A Reluctant Hero

This is an entry into the "Heroism - The Oggbashan Memorial Event 2025." The event is "... a tribute to a man (Literotica writer Oggbashan) too damned stubborn to bow to life's bitter sentences, too proud to stay silent and too full of life to simply fade away."

TRIGGER WARNING - Early in this story, there is an interrupted sexual assault scene. If reading it would create uncomfortable issues for you, I'd advise you to read something else.

I hope you enjoy this look at a couple of everyday heroes, and I encourage you to read the other entries in this special event! Please vote and comment, and check out some of my other works as well!

The drug of choice for some people early in the morning is coffee. I know it's not really a drug, but they act like it is. They need the burst of energy that comes from the caffeine that coffee provides. But they also need to fulfill their habit, one which many people have been practicing for decades.

My drug of choice in the morning is running. I get my burst of energy from getting out the door early as the sun is rising and pounding the pavement and trails for five to ten miles. You can set your watch by my regularity. No matter what the weather is like, I'm out the door at 6:30 every morning.

Running is my habit, as is my choice of a course. It has served me well for the past ten years, so I see no reason to change it. I run not to become faster so I can try to win races. I run because it centers me. It's my presence in the world around me. If I don't run every morning, both my mind and body are sluggish for the rest of the day.

Running is my choice because it is something I can do by myself. I'm not much of a people person. When my company decided to allow us to work from home when Covid hit, I was elated. I'm good at my job as an editor for a large publishing house. I will put in more than the hours required because it's my way of contributing to a better world, and that gives me a sense of satisfaction.

But I don't miss the social interactions that used to be found in the office setting. Don't get me wrong - the people I worked with were fine. I just don't do well around others. If you called me a 'social misfit,' I would be fine with that, because I feel that's exactly what I am, and I don't see the need to change it.

I run the same route every morning. It serves me well. It takes me along some of the city streets and through some of the parks. It's a mixture of pavement and trail, and features some hills that get my heart rate racing. It's a good route for me therapeutically as well as physically.

My therapy comes from the immersion in nature which I experience. I run without music in my ears because I'd rather hear the birds singing to me. I see deer and squirrels and rabbits and skunks and other animals that are earth-mates with me, sharing this great space in the world.

I also share this space with other runners, and over time, I see them enough that they become like a family to me. I can identify five or six other regulars as I run who, like me, run the same route every day. We rarely say a word to each other, and when we do, it's offered as a polite "g'morning" as we meet each other, or a firm "on your left" if we are overtaking a runner ahead. Usually we just wave and smile. It's all the interaction we need. It's like we are affirming our need to run every morning with each other, sharing a silent understanding that this is our life.

That's what was happening this morning. I was out the door by the usual time, off on my usual path, looking for my usual energy boost and my usual communal time with nature. Right away I encountered the first of several regulars on my route. It was the older gentleman I silently referred to as "grandpa." He ran with a slow gait and a bit of a hunched-over posture. I had no idea how old he was, but he was somewhat of a hero for me. I only hoped I still had the drive to run when I was his age.

I ran along quiet neighborhood streets for about ten minutes on my way to the entrance to Adams Park, where I would encounter a softer running surface and the songs of thousands of birds. In the spring and summer, the trees along the trail provided a protective canopy of leaves, blocking out the sun and sometimes most of the rain that might be falling. They were in their full green glory this morning, and I imagined the song the birds were singing was to give thanks for the trees where they resided.

A little past halfway through the park, I encountered another runner, but this one was unfamiliar to me. He had on appropriate running gear but he looked like he wasn't a very comfortable runner. His stride was choppy and deliberate. He kept looking over his shoulder as if he had a partner who was late in catching up to him. Since he wasn't a regular, I passed by without any type of greeting. If he would become a regular, eventually I would acknowledge him.

I was nearing the end of the park trail when I spotted the runner who I'd been meeting the longest. She must have been a bit behind this morning, because normally I would meet her in the very center of the park. I called her "Blondie" for lack of a better term because her blonde hair was always tied up in a long ponytail, and as she ran in my direction, that ponytail would swish back and forth in sync with her gait. She looked to be perhaps a little younger than my thirty-five years.

On this slightly warmer morning, she was running in simple short tights and a t-shirt that was stretched over her firm upper body. As we always did, we each reached a hand out and gave each other a simple low-five as we passed. It always made me happy to see her.

I approached the street whose sidewalks would start me on the circular route to take me back home. It was a street I had to cross, and while it wasn't busy at all, occasionally I would see a car or two on it, and once several years ago I barely missed being hit, which was the result of me not paying attention. So as the street came in view, I began my surveillance left and right, making sure there wouldn't be any vehicles to worry about today.

Suddenly I heard what sounded like a scream coming from the park behind me. My brain kicked into gear, and the combination of the stranger running clumsily in the park and my regular friend "Blondie" running in his direction had me on edge, fearing the worst-case scenario. I turned and sprinted back as fast as I could, watching not only the trail, but the stand of trees on either side. I heard the scream again, and a high-pitched voice yelling "STOP" as loud as it could.

I did not see them on the trail, but as I got closer to the center of the park, the sounds of screaming and yelling began to come from my right side. I veered in that direction. Fear gripped my mind when I realized the screaming and yelling had stopped. I moved into the tree stand a bit deeper and saw them. It was Blondie, lying on her back, with the stranger hunched over the top of her. Blondie wasn't moving and I feared she had been injured in some way.

I came up behind them and saw my chance to disable the attacker. He had his shorts and underwear down by now, and he spread his legs as he prepared to penetrate her. It was the opportunity I needed. I yelled at him as I got close. He turned to look at me, and in that moment, I kicked my right foot up into his low-hanging fruit, sending his testicles into his groin at over 100 miles per hour.

He screamed and doubled up, falling to the side of Blondie while rolling up into a tight fetal position. Not wanting to take any chances, I kicked him again, this time in the back of his head, while rolling him farther away from Blondie. Now he had pain to deal with from two different places in his body.

I turned my attention to Blondie. She had obviously been struck in the face, as a stream of blood ran from her nose and her left eye already looked swollen. Her tights and panties had been pulled down her legs and lay about ten feet to her side. I took off my t-shirt and softly laid it over her exposed genitals. I moved to grab her tights, noticing that they had been ripped in the struggle. I used them to gently dab at the blood, while trying to make sure she was breathing freely.

I could see her looking at me as I pulled my cellphone out of the arm sleeve where I carry it while I run and dialed 911. I gave them our location and what had happened. They had me stay on the line as I attended to Blondie. I looked at the attacker, and it appeared that he wasn't going to be able to go anywhere soon.

While we waited for help, Blondie opened her mouth enough to whisper out, "Where is he?"

"Don't worry, he's not going to hurt you anymore. I hope he's in more pain than you are right now."

"Wait," she whispered again. "You're my runner friend, aren't you."

I smiled and said, "I am. My name is Thomas."

She tried to respond with a smile, but she didn't have the energy to make one. "Hi, Thomas. I'm Sara. Did you save me?"

"I did. I heard your screams and came back to find you."

"I'm so glad you did. Thank you." She raised her hand enough to indicate she wanted my hand. I took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. We waited there together until the first police officers arrived about two minutes later.

Once they assessed the situation and found no more danger present, they called for a second ambulance. One officer stood by the attacker, and the other stayed close to Sara and me. As soon as the first ambulance arrived, I was pleased that they decided to attend to Sara first. They did a quick assessment of her before placing her on a gurney. Once they had her covered up, they gave my shirt back to me.

Just before they started wheeling her to the ambulance, Sara reached for my hand again. "Will you come with me, Thomas? I don't have anybody else."

It was a request I normally would not grant, but I knew these were special circumstances. I nodded, and then looked to the paramedics, who nodded back at me. After they loaded her in the ambulance, I climbed in and sat on the bench beside her. Before we left, one of the police officers said that he would meet me at the hospital to take my statement. We met the other ambulance that was coming for the attacker. I secretly hoped they would break down and he would have to wait even longer to get some help.

It was about a ten-minute trip to the hospital. Sara held my hand the entire way. As they unloaded her at the ER door, she reached for me again and I walked alongside the gurney. It was the same thing once they got her in the assessment room.

Only when she was taken to the x-ray department did she let me go. The police officers came to speak to me then. They asked for a detailed account of what had happened, including how I knew Sara. When I told them about only knowing her from seeing her every day on my morning run, one of the officers couldn't believe I'd risk myself for someone whose name I didn't even know. But the other one knew what I was talking about, commenting that he was a runner also, and we were a strange but tight community.

The nurse brought Sara back from her x-rays. It appeared that she had been given something for the pain she must have been feeling. Her smile was brighter and her eyes were clearer, although her right eye was nearly swollen shut. But the smile on her face when she saw me let me know she was feeling better.

She was also able to talk more clearly now. "Thomas, thank you so much for saving me! I don't know how I will ever be able to repay you, but I definitely want to try!"

She grabbed my hand and squeezed it as I replied, "All you need to do to repay me is to get better and get back out on the trail. I'm going to miss seeing you each morning as we pass by each other."

"I'll miss you too. Can you come and see me again, if they keep me here for a few days?"

I didn't really want to. But I could find nothing about her that deserved the silent treatment from me. "Yes, I'll come back. You'll need to let me know how long you're going to be staying."

"I can do that. Let me get my phone... wait a minute, my phone! It's not here! When he first started running after me, I took it out and tried to call 911 but he was too quick for me. After he grabbed me, he yanked the phone out of my hand and threw it as far away as he could." She looked at the cops in the hallway and asked, "Do you know if someone found my phone?"

I saw one of them speak into his microphone attached to his uniform shirt. After pausing a bit, he stepped into the room. "We didn't know he'd thrown your phone."

Sara started to panic, so I tried to calm her down. "I'll go look for it. I'm going to need a ride home anyway, and maybe these officers can take me back to the park and help me find it. Was it in silent mode? If not, you can give me your number and we can call it and hopefully hear it ringing, if it didn't break when he threw it."

The officers looked at me and replied, "We can do that."

Sara grasped my hand harder. "If you could do that for me, it would be twice that you saved me today!"

