Part II
He's fifty-eight years old when he comes back...in a child's body.
Five looks down at himself and then back up at his siblings, who all seem to be taller than him now.
Shit.
She's the first thing he asks about. How can he not?
Because he's finally back, in a time where she's still alive, in a time where he can see her again, can hear her voice, can be with her again.
"Let's be friends!"
"Delores." He looks around, not even bothering to hide his impatience. "Is she here?"
His siblings glance at each other, solemn looks crossing their faces. Clearly, they had expected him to know something they did.
It's Allison who speaks up.
"Five..." she says softly. "Delores left. A long time ago."
His blood runs cold and he clenches his jaw, barely restraining himself from lashing out at someone.
No.
He hadn't come all the way back just to get only part of his life back.
Five curls his fingers around the handle of his coffee mug so hard his knuckles turn white. "What do you mean, she left?"
His siblings throw cautious looks at each other again, as if daring each other to speak first. Klaus, being impossibly high, is the only one who has the courage to break the news to him. Klaus spreads his legs on the table he's sitting on, skirt moving as he did so, giving Five an eyeful of his brother's goods. Mother of shit. Five grimaces. That's not a sight he ever wants to see again.
"She means that after you disappeared, your little girlfriend cried for days," sighs Klaus. "And then her father died not long after, and she didn't really have any reason to hang around us anymore."
Five stares down hard at his distorted reflection in the black coffee sitting in his mug. She had cried?
"We tried tracking her down a few times." Luther explains. "She was our friend too, after all. But we couldn't find any trace of her. We think maybe she left the city."
Five slams his hand down suddenly on the table, irked by Number One's audacity. "You don't get to say that. That she was your friend. How dare..."
You didn't know her.
None of them did. They didn't know what her favorite color had been, her favorite music, her favorite dessert. They didn't know what had made her laugh and what had made her sad. They didn't know how much he had—
He releases a controlled breath through his teeth. "Doesn't matter. I'll find her."
"Five...that might not be a good idea. It's been almost twenty years for us. For her too." Allison's expression is sympathetic and she reaches out a hand, as if she could possibly offer him comfort. "It's most likely that she's moved on by now."
Five steps back, a scowl forming on his face. He doesn't want her sympathy. He doesn't want any of their sympathy. He had spent so many years in that world. So many long, lonely years. In a broken and desolate world, hoping and waiting for the time when he could finally return. If not for Delores, for the memories of her happiness, her companionship...if he hadn't pretended that she was there with him, he would have lost his damn mind a long time ago.
He turns away and leaves, ignoring his siblings calling after him.
Five closes the bedroom door behind him and leans against it, sliding down slowly and hitting the ground softly with a thump.
"It's a huge house! It must be so nice to live here!"
He lifts his head to stare mindlessly at his bed. It's still all made up, a thin layer of dust covering the sheets.
They sat on his bed, leaned against the wall with their shoulders touching and legs sprawled out in front of them.
Delores was drawing happily on her sketchpad, wiggling her toes absentmindedly. Five lowered the book that he'd stopped reading a while ago and stared off into the distance.
"I want to try time travel."
She looked up in surprise at his sudden statement, her lips parting. "Time travel?"
"Yeah. My father thinks I can't do it. But how hard could it be?" Five crossed his legs. "I've pretty much mastered teleportation."
Delores flipped her sketchpad closed and turned so she was giving him her full attention. "Well, I think you can do it. You can do anything, Five. As long as you put your mind to it! You're the smartest person I know!"
She poked him to emphasize her point and Five couldn't help the pleased smile that broke out onto his face.
He presses the heels of his hands to his eyes, trying to make the unwanted memory go away.
"You can do anything, Five."
Her faith had been misplaced. He'd damn well fucked it all up, hadn't he?
Five drops his elbows down onto his knees and lets his hands fall, dangling over the ground helplessly.
He wants nothing more than to drop everything and go find her. Screw what his siblings said. Of course they hadn't been able to track her down. They probably hadn't tried hard enough.
Unwanted questions arise.
Would she be angry if he showed up in her life again?
Did she even remember him anymore?
Five clenches his fists, pushing the ugly thoughts away. He wants her back, needs her back.
But he remembers his mission. If he fails at this, it doesn't matter if he finds her. It won't matter because she will be dead. Everyone will be. And he can't have that.
No, he can't find Delores just yet. But he can easily find the next best thing.
