So, Let's Just Enjoy the Time We Have

How many days did they have left together?

Henry's time as Kid Danger had been the most enjoyable when he wasn't someone's serious boyfriend. With that new responsibility, he was always mindful that he needed to come home safe, especially after Thanksgiving.

Charlotte gave him a scrapbook for Thanksgiving. He was a little bit salty about it, because he didn't know that they were giving each other stuff for Thanksgiving. While she said that they weren't, but she just wanted him to have this - what "this" was; it was something that he would always be grateful for.

She had used her research and interviewing skills to find articles and stories about Kid Danger and to ask people around Swellview, "Why are you thankful to have Kid Danger?" Their answers were quotes that she included in this scrapbook and the last page was "Why am I thankful to have Kid Danger?"

She went on to give this long detailed report of how she felt about Kid Danger and how Swellview would never have been as safe without him. She had him all choked up and he kept that thing in a lockbox and looked at it every single night since she gave it to him.

Then, they had Christmas together. She spent the morning and afternoon with her parents, but met him at the Man Cave at 4. Everybody did gift exchanges, but Henry told her that hers were at his house, so she opened what she had from the rest of their friends and gave him his gift.

He laughed and asked, "What do you think that you can even give me at this point, after what you did for my birthday and for Thanksgiving?" But, whenever he opened it, he almost started crying. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Do you think that I made an award winning gizmo for the gizmo fair and gave you the improved version so that whenever you're killin' it at Swellview U, you won't have to worry about your spelling?"

He smiled brightly and bragged as he pulled it from the box, "Hey, Guys! Charlotte made me a Pocket Dyslexicon!"

"Actually, it's called the Communiclicker, because it helps you to make things click."

Schwoz wondered, "What does it do?"

Henry began to show him, "It has a voice to text feature that pretty much never gets your words wrong. You can record and save all of your reports or whatever and send them to documents to print… or email or whatever. And she has a feature where I can write a sample onto the screen and it can even create files in my handwriting, from my voice."

"Until more people are empathetic about how difficult reading and writing can be for him, he needs a little boost," Charlotte said, humbly.

"You are always making his life easier and better," Schwoz said. Henry smiled. That much was true. Everything about her was pure and true, to him. He just wanted to give her everything.

Then, whenever they went back to his house, she confessed, "I got you something else."

"What?"

"Because that one was more functional. I wanted to also give you something nice."

"This IS nice. It's one of the nicest gifts ever."

"Yeah, but open this one," she said and gave him a small box.

Henry opened the box and there was a kinda gaudy, but he actually still loved it, pinky ring. It was white gold with November birthstones topaz and citrine, and clear crystals to look like diamonds. "I have been wanting a badass pinky ring for ages!"

"I know!" He gave her a hug and put it on, then took her hand.

Charlotte's gifts were plentiful. Henry figured he could do one good quality one and supplement it with a quantity of others. So, for her quality present, he got her this personalized surfboard, because the school she was going to was near the beach and she said that she would want to learn to surf. They were good at listening to each other. And she loved it, even if she wasn't sure if she would actually have the time to learn to surf.

He got her several articles of jewelry, a naturalista holiday gift basket, and the new Captain Man and Kid Danger talking figurines with 20 rhyming lines. "In case you miss us."

"I'm gonna be in communication with you. But, I love these. I was gonna buy them myself, but Jasper told me not to. Now I see why. Wow. In a few blinks, it'll be months from now and I'll be heading off…"

"I don't want to think about that."

And he didn't speak of it, but he certainly did think about it.

Valentine's Day was epic. Henry planned a VDay Weekend Staycation for them. He cooked, pampered and loved on her for three straight days. It was excellent. She had found the most traditionally romantic gifts that she could think of for this day, since it was really her first real one and simultaneously probably their last one for a while.

He got a huge platter of chocolate covered berries from her, a gigantic teddy bear, roses, a jumbo sized card, and she wore shirts the entire weekend that said, "Henry's Girl" on them. And Henry ate it up.