She told me her number and I entered it into my phone. Before I left, she pulled my hand to her mouth and gave it a little kiss. I began to get a little worried about her feelings toward me, but then I could understand why she felt the need to repay me. All I needed was to know she was better and hopefully see her running again soon.

The cops laughed when we got to their car to go back to the park. "Sorry, you'll have to sit in the back. I promise we'll let you out when we get to the park!"

It was strange riding in the back of a cop car. But the trip to the park went quickly. As soon as they opened the door to let me out, they got another call, and left me to search for the phone myself. I jogged back to the area where the attack occurred. I got my phone out and spent the next ten minutes walking the perimeter of the attack spot before I heard her phone ringing in the grass. After that, it was easy to locate. Once I retrieved it, I started running to get home and complete my morning run.

As soon as I arrived home, I called my boss to let him know what was happening and that I hoped to be working shortly. While I was talking to him, Sara's phone rang so I answered it. It was her boss, very worried that she had not shown up for work today and hadn't left a reason why. I explained the situation to her, telling her I was taking Sara's phone to her shortly.

After a shower and change of clothes, I headed back to the hospital. Sara was still in the ER, waiting for a room to open up. When she saw me, a big smile broke out on her face. I came to her bed and handed her phone to her, along with an extra charging cord I had at home since I didn't figure her battery would last too long. She profusely thanked me again, and as I went to leave, she had me bend over so she could give me a kiss on my cheek.

I was starting to feel a little nervous about the attention she was showing me. I understood why she would feel that way. But something inside was telling me that I needed to be cautious moving forward, since it was clear our relationship had changed and I wasn't sure how much longer she'd feel the need to thank me for what I'd done.

On my drive back home to start my work day, a small part of me thought that it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have a new friend like Sara, especially since I knew we had running in common, at least. She was obviously a very nice person, though again, she might have been being nice to me only because of what I'd done for her. But we had always smiled and low-fived each other during our morning runs, and I doubted a mean or grumpy person would have done that.

However, most of me was concerned about this newly revamped friendship, and the fact that I was doing just fine without Sara being in my life more than just a casual running greeting each morning. That part of me thought I didn't need another person trying to get close. I was born a loner, and I would always be a loner, and to do anything else would be difficult.

******

My 6:30 run the next morning carried some extra emotions with it. As I entered the park, I remembered the day before, seeing a new person there who didn't look much like a runner at all. I remembered seeing Blondie - now obviously known as Sara - a little behind on her morning run, but ready for our greeting as usual. My skin chilled as I recalled her screams and turned back to help her. Finally I remembered the rush of adrenaline that must have exploded in my body as I attacked Sara's assailant and rendered him unable to move.

As I was near the end of the trail in the park, my phone buzzed, something that I didn't remember ever happening on a morning run before. Curious to see what it was, I found out that it was a text from Sara - "Missing our regular morning greeting, but still thankful that you were there to save me."

I pondered that message as I continued my run. While receiving a message during my run didn't hamper the run any, the thought that she sent one specifically at the time when we would normally be meeting each other made it seem to be more than just a simple greeting. Not being a socially comfortable person, I struggled to figure out what I should do about it. The right thing would be to answer her, though she would understand if I waited until after my run to return it.

But again, a big part of me saw this as an alarm bell ringing, telling me that she wanted to be more than a casual greeting partner during our daily runs. I wasn't ready for that part yet - in fact, I probably wasn't willing to accept that.

I realized this was becoming more complicated than I had imagined. I didn't want to abandon her the next day after the attack, especially if she didn't have anybody to come and visit. So I put all my fears aside and texted back to her when I got home - "Are you still in the hospital?"

She responded right away. "Yes, for at least one more night. They are going to reset my nose today, but the good news is they didn't find any broken facial bones."

"Do you have anybody there with you?"

"Yes, my mother came as soon as I called her after you brought my phone to me - thanks for doing that! She lives three hours away and got here shortly after noon."

At least I didn't have to worry about her being alone. Before I could respond to her, she sent another message.

"Can you come and see me sometime today?"

That message was what I dreaded the most. I had hoped she wouldn't feel the need for me to be there if she wasn't alone. Perhaps I was reading too much into her request. Maybe she just wanted to see me when she was feeling better and not lying in a hospital bed trying to work through the trauma she'd just suffered.

"My mom also wants to meet you. She's very happy you did what you did."

For some reason, that message relaxed me a bit. I reasoned with myself that it was just another way of her wanting to thank me, and nothing more. It didn't have any long-term implications. I'd come and meet her mom and see that she was doing better and we'd be done with this.

So I found myself responding, "Sure, I'll come by after I get done with work today."

She immediately responded with a happy-face emoji, and the conversation was over. I'd go to the hospital, meet Sara's mother, and give Sara a hug, telling her that I could hardly wait to resume our running routine. Life would go back to being normal, without anybody trying to intrude into the way things had always been.

I logged out of my work computer about 4:30 that afternoon and made my way to the hospital. Sara was sitting in a chair when I walked in. As soon as she saw me, her smile got big and she stood up to greet me. I have to admit it was a good sight to see her standing after how I'd seen her yesterday. I walked over to her and she embraced me with a very tight hug. We held it for a few seconds, and I could feel some wetness on my shoulder from her tears of what I hoped was happiness.

She confirmed it when we broke the hug. "Thomas, it's so good to see you! I'm doing better, don't you think?"

I couldn't disagree. "You are - good to see you standing. How are you feeling?"

"Physically I'm doing good, though my nose is sore. They put it back into place this morning. They say everything looks good and I should be going home tomorrow."

"That's great news, Sara! How soon before you can start running again?"

She replied, "They tell me that as soon as it's comfortable for me, I can start. But I'm not sure I'm going to feel like running right away. I'm afraid I'm going to be looking over my shoulder all the time for a while."

I hadn't thought of the mental trauma she must have been feeling. I tried to think about how I would feel if I were afraid to run for fear of my safety. Since running was so important to me, I'd be devastated. I didn't really have anything that could replace everything that running means for me.

Putting myself in her place and sympathizing with her fear made me say something I never thought I'd ever say to anyone. "Well... if it would help you, I'd run with you. We both know we're out every morning. I could drive to your house and we could start from there, or you could drive to mine."

Her mood immediately improved. "You would do that for me? Thomas, your heroism is more than just a one-time event!"

"I don't know about heroism. I bet if I needed a running partner, you'd run with me, wouldn't you?"

She thought about it and replied, "I think I would. We both know how important running is so I'd want to help you out just like you want to help me."

At that moment, I looked around and saw we weren't alone. An older woman that looked a lot like Sara was standing behind us.

Sara said, "Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot you were here for a little bit, Mom! I'd like you to meet my hero, Thomas... oh wow, I don't know your last name!"

I held out my hand and replied, "Thomas Perkins. It's very nice to meet you."

She took my hand and said, "Raylene Hammonds. I can't begin to thank you enough for saving my daughter!"

A handshake wasn't good enough for her. She came forward and embraced me. It made sense, since her daughter seemed to be a hugger also. She must have gotten it from her mother.

I looked over at Sara and said, "I guess that makes you Sara Hammonds."

She put her head down and replied, "No, I was married before, I've been divorced for five years. My last name is Matthews."

I suppose it was wrong of me to assume she'd never been married. I didn't want to make Sara feel bad, but I didn't think apologizing would have been appropriate either, so I didn't say anything.

Raylene bailed me out. "There's always time for you to find love again, dear. Who knows - maybe your 'Prince Charming' here might swoop down and pick you up and ride off into the sunset with you. He's already saved you once!"

There were no words that I could have said after that comment, but Sara had a few. "MOTHER! Please stop! You'll chase him off if you say things like that!"

Sara was right - the desire to flee was very strong at that moment, but I could tell Sara was probably more mortified with her mom's comment than I was. Unfortunately for both of us, it seemed that Mom wasn't done.

"I'm just saying, Sara - Thomas here has already shown he cares enough about you to risk his life to save you. That's more caring in that one event than your idiot ex ever showed you in your entire marriage!"

Then Raylene looked straight at me. "I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable, Thomas. But I'll tell you that you won't find a finer young woman to marry if you were looking for one. Sara is smart and beautiful and successful and I raised her to be a kind and loving person."

"MOTHER!!!"

I looked over to see Sara put her head in her hands, being careful not to touch her nose. It was the best hiding she could do from the chair in which she was setting.

Finally Raylene figured out she might have gone too far. "Maybe I should step out of the room for a little while and let you two talk without me. Thomas, again, thank you for saving Sara. It's a tremendous gift that you've given us!"

She left, and Sara lifted her head to make sure she was gone. "I'm so sorry, Thomas. I guess I should have warned you about my mom. She's not afraid to speak her mind, but then I guess you got to see that first hand."

I had to laugh a little at that. "Before my mom passed away, she was much the same way. Our moms just want what's best for us, and I can tell she wants to see you happy."

"Thomas, I'm sorry to hear about your mom."

"It's fine. It was several years ago, but seeing your mom reminded me a lot of mine."

I could see Sara was a person with a good heart. I didn't think she was faking it for me just to try to impress me. I've suspected that of other people in the past, which may have been part of my hesitance to get too close to anyone.

Sara was still in an apologetic mood. "I hope your mom didn't ever embarrass you as much as mine just did. She really is well-meaning, but without a filter, she can be rather blunt at times."

"Yes, that was obviously clear!"

That got Sara laughing. "Ow, it hurts to laugh! But I needed that, because sometimes she can be quite frustrating!"

She got quiet, and then looked to me and asked, "Can you help me stand up again?"

I stepped over to her and offered my hand. She used it to help pull herself up on her feet.

"Thomas, I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you for what you did. My mom was right about one thing. You have shown me more care and concern than my ex ever did. It's like fate put you in the right place at the right time"

I squeezed her hand. "Sara, you don't have to worry about paying me back. I told you, when you're ready to start running again, seeing you back out on the trail will be all the payback I need."

"Were you serious about running with me?"

