My Complete

Hal didn't say anything when he walked into Sunny's room. He knew he didn't have to with her and he was thankful because he was sure there would be nothing but tears that would come out anyway. He slowly slid his body down into the spot across from hers on the bed and let out an almost painful sigh that Sunny understood perfectly. Both of them silently rushed the exchange of questions and concerns but it wasn't until Hal turned his glazed stare away from her in the stark realization of everything that had happened that she felt inspired to speak.

"Are you okay, Uncle Hal?"

"I should be asking you that question, don't you think?"

"I'm okay."

"Well then so am I, angel."

"What about Snake?"

"He's in bed. Asleep finally. I'm going to keep an eye out on him tonight. Make sure he stays okay."

"What about you? When are you going to bed?"

"I'll be a tiny miracle if I get to sleep tonight. Everything is still kind of racing."

"Is Snake going to die?"

Hal had expected Sunny to ask that but it was that moment that he realized he hadn't been prepared for it. To think about it or to answer it aloud. He stalled to work out a wording in his head until Sunny's eyes wouldn't let him waste any more time doing so.

"As it looks right now, yes."

"I don't want him to die, Uncle Hal."

"I know. I don't want him to either...but, if it's his time then there's nothing we can do about it."

"I'm happy you didn't hurt Snake like he asked you to."

There was a sad heaviness to his sigh that Sunny caught. "He doesn't really want that. Snake's very angry and sad right now at being so sick and sometimes, when people get that sad, they don't want to live anymore. I really wish you wouldn't have heard any of that."

"Could you ever..."

"No, of course not! I couldn't hurt Snake even if I had to. I care about him a lot and, if you can help it, you don't hurt the people you care about."

"Uncle Hal...promise me you'll never die."

"I can't promise you that, Sunny. Just like you can't promise me that. That's something we don't have any control over. But, what I can promise is that I'll never leave you and you can promise me the same thing."

"Of course I will. I'll never leave you, Uncle Hal."

"You promise?" He dabbed the tip of her nose with his index finger and she giggled.

"I promise."

He fell into another quiet moment as he looked at Sunny. To her, Hal's face had settled into a state of permanent exhaustion. His blue eyes rarely sparked when he smiled anymore, a quality Sunny missed the most as she looked back at him. They barely found the motivation to even smolder after the sights they were subjected to each day. Seeing the mercenary deteriorate and knowing he was dying was a rasping, cold wind that steadily blew at the flame inside of Hal that kept him going...and lent that shimmer to his eyes. He chose to bottle it up instead and poison his own happiness than let it contaminate the laughter and smiles that his angel still managed to have throughout everything she accidentally saw or heard. If he couldn't give her a normal home life or a real family, he wanted at least that for her.

Hal laughed when Sunny started to walk her left hand along the side of his face. He let her maneuver over the frame of his glasses and travel to his forehead where he finally reached up and ended her hand's trek.

"I hope they make hiking boots small enough to fit on these," he said.

"I just wanted to see you smile, Uncle Hal. You looked sad again."

"No, I wasn't sad. I was just...thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"That I should stop blinking."

"Stop blinking? Why?"

"Because, everytime I do, I lose a millisecond of time and I swear that sometimes when I open my eyes again, it's like you've grown without me even knowing it." He blinked. "See, there you go again! You're even older than I remember you from a few seconds ago."

"Why don't I feel older then?"

"It's because only I know it's happening. It's one of those magical grown-up powers."

He blinked again.

"How old am I now?" she asked.

He gasped, "I bet you're at least 9 or 10 right now! "

She laughed. "No I'm not!"

"Yes you are. You keep this up and you'll be in college by Thursday. It's settled, I have to stop blinking."

Hal stared straight ahead with all the seriousness of a guard outside of Buckingham Palace. Sunny waved her hand in front of his face a few times and soon resorted to blowing a light puff of air into his face that finally broke his gaze.

"Oh no," he cried, "You just got even older. Now you're eleven!"

Sunny slid off his glasses and put her hand over his eyes and counted to ten before she removed it again. "How old am I now, Uncle Hal?"

"Oh, Sunny. I missed so many years. You look about fifteen now. I bet you have a boyfriend and probably think you're too cool to talk to me in public anymore."

"That's not true. We'll always be best friends."

"You say that now but one day, it'll happen. You'll have so many friends and things to do that you won't even think about me."

"That'll never happen. I promised to never leave you, remember?"

Hal felt himself losing the fun of the moment but forced himself to hold on to it and blinked his eyes again. "Sunny! You're like, eighteen now!" He tightly covered his eyes with both his hands. "Okay, I need you to be my little girl again. I liked you at seven! I need to go backwards!"

"I have to cover your eyes, Uncle Hal." she instructed him of the new official rule, "That's the only way I'll be seven again." She left her hand over his face for another ten seconds and slowly unveiled it. Hal smiled immediately.

"There you are, angel. I was beginning to think I had lost you." Hal checked his watch when he saw Sunny try to stifle a yawn from him. "Well, I think that's enough time travel for tonight. It's been a really long day that I'm sure we could both stand to forget about. You should get some sleep."

"But, I'm not tired yet."

"Trust me, once you stop age jumping, you'll realize how tired you are."

She accepted a kiss goodnight on her cheek and grabbed his arm before as he began to sit up. "I want to be one more age before you leave."

He sighed. "Okay, one more age but then it's bed time, okay?"

She twisted her mouth to the side in thought for a moment. "Hmm...twenty-five!"

"Twenty-five? I don't think I want to see you at twenty-five yet, Sunny. Besides, we could mess up the very delicate fabrics of the spacetime continuum if we continue to do this."

"Please, Uncle Hal."

"Okay, okay." Hal readjusted himself on the pillow across from her and slipped his glasses off to let Sunny place her hand across his eyes.

"This time," she said, making sure she was covering as much area as her hand allowed her to, "I have to cover your eyes for twenty seconds."

"Well, I guess that makes sense. Okay, I'm ready."

He stayed perfectly still as she gave a slow, careful count to twenty. When she had said the final number aloud, she lifted her hand up like a visor over his eyes.

"You can open your eyes now. Uncle Hal?" She caught herself before she reached out to shake him to attention and instead redirected her hands to a throw folded at the end of her bed. Hal shifted slightly in the added covering to his body but remained asleep under her watch. His fingers easily released the hold they had on his glasses and she slowly pulled them out from under them and to the safety of her night stand.

"Goodnight, Uncle Hal." She planted a gentle kiss on his forehead, a spot she had many impressions from him on her own face. "And by the way, I think Snake needs you too."

Hal didn't respond.

He was finally dreaming.