Page 106 of Future and Forgiveness

“Well.” I tap my chin as I playfully say, “You nailed parts of that plan. We found each other. We did have an awesome night. And we learned the shitty truth about what happened twelve years ago. So… check, check, and check. I don’t understand why you’re upset.”

“It’s not done,” she snaps. “People aren’t safe yet, and there are too many loose ends.” Her voice tightens. “And I’ve done terrible things. I thought maybe in the deep, deep back of my mind, that if I fixed everything, if I got it all together, it would make up for my sins. That I would deserve it. But now everything’s wrong because things aren’t going according to plan, and I...” She cuts herself off, burying her face in her hands.

The dog trots back toward his crate, and Midge follows him.

“When you committed to that crazy, arbitrary fourteen-day countdown… what was the purpose of that?” I ask.

“Well you asked for a month, which was too long and too easy for us to fall back in love,” she groans. “And I figured after our two weeks we could lay the groundwork for something later. Three, four years down the road. When the time was right everyone would be okay.” She exhales sharply. “But in our current reality?” She throws her hands up, “I’m a freaking anime villain who’s been defeated by a twelve-year-old boy.”

“What?” I blink.

“The cat,” she says flatly, pointing to the other side of the room. I follow her gesture. Midge has her eyes closed resting her body against the puppy’s. “The cat is what ruins everything. It’s the freaking cat.”

“Oh. Because you bought me the dog and Midge loves him.” I can’t hold back my smiles anymore. “Got it.” I squeeze her tighter. “Which anime villain are we talking about? Technically not anime, but… are you thinking Voldemort? Orochimaru?”

She sighs. “Voldemort was stupid.” She tilts her head. “No. I was thinking more like Crocodile from One Piece.”

My heart stops. My God she’s perfect! I pull her in and kiss her hard, pouring everything I’ve got into it. When I finally pull back, I’m still breathless.

“I love you,” I say. “With my whole heart. The fact that you are such a nerd—oh my God, I can’t even. You’re incredible.”

She blinks at me.

“I love you,” I repeat, softer. “And I need to spend the rest of my life with you. Plans, cats, chaos, random anime references, whatever. It doesn’t matter.” I cup her face gently. “You’re allowed to choose yourself. You’re allowed to choose your own happiness.”

Her expression flickers.

“If you need everything to be perfectly aligned before you can have that happiness…” I swallow. “It would absolutely destroy me to lose you again.”

“What if everything blows up?” She presses closer, her forehead resting against my chest, and I tighten my arms around her.

“Then I’ll take care of it.”

She looks at me, something soft and uncertain in her eyes. “Baby… I truly doubt you’d be able to handle all of it. Regardless of your… fighting ability that you think I don’t know about.”

“Okay,” I say quietly. I smile, brushing a thumb across her cheek. “Then if everything blows up… I’ll take care of you.” I put both my hands on her cheeks. “Have any of your plans ever not worked out?”

“Most of them do, it’s only the ones involving you that get all fucked up.” Her pout hasn’t disappeared, and it makes me want to taste her lips.

“How about this—how about we make a plan to love each other for the rest of our lives, and then take each day at a time?”

She relaxes and sinks into my body as she loops her arms around my neck. “Fine. But if anyone asks, it’s my plan.”

“Deal.”

And we kiss while both our minds race, our hearts give in to the inevitability of it all, and chaos dances at our feet.

The End