It was my chance to get out of that responsibility, but then I remembered once again how important running was to me, and I wanted her to feel safe when she was ready. "I am serious, Sara. We're runners - that's what we do, and I want to see you running again."

She leaned in to give me a hug - one which I carefully returned. As she hugged me, she whispered, "Thank you, Thomas. When I get to the point I want to try again, can I call you?"

"Absolutely. I will look forward to that call!"

She gave me a kiss on the cheek and then replied, "Thanks for coming to see me. I should be going home sometime tomorrow."

She was smiling as she said it. "Text me when that happens so I'll know. And watch out for your mother - there's no telling what she'll have you doing next!"

"HA! Don't I know it. Bye, Thomas."

I left her room and made my way to the exit. It was outside the doors where I found Raylene, who stopped me.

"Sorry for being so forward in there, Thomas. I'm sure Sara is going to let me know how embarrassed I made her feel. I don't even know if you're single or married or attached or anything else! But I will say this - Sara is a remarkable young woman, and you really couldn't find a nicer person with which to be involved."

She was making me uncomfortable again. "I know she's a good person. But I'm not really a people person. I'm much more comfortable doing my own thing at my own pace."

"Thomas, I know you think that of yourself, but you're wrong. Sara knows you're a people person, and I know that as well. You would not have risked your life to save her if you weren't a people person. It seems you're the only one that doesn't know that about yourself!"

I didn't have an answer for her, because she had suggested something I hadn't considered before. Why did I go back to help Sara if I wasn't a people person? Was it just because overall, I'm a good person? Would I have helped anybody in that situation, or did I act because Sara and I had this 'passing relationship' while we ran each day?

Either way, I realized I cared about people more than I had thought before. I did care about Sara, enough so that I did something valiant in order to prevent her from being subjected to something that would scar her for the rest of her life, if she would have survived. Now Raylene had called me on it, and I had no defense for my thoughts that I wasn't a people person.

Raylene could tell I was struggling to come up with an answer, so she let me off the hook. "Thank you again for saving my daughter. I hope we get to see each other again soon!"

She turned to walk back into the hospital, and I went the other way. On the drive home, I thought about her words and her question. I would think about it for the rest of the evening before I finally went to sleep.

******

Sara let me know that she had come home from the hospital the next day, and that her mom was going to stay with her for a few more days. I responded by letting her know I was glad about both things.

It still seemed strange on my morning runs not to have Sara meeting me. I knew where she was and that she was fine. But it seemed the longer I went without her running, the more I missed her. It was just a simple little hand contact maneuver, one that really didn't have any meaning to it. But I think I was proving that statement to be wrong.

Sara called me a few days after she had gotten home.

"Hello, Thomas. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well, Sara. The real question is how are you doing?"

"I'm doing better. I think I'm ready to try to do a little running. Will you still run with me? It would be much easier for me if you could."

"Yes, I will. Do you want to try for tomorrow morning?"

"If you don't mind. It may be that I'll have to do a combination of running and walking, at least for a few days until I know I can run without too much pain."

"That's smart thinking. If you'll message me with your address, I can come over at 6:30 tomorrow morning and we can get you started running again."

"Thank you, Thomas. I'm going to feel much better knowing that you'll be with me."

I knew this would be an interruption in my routine. But then the day of the attack had been an interruption in my routine and I survived then. I kept telling myself that I'm just helping a fellow runner get back to running, and I figured she would do the same thing for me if I needed it. But I still had this uneasy feeling that she wanted more, and I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with that just yet.

I pulled up in front of her house a few minutes early the next morning. Sara lived in a housing development - row after row of duplexes, all looking exactly alike. The only differences were the cars in the driveway and the plants near the porch on some of the units.

She must have been watching out the window, because I didn't have time to shut my car off before she walked down the steps to greet me. Her smile was big, and she surrounded me with a tight hug. As she held me, she said softly, "Thanks again, Thomas. I don't think I'd have the courage to run by myself this soon after the attack, so you're making it possible for me to start up again."

She stepped back. "You know, Sara - you've thanked me so much that you really don't have to anymore."

Her smile disappeared as she replied, "I don't think you understand what you did for me. We could go for twenty years without seeing each other, and then at that first meeting back together again, I would always start by saying 'thank you.' I can't help but be thankful for you for the rest of my life, because you made it so that my life would continue."

She was making a convincing argument. "There are lots of nice people in the world that would have come back to help you. I just happened to hear your distress and came to find out what was wrong."

"You may be right, Thomas. But the fact is that it was you that came back to help. Do you know that after you hurt him and he squealed out in pain and rolled off of me, it was then that I opened my eyes - well, at least the one that wasn't swollen shut - and I recognized you immediately, even though we'd never really said a word to each other? In that instant, I knew I'd be okay.

"Do you remember what else you did for me when you first saw me?"

I shook my head no.

"You covered me up. My lower body was exposed, and you literally gave me the shirt off your back so I would be covered up when other people arrived. It may seem small to you, but I remember that second thinking that I was in good hands with you and that you'd stay with me and make sure I was well cared for.

"Thomas, my mom told me what you and she talked about after you left my room last week. I agree with her - you are a tremendous people person, because you showed me you cared about me that morning, and you are showing me again this morning by coming to run with me."

"Sara, it's not that I don't care for people, because I do. But... I've not had good experiences with people in the past, and the pain of those times still haunts me. I.... I've said enough. Let's try a slow mile and see how you do, and then maybe we'll walk some. There's no hurry to get you back to the mileage you were used to doing before."

"You're right, we're here to run. If I pushed you too hard, I'm sorry."

I smiled at her. "It's okay. Actually, whatever we have together right now is the closest thing I've had to a relationship in years."

We began running at a slow twelve minute per mile pace. It didn't seem like Sara was having trouble keeping up with me, which was a good sign. I did not know what her usual route was other than when she would meet me in the park. But I knew her house was well over a mile away from the park, and there was no way I would make her run there again until I knew she was completely ready.

We stopped after the first mile like we had planned. Sara's breathing was a bit labored, but I felt after what she'd been through, it wasn't more than I expected. We walked slowly to give her a chance to get her respiratory rate back down.

As we walked, I encouraged her a little, telling her that for a first mile after her ordeal, I thought she was doing great. We were mostly silent after that until she felt ready to run again. We ran a second mile, this one back towards her duplex so that if she needed to stop for the day, we'd be close to her home.

While we walked during the second break, I asked her, "How's your nose feeling? It looks like they set it fairly straight."

"It's doing okay. It's still a little swollen in my nasal passage, so I think that's hampering my breathing while I run. I think my body healing is probably going better than my mind healing right now."

"I wondered about that. Even though we stopped him before he did anything really terrible to you, it was still trauma you should not have had to experience."

She reached down and grabbed my hand, which I felt meant she was looking for strength.

"I'm still not sleeping well. I still remember the terror of trying to run away from him, trying to dial 911 as I ran, and then the physical and emotional pain I felt when he caught me and threw me down. I fought as hard as I could until he punched me in the face, and that ended any fight I had left. I braced myself for what I knew was coming...."

She squeezed my hand even harder, and closed the distance between us.

"And then my knight in shining armor arrived and disabled him and protected me. I was still suffering from the attack, but the peace I felt in seeing who it was that rescued me has helped me survive this whole ordeal."

It was statements like that last one that made me feel like I was getting in over my head. I was very concerned that it was just my bravery in saving her from her attacker that was causing what I feared were her strong feelings for me, and not for who I was as a person, since I'd always considered myself to be unworthy of any type of relationship with a woman.

We stayed close as we continued our walk. Sara was silent again for a few minutes, and I really didn't know what to say that might help her with her thoughts. When she spoke again, it turned out she was thinking about me.

"Thomas, I don't want to push you into going somewhere you don't want to go. But can I ask why you don't consider yourself to be a people person? I know you've said that there are a lot of people who would have come back for me in that situation, but you've done things for me that are way above simply being a 'Good Samaritan.'"

I knew the answer to that question like I knew the back of my hand. But I'd never shared it with anybody before. So I didn't really know what compelled me to answer Sara at that moment.

"I've only had two very serious relationships in my life, where I gave myself completely - mind, body and soul - to the person that I loved at the time. Both of those ended in disaster, and they hurt me bad enough that I don't know if I'd survive being hurt like that again.

"The first was Renee, my first true love. We were freshmen together in college and hit if off right away. We decided that we'd be exclusive to each other, and we worked hard to build a relationship. I thought it was going well, and we survived our freshman year together. I knew I had the girl I wanted to be with for the rest of my life.

"But over the summer, she got back with her high school boyfriend, and I didn't know. Nothing about her indicated to me that she'd done that. The only way I found out was that someone from her home town knew what she'd done, and decided I needed to know the truth. When I questioned her about it, she at first denied it, but then she finally admitted it. I gave her an ultimatum on the spot - it was either me or him, she could not have both. When she hesitated, that was when I knew she'd never be fully mine, and I broke it off right on the spot.

"The second was about three years after I'd gotten out of college. I was working in the same job I have now, and one night when I was out with friends, I happened to meet Krista. I fell for her hard. We dated and actually got engaged. I bought the house where I live now for the family I thought we'd be raising together.

"But... same old story. She went back to a previous lover, and when she brought me her ring back, she said some really awful things about me that still haunt me to this day. Those things she said added to the pain of realizing I wasn't good enough for her, even though I'd given her my all.

"I decided then and there that I wasn't cut out to be with anybody else. I learned to live my life being sheltered from any feelings I might develop for someone else. I do my job, I run my miles, and I sleep well at night, knowing I won't have to experience pain like that again."

She stopped us, and turned to me to give me another hug, which I was grateful to receive. I didn't like talking about the pain I experienced because it always dredged it up again. But it was nice to have a listening and caring ear to share with.

"Thomas, I'm so sorry you had to have those experiences. Nobody deserves to suffer pain like that. I know, because your story is so similar to mine."

She stepped back, and I could see a tear forming in the corner of each eye.

"My mistake was in marrying someone that I don't think ever loved me as much as I loved him. I thought he would change over time once he saw how much I loved him. We were married for nearly five years when he announced to me one day that he didn't love me and he didn't think he ever would.