Griddy's Doughnuts.
It had been one of the few places he and his siblings had been free from their father's clutches, at least for a short while.
Five splays a hand on the countertop, memories flashing through his head and a small smile passes over his lips. But as he looks around, he muses, "Don't remember this place being such a shithole. I used to come here as a kid. Used to sneak out with my siblings to meet Delores here and eat doughnuts till we puked."
Five casts a glance at the man beside him. "Simpler times, huh?"
"Uh...I suppose." Five is quietly amused by the utter confusion in the man's voice.
The waitress comes back with his coffee and the other man's order. Five sips at his drink quietly, still immersed in the nostalgia that this place stokes in him.
It's been...so long.
His gaze falls on one of the booths in the corner of the shop, a booth that is all too familiar to him.
"Five!" She reached over for the doughnut but his arms were longer and he successfully kept it out of her grasping fingers. "That's mine!"
"You were too slow." He taunted, making a big show of shoving it whole into his mouth.
Klaus, Diego, and Vanya laughed from across the table, the three of them squeezed into the small space happily.
She pouted in disappointment but brightened up again when Ben shyly offered her his pudding.
"Oh, thank you!" She turned to beam at Ben, who was sitting on her other side.
Five wasn't sure why he felt a little annoyed by that.
"You'll get fat from eating all that." He said lazily, twirling a fork in one hand.
She flushed and glared at him, though it was without malice. Five smirked at the desired reaction he elicited from her, taking in the pretty pink blush staining her cheeks.
"Shut up, stupid!"
She flicked her spoon at him and globs of the pudding flew onto his face. Delores gaped and there was a moment of absolute silence before Five turned his head slowly, dangerously slowly, towards her. But there was nowhere for her to run, since she was sandwiched between him and Ben, so she shrank against Ben, who blushed.
"You..." Five's jaw ticked and he lifted a hand to wipe the mango pudding off his face.
That must have been the last straw because peals of laughter escaped Delores and it was followed by sniggers from his siblings.
And then a wicked smile crossed his face and Delores stopped laughing, finally seeming to grasp the gravity of the situation. "Wait...no..."
Five dove at her, fingers attacking her side and she shrieked, giggling while her hands pushing at him uselessly. "Five, no! I'm sorry!"
She tried to escape by tunneling through the small space between him and the table, but his training kicked in and he caught her around the waist, holding her in place. Delores was wriggling like an oversized worm, but he leaned in close anyway to her ear. "Do you yield?"
She was red in the face and laughing hard and Five was infinitely proud that he was the cause of it.
"I give up, I give up! You win!"
Five grinned triumphantly.
"You named it Delores."
Five rubs his head, mildly regretting drinking what felt like an entire liquor store. This body is shit at handling copious amounts of alcohol. Despite his dazed state, he makes a quick assessment of the unfamiliar surroundings. This must be Diego's place of residence. "So?"
Luther tears his gaze away from the top half of the mannequin and meets Five's gaze. "You really missed her."
He shoots Luther a look of utter disdain. "Nothing gets past you now does it, muscle boy?"
"Don't be so mean, Five."
"I'm not—" He stops talking when he realizes that Luther is looking at him strangely and Five swallows, looking away awkwardly from the mannequin.
His brother isn't phased by his initial hostility and presses on. "What were you doing in the library?"
Five doesn't answer his question. He doesn't want to admit that his resolve had cracked and in a moment of weakness, during a break from his equations and research, he'd been selfish and had looked for her. When his search had turned up empty though...well, the headache he's sporting right now is proof of it. He doesn't want to face the fact that there's a chance that he might actually be unable to find her, that she's far away, that she's gone.
"Five. What happened?" Luther's voice has softened, and he's now looking at him with blatant concern.
There's a long pause before Five speaks again.
"The world was on fire." He says hoarsely, staring at the mannequin, the only thing that still gives him comfort. "The world was burning and you were all dead and she was gone."
He stares forlornly at the small and shabby house, a house from a lifetime ago.
It had been a foolish idea, to come here. Of course she's not here anymore. The family that gets out of the van in the driveway is a testament to that. But there had been some part of him, some irrational, ludicrous part of him that had thought...maybe, just maybe. Plus, it's on the way to Hazel and Cha Cha so he just hadn't been able to resist.
He still remembers the last time he had visited this place.
It had also been the last time he ever saw her again.
