I wait for you here in our room, like I do every day you have to go. I walk around, staring at all the things that remind me of all the memories we have made and shared. All the happy times, all the sad times, everything comes back to me. I can still feel the pain in my face from laughing so hard, and I can still taste the salty tears from all the times we've cried. I never told you just how much all those times meant to me. Did I? No, but now I will tell you.

It's been twelve years since you first adopted me, but who's counting? What matters to me isn't the time, it's what we've done with the time. All the adventures, all of the fun. It wouldn't have meant anything without you. I wouldn't be here without you. You changed me, showed me what it meant to be a model citizen. Ever since then I've tried my best to be the person you knew I could be. There were many times where I messed up. My glitch, my jealousy, my stubbornness, but I never stopped trying to be the best I could.

I find our photo album of all our cousins. Climbing out the window, I sit on the roof of our dome, flipping through the pages. There were so many adventures that we shared back then. In comparison, now seems rather calm. I wouldn't trade our time now for the world though. I didn't have a family before, and then you invited me into yours. I messed up then, you almost got stolen, but I can't imagine life now if you hadn't adopted me. Then we discovered my cousins, and you didn't hesitate when it came to helping them. You truly are one of, if not, the most amazing person on this planet. I never told you how much it meant to me, that you helped me catch the experiments, but now I will tell you.

As I'm flipping through the pages, I stop on Trainers page, on six hundred twenty three's page, because I know what comes next. I turn the page, and surprisingly, I feel no pain. I always thought that I was in love with Angel. Really. I did. It turned out that I just didn't know what love was. One morning, you explained to me what love felt like. What it meant. It was then that I realized that it wasn't Angel who I loved. I cared for her. I still do. She is like my sister, but that isn't the same kind of love. It was at that moment that I told you, "I love you." You laughed and you told me that you love me too. You then gave me a kiss on the nose, like always. I didn't want to correct you in the kind of love that I meant. I don't know why I didn't. Maybe it was because of Angel, or maybe it was because you were only thirteen years old still.

Ah those kisses. It was always so innocent. It always felt amazing. I didn't know what it was when I had rescued you from Gantu. You just suddenly put your soft lips to my nose and I felt like my entire world had melted. Like in that moment, only you and I existed. It didn't feel that way with Angel. I suppose that should have been my first clue. When I ended things with her, I pretended to be in pain like you had expected me to. I never told you how much relief I had actually felt. You were so intent on comforting me though, I couldn't take that away from you. I never told you how amazing you were that day, but now I will tell you.

It's lunch time now. I can smell food wafting up from the kitchen, caught on the warm breeze. I close our album and stare off into the distance. I can see your school and I wonder, what are you doing right now? What are you thinking about? Do I take up your thoughts as much as you take up mine? I place the album on your bed before I finally go downstairs.

You really should be here for these lunches. It never happens unless you're not here, and I really wonder why. Pleakley gets to cook, without any complaining from Nani or David. It's odd. Since Nani and David got married, she's been a lot more lenient on Pleakley in the kitchen. It feels like so long ago, but it really isn't. You were fourteen when they announced their engagement, and I had no idea what a wedding was. When you explained it to me, I wondered. I thought, "Could Lilo and I ever get married?" I asked my cousins what they thought. It pained me to be told that it could never work. A relationship like that between a human and an experiment could never work? Why not? We've been friends since we met, sure we've had our ups and downs, but I honestly believe it could.

We hear a cry from upstairs and David excuses himself. After a few moments he returns with your one year old niece. She's so young and she already looks so much like you and Nani. Halia, named in loving memory of your mother, truly is precious. It's always a momentous occasion when someone is added to our ohana. She's still upset when David brings her down, and I offer to take her. My soft warm fur instantly calms her down and she looks up at me with a smile. I rock her back and forth for a while before she's finally okay again. Nani thanks me and I give her Halia to hold. I'm told I could make a good father one day and I blush furiously. I think back to you and I truly believe that you would be an amazing mother. After lunch I help out with chores around the house. I'm always making sure that my goodness level stays nice and high for you. I never want to let you down again.

While I was putting away some of the books we left out in the living room yesterday, I found something. The pressed hibiscus we made fell out of the pages of one of the books. Seeing the flower brought a pain back to me. I carried it without a word up to our room. The red petals reminded me of that time last year.