"I was in a relationship with him for seven years, and now I look to that time as being completely wasted. Those are years I can't get back again to try to find a better partner. So I've been cautious about getting back in the dating scene. I'll meet a guy and he seems nice, but then he'll do something that reminds me of my ex, and I'll shut it down. I think I'm looking for the perfect man at this point, because if I see any flaw, I fear the pain they may cause me later on."

By this time we had arrived back at her duplex. She had a couple of chairs on her front porch, and she asked if we could sit for a few minutes so we could continue talking. I agreed.

Once we were seated, she said, "I feel very good about the run this morning, Thomas. Thank you so much for agreeing to run with me. Can we do it again tomorrow? Perhaps I'll feel like running longer before we stop."

"Of course. I want to help you get back to where you were before, no matter how long it takes you."

She paused, and I could tell she was deep in thought.

"Thomas, I'm going to be very honest with you. When I find someone with whom I want to build a relationship, I'm very cautious about getting to know them before I make any full commitment to them. Usually the guy doesn't feel like he can wait that long, and the relationship fizzles before it could ever really begin.

"I know you've said that you're fine with being alone and you've adapted to live with that expectation. I'm the opposite - I don't want to be alone. I think there's someone out there for me, but I've not found him yet, and the older I get, the more I fear I'm not going to.

"But now... Thomas, you have shown me more love without loving me than anybody in the past who claimed they loved me. I know the circumstances of our finally talking together aren't the best. But you keep doing things well after the attack that show me you're an incredibly loving person. While I think others may have tried to save me like you did, I believe most of them would have abandoned me after they knew I was safely in the hospital.

"With you, I don't think I have to go through the thorough discovery process I feel is necessary with others. I see what's in your heart - you keep showing it to me, without a second thought.

"In a weird runners' way, we've been friends for several years. And now you are my rescuer and my hero, and you've kept taking care of me in ways that you shouldn't have to do.

"I'd be foolish not to want to know you better and see where our relationship might go. I don't want to do anything that would make you uncomfortable. But I know you have a heart that should be shared with someone else, and I'd love for that someone else to be me."

I was not prepared for what she had just said to me. My mind was racing in many different directions. I went back to the day of the attack, and then the visit in the hospital room where I had met her mother. The specter of my previous failed relationships came up, as well as the comfort I realized I experienced each time I did a simple low-five with Sara in the park as we ran in opposite direction.

"Thomas, can you please say something? I fear maybe I've said too much."

I looked up at her, and could see a mixture of concern and fear in her eyes. I held out my hand to her, and she grasped it. It seemed to bring her a little bit of hope that I wasn't going to flatly reject her.

"You didn't say too much. You should never be afraid to speak what is on your mind. A true friend would not want you to hide anything, so I'm glad you said what you did.

"Here's my only concern, Sara - but it's a big one. I'm afraid that because of what I've done for you, you've placed me up on a pedestal so high that in a few months or a few years, you'll see that I can't possibly live up to that standard, and you'll begin to regret being with me. I need you to have feelings for me that aren't associated with the attack."

Her face became animated. "I know what that is, Thomas! My therapist has been talking to me about that. She says in my case, she'd call it 'White Knight Syndrome,' or even simply 'Hero Worship.' She says it's common that this happens when a person is saved from something terrible by another person. Part of what she's working on with me is trying to help me see if that's really what's going on here, or if there's more to it than an identifiable syndrome."

I didn't know it had a name, but it was exactly what I feared the most about being in a closer relationship with Sara. She was a great person, and I found it somewhat soothing that she could identify with the pain I'd felt in my two failed relationships. The only difference I could really see in us was that she didn't want to be alone. I had learned to live being alone and survive that way for a long time.

At the same time, I had to admit to myself that I enjoyed being with Sara. I knew what her wishes were for us, and she wasn't afraid to make those wishes known. But she was doing it in a way that didn't seem to be creating too much pressure on me. We shared a passion for running, and we shared the pain of previous failed relationships. Did we have enough other things in common to make a relationship work?

I figured there was only one way to find out. "If we do this, we'll have to take it slowly, and it will have to develop at its own pace."

She beamed at me. "Thank you, Thomas! I'm willing to let you set the pace if you want. I'm going to show you that I would never cause you the pain you've experienced before, and I know first-hand the love you have in your heart because of all you've done for me the past couple of weeks."

"So how are we going to start this?"

I could tell she'd already been thinking about that. "I think we'll try to keep our running time as just that, although it would allow us opportunities to talk with each other. Then maybe we shoot for one night a week to start where we do something together. It could be as simple as spending the evening in each other's homes, cooking dinner or watching a movie on the TV. Or we might decide to go out and do something. Each night we get together, the first goal would be to make a plan for the following week."

It seemed like a logical plan to me. "I think we can do that. What shall we do first?"

"Well... since you know where I live, how about if you come over here for supper the day after tomorrow and I'll cook for us? Can you be here by 7:00?"

"I think that sounds like a great plan. Can I bring anything?"

"Just yourself. I think we're going to have fun, Thomas. I'm excited to see where this might go!"

I stood up to walk to my car. "I think so too, Sara. We both deserve to never experience the pain of a failed relationship again."

She stood to give me a hug - apparently that was already standard protocol in our relationship. When we stopped, she said, "Back here again in the morning?"

I smiled and nodded. "Be ready - I'm going to push you a little harder tomorrow!"

She grinned and said, "Yes, coach!"

As I drove back to my house to get ready for my work day, I realized that I hadn't run close to my normal morning mileage. I would need to fix that in future days. But that morning, I thought we'd covered enough ground, both literally and figuratively. I still wasn't sure if I was ready for another attempt at a relationship. But I knew if anybody could help me get ready, it was Sara.

******

Sara did increase her distance to two miles the next morning, and then I went home and ran a modified route to give me five total before I started work. We didn't talk nearly as much as we had the previous morning, and most of the conversation we had was about what I wanted for dinner with her the following evening.

She ran three miles the next morning, and the pain she was feeling in her nose area wasn't nearly as much of a factor as it had been the first two days back. We had not run near the park. I figured I'd leave it up to her when she was ready to try that again, if ever. I couldn't imagine what she might feel the first day we stepped back into the park. I hope she could someday, because it was truly the place where our relationship began, since that was where we saw each other every morning.

Dinner at her place was good! She was an excellent cook, which didn't surprise me, because after meeting her mom, I figured her to be the kind of woman to make sure Sara was prepared to be a good wife, and cooking was likely a very important skill to pass on.

In our discussion after dinner, I found out we had more alike than I knew before. She was an only child like I was. Her father had abandoned her and her mom when Sara was four. Her mom had dated some the following years but always considered raising Sara to be more important than finding another husband in her life.

I never knew my own father. He was never a part of my mom's life once she told him she was pregnant. He disappeared, and mom never told me who he was, since he had likely moved far away and I wouldn't know him anyway.

Mom did date, and actually had a couple of long-term boyfriends that stayed with us. I guess I was lucky that they were fairly good to me. For some reason, neither of them became the permanent man in her life. But I knew she was happier when she had someone. Perhaps her struggles to find the one she wanted to spend eternity with were passed on to me - we just weren't cut out to be with someone else.

When I mentioned that to Sara, she brushed it aside. Her confidence in our relationship was never in doubt, and she blamed my failed situations on the fact that neither of those women were like her. She was spot on about that. They each had great qualities, but in the few weeks since I'd helped Sara in the park, I'd seen things in her that I hadn't seen in them.

Sara was saddened to learn that my mom had passed away about eight years ago from a sudden onset of an aggressive ovarian cancer. Her medical team didn't discover it early enough to take it out of her body before it had spread to other places. Since I had just begun my loner phase at that time, I never really had anybody else with which I could grieve. The hug Sara gave me was genuine, since she cared about me so much.

We were a couple of only child families raised by single moms. I didn't know if that carried any significance or not, but we could certainly empathize with each other about the environment in which we were raised.

In a couple weeks' time, Sara was back up to being able to run five miles. She still wasn't at her pre-incident pace. But she was pleased with her progress. The swelling in her face was completely gone. Her smile seemed brighter, and her eyes sparkled when she looked at me.

We had been on several dates. Usually it was at each other's home. She liked my house, and I wondered if she was sizing it up for when she thought she might move here. We certainly weren't to that point yet. But I was not finding any reason why our relationship couldn't continue. She had stopped mentioning the attack as frequently as she had earlier. She had also reduced the number of times thanking me for saving her. She had seen where it was making me uncomfortable each time she told me. That showed me that she was very aware of my feelings.

It was during this time that Sara let me know that she was a graphic designer for a firm downtown. She told me of the great joy she experienced starting with a blank slate when a new project began, and then working hard on it to match the vision she had for it. She mentioned a couple of the projects she had worked on that I recognized, so I immediately knew she was very good at her job.

We were still not physically intimate, though we always held hands when we were walking on an evening date, and we still enjoyed the hugs we shared. But it hadn't progressed farther than that. I felt it was up to me to move us closer to being intimate with each other. She was letting me set the pace of our relationship, since she knew I had a long way to catch up to how I felt about her in comparison to how she felt about me.

We fell into a very comfortable pattern with each other. We increased our weekly date nights to two per week. I knew I was thinking about her more the longer we were together. We even took a trip together to visit her mom. Sara didn't tell her she was bringing me, so when we arrived, she was very surprised and pleased to see me. It meant we had to explain our "arrangement" with each other, but it gave her hope that we might end up as a permanent couple - in fact, she even made that remark out loud, which mortified Sara once again.

It was about two months after the attack when Sara surprised me one morning after our daily run. There had been no discussion about this at all, but I knew we'd talk about it at some point in time.

"Thomas, can we do something different tomorrow?"

At first I was confused. "You mean like not run? What else do you have in mind?"

"Well... I've been talking with my therapist about getting back to running through the park. I miss running under the trees and seeing the different creatures that are usually out in the mornings. She said that she wasn't going to push me, but instead leave it up to me as to when I'd try it.

"But she did insist that I not try it alone the first time. She knew the potential of my mind reacting in panic being at the place again where I was attacked. She also reminded me that it had been two months and there would be a strong likelihood that there would be guys running I did not recognize, which could also be traumatic for me.

