Cause I find it fascinating to write scenes where Carter and Donovan aren't being perfect and putting you through an emotional rollercoaster! Enjoy!

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Carter couldn't fight back her smile as she watched Donovan make his way across the quad to the coffee shop on the other side. The warm spring day spread sunlight over the freshly cut grass and encouraged students to sprawl out and soak up the rays.

"What are you smiling at?" Link asked looking up from his studying.

Carter planted her chin in her hand, still following Donovan's path. Eyes trailed after him and every so often a girl would pause to say hi.

"Last week I told Donovan that the shirt he is currently wearing is my favorite. He is now wearing it again and I asked him to get me some coffee so I could see how many other girls noticed that it brings out his eyes and talk to him."

Which the results were about as positive as Carter expected them to be, the shirt did look really good on him after all.

"Why?" Link asked. "You know it annoys him when girls approach him."

"I wanted to see whether he would talk with any of them."

Link frowned. His silence lasted long enough that Carter glanced over at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Carter, has it ever occurred to you that you have trust issues and a propensity to push people away?"

Carter went rigid, gaze locked on the glass windows where Donovan stood in line.

"Your girlfriend having fun in her psychology class, I take it."

"She says you make an interesting case study."

"You can tell her she can stop studying me."

"Does that mean she's wrong?"

Link titled his head trying to catch Carter's eye but she wouldn't meet his gaze. The once warm sunlight felt suddenly dull.

"I know I have trust issues," Carter said quietly. "Donovan's mother told me that exact same thing when we visited them for Easter."

"Really?"

Carter slowly nodded. "Yeah, I asked whether Donovan ever did sports when he was younger and if he ever quit." She swallowed remembering the way Eleanor stared at her like she cut through Carter with a single glance and saw her heart. "She told me that it was better if I were upfront and asked whether her son was likely to break up with me after two years of being in a relationship. She also pointed out that having trust issues was not uncommon for someone with my history."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah."

Neither of them said anything for a beat, Carter playing over the interaction with Eleanor, feeling the embarrassment of being caught. Eleanor had also told her that Donovan was not the type of person to give up easily. Though it should have reassured Carter, it didn't, she knew exactly how much of a challenge she was.

"Do you want Donovan to break up with you?" Link asked.

The thought of Donovan severing ties with her felt like losing a limb. Each day she fell further and further in love with him and it scared her to her core. She'd asked him to wait and he'd agreed.

But would he wait as long as it took?

When she looked at him, she saw someone who held so much of who she was. She'd let him into her life in a way she never thought she'd have the courage to. She trusted him beyond words.

But fear told her it would be easier if he left now then later on when she couldn't imagine living a life without him.

He didn't complete her, but around him, she felt whole.

"No, I don't," she said.

"You should probably stop pushing him away then."

Carter laughed. The solution sounded so easy, but in practice felt impossible. She felt trapped in a tug-a-war with her present self and past self, both equally stubborn.

When she spotted Donovan heading back to her, she wondered if she'd ever stop loving the way he walked, the way the sunlight cast shadows on his face making it sharper. It felt terrifying to know that he cared for her because all she could think about is how that could all go away.

As if aligning with her thoughts, she noticed in the anger in his eyes.

He stopped before her, thrusting the coffee cup at her.

"If you want to break up with me have the guts to do it," he said almost growling in frustration. "If you don't understand how much I care for you now then maybe you should end this because I'm done with you putting me through stupid tests." 

Grabbing his books, Donovan shoved them into his bag.

"Link let's go to class."

Scrambling, Link gathered up his stuff as well and followed Donovan, throwing Carter a startled, sympathetic glance. As they walked away, Carter felt like someone had shot her. They drew further away, but Carter could still see Donovan's anger in the way he walked, in the line of his shoulders, in the curl of his fists. She'd pushed him too far.

Every fear she had of losing him slammed into her as she watched it playing out, immobile while Donovan left her behind. Images of her mother walking out a door as her father just stood there flashed in her mind.

Carter blinked, her cheeks wet without her realizing why. Part of her knew she needed to go after him. He hadn't said he wanted to break up, but the weak, damaged part of herself sat like a stone on her, keeping her rooted to the grass. The part of her telling her that it might be better this way.

Without comprehending how it happened, her phone sat in her hand, pressed to her ear.

"Hello Carter darling, are you alright?"

The soft, gentle voice soothed and convicted Carter.

"I pushed your son too far," she said.

"Ah, why don't you tell me what happened?"

Through a tight throat, Carter gave a brief explanation.

"I see," Eleanor said. "You tested him. Carter, did you not realize that in return he was testing you?"

Carter palmed her cheeks, trying to get her eyes to stop sweating. "Why?"

"Because sweetie, he understands your past. He wants to see if you will let this be the end of you two, or if you will be the fighter he knows you to be and overcome the hurt you still carry with you."