Their hands were joined as they walked down the street, the streetlights illuminating their path. Her hand was so warm and it fit so perfectly in his and it just felt so...right.
They were still trying to get used to this, to these newfound feelings, the fluttering in their chests when they saw each other.
They reached her house all too soon and Five let go of her hand reluctantly. "Well, good night, I suppose. I'll see you tomorrow."
Delores was much less stiff and awkward than he was and she smiled widely as she leaned toward him, her lips brushing against his so innocently and quickly even he had no time to react.
She blushed and was bounding away and up the steps to her house before Five remembered to breathe.
"Good night, Five!"
And then she was gone and he was standing alone outside, fingers ghosting along his lips as if it would somehow replay the moment.
He smiled.
She never stopped surprising him.
"Five."
"Five."
Luther's voice brings him out of the past and Five looks at his brother who is squeezed uncomfortably in the driver's seat of the car that's too small for him.
"What are we doing here? Is this some sort of secret weapon we can use against them?"
Secret weapon. Christ, the man certainly has some fanciful ideas.
Five doesn't answer him and instead glances back at the house, tracing an index finger along his lips.
"No...I was mistaken. Let's go."
Five watches the Commission burn to the ground.
Vanya Hargreeves.
Seeing his sister's name in the Apocalypse file had certainly been unexpected and difficult to come to terms with, but he'd managed.
He has to give the Handler credit. She's a tricky bit of business. Using Delores as a bargaining chip...it had been impossibly enticing, but he is smarter than she thinks he is. He's figured it all out.
"I told you so. You can do anything you put your mind to, Five."
He glances down at the briefcase in his hand. Temptation eats at him. It would be so easy to just...press rewind, to go back to how things were before.
Five curses himself for even entertaining the mere thought of it. He still has things to do.
He needs to fix things. He needs to get back and help Vanya, change everything that has gone wrong with his family.
He can't be selfish just yet.
Wait for me a little longer, Delores.
Five opens his briefcase and closes his eyes as he's drowned in the blue light.
He taps the woman on her shoulder.
"Excuse me, Miss? Could you give that mannequin something new to wear?"
Five glances back at Delores, a sad but fond smile flickering on his lips.
It's been a good run, old girl.
"She likes sequins."
It all breaks loose inside him days later, the grief.
It makes no sense. He's achieved his goal. The apocalypse would not come to pass. He should be happy, proud even.
But the pain inside him has been festering for years, growing and gnawing at his mind and he's finally reached his breaking point.
Because he still can't find her. And there's a piece of him, of his entirely messed up and old soul, that is still lost and he's scared...he's scared that he may never find it again.
The agony is too much for him to bear.
Five barricades himself in his room and slams his fists down on his desk again and again. He doesn't care that it hurts, that bruises form and splinters wedge in the side of his hand.
He lets out a soundless scream, and his heart aches.
It aches for the siblings he hadn't been able to grow up with, for the one sibling he hadn't been able to save.
It aches for losing her so early, before he'd even had the opportunity to tell her he loved her.
It aches for the life he never had the chance to live.
"Five."
He looks up to see Klaus standing before him.
"What do you want?"
Klaus sighs, sitting down next to him on the couch and crossing his legs with a flourish. "Is that any way to speak to someone who has good news?"
Five rolls his eyes. He doesn't have time for his brother's dramatics today. He returns his attention back to his notebook, turning a page even though he knows there's no use in going over the equations over and over again. It won't magically bring Delores back to him.
"Delores isn't a common name, which made my job easier."
Five's head snaps up.
Klaus rambles on, "I did find a stripper named Delores and I thought, damn, what a lucky bastard Five is, but turns out that was a dead end. Wasn't even her real name. Who chooses Delores as a stripper name? There are so many better ones...take Sugar Tits for example...and—"
Five slams his book shut, somewhat amazed that Klaus has somehow taken the subject of Delores and has made it about strippers. The man's brain is truly a piece of work. "Are you going somewhere with this, Klaus?"
His brother pauses in making his top ten stripper name list, looking mildly annoyed that he'd been interrupted. Klaus slouches in his seat and begins to pick at his nails nonchalantly.
"Yeah, I found her."
The world comes screeching to a halt and Five stares unblinkingly at Klaus, scrutinizing his brother's expression for any sign of dishonesty. He finds none. Surely...surely it's a prank? A cruel joke that Klaus had somehow deemed fit to play on him? But...why?