"Do you think we could try the old route tomorrow? I trust you to take care of me, because you certainly showed before that you could do that."

"If you're ready, I would be with you. If you get in and decide you can't make it, just let me know and we'll quickly turn and go back the other way."

She stepped forward to give me a big hug. "I want to do this for you, Thomas. I want to show you that I'm ready for this. I really miss running in the park and I don't want to let something that happened in the past keep me from this joy."

"I miss it also, Sara. But we have proved that we can run without going through the park. If it works, then good. But if you need to turn around, that's okay also."

"Thanks, Thomas. I'm going to do all I can to make it. See you tomorrow!"

We hugged once more and then I went to my car. I was glad that she felt comfortable trying to run in the park with me. I knew this was a big step for Sara, and even if she couldn't make it, just the fact that she wanted to try was a good step in her recovery - at least it seemed that way to me.

The following morning we went through our stretching routines without saying a word about what we were going to do. It was almost as if she wouldn't talk herself out of trying if we didn't talk about it before. When it was time to start, she looked at me and said, "I guess I'll have to show you where the turns are, since we've not gone this way before."

The run was going well, but when we made the turn and saw that the park was only a block away, I could sense Sara tensed up a little. Her gait had changed so that instead of free-flowing strides, they were more marked now.

I put my hand on her upper arm and said, "We don't have to do this today, Sara. If you need to stop and turn around, it's okay with me."

"No, I want to do this. I need to do this."

We continued on at a slightly slower pace than usual. Right before we stepped into the park, I saw her scan both sides of the path as far as she could see. She must have felt relief at what she saw, because we proceeded on.

Sara kept looking at both sides of the path as we ran. So far, we hadn't seen anything unusual. She had picked up the pace once we got inside the park, which I understood as her wanting to get through it more quickly than usual.

Suddenly I saw her tense up again. Ahead of us about fifty yards was a man running on the path towards us. I scanned him as best as I could and didn't see anything to indicate he wasn't an experienced runner. As he got closer, I reached out to Sara again.

"I'm going to run behind you until he passes. That way you will know he's not turning around to come back at us."

She nodded and I step back a few paces, then took my place behind her. As he got closer to us, it was easier to see that this wasn't his first time running, so my worry about him diminished. But I wasn't sure Sara would be able to see things like that if her heart was pounding in her chest.

When he met us, he looked up at us and said a quick, "Good morning." I said it back to him, and we kept running in our own directions. I moved back up to Sara and asked, "You doing okay?"

She relaxed a little and let a small smile leak out. "Yeah, I'm doing okay. We handled that, didn't we?"

"No, you handled it, Sara. I was right behind you, but it was all you."

"You're right - I DID handle it!"

When we got to the other side of the park, Sara stopped us and turned towards me. She laughed and gave me a great big hug as we celebrated her victory together. She started to move back, but stopped when our faced turned to each other. Suddenly, she was kissing me, our first kiss. I was not prepared, and shamefully, I pulled back enough that the kiss was broken.

Her cheeks were flushed, but I didn't know if it was the extra exertion she'd used to get through the park, or the passion of an unexpected kiss, or the frustration when I didn't return it. I felt horrible that I did that. It wasn't something I did on purpose. It was more like a reflex, or a subconscious reaction I didn't know was coming.

She turned and began running again, and I followed, catching up with her in the span of a few short strides. The loop back to her house started right after we left the park. We ran in silence, with the sound of our shoes plopping on the pavement unable to hide the sound of my beating pulse pounding in my ears.

We kept up a vigorous pace until we got to her house. Once we finally stopped, we each had to catch our breath. I bent over, putting my hands on my knees as the sweat dripped off my head and face. I looked over at Sara, and she was in the same position. I couldn't be sure, but I suspect that would have been the fastest two and a half miles I'd ever run in my life.

Once my breathing was somewhat back to normal, I straightened up and walked over to Sara. It looked as though her recovery was about at the same level as mine.

"Sara... I'm sorry..."

She put her hand out to me. "Stop, Thomas. I spent the remainder of my run after the kiss thinking what I needed to say to you. This may be a long ramble, but I want you to hear what I have to say first, and then we can talk if we need to.

"Thomas - I love you. I've loved you since the minute you bent over me to check to see if I was okay after incapacitating my attacker two months ago. I'll never be able to fully repay you for what you did for me in the park, and what you've done for me in the two months since. You have been with me through my entire recovery to this point, always encouraging me without pushing me. You have no idea how much I appreciate that.

"I've been trying not to push you also. I know you got tired of hearing from me about how I'd never be able to thank you enough for what you did, so I stopped that, even though my heart told me otherwise. I know you're afraid that I have feelings for you only because you saved me. But while that was probably true in the beginning, I've found so many other reasons to have feelings for you. I've had a great time on our dates. I love it when we cook for each other and go out and do things together. I've taken it at your pace, Thomas. And so far, that pace has been fine.

"But I've also discovered that I want to be more for you than just a dinner date or a movie or a concert or whatever else we might do together. I think about you all the time when I'm not with you, and it's not only thoughts about you saving me. It's more than that, and these two months have shown me that there are more reasons to be with you than just being my hero.

"When I realized we'd made it through the park without any problems, the joy overwhelmed me! It was such a huge victory in my recovery! I could not have contained my emotions even if I wanted to. YOU were the only reason I made it, because I had you with me, drawing strength from your presence. I saw the way your head was on a swivel like you were on a military reconnaissance mission, looking for enemy snipers so I could be safe.

"It was US as a team, Thomas! And in my joy, I wanted to share joy with you. I realize I didn't ask you first, but in that moment, my body moved to you so we could kiss and really celebrate what we had done together.

"And then you pulled back, as if kissing me was the most disgusting thing in the world. It crushed me! I thought we were at the point in our relationship where that was the next step, and I thought the emotional victory we shared was the perfect time for it. But you obviously weren't ready, and that concerns me.

"So... I'm going to propose something that I'm absolutely going to hate, but I think it might be necessary. Thomas, I don't want you to think like you have to be with me as if it were some type of obligation you feel towards me. I need you to want to grow our relationship because you actually have feelings for me like I have feelings for you.

"I think we need to take a couple of weeks off and use the time to really think hard about where we are going from here. I already know that I want you in my future, Thomas. I know how you feel about relationships after the two bad experiences you've share with me. I think you can overcome those, but I am absolutely certain I will never hurt you like you've been hurt before.

"During these two weeks, I want you to think of something else. I've already told you that I love you, Thomas. I think you love me as well, but either you don't know it or you don't want to admit it. If you didn't love me, I don't think you would have done all that you've done for me on the day of the attack and the days after, leading up to running through the park with me again."

I had listened carefully to her entire speech, but when she was done, I still had no idea how to respond. I was probably most shocked when she said she was sure I loved her but either didn't know it or want to admit it.

I was also fairly certain that she'd been thinking about this before I pulled back when she kissed me, but that was the source of ignition for her to sound off. I couldn't find much fault in anything she said. She was perceptive, she remembered my pain from failed relationships and honored that. And she let me know that she'd purposely cut back on what I thought of as 'hero worship.' She was trying to be the best partner for me, and I wasn't holding up my part of our relationship growth.

And then I remembered one more thing. "Are you going to stop running for the two weeks, or try to run a different route? Will you be okay by yourself?"

"Is that what you're thinking of, when I just went off on you about our relationship?"

She misunderstood the reason for my question. "It's wasn't a question about your fitness and maintaining your mileage. It was concern for your safety if you decided to run by yourself."

I was surprised when she put her hand in mine. "I'm sorry I misjudged your question. I'm probably going to run the route we'd been running before this morning."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out something I'd been carrying with me lately. As I handed it to her, I said, "This is pepper spray. I've had it since you started back running with me. Just make sure if you use it that the spray nozzle is pointed at your attacker and not at your face. That's what the clerk told me when I bought it."

She lowered her head as she took the spray from me. When she looked up again, she was smiling. "Dammit, Thomas! This is exactly what I'm talking about. To me, you are showing me you love me when you give me something like this."

"If wanting you to be safe and run without fear is loving you, then yes - I love you."

She hugged me and said softly, "Think about all the things that you've been doing for me. If you figure out you did them because you love me, then come back to me in two weeks and sweep me off my feet. I promise you, it won't take very much sweeping."

She kissed me on my cheek as if to remind me what her lips felt like. They felt wonderful, and it made me feel guilty again about pulling back on her in the park.

I got in my car for the short drive home. Before I'd put the car in drive, I was already thinking about what Sara had said for me. I didn't think anything she said was wrong, and I still couldn't understand why I didn't kiss her back. But maybe she was right - maybe all I was doing for her was because I did love her, but didn't want to think about it because since my two failed relationships, I'd not been wanting to attach the thought of love to anything, since love caused me so much pain before.

My thoughts continued as I took my shower. I found myself trying to analyze my reactions on the morning of the attack. My biggest question was this - would I have been able to turn back and help anybody who screamed out in fear, or did I do it only because I knew who it was and perceived immediately that she was in danger?

I knew I could probably never answer that question, but it didn't mean I didn't think about it a lot the rest of the day. It was a good day to be working from home, though I did have to remind myself that I could not relax my work standards so I could think about this issue with Sara while I was on the clock.

It was right after I'd finished for the day that I had a revelation. I suddenly realized that I'd gone back to help Sara that morning without hesitation because of the fact that we already had a relationship established, even if it was very non-traditional. One of the things I'd missed since the attack was the daily 'low-five' greeting I'd shared with Sara. I didn't remember exactly how long we'd been doing that as we met each other each morning, but I was sure it had been going on for several years.

It wasn't just the touching of hands that made that relationship, though. It was also the smiles that accompanied each low-five, and often we'd exchange a hearty 'good morning' with each other. When I realized how much I'd missed those after the attack, it made me see that even that daily ritual was the establishment of a relationship.