I never told you how much it pained me when you said you found someone. "It was love at first sight." Those six words managed to crush me more than anything I had ever faced. You two just randomly met one day when I wasn't there. I could see how happy you had been. Finally, you were accepted for who you were by another human other than Victoria. Someone who could be your friend, or more than a friend. I should have been prepared for you to start dating, but I wasn't. I always thought you would be there for when I was finally able to muster up the courage to tell you how I felt about you. You weren't. I could do nothing but smile and help you get ready for your time to spend with him. To me, he would always be that surfer boy who wasn't good enough for the Lilo he took away from me. You told me to be nice, and try to like him. I did. I couldn't. I never told you, it was because every time he held your hand, or kissed your cheek, I wanted it to be me that was with you, but now I will tell you.

I couldn't expect you to leave him for me. I was just an experiment, he was human. There wouldn't be any questions or odd stares if you walked hand in hand with him. I couldn't expect you to realize my feelings when I was too cowardly to tell you. I told myself it was for the best. That I would fall out of love with you. Why then did my feelings for you only grow? Why then did it hurt more and more to see you walk away with him? Why then, could I do nothing?

I never told you the reason I gave you the hibiscus. Every day he saw you, that surfer boy would give you a single flower. No matter what kind, colour, or scent it carried, it always matched you perfectly. A shining piece who's beauty only true came to light the moment it was placed in your shining black hair. Then a day I always hoped for had come. What I didn't want, though, was the pain you would feel. The day the two of you broke up.

I never told you that I was secretly happy. Not at your pain, but that I could one day tell you my feelings now. I was there for you each and every day. I was there for you as you grieved him leaving you. All your tears, dried by my hand. I told you it would be okay, and you told me you knew it would be. "He's only one boy. There'll be others." Bitter sweet words that touched my ears. You were always a strong and persistent girl. You didn't let the heartache hold you down for long.

This flower, I now hold, takes me back to that day when it happened. He left you, suddenly, without reason. I knew something was wrong when you returned without a flower in your hair, tears stained your face. You asked to be alone for a while and returned to our room without another word. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened. I immediately ran to the forest to find your favorite flower. You always said you loved the red hibiscus the most. When I returned, I merely taped on the window and waited for you to let me in. I would have waited as long as I needed to. When the window finally opened, I gave you the flower and you started to cry again. I apologized immediately. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to make you cry." You told me it was okay, that they were tears of happiness. You said you were happy to have me as a friend.

I place the flower in an empty photo frame and look at it one last time before going to lay on my bed. I know that it's almost time for you to return home. I never told you how hard it is to wait these last few moments. Knowing that you are on your way back here. I wait in our bedroom because that is always the first place you go. You ride the elevator and the first thing you always say is, "Hi, Stitch." I never told you what your voice is like to me. How it rings like the bells of heaven, calling me towards it. How the highs and lows lift me like wave. I never told you how much I love your laugh, or how imaginative you are. The little things you do always make me smile. Even through the teenage years you kept your childlike heart and view on the world. Looking for good even in the places where it seemed like there was none. The games we played, the adventures we shared. They never stopped and I never want them to stop. I know I am risking it all today though.

I roll over when I smell something familiar on the horizon. The smell of light lavender and coconut reaches me and crashes my senses. I know it is you before I even look. I run to the window and finally see you. Standing tall with a grand smile on your face. You were never more beautiful to me than you are right now. Your straight, long, raven black hair flows gently in the wind, my eye catches each and every strand. You may have stopped wearing your mu'umu'us as frequently, but your flower print t-shirt takes me back to the little girl that adopted me for two dollars that fateful morning. You wave at me, your eyes sparkling like the crystal clear waters of the ocean. Your smile wrinkles your beautifully tanned skin around your eyes and I can't get over how stunning you are. I wave back, suddenly feeling self-conscious about everything.

I think about all the things that I never told you as you run to the house. After several long moments I finally hear the whir of the elevator as you make your way up to me. Before you say hello to me I need to say something I've been meaning to tell you for so long now.

Another moment. I never told you. A smile. I never told you. My breakup. I never told you. A wedding. I never told you. A baby. I never told you. You dating. I never told you. You. I never told you.

Now I will tell you. You are here, the lift has stopped, and you see me for all that I am. All those things I never told you, but now I will tell you; and now I will tell you.

"Lilo, I love you."