And then horror runs through him.
Is she...she isn't...he doesn't even dare go there, because he doesn't know if he will be able to handle it.
But Klaus sees the expression on his face and shakes his head. "She's not dead."
The relief that fills him is so strong he nearly cries.
And then his brother is pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket with two fingers and waving it at him. Five wastes no time in snatching it out of his hand and staring down at it, memorizing every detail. It's a postcard with a painting on it, the type of postcard you get in a museum gift shop. On the back, scrawled in Klaus's loopy handwriting, is an address. He reads it over and over again until it's seared into his mind.
"She's an artist. A reclusive one, but she's talented. I hear some of her paintings were sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars." Klaus's voice is wistful and longing. "Imagine what that could buy..."
"How?"
He has no need to elaborate on the question and Klaus seems to understand too.
"The ghosties." Klaus wiggles his fingers in the air vaguely. "Did some things for them in return for this favor. You know, they're surprisingly good at the whole gossip and rumor mill thing. It didn't take them as long as I thought I would."
Five still doesn't understand. "Why did you do it?"
"I know how it feels to lose someone." Klaus says, resting his head on the back of the couch and he's right there but he sounds like he's so far away. "I'm not sure about the others, but I wasn't blind. She adored you, Five. You don't just forget about someone like that. And it looks like she never completely moved on from you." He waves a hand dismissively in Five's direction. "And I know for a fact that you certainly haven't, you sentimental old man."
Five lets out a snort but looks at Klaus fondly. "I suppose you're not completely useless."
Klaus wipes away a fake tear. "Oh, how you flatter me."
Five returns his attention back to the address in front of him, stares at it like it's his lifeline.
"Take a look at her pseudonym." Klaus offers.
"Pseudonym?"
"Yeah, she doesn't use her real name, that's why it was so hard to find her."
Five flips over the postcard.
And his throat closes up. Because now he knows why Klaus had sounded so sure when he'd said Delores hadn't moved on. At the bottom right corner of the painting, in a tiny and neat scrawl, is the artist's signature in blue ink.
#5
Five lowers the postcard Klaus had given him and looks across the street at the nondescript art studio nestled between a coffee shop and boutique. He crosses the street to the coffee shop and takes a seat in the outdoors seating area. And waits.
For every second that passes, doubt grows in his mind until he's a heartbeat away from leaving.
He's done month-long stakeouts before, hidden in bushes, cramped cars, and yet nothing compares to this moment.
The anticipation is killing him.
And then the door to the art studio opens and a figure exits the building. Five straightens in his chair and his heart jumps into his throat. He feels like a young boy again, like how he had felt the first time he'd held her hand, when she'd first kissed him.
The woman shuts the door behind her, balancing a large box and folder as she struggles to lock the door with the other hand.
His lips part slightly as he stares.
She's certainly grown up.
All his imagination during those years, the thoughts of what she sounded like, what she had grown up to look like, they all fade away into nothing.
She's wearing a thick-rimmed glasses and a paint-splattered hoodie and her hair is done up messily in a bun.
She's breathtaking.
"Oh!" Delores gasps, laughing awkwardly when she bumps into a passerby. Five lets out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. How I've missed her laugh. "I'm so sorry!"
He smiles unconsciously. She'd always been rather clumsy. It's nice to see that some things haven't changed.
He lowers his gaze when she begins walking towards him and an uncharacteristic anxiety surges through him, keeping him rooted in his seat.
She passes by him without a single glance and he's not sure what to feel. Relief? Disappointment?
But then he hears a sharp intake of breath and the sound of papers fluttering to the ground.
Her whisper is broken and disbelieving and pained, and the guilt that surges through him is unreal.
"...Five?"
"I thought...I never stopped thinking that maybe someday you would come back."
Five turns his head to look at her as they walk slowly through the park. Her fingers brush against the back of his hand and he resists the urge to grab hers, grab it and never let go.
"You're too smart not to have figured it out."
He smiles faintly, remembering her similar words from all those years ago.
Surprisingly, they don't speak about much else after that. There's so much he wants to say that nothing comes to mind. It must be the same for her because ever so often, her head turns toward him but then she stops and looks away again.
An elderly woman passing by the two smiles widely at Delores. "My dear, you have such a handsome son. You must be so proud."
Upon seeing the flabbergasted expression on Delores's face, the woman gasps apologetically. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Not your son? Your younger brother then?"