Understanding that, it made it much clearer to me as to why I turned back to help Sara when I heard her in trouble. Sara was my friend - even though we never saw each other outside of our run, but I knew it was important to maintain our unique friendship. In all the time we'd been meeting each other in the park, it only happened about once a month that one of us didn't run. We saw each other more often than many people who are in normal relationships do.

I fell asleep that night thinking that I might be able to get past my previous relationship failures and come to my senses by moving closer to Sara. After all, her mother had told me that I'd never find a nicer young woman than her daughter! I believed she was correct. I was starting to believe that if someone as great as Sara couldn't help me clear the past out of my mind, probably nobody could.

******

The first day of the two-week period was on a Monday, and by Friday, I knew I didn't need the full two weeks to know what I wanted to do. I missed Sara terribly! I missed our dinners we made for each other, which normally happened on Tuesday evening. Cooking for myself was no fun at all.

I missed our evenings out. I missed our conversations those evenings, but I also missed the fact that anywhere we went, we were holding hands. It was as if hand contact with each other was magic, since that had defined our relationship for the first several years.

I also missed running with her. We rarely said anything to each other while we ran. But even without the spoken communication, we were still sharing something we both loved, and it had not taken long for me to realize it made me love her even more that we were sharing something so special to us.

I decided I could not wait another nine days before I could tell her what I wanted to do. I got up early on the following Saturday and drove to her duplex so I would be there when she stepped out to do her morning run.

It turned out I didn't even get my car shut off before she came out on the front porch, a look of surprise clearly evident on her beautiful face. I got out and jammed my key fob into my pocket and approached her.

She was the first to say something. "Thomas, has it been two weeks already? I've been keeping track and I don't think it has for me."

With the best serious look I could muster, I replied, "You're right, it hasn't been two weeks. I'm here, and I'd like to run with you, but if you insist on upholding the two-weeks plan, I can go home. But I don't want to."

"Well... since you're here already, I guess you might as well stay. Do you want to talk and then run, or do you want to run first?"

I knew that answer right away - it was necessary for how I wanted to show her my desire to be with her. "Let's run first. You feel like running in the park again?"

She smiled. "If you're with me, I can handle it!"

We started off at our regular pace. Neither of us said anything as we went around our corners on the way to the entrance to the park. When we got there, I could tell Sara was less tense than that first run back just six short days ago. We had no problems making it through the area where she was attacked, and once we were out of the park on the other side, I stopped her.

She looked confused as I started talking. "I wanted to stop here, because I needed to correct a terrible thing I did last week. First of all, I never want to be away from you that long ever again. You have consumed all my thoughts this past week. I didn't know how much I'd miss you until I went through it, but now I know - I never want to miss you like that again.

"I thought about our relationship as soon as I left you after our last run. I realized that our relationship has been going on much longer than since the day of the attack. Our relationship was active as soon as we realized we were going to see each other nearly every day as we ran. It strengthened when we started smiling at each other, or said 'good morning' to each other. But when we started doing our low fives, that made it even stronger.

"That's why I was able to come back and help you that morning. I cared about you because of our running relationship, even though we barely spoke and only saw each other for like thirty seconds each morning. It was still an important relationship. It was really my only relationship since I'd been working from home.

"But I hadn't looked at it as a relationship, since that was a bad word for me. Once I cleared that part out of my head, I could see exactly what we had. I'd been in a relationship for years, but didn't realize that's what it was.

"When you told me that you thought I loved you because of what I had done for you, I thought there was no way that was true. But right after I left you last week, I saw that you were correct. And then the loneliness I felt this entire week not seeing you every day and eating with you and going out with you and holding hands with you made me miss you so much. It was all that stuff that proved you were correct.

"So I wanted to stop here, since this is where I fucked up so badly last week. I need you to know that I do love you, Sara Matthews. And I want you to know that I will never back away from a kiss from you again, as long as I live."

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me. I saw the sparkle in her eyes and the smile on her lips as I drew near and kissed her. We kissed a number of little kisses before moving into a longer one. I stopped and looked at her for a few seconds, and then started another kiss, finding and opening her lips with my tongue as hers met mine. We kissed like that for several seconds, all the while holding each other as closely as we could, feeling the heat of each other's sweaty bodies.

When we stopped again, Sara looked into my eyes with a huge smile on her face. "You have no idea how much I needed that! I think we'll waive the rest of the two weeks, if that's okay with you!"

"Good, because I'm done being away from you!"

We kissed once more. After, her smile became an even larger grin.

"Do you remember how fast we ran back to my house the last time - admittedly for a different reason?"

I nodded my head.

"Can you do it again? If your kiss was that amazing, I bet you could be amazing at other 'relationship' things I'd like to explore with you!"

"For that, I can run even faster!"

We took off. Again, I forgot to start my watch to see what my pace was, but at that point, my pace timing was the last thing on my mind. I started to pull away from Sara, which was no surprise since she still wasn't back to full strength yet. But I realized that's not what was most important. So I let her catch up, and we ran side by side the rest of the way.

We had to spend some time catching our breaths again. My heart was pounding in my chest once more, but that had started while we were kissing. Once we had calmed down, Sara invited me inside. She went to the fridge to grab each of us a bottle of water, and we went back to the porch to finish cooling off.

As we drank our water, I said, "So, you think there are other things people in relationships do that you want to try? What do you have in mind?"

I couldn't tell if she was blushing because she was embarrassed, or if she was still flushed from the run. But the sheepish little smile that appeared told me it wasn't due to the run.

"Welllll... since it's Saturday and we both don't work, I thought maybe we could spend some time together this morning and explore our relationship. For instance - my shower is big enough for two people, if you'd like to start exploring there first."

"I think that's a wonderful idea!"

I followed her back into her townhouse, with my eyes locked on how pasted-on her tights looked. Obviously running as much as she did, her glutes were magnificent. Since I usually ran beside her, I never got to see the flex of her muscles as she ran. I knew I wanted to see it someday, though.

We went straight into her bathroom. I'd been in there several times while we were still 'dating,' but I never remembered looking at the shower and thinking it was big enough for two. I knew that was part of the problem Sara had with me - I wasn't thinking about anything beyond our friendship.

That was definitely about to change. Sara bent over to take out a couple of towels from the vanity. If I thought the snug fit of her tights was impressive before, seeing her ass bending over like that got some of my own growth started.

She hung the towels on a wall rack next to the shower, then turned to look at me, smiling.

"If we were clean and in the bedroom together getting ready to use the bed, I'd say we should take some time getting our clothes off. But I don't want to wait! Let's get these sweaty clothes off quickly at the same time."

She reached for the bottom of her shirt and started tugging it upward. I did the same, and since my shirt was more loose on me, it came off quickly. I looked back at Sara to see her white sports bra exposed, and I could make out the faint bump of her nipples under the tight material.

Sara struggled some more with her sports bra, and given the fact that it was probably soaked with sweat while her body was still glistening, it was no surprise to see the effort it took to get it off. But she got it done, and I was pleasantly surprised to see her breasts were bigger than I expected once they were released from her bra. They were a perfect handful, with light pink nipples sitting on faded areolas.

As she tossed her bra to the floor, a bead of sweat from her neck caught my attention. It began a southward path, looking at first like it might swerve over to roll down her right breast, putting the nipple on alert. But at the last moment, it corrected itself, and it ended up in the valley between her perfect globes.

Sara looked down and quickly saw what I was looking at. "Enjoying the sweat show, are you?"

I laughed. "Yes, very much! But I'm also ready to enjoy the next step in our de-clothing efforts."

I quickly pulled my shorts down. My bulge was clearly visible as it strained against my dark blue briefs. Sara started to do the same, but she couldn't help reaching down to run a finger along the outline of my cock beneath my underwear. Her soft touch made it jump and desire more contact.

Sara tugged her shorts down to her ankles, leaving her in just a very simple and skimpy thong. After she kicked her shorts away, I motioned with my hand for her to turn around. She smiled as she did, and she proved that her ass was even more amazing nearly naked than when it had shorts on.

My briefs came off next. My cock had fully hardened after seeing her ass in her skimpy thong. Sara reached out to stroke it, being soft and gentle, which was probably good because I figured my first orgasm would happen rather quickly.

She put her hands on the thong and I was amused to see it stretching as she struggled getting it off her sweaty hips. Finally she got it to move, and as it came down, it rolled up into a very tight strand of soaked fabric. She didn't bother trying to unroll it. Instead, she cast it aside on the pile with the rest of her clothes.

She was so beautiful! She definitely had a runner's body. She was very fit above the waist, but her hips and legs were muscular and well-defined. She had a very prominent runner's tan. Her legs were somewhat bronzed compared to the pale stripe around her waist. It was clear that the shorts she wore to run in the summer were all the same size.

She reached for my cock one more time, again stroking it gently and slowly. I responded by taking a hand and running it through the bare juncture of her legs, down between where I found her wet and open, and not from the sweat.

She looked up at me and said, "We can continue this in the shower."

She quickly tied her long blonde ponytail up in a tight knot. She turned to start the water and her absolutely perfect ass came into view. It wasn't too big and it wasn't too small, but it was well-rounded and looked very firm. I reached out for it again as she adjusted the temperature of the water. I gave it a couple of playful squeezes, which brought a moan from her lips.

Satisfied with the temperature, she stepped in, then reached for my hand and led me in with her. Since we were still warm from the run, she had set the water temperature to be cooler than what I was used to, but it turned out to feel great. We both made sure that we had rinsed the sweat off, which meant trading places under the showerhead, which also meant rubbing my hard cock against the concave flex of her hip.

She stood with her body under the water spray, facing me. She reached for the top of a soap dispenser on the shower shelf and lathered up her hands. Soon they were on my cock again. It had been a long time since anybody other than myself had touched my cock, and it had been even longer since I'd showered with a woman. I didn't know how much I had missed this until Sara had started working on me. As she washed my cock, I put both of my hands on her breasts, taking both nipples between my fingers and giving them a playful roll and squeeze.

My attention, however, turned back to her hands on my cock, and the fact that even though she was stroking it loosely with the soap making an excellent lubricant, I was about to go over the top. Moaning out, "Oh god, Sara - you're going to get a handful very quickly if you don't stop," she chose to ignore me, and in fact began speeding up and tightening her grip. My hands went to her shoulders as my orgasm hit. I held on to her in case my knees buckled, bending over slightly at the waist which only served to heighten the pleasure that was ripping through my body.

