[Sarah stifles back that ridiculous urge to cry when he smiles against her lips. Her hands frame either side of his face lightly, and she smiles back, past the stinging in her eyes, shifting back in place when he moves to her side again. She doesn't look back out the window. She looks at him, fondly, this very beautiful boy that reminds her of loss and fire and Ferris Wheels. ]

Thank you, Jeremy. I appreciate this duplicity of yours. I hadn't seen that side of you but it's strangely appealing.

[ Her eyes close by their own volition when she feels his forehead rest against hers. Sarah rests her lips against the corner of his mouth and says it again. I love you. There is no way to stress enough just how little of a guarantee anything is with her, unless it's messy and mad and something of a wreck, but at least she can say with full honesty that has always been true, will always be true.

Sarah's eyes close, and she breathes, breathes, breathes, and finds herself centered, too.

Until he mentions transport, and her hand tightens in his for a moment, almost as if stopping him from moving. Panic lodges up her throat and there's a moment where she just wants to back away, back into a corner, not move, not do anything, but she knows she has to. There are times when you can't just stay as you are, and you have to move forward, take just what you need, and be on your way.

Sarah bites the insides of her cheeks. ] Okay. I don't--I don't have much left to pack.

[ Her grip on his fingers lessens but she stands from the bed, legs shaky, and somehow, she ends up placing the rest of her belongings in boxes until the room is empty.

It's empty, and she doesn't cry when she turns the light off and shuts the door and they leave the mansion, once and for all.

She's good at goodbyes. ]