The beach apartment was dark and quiet for the first time since they had leased it six years ago. Gina was gone, to everyone's relief. Donna was finally on her honeymoon with David.

And Kelly was lying next to Dylan. It seemed so odd that they had never spent the night in her room together before. She had lived there so long that it was a part of who she was; the plush red on the wall, the flowery accents on her bed, the feminine vanity with memories of high school, college, and girlhood tucked away in drawers were so reminiscent of who she was.

She propped herself up on her elbow, allowing her head to rest on her wrist. Blonde strands fell over her naked arm as she watched him.

She was finally ready to admit it. She never had before. She was afraid to. Dylan McKay was her soul mate. No one knew her like he did. Not even Brandon. Brandon knew her goodness; Dylan knew it all. He knew the good, the bad, the ugly, all of the traits in herself she was afraid to show to anyone else. And he still loved her as she loved him.

She smiled softly at the thought as she listened to him breathe. Since the wedding, they had spent the last three days almost entirely in bed, laughing, loving, telling stories of their lives apart and together. Sometimes they would go to the beach and swim, cuddle up in the sand under an umbrella as they had done so many years ago. They had walked hand in hand to their spot, the one they had promised each other they would go to if they were ever in trouble. Dylan had told her he had seen her there with Matt when he was binging. She had held his face in her palms and softly told him that he never had to hide from her again.

But she squirmed now in bed as she wondered if he would ever run again. She had lost him before, once to Brenda after she got back from Paris, to Toni when she had turned him away, to drugs and indifference. How many years would she have with him before he left her again? Did she really care though? Was it enough just to have him in her life completely, if only for a while?

As if reading her mind, he mumbled, "Why aren't you asleep?"

She rubbed his bare back, smiling as she said in a girlish voice, "How did you know that I was awake?"

Digging his head further into the pillow, he said, "Because your ice cold feet aren't wrapped around mine looking for warmth."

She hit him on the shoulder, causing him to moan in feigned pain. "I do not have cold feet."

Finally turning over, he smiled lopsidedly and roguishly, staring at her. "The thermal socks in your drawer beg to differ." Growing serious, he brushed her arm from her shoulder to her wrist. "Why were you awake, Kel? Missing Donna?"

"It seems wrong without her here. This was our home for so long." Her head tilted down, blonde streaks falling over her face.

It was his turn to avert his eyes. Quietly yet powerfully, he said, "When you weren't living at Brandon's."

Her fingertips played with the back of his hand, drawing mindless pictures. "Dylan…" she said low and cautioning as she so often did. "I can't take back the time I lived at the Walsh house. It was my home." Her eyes softened sadly, the look she only gave to him. "But it's not what I want anymore. Brandon is not who I want."

His eyes, watery and deep, looked straight into hers. "Because what you and I had was missing in your relationship."

Leaning into him, her hand slid further down his back. Staring right back at him, she said, "Because I missed you. And what you and I had."

He blinked a few times before he slowly began to smile. It had taken her two years, hell it had taken her five, but she had finally admitted it. Leaning up, he kissed her fully until he had to lean her back, cupping the back of her head with his hand. He deepened the kiss as she fell onto the pillow, urged on by her small, playful groans. Finally, he felt her body tense and he pulled away only a few inches, his breath hot on her mouth and cheeks. "What is it, Kelly?"

She squirmed underneath him, echoes of the young insecure girl reflecting over her delicate features. "I chose you. You chose Toni. Dylan, I'm so sorry you lost her, but there's a part of me that will always know that you wanted her."

His eyes were pleading. He wished more than anything that she would finally know how he felt. "I've told you before, Kel. I asked you first. I'm asking you now."

She looked down and away, saying, "But you asked Toni to marry you. You just wanted to take me on a trip."

He fell onto the bed on his back and let out a deep breath. He had never planned on telling her this, but just as he had told her about being at her wedding, he knew it was time to confess. "I had bought you a ring."

"What?" Her nose crinkled in confusion.

They turned so they lay facing each other, cuddling their pillows, staring intently at each other. But Dylan's gaze drifted off as he remembered their past. "The day I bought you the plane tickets five years ago—I got a ring."

She sucked in a gasp. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to, but after Brandon asked, it would look like I was just trying to out-do him, not really ask you." He smiled softly. "I decided if you were going to choose me, then it would have been the time to ask."

