The sweetest man

Pete smiled as he breathed a sigh of comfortable content, he was happy, his date plans had not gone to waste, he had gotten to tell Lia how he truly felt about her, and now they were embracing each other while stargazing on the beautiful night beach, this was perfect, he could have never asked for anything better than this.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Lia as she smiled and pulled Pete out of his happy thoughts.

"I'm thinking about how happy I am with you here" said Pete as he looked at her and smiled.

"You always say the sweetest things Peter, and I agree with you" said Lia as both she and Pete laughed.

"Doesn't this just look surreal? The sea is so calm and the moon's reflection is on the water, it feels like a movie" said Pete as he smiled and Lia laughed.

"That is right" said Lia as she smiled and she heard her phone ringing.

"Are you going to get that?" asked Pete as he let go of her and she brought her phone out of her handbag as she rejected the call and shook her head.

"No, it's not important, what's important right now, is being with you" said Lia as she smiled and hugged him as all Pete could do was smile, this was by far the best date ever in his entire life.

They had spent the entire day at the beach, and they both didn't want to go home, it was as if they were getting away from everything and just enjoying their time together.

"The stars are very pretty tonight" said Lia as she looked up at the sky.

"Just like you, the only difference is you're pretty all the time, whether in the day or the night" said Pete sincerely as Lia felt very embarassed.

"Stop it Peter, really, I think I'm going to turn red if you don't" she said as Pete laughed.

"Well you should get used to it, I love making you feel happy and appreciated, because you really deserve it Lia" said Pete genuinely as he kissed the back of her hand as Lia smiled.

"You know Peter, I have to be honest with you... being with you, this is the best relationship that I have ever had, seriously" said Lia sincerely, she wanted him to know that she truly felt the same.

She could tell that he loved her and cared for her a lot, and she wanted to show him that all his efforts and feelings were not going to waste, she truly felt the same, she wanted to emphasize it again and again.

"It's the same for me as well" said Pete as he smiled and looked at her as they both rested their heads on the picnic blanket.

Lia smiled, he was truly the sweetest man she had ever met and she didn't want to hurt him, she felt like she didn't deserve half of his love towards her.

"Peter, can I ask you a question?" asked Lia.

"Sure you can ask me anything" replied Pete happily.

"Even if it's... something personal, like your past relationships?" asked Lia.

"You can ask me anything Lia, even about that, I have nothing to hide, and we are together now, it's only natural that you want to know what happened in my past" said Pete.

"So, how many past relationships have you had?" asked Lia carefully, he was such a sweet man, really, she wondered why he wasn't at least married or seriously committed to someone by now, she was sure he had many admirers and yet for some odd reason, he just liked her...

"Well about five, yes five" said Pete as he smiled.

"Five serious ones, I was with my first serious girlfriend for 6 months" said Pete.

"Why so short?" asked Lia.

"Well it turns out she was a psycho, she was obsessed with me, I was told she had a shrine with my pictures all over in her room" said Pete as he shivered at remembering it.

"Oh no" said Lia as she laughed.

"Oh yes, once I found out, I couldn't keep on going out with a mentally unstable person, so I broke it off, and luckily just in time, she really had something else for me" said Pete as Lia laughed.

"Sorry, sorry, I know it's serious, but I can't help it, it's so funny" said Lia as she laughed and Pete laughed as well.

"I know it is, and you can laugh all you want" said Pete as he laughed.

"Alright, I'm done now, and what about your second relationship?" asked Lia.

"Well that one was rough, we dated because she was a family friend... her dad and my dad were long time partners in the force, and we thought we could make it work but... it just didn't" said Pete as he shook his head.

"We dated for two years... with ups and down, and several bumps, we really tried to make it work for the sake of our parent's relationships, but it just didn't work out" said Pete.

"I'm sorry" said Lia.

"Don't be, I never loved her anyway" said Pete as he shrugged.

"My third relationship, well that was another year, she was a colleague on the force, I thought we would get along well since we were in the same department, but that relationship taught me never to date colleagues no matter what" said Pete as he shook his head.

"What happened?" asked Lia out of curiosity.

"Well when I broke up with her, she didn't take it well at all... like seriously, she was enraged, going to work was torture because I knew I would see her there, it was so bad that we couldn't even be in the same room together without a fight breaking out" said Pete.

"Ouch, that is torture" said Lia as she shook her head.

