Author's note: As usual, I'll be skipping the disclaimers (you know who owns who anyway) and will focus on the fact that this is the time Tommy either wins back or loses his beloved Kimi forever. Take a deep breath...and exhale. (This may have less suspense than hoped, so bear with it.)

Rugrats Midlife: Reunion

Chapter Thirteen: Back at the Riverfront

The next day after that encounter with Philip, I managed to pull myself together for a final resolution. While I'm not much of an orator or writer nowadays-primary reason why my resignation was doomed-I figured that it will all come to me. All I had to rely on whas Phil's suggestions.

Even with the Harland fiasco and the dredge that followed, I still loved Kimi. I for certain don't know if she still loved me, but one thing was for sure. She was angry, and the last thing I now wanted was for her to be angry at me for the rest of her earthly life. And that was for her own good. I didn't care anymore whether she would welcome me back into her arms, or use those very same arms to send me away. I just wanted to make her happy. And if that meant I would never have the chance to love her again, so be it.

I arranged for Huseyin, the Finsters' family driver, to try and check if she was in a mood good enough for the both of us to meet. (Huseyin was the only way I had of knowing the situation in the old house.) Once I got the go signal, I told him to try and persuade Kimi to go with him to the riverfront, where she would be dropped off. That was where I would be waiting. So that there wasn't any suspicion of conspiracy, I would arrive at almost the same time, at a different place nearby. In addition, I gave him the liberty of choosing where to drop off his mistress so as not make her suspicious. When he determined this case, I finally got the chance for my final resolution Thursday, 5:00 p.m., riverfront quay.

I got there ten minutes to five, using public transportation, and used up most of the time thinking of the possibilities. Do I get her back to me? Or do we say goodbye? One thing was for certain, I said to myself, I just want to make her happy, even at my own expense. If not, I figured, I could try resigning from my occupation and the Corps and use the enlistment coupons from the French Foreign Legion I got from Phil in that encounter. I know French, and it wouldn't hurt to serve in a desert outpost somewhere in Djibouti, provided the Armée de Terre Français doesn't pull out at the Djiboutian government's behest yet.

Meanwhile, I would determine what I'd have to say. It was the moment I'd either make or break. But it didn't matter anymore-Kimi's happiness, devastated by that affair I had with Harland, was the one that mattered. Now that I think about it, my rarely-seen selflessness was mustered to its limits that day. A repentant lover's gotta do what a repentant lover's gotta do. But still, I had to wipe of the cold sweat accumulating on my brow.

I looked around the riverfront, more particularly at the road alongside it. The place was mostly full of people taking an evening stroll through the riverfront and the adjoining park, but only sparsely. That helped me find who I was looking for-a Japanese-American girl dressed in a brown leather jacket with a crimson undershirt and gray skirt, with high heels and a weird hairdo.

I turned my back at her and faced the riverfront once more. I determined that since Huseyin dropped her off here, she would have to know what she was supposed to do.

"This had better be good, Pickles," Kimi said coldly as he stood beside me in the railing close to the river, her tone reminiscent of the time I got a dressing-down from General Patterson. "Or are you just wasting my time?"

"I'm not," I replied, still looking away from her. "If I were I would have not shown up, just like the SOB you think I am."

"So let's get this over with. What do you want from me?" Hostility was well-hidden, but I knew it existed.

"Kimi, I...I..." I found the courage to face her. "I'm sorry."

"You made me come here just to say that?"

"Yes, though you think you may want to hear more."

She threw an ice-cold stare at me. "Oh, I don't have time for this," she said, and started to leave, but I tried to stop her by holding her hand.

"NO WAIT! FOR PETE'S SAKE PLEASE LISTEN!" I shouted. She stopped. "Please, Kimi, I know that I screwed up big-time here, and you have all the right to be angry at me, but for your own sake please forgive me! I'm not expecting you to take me back into your arms, but I can't bear to see you bitter forever! This has to end one way or another, and I don't want your anger eat at you piece by piece. I-I...I..." Tears were welling up in my cheeks once more. "I just want you to be happy in your life, Kimi, and I'd do anything, even part ways if that's what you want. I just want you to know I still love you." I let go and buried my head in my hands, weeping.

As in that party that fateful Saturday, Kimi's eyes were clouded with shock, surprise, distrust. She had been badly burned before, but I could sense she never saw someone come back to her like this-someone who was not forcing her to bring him back into her arms, someone who was this selfless. Now that I look back at it, she thought she was seeing things. But she wasn't.

I had now figured out why I lost my spirits in my past two undertakings. I was primarily my own man then. And then I realized I was lonely. No one outside my family to share in my successes and consolation in my defeats. Golf Company of the Third Marine Division was not enough. Being considered a son by Mrs. Finster wasn't enough, though it helped. I wasn't whole. Now, I felt that I was going to lose her. If that was the case, I would have to lose her as a happy person.

"Tommy..." she whispered. I looked at her, a whole gamut of emotions in her face. It wasn't long before I found out which emotions she would release, and those were of regret and compassion. Tears trickled down her beautiful face as she embraced me tightly. That was unexpected.

"Oh, Tommy," she wept, "in all my years falling in and out of love, this, this is the only time someone has actually said sorry! I...I...I'm really sorry, Tom, really I am! Tommy, I don't know why you had to bother with an asshole like me, but, oh, I'm so sorry."

"You mean you forgive me?" I asked.

"Yes, Tommy, I really do," she said. "I want you back in my life. Can you forgive me too?"

"Anything to keep you happy, Kimi-chan," I replied. "I'm yours now, and I'm glad to tell you you're mine again." Contentment filled our faces as we gripped tighter and, for the first time in a week, kissed like there was no tomorrow. The sun brought an orange hue as it set from the sky.

"How about Trish?" she asked me the first thing after our kiss.

"I broke up with her, not to worry. She know you got me first." After a brief laugh, we got ourselves to kiss again.

I was glad because I had made Kimi Watanabe-Finster happy about life again. I was even happier to find that nothing made her happier than having Thomas Louis Pickles at her side.

Now that's settled! Do things get better? Sure they will! Don't miss the next chapter of Rugrats Midlife: Reunion: Hitched!

P.S. Million thanks to all thouse who have sent their reviews! You didn't think I'm going to allow the two lovebirds to just separate ways, huh? And as for any problems in accuracy, or suggestions for remaining chapter/s or sequels, just notify me at ceig13yahoo.com.