"But if I had known you were really ready to commit—"

He rubbed her arm up and down slowly with the palm of his hand. "You would what? Have said yes?" He shook his head. "I don't want to know that, Kelly. I don't want to think about how my life would have been different the last five years had you known."

Her eyes watered. She hurt when he hurt and he had been in pain for so long. In nearly a whisper, she asked, "What did you do with the ring?"

He let out a small laugh. "I threw it off the Eiffel Tower."

She smiled, but turned away from his slightly. "Brandon kept our ring for years. We couldn't let it go."

He stared at the ceiling. He knew she wasn't being spiteful or mean. She wanted to understand. She wanted to know that she hadn't chosen the wrong man. Taking her hand in his, he said, "I didn't throw it away because I wasn't going to ask you again." He came up over her again and cupped her face with his hand. "I wanted to ask you to marry me with a ring you'd say yes to."

A wave of love flashed over her eyes now. Thickly, she said, "I don't need a ring to ever say yes to you, Dylan. I just need to know you'll be here."

He squeezed her arm for emphasis. "I will be."

She wrapped her arms around his bare back and they held each other close in silence for a long time. "I love you so much," she finally whispered into his ear.

He turned so that he'd flip over on his back to have her on top of him. "Through everything, Kel, all of the drugs and Toni and Bren and Brandon, there has always been a part of me that knew we'd find each other again. I will always want you, no matter what happens."

She made a trail over his collar bone with her index finger. "When you were gone, I had made this safe life for myself. I knew what my life was going to be like. I thought I could ignore the hole that I could never fill up when I thought of you."

He gave her a small, sad smile. Nudging her hips with his own, he said, "That's why I came back, Kelly. I couldn't pretend that I didn't need you anymore. The hole was too deep."

Bending down, she kissed him lightly on the lips. He followed her up and searched for her mouth, kissing her slowly, longingly. "I wish I didn't need you so much," she whispered.

He nuzzled into her ear. "Please don't say that." Hugging her tighter, he said, "I'll always need you, Kel. I'll always be here."

She shook her head. "How do I know that? How can you ask me not to worry?"

Tilting his head inquisitively, his eyes sparked with a smile. "Last time I walked to the refrigerator, I noticed the place looks a little empty. Looks like you could use a new renter."

She smiled, a ghost of the young college girl flashed across her happy face. "Are you saying you want to move in with me?"

He let out a breath, glancing over her body admiring the curves of her thigh. "We've done just about everything else. I think it's time we try something new."

Her face clouded again. "So this is a novelty to you."

"You know it's not," he said forcibly, agitated. "Kel, you're going to have to start trusting that I want this."

She searched his eyes and she knew. She could feel it. All of her doubt and guilt washed away. It would take time to build a new relationship, but she was ready. "I do, Dylan." She wrapped her arms around him. "I want you to move in with me."

His smile started slowly, lopsidedly. "You do?" He watched her nod her head and mumble a girlish "Mmhmm." Holding her tight, he quickly flipped them over in a roguish, masculine, Dylan-esque fashion, causing her to cry out and giggle happily. He flitted light kisses across her face as she sifted her hands through his thick hair.

He pulled away from her suddenly, causing her to wrinkle her brow. "Dylan?"

Seventeen again, playful cockiness lightened his hard face. "The first thing we need to do is redecorate. Too many chicks have lived her for way too long."

"We are not!" Laughing, she hit his arm.

"No, no," he said, jerking his head excitedly as he spoke. "We could turn Donna's room into a game room with a pool table and poker table. Maybe a dart board."

Cocking her eyebrow, her two front teeth slightly jutted out from her smiling lips. "You are not changing my apartment."

His face softened now. In a rasp barely above a thick whisper, he said, "Our apartment."

She pulled him to her closely. "Our apartment," she repeated breathily in his ear. Before falling asleep, she reminded herself to tell her mother in the morning. Jackie, she knew, would be the first to buy them an impractical piece of furniture. Comforted by the heat of his body, her last thought was of waking up with his arm around her, of his warm cologne surrounding her, of his bright smile and the taste of his lips against hers tomorrow.

For the first time in six years, she finally believed it. They would always have a tomorrow.