The Airbnb was in town, but he made sure that they didn't have to leave by providing everything that they needed, along with all the candles and rose petals and stuff he used to woo her for days.

Plus, he bought her a ring, too. "Is this a Pulse Promise ring?" She asked, taking it out of the box. "Henry… these cost A LOT of money…"

"I had it," he said. "Remember whenever you said that you'd rather know as soon as possible if anything ever happened to me?"

"Yeah, but that didn't mean get me a ring with your ding dang pulse attached to it!" But, as she fussed, she slipped it onto her hand. She could feel his pulse in it and she placed her hand over his heart, to feel them in tandem. "It works." She said, then sadly added, "And if God forbid something terrible happens, I'll know right away…"

"I always do my best to come back to you safely," he said. It's basically to confirm for you that I'm okay when you're too far away to really see for yourself."

"Just a couple of months…" she said.

"Shhhhh. We've got all weekend to enjoy. Don't bring it down."

.

It wasn't that he was avoiding the inevitable, but he really didn't want to dwell on it. Spring Break was litty. He and Jasper hung out while she checked out spaces near her college. She only had two days to actually chill with them, so they made the most of it without her.

For her birthday, since she hadn't allowed them to do anything last time, Henry told her that she'd BETTER BELIEVE that they were doing something this time. This time, she had a party with Jasper, Henry, Schwoz, Ray and Piper. They put her on a throne that Henry decorated, in a crown that he bought her and did a gift presentation. "This is really extra," Charlotte observed. "But I'm enjoying it."

Ray came up, patted himself down and pulled out a folded envelope, "Happy Birthday!"

She accepted it, looked at it and told him, "This is my paycheck."

"Hand delivered to you. You're welcome."

"I mean… I earned it, so it isn't a gift…"

"The gift is that I hand delivered it to you. You are welcome."

She rolled her eyes and waved him away, excited for whatever Henry's gift would be, though at this point, she was positive that they had been spending WAY MORE than they should have this close to their independence. Henry told her, "Don't freak out. Your gift isn't something that you can take with you…"

" Why would I freak ou…?"

He showed off his collarbone and revealed to her a tattoo that made her not only gasp but almost choke on her own saliva. "It's an infinity symbol with our names scripted into it." Everybody but Jasper gasped too.

Piper said, "Mom is going to kill you! I'm texting her right now!"

"I'm 18, Piper!" He reminded her, then asked Charlotte, "What do you think?"

"I think that's a serious and permanent decision!"

"That you love?" She was stunned. Ray pulled him aside before she could respond and she was glad, because that was SO overboard, in her personal opinion. She would NEVER get a boy's name tattooed on her. Not even Henry.

Ray whispered, angrily, "You put an identifying mark on Kid Danger's body?"

"I put it on MY body. My body, my rules."

"Your rules are being VERY reckless right now."

"Dude, if ever someone gets Kid Danger naked, I doubt they'd have left the mask on and if I die or something like that, I'll be dead. Chill out." He patted him on the back and returned to the Queen of the Day.

She came off of her throne and spoke quietly. "Why did you do that? Henry, have you ever once considered that this might not BE a forever thing?"

"Of course I've considered it. I consider it all the time. But, I know how I feel, what you mean to me, and who we are. Even if "this" isn't a forever thing, these are forever feelings for me. Besides, you're my best friend." She sighed. It was done now. "You hate it."

"I don't hate it, it's just… scary. Do you know how close we are to our lives and relationship changing drastically?"

"I'm not concerned about it…"

"Less than two months and our world shifts. We have no idea what the future holds."

"Okay, but that means you don't know if after you're done with school, we'll be inseparable again. So… I'm confident in my decision."

"If you like it, I love it."

"THAT is all I wanted to hear!"

But, she was right. Less than two months. How many days did they have left together?

"Not enough," he said to himself.