A strange rush of embarrassment and anger rushes through Five and he declares flatly, "If it were not for the fact that she would likely disapprove, I would reach into your throat and remove your vocal cords with my bare hands so no one will ever have to hear your drivel again."
The look of horror that replaces the woman's expression gives him a spark of joy.
When the woman practically flees and he looks back at Delores, sure enough, he sees a mixture of exasperation and amusement on her face. "That's a bit extreme."
"She deserved it."
Delores just shakes her head knowingly and takes a seat on a park bench. Five remains standing, because at least then he can pretend he's taller than her.
They're quiet for a while, the only sounds being the peaceful whistling of wind and the rustle of tree leaves behind them.
And then Delores speaks.
"I was so...angry with you." Her smile is shaky and he immediately hates himself for being the cause of it. "For leaving. For leaving me all alone."
Five unfolds his arms and reaches out a hand to touch the side of her face. A couple walking past gives them a funny look, but he ignores them. For the first time, he can't find the right words and all he can say is, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Delores leans into his touch and he loses himself in her eyes. The same, kind eyes that he'd been so drawn to when they had first met.
"You gave me all of my firsts, you know." She says softly. "My first friend, my first dessert buddy, my first sleepover..."
She trails off and places her larger hand over his, keeping it pressed to her cheek, a hint of desperation in her eyes and in the way with which she holds his hand. "You were my first love."
He looks down. And you were mine. You were my first and only.
But then the old woman's words from a short while ago come back to haunt him and he deflates a little, remembering that he's fifty-eight but he looks thirteen. Remembers that she's nearly thirty, that she's all grown up now.
"I admit..." Five lowers his hand and looks away. "I don't know how this is going to work, Delores. I don't...I messed up on a scale of massive proportions, playing with time."
"I've never heard you sound anything less than sure about yourself, Five."
Her voice is different. Higher now, and younger.
Five's head snaps up.
And he finds himself looking at Delores, but she's not her age anymore, features smooth and young, height even shorter than his now.
She looks exactly like the way he remembers her.
"How did you..." Five stares. "What did you just do?"
She no longer has to stand up and twist on one foot to use her power, screwing up her face in the way she had done in the past, something that he'd secretly found adorable. Instead, Delores simply sits there, her legs crossed primly as her features morph again. In a matter of seconds, Five sees her in her late teens and then in her twenties. It's surreal, and Five can't help but let his imagination run wild. Flashes come to him—moments—of a life that he could have had with her.
And then she's back to normal and Five is still in a state of shock as she explains, "Your father had a theory a long time ago. Turns out he was right about it."
"...What theory?"
"The way I can change...it's because I can manipulate my own cells, the very genomic sequence that defines who I am. I can make myself younger, older..." Delores takes a deep breath and gazes at him expectantly.
It takes him an embarrassingly long moment to grasp the implications of Delores's statement.
Is she...could she really...
And then she's a young girl again, standing up and grasping one of his hands like the way she had done so long ago. "I can go back. To the way I was before you left. We can go back."
His first instinct is to say yes. He wants desperately to agree. He would do anything to do everything over again. He wants to make up for all the moments they had missed together. He wants to give her all the firsts in the world again.
But something stops him and Five recoils when a petrifying realization runs through him.
She never moved on.
She had never moved on and it's his fault. For not thinking about the consequences, of his father's warnings of jumping through time.
And as much as he wants to be selfish and say yes, yes, god yes, he can't do that to her, can't ask her to do that for him.
She has something here, a life without him.
"We can't go back."
Everything is suddenly so cold and she's here and there are other people passing by and yet he's never felt so alone.
"Five..."
"It was wrong of me to come here."
He can't even think straight anymore, everything's coming at him all at once, churning restlessly in his mind.
He doesn't look at her because he knows that if he does, he'll likely give in all too easily. "I...I ruined your life, Delores. You could have had a normal life but...but you...you didn't. That's on me."
"Five..."
"I can't...I can't do this, Delores." His voice cracks and he takes a step back. "You're better off without me."
"Five, wait!"
It's a whisper and he almost misses it when he disappears but Five still hears it and it tears at what's left of his broken heart.
"Please don't leave."
Against his better judgement, Five finds himself standing outside a liquor store that night, staring miserably up at the neon sign flickering beckoningly at him.
Time to drink up.