Sara looked at the pool of cum that was forming in her palm and said, "I forgot how much I love watching that happen! I hope you don't mind me doing that a lot, because I'll never get tired of seeing that beautiful cock give me such a warm present."

"I don't mind, as long as I get to spend the same or more amount of time making you feel as good as you just made me feel. Shall we see if I can make that happen?"

She nodded. "Please do!"

Since her soap had worked so well on me, I pressed the dispenser and began to lather my hands. She turned to face away from the shower head, which was now raining on my back. I stepped forward to her body and used my lathered hands to wash her back thoroughly, using enough pressure to act as a light massage, causing her to moan one more time.

I went back for more soap and lathered my hands once again. I started on both sides of her neck, reaching outward towards her shoulders. When I reached around the front to pay attention to her breasts, I pressed my chest against her still soapy back. Feeling my contact, she squirmed her body back against me, sharing the lather with my chest and stomach.

I spent extra time with my hands on her breasts, making sure they were soapy all the way around. I tried to pinch and roll her nipples, but the slickness made it nearly impossible. She seemed to be enjoying my efforts anyway, and she brought her hands up to cover mine as I squeezed her breasts.

My cock had started growing again. I turned my attention to the muscular swell of her ass. Her years of running had made her cheeks firm and tight. I used both hands to rub and massage her cheeks at the same time. My fingers eventually met in the middle, and I made sure that the cleft between was well-soaped, to the point that she jumped a little when I ran my fingers over her tight rosebud.

I stepped back into her to return my attention to her front. Once again, Sara moaned as my now fully hard cock nestled securely into the crack of her soapy ass. She ground back against me as my hands worked over her stomach and sides. They were as firm and taut as the rest of her body. I made big circles with my hands starting at one point and working outwardly.

Once I reached the smooth mound where her pubic hair would be if she had any, I stopped the circles and concentrated on using my fingers to stroke the valleys between her legs and her pussy. She ground her ass back against my cock harder as I used two fingers on each side to slide through back and forth, making sure I did not touch her labia. It must have been good for her, because she laid her head back against my left shoulder and softly whispered, "Fuck, that feels so good... please don't stop."

As I used the fingers on my right hand to continue working between her legs, my left hand returned to her breasts. I developed a slow, lazy rhythm between my two hands, moving them in unison together. My left hand alternated between her breasts, making sure I was spending equal time on her nipples. As I moved, she put her right hand on top of mine once again, staying like that as I moved from one side to the other.

I rinsed the soap off of my right hand and went back between her legs, this time focusing my concentration on her pussy. I ran my middle finger through her slit, which had opened and was leaking her own juices, making her much more slick than just from the water of the shower. I pressed that finger deeper between her labia and found the rise of her clit. I began applying gentle pressure to it, and Sara moaned, "Yes, Thomas - that feels so good."

As much fun as I was having with my cock nestled between the cheeks of her ass, I wanted to give better attention to her pussy, so I carefully spun Sara around so that she was facing me. My hand returned between her legs and she instinctively spread them, allowing me greater access. She reached her right hand out to my shoulder to brace herself, and then turned back a little so she could put her left foot up on a low shelf in the corner of the shower.

That move opened her up, and I was able to slide two fingers deep into her pussy. I moved a little closer to her so she could rest her forehead on my shoulder. As I pushed my fingers inside and out rapidly, I kept pressure on her clit with my hand. Sara wasn't afraid to tell me what she liked, as she moaned out, "Harder on my clit - harder on my clit!"

I pulled my fingers out and held three of them tightly together, using my fingertips to strum back and forth rapidly over her clit. Sara yelled out, "Yes, yes, YES, just like that!" I continued, and in seconds, her hand clenched on my shoulder, her fingernails digging into my flesh. She tensed up, and then with a loud wail, released as her orgasm washed over her. I used my free hand to reach out to her and pull her closer, helping her maintain her balance as the waves of pleasure ripped through her body.

I held her like that for a couple of minutes as her orgasm faded. Eventually she looked up at me, a wry smile appearing on her lips. I bent over to kiss her, and she gladly received it. We kissed for a few seconds before we broke away.

"Fuck, Thomas, that feels so much better when somebody else is giving it to you than when you give it to yourself!"

I laughed. "Funny, I discovered the same thing just a few minutes ago! I don't know about you, but I'm ready to dry off and see what else we can do."

Sara stepped out of the shower first and handed me a towel. She quickly turned away from me, and I got the message that she wanted me to dry her back with my towel. I took my time, almost like I was giving another massage. I made sure to spread her ass cheeks apart so that I knew she was completely dry. The giggle she gave me was icing on the cake.

I'd been in her bathroom before, but this was the first time I would get to see her bedroom. It wasn't big, but it was big enough that she had a king-size bed taking up most of the space. The bright morning sun was shining through the lone window, but her first order of business was to close the curtains. The townhouse development in which she lived had the buildings very close together, and she was making sure we weren't putting on a show for her neighbors.

Even with the curtains closed, there was still plenty of light shining through, so it was easy for me to see Sara as she reached up and undid the knot from her hair. She continued by removing the ponytail holder, and soon her long hair cascaded around her face, hanging down past her shoulders.

It was the first time I'd seen her with her hair down like that. She was always beautiful, but this took beauty to a different level. I couldn't help but stare at her, which I could tell was making her a bit uneasy, which was affirmed by her simple response to my staring.

"What?"

"I can't believe it took me so long to move past my fear of being in a relationship with you. You are the kindest, most loving person I've ever met, and now seeing you like this... I'm simply overwhelmed with love for you, and I was nearly a fool for not recognizing that before."

She might have blushed, but it was too dark in the room to see for sure. But her comment led me to believe I caught her off-guard.

"Thomas, I just let my hair down..."

I quickly interrupted her. "It's more than that. For some reason, just letting your hair down meant that I was seeing the complete and wonderful person that you are. It makes me feel sad that... that..."

"What, Thomas?"

I paused, fighting back some serious emotions. "I think back to all the times in the park we'd meet and smile and slap hands as we ran. It makes me furious with myself to think that for some reason, not stopping the run was more important than stopping to get to know you a long time ago. I feel we wasted a lot of time building this relationship, and I wish that I could go back and do it again and stop you and talk to you and start then. I was so afraid to commit to anyone, and yet you were right there all along and I didn't do anything about it."

She walked softly over to me and wrapped me up in a big hug. "We can't do anything about that now, Thomas. But we can work like crazy to make up for all that lost time. And who knows - maybe it needed to be this way. I was fighting the same wall of commitment that you were, and things might have happened just the right way to get us to this point.

"But here we are, you and me, giving ourselves to each other. It would be a shame to waste any more time."

She kissed me - a deep, soulful kiss. As she kissed, she was gently pushing me back towards her bed, taking charge of the situation and leading us to where we both wanted to go. I felt the mattress against the back of my legs, and with Sara nudging me one time, I collapsed back onto the bed. She quickly followed, climbing on top of me.

I scooted beneath her as best I could to make sure my legs were completely on top of the mattress. Once she felt I was set, she centered her body over me, lining her pussy up with my cock. Using her right hand to reach under and steer me, she dropped her hips and we made contact. There was little resistance as she continued lowering herself and I became wrapped in the warm, wet silkiness of her body.

It was a perfect moment, made even more perfect when she looked deeply into my eyes and my heart as she said, "Make love to me, Thomas. Make me yours forever."

We began to move slowly together, feeling no rush to finish. We looked at each other and smiled, sharing kisses as we fucked. I had never experienced a moment such as this, where sex had a tremendously deeper purpose than pleasure alone. It was cementing our bond for each other. It was the greatest expression of true love I'd ever experienced, and I wanted it to last forever.

We didn't speak words, but instead we let our bodies speak of our love for each other. Smiles, kisses, and the warmth of making love in this slow, romantic manner said it all for us. Time stood still. All that mattered was that I was with Sara, who had rescued me from my fear of loving someone as much as I loved her.

As our love for each other grew in that moment, so did the passion we were sharing. We began to move with more intention with deeper, harder thrusts. Sara began to grind her body against mine, and this time, the flush in her face was visible. She closed her eyes, concentrating on what was growing inside her. I felt it as well, and the need to consummate our commitment to each other began to bloom.

Our intensity increased, with her driving down against my hard thrusts up into her. She started whispering, "Yes.... yes.... yes...." which served me to push back deeper and faster. I reached for her perfect breasts and tugged lightly on each nipple. My rush was coming soon. It became an unplanned race to the finish.

Sara closed her eyes, concentrating on what was growing inside. I urged her on - "Come on, beautiful, give it to me!" With our love and commitment for each other secured, she gave one final push downward, sending her over the edge. She sat up quickly and rode hard against me as the intensity of her pleasure exploded.

Even if I had wanted to, I had no ability to stop. I kept pushing up into her, and soon, I was joining her. I fired deep inside her body, trying as hard as I could to keep thrusting. But it became too much, and my body slammed back down into the mattress. Sara collapsed on top of me at the same time. I could feel her lungs expanding as she gasped to breathe.

We held each other as the intensity slowly eroded. My cock began to soften, and eventually it slipped out, followed by a gush of fluid releasing from within her body. I held her tightly, not wanting this moment to end.

Finally Sara raised her head and said, "I don't know about you, but I'm more exhausted now than after our run this morning."

I replied, "I'm the same way, but for some reason, I like this exhaustion better. It's going to be hard to top what we just did together, but I'm not going to stop trying."

She kissed me, and in that moment of afterglow, I realized something - something that she needed to hear.

"Thank you, Sara."

"Thank you? That seems to be a strange thing to say!"

I kissed her again. "I know we've spent a lot of time with you calling me your hero. I know in some strange way that it was what brought us closer together. But I need you to understand something. You're MY hero! You unlocked the dark grasp of my fear of commitment with your patience in waiting on me, and loving me so much that I was worth your effort. I could have never reached this place where we are on my own. I needed a hero, and you rescued me. I'd say that we're now even in the hero department."