Carter didn't feel like a fighter right then, she felt like a broken girl.

"I'm going to hang up," Eleanor said. "You know what you need to do. I hope you have the strength to do it."

The line went dead and Carter sat frozen, staring at the place where Donovan and Link had disappeared. When her phone beeped she glanced at it, wishing it to be Donovan, but it wasn't.

"He loves you, Carter, the question is do you love him?"

Behind Eleanor's message, Carter saw the picture of Donovan and her. Maddy had taken it without them knowing. They were grinning at each other like they had finished a long debate and were ready for another one.

Looking at the picture she knew there was only one answer to the question.

Hurriedly, Carter stowed away her notebooks and headed towards Donovan and Link's class. Part of her wanted to barge into the room and make some grand declaration, proving to Donovan that what she said was true, but she didn't. It would be a weak action. She knew sometimes it was easier to declare something before dozens of unknown people than humbling oneself before a single person.

She waited, feeling each minute stretch into hours until an eternity had passed by the time the door to the room opened. As students spilled out, Carter stood her ground, mentally gearing up. When Donovan exited with Link, he found her right away. But the anger that she'd hoped would be lessened was still there, his face a mask of hard lines. Link glanced between them and pulled out his phone.

"Oh, look at that Maddy is calling, I should answer," he said, shuffling off but keeping himself in view of Donovan.

Carter crossed her arms, needing the illusion of a shield even as she planned to lay herself bare.

"I have to say, I'm not sure why you're still with me, I'm pretty damaged," she said.

"Stop being self-deprecating. You know exactly why I'm still with you, you're simply choosing to not believe it."

Even though his words were kind, he didn't soften. She saw how he was pushing her as she pushed him. The only difference was his action came from needing to see where she stood while hers had come from being afraid.

"I'm sorry," she said, letting her arms fall to her side. "Sometimes it scares me how much I care for you, how much it hurts thinking about being without you and..."

She didn't finish the sentence, not sure she could.

"You think that you'll lose me, that somehow I will change my mind? So to be preemptive you're forcing me away. Do you hear how stupid that sounds?"

She did, there was no arguing with that.

Donovan stared at her, anger rolling off of him. "What have I done, Carter, to make you believe I'm leaving you? What actions have I shown that I'm someone who will easily give up? Because I think I've worked pretty hard to show you I'm here. Is that not enough?"

Something snapped inside Carter and she exploded.

"That's the problem, you've done everything and I don't feel like I deserve any of it! Over and over again I see how you prove I can trust you and I don't see how you could still want to be with me when it takes so much work! I'm not worth it, okay? I'm not worth it!"

Carter could feel herself on the edge of letting him go, of knowing that as much as she loved him there could be someone else who would love him more. Love him without asking so much, without having to be a burden on him. Love him without being afraid.

"You deserve better," she murmured.

"You are so stupid you know that!" Donovan said, irritated. "I don't want better, I want you! I'm fighting to keep you, why can't you fight to keep me?"

"Because like you said I'm stupid," she said, a single flicker of hope sparking.

"Yeah, you are, because if I wanted someone else I wouldn't have stayed with you past the first day we met at high school. You were a pain then like you are a pain now and never in my life have I met a girl who pisses me off more, challenges me more, puzzles me more, makes me laugh more than you. So who the hell else am I suppose to be with? Huh?!"

He shouted it like a challenge and Carter felt that fierce, determined side of her that her father had encouraged come raging forward, shoving her doubts, fears, insecurities to the side.

She grabbed the front of his shirt. "No one! And you if you even think about leaving me, you better be ready for a fistfight, because the only way I'm letting you go is if you're as bloody and bruised as I would feel, you got that?"

Carter pulled him forward, crashing his mouth against hers. The tangled mess of her emotions still twisted inside her, but right then, right there she knew she couldn't let them get the best of her. Because the best of her was when she was with him.

When Donovan pulled away, he smiled. "It's about time."

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Hello.

(Someone said I was never threatening...😔 I guess it's true, I'm a softie.)

🤓📖📱💭💭💭👉💬💬💬❗️⁉️

Not gonna lie, Donovan stayed mad at Carter a lot longer than I expected. Usually he's so understanding but it's time he wasn't. Though, I can't really blame. At least they worked it all out, so phew!

Something interesting, the other day my older sister JoymomentsEditor and I were taking a long drive to get a Lot of puzzles (cause my mom and murphnturf are obsessed with puzzling) and I offered to read this one shot aloud to Kelly so she could hear it.

It was soooooo strange! I haven't ever read my own stuff aloud and (except one other brief time) and honestly it was fun and weird. I got to put all the inflections and attitude I hear in my head into the reading of it. Still, I felt a little strange about it.

Thought I would share that tidbit with you!

Vote, comment, follow if you have Link or Mason related one shot ideas leave them here!

Yup, this is Carter and Donovan as baby tigers.