Vic was driving through the road of Vice Point the next day to see what Louise was up to. It has been days since he had spoken to Louise, and with the Mendez brothers and Martinez off his back and Lance the new head of the Vance Crime Family, today was the perfect time to see Louise again.
He finally made a left turn on the road leading to the neighborhood of Louise's house and pulled up in front. He hopped out of the Cheetah and walked over to the front door, which he knocked on loudly. After about ten seconds, the door finally swung open, and Vic saw Louise standing from behind.
"Vic!" she uttered in surprise. "It's nice to see you again."
"Of course, Louise," Vic told her stepping into the house right before Louise shut the door behind him. "I told you that I want to be able to spend time with you."
"Same here," Louise replied. "Phil told me everything."
"He did, huh?" Vic asked.
"Yep," Louise replied. "He told me that he got you back in the military and how he beat the ever-loving shit out of that asshole Martinez."
"Yep," Vic laughed. "He had that shit coming to him."
"Serves that asshole right," Louise chuckled. "I'm glad he got kicked out too."
"Now he no longer has a career and is stuck with nothing," Vic added grinning in satisfaction. "I knew the tables would be turned eventually."
"Yeah," Louise added. "Hey Vic, there's something I have to tell you."
"Oh yeah?" Vic asked as the two walked to the living room. "And what's that?"
The couple took a seat adjacent to each other onto the couch. Louise stared at Vic with her blue eyes. "About what I said about you the other day... " she began to say.
"Look, Louise," Vic interrupted, "I already told you that I forgive you. You don't have to worry about it. It's in the past now."
"You don't understand, Vic," Louise told him. "I wanted to tell you that outside of what I went through in my past life, being a high school dropout while living my young adult lifestyle in an abusive relationship, I never got to experience what love really was."
"What do you mean?" Vic asked.
"I mean that I never got to understand the much deeper experience of love," Louise told him, "the real meaning of a romantic relationship. All I've ever lived through most of my life was abuse and despair. I've suffered nothing but physical beatings and verbal abuse. I've never lived to learn the true meaning of love."
"That's a coincidence," Vic replied. "Because with me being single all my life and having a dysfunctional family and all, I'm trying to know the true meaning of love myself."
Louise chuckled slightly. "Well I guess the only way we're gonna find out is by spending more time with each other, huh?" she told him.
"Sure seems like it," Vic responded. "Now is the perfect opportunity to start this relationship off healthy."
"You're right, Vic," Louise said. "That means no more drugs and more going out."
"There you go," Vic told her. "So what do you say we do something fun today?"
"Sounds good to me," Louise replied. "Because I could really use all the fun we're gonna have at a carnival. Whadaya say we go to the Washington Beach Fairground?"
"I'm up for that," Vic agreed. "Let's go."
They both jumped out of the couch and started walking out of the living room. "I'll bring Mary-Beth," Louise announced walking towards the stairs. "I want my baby to have just as much fun."
So Louise brought her baby daughter along and packed her stroller inside the trunk of Vic's Cheetah. She had also brought Mary-Beth's car-seat along as well and strapped her baby to it in the back seat.
"It's nice to know you're becoming a great mom, Louise," Vic told her.
"Thanks," Louise replied jumping into the passenger's seat, "and someday, you might be a great dad to my baby too, definitely a much better father than you-know-who."
"I'm sure I will," Vic chuckled as he hopped into the driver's seat of the vehicle.
He started the engine and rode onto the road. It was the afternoon, and the sun was shining brightly around the city. The other vehicles riding on the road were moving steadily as well.
Vic drove all the way down through Washington Beach to find the Washington Beach Fairground just up ahead to his right. "I can see the carnival!" Louise called. "That's the largest Ferris wheel I've ever seen!"
"And it looks like we'll get a chance to ride it during the evening," Vic replied.
He finally arrived at the parking area in front of the carnival and pulled to a stop right before he and Louise exited the vehicle. Louise reached out from inside the trunk and pulled out the stroller, setting it out before she reached into the back seat and unstrapped Mary-Beth from her car-seat. Mary-Beth cooed adorably as Louise sat her into the stroller and strapped her inside.
