Last chapter.
The next day Joe left to begin his job at his new office and Priestly decided to go home, against Tish's wishes. She hadn't wanted him to leave, still thinking he needed supervised but he had assured her that he wasn't gong to do anything harmful. He hadn't even allowed her to drive him home insisting that he needed the time for himself. He kissed her goodbye and exited her house to begin his walk to his apartment. Life had gotten so complicated lately that he wanted the simplicity of just walking down the sidewalk without talking. The sun shone brightly on him and he shivered at how pleasant he felt. About halfway to his house he was starting to breath harder and realized just how bad of shape he was in. If he was being honest with himself he didn't even think he could surf right now. He vowed to get himself back to where he used to be as quickly as possible.
When Priestly got home he immediately opened all the shades and windows, letting the sun shine into his apartment to chase away the dark feelings that still seemed to float around the small space. After a pleasant breeze was floating through his living room he dropped down onto his couch and closed his eyes taking in deep cleansing breaths. He didn't know why he kept hitting rock bottom but he promised himself to never do it again. This was the last time he was going to go through all this, rebuilding himself and his life. At least this time he had Tish.
Tish. How she was still here was a miracle in itself. Priestly smiled to himself, if one good thing came out of this entire ordeal it was the fact that Tish proved repeatedly that she wasn't going to leave him for anything. Every insecurity he had about their relationship was completely gone. In fact, every bad thought seemed to be gone and that was a first. For the first time in years he didn't feel weighed down by everything. He didn't feel like it was his fault his mom was dead and didn't feel it was his fault that his dad had attacked him until he fought back. He didn't want to drink, or get high. In fact he felt perfectly content. He knew he wasn't completely past everything but he felt satisfied that he had found a starting point. The first block had been set and now all he had to do was build on it.
Deciding being alone was just plain boring he grabbed his phone and called Tish who answered on the second ring.
"Is everything ok? Do you need me to come over?"
He laughed at her anxious tone, "Everything's good but I would like you to come over. I thought I just wanted some alone time but alone time is kind of boring."
She laughed, "I'll be right over and I'll bring food since you never have any."
"I never have any because you always just bring it."
"You're ridiculous, I'll be there soon. I love you."
No matter how many times he heard those words they still made his heart beat a little faster. "I love you too."
A short time later Tish walked into his house and felt happy that everything was open and bright. She set down the bags of food on the counter in the kitchen and walked over to the couch where Priestly grabbed her and hugged her close before tickling her.
"Someone's happy."
Priestly smiled and kissed her, "Why wouldn't I be. For the first time in years I know everything's going to be ok."
She hugged him close, "You have no idea how good it feels to hear those words."
Not wanting to ruin the moment but deciding he was starving he rolled Tish away from him and walked to the kitchen, "What'd you get because I'm starving."
She rose and followed him to the kitchen, "Greasy, fattening food because you need to eat and I know you love this gross stuff."
He swallowed a bite of cheeseburger, "It's not gross it's delicious, you just fail to realize that."
She rolled her eyes, "My loss."
"My gain, at least you won't steal my food. Have you heard from Joe about how his first day's going?"
She wiped her mouth and nodded, "He said everything's going well. He even likes his partner, which he said is a good thing. He said it makes it easier to have someone's back when you're not trying to kill them yourself."
Priestly laughed, "I'd think so."
When they were done eating Tish started walking towards the couch but was stopped by Priestly who grabbed her by the waist and directed her to his room. They climbed on the bed and Priestly flipped on the tv and wrapped an arm around Tish when she curled into his side.
"I love you Tish. I'm so sorry for everything."
She rubbed her hand underneath the hem of his shirt, forcing herself to ignore the fact that she could feel his ribs under his skin. "I love you too, and don't apologize. It's over and the only way we're going to look is forward ok?"
He nodded and pulled her on top of him. "Have I ever told you, you have awesome boobs?"
Tish groaned and leaned her forehead down on Priestly's chest. The comment was so him, so carefree and random that she couldn't' t help the bubble of laughter that escaped her. "Yes you have and I thank you for noticing."
He kissed her deeply and pulled her closer to him. After a few minutes she pulled back for air, "You are so horny lately."
He grinned, "I can't help it, we didn't do anything for so long."
She almost said it was because of him but caught herself. She didn't want to ruin this moment, to ruin this day so she kept her mouth shut and just enjoyed being with the man she loved.
A while later Tish gently rubbed his back while he slept in his large bed, a smile on her face. In this moment everything was right in the world. There wasn't pain, or addiction, or fear. Just love, unconditional and all consuming love.
I seriously had no idea how to end this so this is what you get and hopefully the epilogue will do this story justice. Also here's a quote from Supernatural that sums it up pretty well.
"Endings are hard. Any chapped-ass monkey with a keyboard can poop out a beginning, but endings are impossible. You try to tie up every loose end, but you never can. The fans are always gonna bitch. There's always gonna be holes. And since it's the ending, it's all supposed to add up to something. I'm telling you, they're a raging pain in the ass." "No doubt - endings are hard. But then again... nothing ever really ends, does it?"