She looked down at me, and I could see that she was processing what I'd just told her. Then a light bulb went off in her mind, and she replied, "I can't think of a better way to have a stronger relationship than both of us falling in love with our heroes!"

She was absolutely right - as long as we thought that of each other, nothing could break us apart.

"C'mon, hero - I think we probably need to use your shower again."

She rolled off of me and stood up and I followed. It was a beautiful moment. I could not think of a better day in my life, and yet I hoped we'd find a way to top this at some point, because when we did, I knew our love would become even stronger.

******

We began spending as much time together as possible. Sara's lease on her townhouse expired in a month, and I suggested she move in with me - not so much for the money we'd save by not having to pay for two places to live, but for the fact that neither of us could stand the thought of not being together. She agreed, and we began to make plans to make her move happen.

The morning after we completed her move with me, we went running as we always did, but it was the first time for her to run my route, which was backwards from her usual since she was starting from the other direction. She spent the run looking at the different scenes she'd encounter, taking in the fresh new perspective of the things she'd been used to seeing from her route.

When we got to the park, she started talking, which was something we didn't do a lot while we ran. She remarked on how differently the park looked, as if she was seeing it for the first time from a different direction. But then we got to the place where the attack had occurred, and she reached out her hand for mine. Before we could get past it, she stopped.

"This is the place, isn't it, Thomas?"

I nodded. It was the first time we had stopped here, and I couldn't figure out why she had chosen to do so.

She spoke softly as she said, "I don't know why, but I feel the need to walk over there. Will you go with me?"

"Of course - I'm always here for you."

We held hands as she slowly walked to the spot where she had been attacked. Scenes of that morning flashed vividly in my mind the closer we got to the exact spot where it happened. I could only imagine what she was thinking, so I squeezed her hand harder to remind her that I was there.

We stood there, looking at the spot for a few minutes, and then she turned and hugged me. As I held her, I asked, "Are you okay?"

She replied softly, "No, not really. I hate that he took this spot in this beautiful park away from me. I hope there will be a day when I can come here and not think about what he did, but I don't know if that will ever happen."

I searched for words to say to her that would ease her pain, but none were coming. I didn't want to make the situation worse by saying something that would create more pain, so I felt it best to simply hold her and let her use me to hopefully find some strength.

After a few minutes, she released me and we turned to walk back to the path. She looked back one more time before we started running, saying, "It's too bad, because it really is a beautiful spot in a beautiful park."

We began running again, and as we did, my mind finally started thinking, taking inspiration from what she had just said. By the time we arrived at home, a full-fledged idea had sprouted in my mind. As we stepped into the shower together (something that had become as much of a ritual as our daily run), I cautiously started to explain my idea.

"Sara, what you said in the park before we started running has got me thinking. It is a beautiful place. But what if we made it more beautiful? What if we added something that would become the focus of that spot, instead of thinking about what we both know happened that morning?"

I could tell she was interested. "Go on, what's on your mind?"

"I don't yet know exactly what I'm thinking, but if we could find something to put there that would enhance the natural beauty of the park, maybe it would overcome the sadness we feel when we are there. It would be like a re-birth, like the myth of the Phoenix rising from the ashes."

She smiled as she replied, "I love that idea - beauty rising from a place of pain and suffering. What do you see it looking like?"

"I don't know - you're the graphic designer. I know we'd have some footwork to do before it could ever happen. The Parks Department isn't just going to let us build what we want. But I'm thinking of something like maybe a flower garden, with some benches, and maybe even a water feature of some sort so that it would be a place of serenity for both the eyes and the ears."

I could tell she was deep in thought as we finished our shower. By the time she was dressed, her demeanor had picked up as she mulled my idea through her mind.

Before leaving for work, she kissed me and said, "This is another reason why I love you - as if I needed anymore reasons! We're going to start working on this plan as soon as I get home!"

She was true to her word. She arrived home in a rush, carrying a large sketch pad and several other supplies from her work. She looked at me as she headed to the bedroom to change clothes and called out, "Order something to be delivered for supper. I want to get started on this right away!"

I ordered her favorite pizza to be delivered, and we got to work. By the time midnight came, we had a design in place. It consisted of a gently sweeping arc-shaped wall made of granite blocks, stretching at least twenty feet in length. In the center of the wall was a water feature, designed so that water would be delivered from the top of the feature, cascading down over the feature before ending up in a small pond in front. The water would be visual, but would also provide the sound of a gentle brook bubbling. To keep the feature running, a pump would draw the water back up to the top, and a float would let water into the pond when it got down to a certain level.

In front of the wall would be the garden area. We designed it to be round, with short pathways winding through so people could get close to the plants that we hoped would bloom all spring and summer. We'd plant different varieties so that there would always be flowers in season. We added benches for people to sit and enjoy the beauty and calm of the garden. To make sure there was always beauty - even in the dead of winter - we would plant some type of evergreen shrubbery in front of the arcing wall that we could keep trimmed so that they didn't become unruly.

Over the next couple of weeks, we made some modifications to our plan. At the same time, we started pushing our idea on social media, calling it the "Phoenix Garden in Adams Park." Friends of Sara at work helped us get on the agenda at the City Parks Board. Sara was so strong when she told them of how this idea came about, and the notion of the Phoenix rising from the ashes was being told in the beauty that we hoped would rise from the place where she was attacked.

By the time of the meeting where the Parks Board would vote on our proposal, we had gathered over a hundred followers on social media platforms, and many of them were there to support us. The proposal passed unanimously - our Phoenix Garden would become a reality!

All during the winter, we'd run through the park and be disappointed that there was no visible sign of work being started on the Phoenix. We knew that city government sometimes moved at a snails' pace, but we were really hoping to see at least some indication that the work was going to be done in time for spring planting.

Finally in late February, we noticed some stakes with flags on them had been hammered into the ground. When we investigated, we saw that they were laid out in the design of the garden. Sara laughed and hugged me. We quickly snapped some pictures of the stakes and I put them on our social media pages, asking for people to share with their friends. The number of followers we had continued to grow.

One morning in mid-March, we were excited to find that earth work had begun! We could easily see where the arced wall was going to be, as well as the circular design for the garden in front of it. We took more pictures and posted them. Our morning runs became a daily investigation of what work had been done.

The Park Board informed us that the Phoenix Garden would be ready for a ribbon cutting on Saturday, April 17. We had seen the progress and knew it was close to being finished. It was amazing seeing it come together day by day, and now it would be officially opened for the public to enjoy.

On that day, at least a hundred of our followers on social media gathered. Dignitaries present included the mayor of the city and members of the Parks Board. There were at least two camera crews sent by local television stations. It was quite the festive atmosphere.

The ceremony was short. The mayor began the program. Her interest was in the fact that this project was citizen-created. She praised Sara and me for our foresight to create the vision for the project, and the drive to take it to the Parks Board to get approval. The president of the Parks Board spoke next and echoed the comments of the mayor.

He then introduced me. I had hoped Sara would be the one that would speak on our behalf, but she professed all along that it had been my idea and so I should be the one to speak about it.

I began my remarks recalling the morning on this spot where Sara had been attacked (all my comments had been suggested by her, so she knew what I was going to say in advance). I told the crowd about how sad we were that such a beautiful spot in the park had been turned into a place of pain and suffering, but that if we brought new beauty back into it, the garden could be enjoyed for years by everyone, including us.

There was one last thing to do, and Sara had agreed to do it. The mayor stood up and said, "I'd like to invite Sara Matthews to come forward and press the switch to turn the water feature on."

The crowd applauded as Sara moved to the front. The mayor held what I assumed was a ceremonial switch, and when Sara flipped it, the water started trickling down from the top of the feature, over its wall and finally bubbling into the pool at the base. It was beautiful seeing it play out just like it had been drawn up. Our Phoenix Garden was complete and open and ready for the public to enjoy.

Eventually the crowd started thinning out, until only Sara and I and a few other people from the social media outlets were present. I took Sara's hand and we walked right up to the water feature.

We stood there for a few moments in the cool of the April morning. Neither of us said anything, because there was nothing really to say at that point. Our dream had turned into reality. We'd created a place of beauty that provided peace, calm, and for us, healing.

But I had one more thing I needed to do. I turned Sara to me and said, "Sara, I never dreamed I'd be in this position again, after the pain I'd been through with my last two relationship failures. But you saw something in me and kept after me, and because of that, I'm getting to experience something in my life I've never had before - complete, true, deep love. I thought I didn't need it to be happy, but I was fooling myself.

"So it's appropriate in this place of beauty we helped create that I honor your beauty - not just your outer beauty, but what you have in your heart and soul. You truly are my hero, and I'd be foolish to ever leave you behind."

I reached into my pocket to retrieve something she didn't know I had. Sara's hands went to her mouth when she saw the engagement ring I was holding. I knelt down in front of the water and the arced wall.

"Sara Matthews, will you marry me?"

"Yes, Thomas Perkins! You are MY hero, and I'm not done thanking you yet!"

She held out her left hand and I slipped the ring on her finger. I stood and embraced her, kissing her just as those that were still there started shouting and applauding. They came forward to hug us and tell us how happy they were for us. It was the perfect end to a great morning.

Before we walked to the car, Sara and I looked back on the garden one more time. She held out her left hand so that we could look at the ring she now proudly wore. Speaking softly, she said, "Thomas, we have made this place into a place of beauty. And now you have made it even more beautiful. I used to dread coming by here on our morning runs. But now I will look at this as the place where you asked me to be your wife. It will forever be one of my most favorite places!"

We kissed, and she looked up at me and said, "Thanks, hero! I love you!"

I kissed her again and said, "You're welcome, hero. I love you, too!"

It had been ten months since Sara's attack. In the days and weeks following, I was reluctant to drop the shield I'd put up around myself in regards to being in a relationship with someone, but Sara had worked hard to bring that shield down, and now she was my fiancé. We had a lot to do as we planned for a wedding. But as long as my hero was with me, I knew nothing was impossible, and together, we'd spend the rest of our lives taking on the world and winning.