"You ready to have fun, Louise?" Vic asked Louise staring at her.
"I'm ready to have the best day of my life!" Louise declared.
The two entered the carnival and looked around. Everyone was there, playing games, eating, and riding on many of the ride, including the Chunder Wheel. There was even a picnic area replete with grass on the surface.
"So what do you want to do first, Louise?" Vic asked.
Louise looked around. She was so excited to try everything that it was difficult for her to decide what to do next. Eventually, she spotted a racing game and finally made up her mind.
"Hey Vic," Louise told Vic. "I bet you I can beat you in a racing game!"
"Oh yeah?" Vic asked friendly competitive. "You're on then!"
Louise laughed as the two stood in line to participate in the race. Mary-Beth was taking to a daycare house with the other toddlers inside so she would stay safe while Vic and Louise had fun.
The two were in their go-karts along with the other racers.
"You ready to suck in my smoke, Vic Vance?" Louise asked Vic smugly.
"We'll see about that!" Vic replied.
Eventually, the race began. The racers dashed around the race track, which was a long racing course shaped as a tied shoelace and a wide roadway. During the race, Louise was right ahead of Vic, who was only second in front of the other eight racers. The engine of the go-kart revved loudly as the racers accelerated around the long, wide racing course.
The racers were racing three laps, and Vic and Louise were each battling for the 1st place victory while neck to neck. They were both having fun, yet still fiercely competitive.
"Bet you can't cross that finish line before me, Vic Vance!" Louise bragged in a friendly competitive manner.
"Oh yeah?!" Vic boasted playfully. "Watch me!"
The engines of each of their go-karts roared loudly as the two sped towards the finish line, the other racers just yards behind them. As they both crossed the finish line, it was a close race. Louise won by default.
"Oh yeah!" Louise shouted as she hopped out of her go-kart. "I win this time! I'm the number one female racer on this track!"
Vic applauded as he slowly got out of his go-kart as well. "Congratulations, Louise," he told her. "You sure can race."
"I been racing karts since I was about ten," Louise replied as she and Vic exited the racing course to enter the carnival again. "My brother and I used to race each other when we were playing outside back in the '60s."
"I'm glad you finally came out of your shell for once, Louise," Vic told her. "Whadaya say we play some games?"
"Hell yeah!" Louise agreed.
So Vic and Louise went to the gaming booth, in which they came across a basketball game. Vic shot as many baskets as he could until he scored a high total of 48 points, which earned him ten tickets. Next, he played a game of darts, in which he won by throwing the darts at the highest points possible, earning him twenty more tickets. The next game he played was to shoot the moving targets around using a beebee gun. Vic played the game thrice and got the highest score imaginable, with 1000 points each, which earned him 80 more tickets. He also won 40 more tickets after completing the High Striker, in which he scored a perfect 100 of each turn.
After hours of playing games, eating, and spending time with Mary-Beth at the daycare house, the couple then got onto the Chunder Wheel, taking a seat on one of the chairs of the wheel. Right after everyone was strapped inside, the Chunder Wheel slowly rotated, sending Vic and Louise all the way on top as it came to a complete stop.
The couple took a look at the atmosphere as they gazed around. The sky was a beautiful purple and gold evening scenery. The lights ignited the streets and carnival down below. The palm trees blew through the gentle breeze. It was a rather aesthetic evening view. Vic and Louise looked around mesmerized.
"Look at the view from up here, Vic," Louise told Vic serenely. "It's so beautiful down there. It looks like a painting coming to life."
"It is a lovely view down there," Vic agreed.
Just then, they heard the radio from the speaker attached to the Chunder Wheel playing a song. It was "I Want To Know What Love Is", by Foreigner.
"Looks like our song is playing," Louise told Vic.
"You know," Vic replied, "this is the first time I heard this song, and it fits our relationship perfectly."
While still sitting on top of the Chunder Wheel, Vic and Louise stared in each other's eyes.
