to not barge in here and go all mother hen on you.”

Aiyana laughed softly, and placed the towel over her leg before gingerly laying the ice on top of it. With a wince at the contact of ice, she relaxed back on the pillows.

“Tis but a flesh wound,” she joked. “But really, I’d appreciate my brace and my pain pills if you don’t mind, sir knight.”

Brian chuckled and went to her bag, destroying her neat and tidy packing as he ruffled through her things to pull out a bag of various braces and her medicine.

“Jesus, woman, and here I thought this was a bag of toys for us to enjoy. I didn’t think it was full of elbow and wrist and ankle and knee braces,” he told her as he pulled all of the braces out in search of the right one.

Coming up with the needed brace, he carried it to her and watched as she removed the towel and ice to put the brace on as easily and quickly as she possibly could. While she was busy, and to hide his own wince at how much pain her knee looked like it was causing, he pulled out her meds and got them ready along with a drink for her.

He returned, and handed them over before changing out of his hiking clothes, into a pair of sleep pants, and climbing into bed with her.

“I think we should watch Monty Python since you have that flesh wound,” he chuckled. “I could always do with a shrubbery.”

Aiyana nodded, and accepted his embrace warmly as he moved her forward a little so he could slip behind her and pull her torso back against his chest, his legs spread out on either side of her.

“Thank you for your help, Bri,” she said told him, twisting her neck around to look up at him.

“It’s nothing,” he smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head before starting the movie.

Notes

Hope you enjoyed! Sorry it took me a few days.