"I know right, I was just relieved that she got transferred to another city, or else I would have never gotten rid of her" said Pete as he laughed and Lia laughed.

"And as for my fourth and fifth relationships, they were pretty short, I guess I was just tired of the whole dating thing, it seemed like I had bad luck" said Pete as Lia chuckled.

"So my last serious relationship was five years ago..." said Pete.

"Why so long ago?" asked Lia.

"Well because... I was in love with someone else... for a very, very long time" said Pete.

"But not anymore, I love you now" said Pete as he smiled and Lia smiled.

"Thank you for sharing with me Peter" said Lia as she smiled.

"You don't need to thank me, and what about you, how many relationships have you been in?" asked Pete.

"None" replied Lia.

"Really?? None?" asked Pete in surprise.

"Yes none" said Lia.

"Why not?" asked Pete in sheer surprise.

"Well... let's just say I've never truly found the one" said Lia.

"Really, and why is that?" asked Pete.

"I... it's not important really" said Lia as she smiled and gave Pete a kiss.

"Well it's been the same for me, but I always knew that I wanted to be in a relationship, a stable one where both partners truly love each other and are ready to make it work" said Pete as Lia smiled nodding her head, agreeing with him, he knew so much and she wished she could be as mature as he was.

"You know, I watched my friends get into serious relationships, get married, have kids, and I kind of felt left out, so I put all my negative emotions into focusing on my job" said Pete as he smiled and Lia hugged him and rested her head on his chest.

"I've always wanted that..." said Pete as he hugged Lia.

"Now that you say that... I've always wanted that too" said Lia as she smiled and Pete smiled and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I know how it feels, to watch your friends progress on without you, while you remain in the same spot... stagnant, and you want to be happy for them, really, but it's hard..." said Lia as she sighed.

"I know how you feel, I've felt the same, several times" said Pete as he caressed her hair.

"Really?" asked Lia as she looked at him in surprise as he nodded.

"Yes, especially with one of my closest friends, the one who brought us both together" said Pete as he smiled.

"Natasha?" asked Lia as Pete nodded.

"Natasha and I have been friends for a long time, even though it wasn't like that in the beginning" said Pete.

"Really?" asked Lia in surprise as Pete chuckled and nodded.

"Yes really, when I first met her, I was undercover at her High school, and to be honest, she was a real pain in my behind, following me everywhere, trying to get into the mission as if it was some sort of game" said Pete as he laughed and shook his head.

"Yes that does sound like Natasha, when she was younger she used to get into a lot of trouble" said Lia as she laughed.

"I remember one time she forced me to go fishing with her, let's just say in the end we lost the boat and came home soaked from head to toe" said Lia as she laughed and Pete laughed.

"Well after the whole thing ended, I got to know her really well, and she's someone very unique, I don't know who wouldn't like her" said Pete as he smiled and Lia smiled.

"Our friendship was always special, she was the person who always had my back in a way that was funny, because even though she was younger than me, she had this sense of maturity that people her age didn't have" said Pete.

"And then she broke the big news to me that she was going to marry Dominic..." said Pete as he frowned.

"You don't know how unhappy I was when she told me that... I didn't want her to marry him at all, I thought she was too young, she had her entire life ahead of her, I was sure she was only marrying him because she thought she needed to" said Pete.

"Sure, he was a good guy, I knew that, maybe I would have taken the news better if I knew she actually loved him, but I knew she didn't" said Pete as he sighed and Lia was silently listening to his heartbeat.

"I tried so hard to convince her otherwise, to not marry him, but she didn't listen, you know how she can be... very stubborn when she puts her mind to doing something" said Pete.

"I knew I tried, but in the end, she did what she wanted, she married him, and I was alright with that, as long as she was happy" said Pete.

"But then disaster struck... the whole nonsense with Dominic, it ruined her life, she was framed for something she didn't do" said Pete.

"I held myself from saying I told you so, so hard, I knew she needed me to be her friend then, because everything was in shambles" said Pete.

"Every time I think of whoever could have caused her such pain and suffering, I feel like causing them the exact same pain" said Pete as Lia's heart started to beat quicker, guilt washing all over her.

"Her life was ruined in an instant, and she had to stay with him" said Pete.

"But what can we say? it's all in the past, at least she is happy now... all I wanted was for her to be happy" said Pete as he smiled and Lia quickly pulled herself together.

"You... you really care for Natasha a lot don't you?" asked Lia as she looked at him and smiled.