Five teleports into the house, not even bothering to spend the short time it would take to open the front door. He winces as he stumbles on his landing. It's been a week since seeing Delores, and the pain of missing her and the booze he's consumed to dull it has taken an obvious toll on his powers. Whatever.
He frowns when he hears a low murmur coming from the living room and follows the sound of it.
Five finds his siblings gathered in the room. Luther, Allison, and Vanya are squeezed on the couch and Diego is standing. Klaus, as usual, is sprawled out on the coffee table.
A family meeting? Without him?
They all look up at him when he enters, smiles slipping from their faces.
"What..."
His voice trails off when someone, not one of his siblings, stands up from the armchair facing away from him. Five's mouth goes dry.
Gone is the paint-splattered hoodie. Instead, she's wearing a grey peacoat over black leggings, and her hair is swept over one shoulder, no longer in its ponytail. She looks nervous, wringing her hands and shifting slightly from foot to foot.
"Delores."
She offers a smile, one that doesn't quite reach her eyes. "Hello, Five."
"We'll uh..." Luther stands and the others follow his lead. "We'll give you some privacy. It was so nice catching up with you again, Delores. We've all missed you."
She nods and Five notices her reach out a hand to touch Vanya's arm as they head out of the room. Aside from him, Vanya had probably been Delores's next closest friend. She always had a way with the misfits, Five thinks. The ones who weren't quite normal, even in this family.
"Stop running, you pussy." Klaus mutters out of the corner if his mouth as he passes by. Five's lips twist up in a scowl, but the words hit their mark.
And then his siblings are gone and it's just the two of them.
"I hear you named a mannequin after me." A smile passes over Delores's face.
Five immediately makes a reminder to disembowl Diego when he gets the chance.
"Delo...the mannequin was just a way to cope." He replies.
"You spent all that time...alone." Delores says, shaking her head. "I can't even imagine what..."
"I wasn't alone." Five blurts out, and confusion passes over her face. He tries again, speaking slower this time. "You...you were there. Your friendship, the memories...you gave me. They helped."
Her expression melts and her voice is a little unsteady as she breathes, "I'm glad."
Delores lifts a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
God, she's beautiful.
"You were wrong."
"...What?"
Delores steps closer to him and one of her arms twitches, as though to reach out to him but at the last minute she changes her mind and it lowers. "I'm not better off without you. God, Five...I..."
"How?" Five breathes, shaking his head. "How are you not? Why didn't you move on?"
"I lost my mother, my father, and you all in a span of a couple years. That's...that's not something you walk away from unscathed." Delores laughs breathily. It's not a happy laugh. "Nothing was quite right with my life after that, with any of my relationships."
"Delores..."
"No, listen to me." Her voice is strong and unwavering now. "You never ruined my life. Five, you were one of the best parts. I loved you. I still do. "
He takes a shaky breath.
She isn't lying.
Delores moves until she's standing right in front of him, so close that he can so easily pull her into an embrace. "It wasn't fair of me to spring that on you. It was...it was stupid. And...you're right...we can't go back to the way we were all those years ago. You've changed, and so have I. We are not the same people we used to be."
Five doesn't speak, only looks at her, his forehead creased in doubt as her soft voice makes his resolve slowly begin to crumble.
"The only way is to move forward. And I know you don't quite know me anymore, but I would really like for you to be in my life again." There's a heartbeat of silence before Delores asks, voice vulnerable and unsure, "Will you...let me be in yours?"
Yes.
And then he realizes with absolute certainty and he can't believe he ever doubted it even for a second.
A life without her is not a life worth living.
Maybe...
"If you'll have me..." Five swallows. "I would like to get to know you again."
Just maybe...
"I know you don't owe me anything, after what I've done. But please just...wait for me a little while longer."
Maybe he can finally allow himself to be selfish.
"I still have some growing up to do, after all."
Her only answer is to lift her hands to his face, cupping it as she smiles ever so gently at him. He doesn't care that he has to tilt his head up just the slightest bit to look into her eyes.
And then Five realizes that he can no longer hear that voice in his head, a voice that had at one point kept him grounded. Because now it's really her, she's here, it's her voice, and she's real.
"I waited twenty years for you. I can wait a little longer."
He's fifty-eight years old when he comes back in a child's body.
And he hates every second of it.
He hates that he will have to grow up again, that he's the oldest out of all his siblings but will be treated like the youngest.
But if it means that he can stay with her, grow old with her...Five will gladly take it. Without hesitation.