"You know, Vic," Louise started to say. "I think I found the meaning of true love myself. Before you came into my life, I never had any knowledge of what makes a true relationship. Now I know that love is a lot more than just having a great time and caring deeply about another. The true meaning of love is also about taking care of yourself. Before you came into my life, I had no hope. I thought my life was the pits and I would never improve. But after you came to cheer me up and help me get my life together, I finally found hope, I finally found the time to respect myself and simply move on as a person, and for that, you became the one I love."
Vic felt himself blushing on the inside. "Well," he started to say as he grabbed Louise's wrists, "that's great you learned to love yourself, Louise. Me personally, I learned that true love can come around once you work hard in your life to earn another's trust with integrity and not just doing better yourself, but to help that significant other do just as well. I look at how sad your life has been, and I just wanted to be there to help you improve, Louise. I took you out of an abusive relationship, I saved your baby from getting taken out of your custody, I helped you live in a nice place on your own, all because I care so deeply about you."
Louise then smiled at Vic. "I think we both have our own meanings of true love," Louise told him, "and you know what else I learned? I also learned that in order to love someone, I have to understand how to feel what that person is feeling too. I was so busy despairing my own life that I failed to understand yours. Now that I finally got to understand what you were going through, it made me much more ashamed of what I said about you. You were able to feel what I was feeling, so it's my turn to reciprocate. Vic, once again, I am sorry for everything I said about you the past few days."
"Hey, I told you that I forgive you, Louise," Vic told her. "That's also what I've learned about love, which is why I wanted to give you a better life."
"Aww, thanks, Vic," Louise replied. "You're the kindest man I have ever met. Vic...I love you."
"I love you too, Louise," Vic told her.
So Vic and Louise both puckered up and started kissing each other as soon as the chorus after the second verse of the song came up. The kissing between the two prolonged for a minute and five seconds, in which afterwards, the Chunder Wheel started rotating gradually, bringing the couple down as they slowly reached the bottom. They then stopped kissing and glazed in each other's eyes.
"You're my true soulmate, Vic Vance," Louise told Vic, the lights in the background sparking in her blue eyes.
"I could say the same thing about you, Louise Cassidy-Williams," Vic told her.
With Vic having 150 tickets from the games he played, Louise was eager to use them to buy some prizes inside the Prize Hut. So they walked off of the seat of the Chunder Wheel and through the carnival to go to the Prize Hut.
Inside was a plethora of prizes to buy, from stuff animals to mopeds to posters to even unique 1980s clothing. Vic and Louise used the tickets to purchase a moped each for 50 tickets, a stuffed bear to give to Mary-Beth for ten tickets, a T-shirt for Louise for twenty tickets, and a couple of posters for ten tickets each.
As Vic and Louise walked outside, they were both holding each other's hands. "I had so much fun," Louise said, "but it's getting late now. Let's go pick up Mary-Beth and go home."
So Vic and Louise took all the prizes they purchased with them, picked up Mary-Beth from the daycare house, and walked over to the Cheetah parked outside. Mary-Beth was fast asleep as Louise unstrapped her from her stroller and put her in her car-seat. The prizes were stored in the trunk, and Vic and Louise hopped inside, with Vic getting into the driver's seat and starting the engine.
Night had just fallen, and the streetlights brightened everything around the streets. There were fewer cars driving around the roads of Vice Point. Vic felt the cold air blow through his face as it made its way through the opened window of the car door. It was a lovely, peaceful night.
Vic finally pulled up in front of Louise's house and parked right in front. Louise started to hop out as she took off her seatbelt.
"Thanks for everything you've done, Vic," she told Vic. "Thanks for giving me the night of my life."
"Hey, anytime, Louise," Vic told her. "You earned it."
Louise took her prizes out of the trunk, unfolded the stroller, and took Mary-Beth and the car-seat she was in out of the car. She set a sleeping Mary-Beth onto the stroller and hauled everything to the front door of her house.
Vic watched as Louise used her keys to unlock her door and walk through, disappearing inside the house. Vic let out a sigh of relief. He was so glad that he got to spend more time with his new girlfriend. He decided that it was time to go back home to get some sleep. So he turned the car around and drove back home.