I had been back for a week when the worst of it came. Kurt bolted up out of his sleep at the sound of me calling his name and coughing up a storm. "Kurt, it's so cold, I don't know what's happening…. So cold…. Please, don't wake anyone else….."

Leaning over me he took me in his arms. "Ssh, I'm here…. I'm here, darling…."

"Kurt…."

He looked down at me.

"I… I think it's time."

Kurt nodded, but his face twisted in grief. He shook his head. "No."

"Oh, my wonderful Kurt…. the angel I dream of…." I touched his cheek. "Do not be afraid."

He looked up and out the window, then back down at me. "The stars are out, kleines. Do you want to go outside?"

Beaming, I nodded. Lifting me up Kurt teleported us to the steps that were outside, just below the window where we first met. I was lying on the steps, wrapped in a huge blanket, when Kurt started crying again.

"Kurt…." I touched his arm. "Please, please don't cry."

Turning, Kurt lay down next to me, taking me in his arms. "I don't want you to go," he said quietly, giving a sniff. But then he propped himself up on an elbow, looking over me. "Kleines….. I never got a chance to tell you, did I?"

"What?"

Kurt smiled at me and took me up in his arms and his voice shook as he spoke, tears spilling from his eyes. "Erin, I love you."

I burst into tears, and he pulled me away for a moment. "I love you more than anything else in this entire universe. I dreamt of you every single night while in that prison. I dreamt of you half my life. I waited for you my entire life. I love you so much, Erin, and I want nothing more than to be with you for the rest of our lives."

"Oh, God… I love you, too."

That's when he kissed me, full on! My God, I thought I was going into cardiac arrest. As I kissed him I looked up…. and to my surprise, the stars above us seemed to be…. dancing? They flew outward like sparklers, dancing and twirling and raining down on us.

We broke away for a moment, laughing in glee as we watched the shooting stars fly around us. Kurt looked back at me and beamed. "Erin, will you marry me?"

I barely even realized that the sickness had lifted. "Wha- Yes!" With my answer he kissed me again. Little did I know, but Logan, suffering from another sleepless night, had watched the entire thing from the window.

I stayed in the hospital wing one last night, and the next morning, I got up and got completely ready for classes. At lunch, I went to see if I had gotten any mail. I flipped through the small stack of stuff on my way back to the main hall: a postcard my friend sent me from London, a magazine, a couple letters addressed in my parent's and grandparent's handwriting…. And a last letter, in writing I didn't recognize, from someone I didn't know. Opening up the letter I gave a cry as I noticed Riverdance at the top of the page. My heart slammed as I began to read.

Dear Miss Murphy,

We are pleased to announce, after many weeks of searching the country for new dancers, that you have been accepted onto the Riverdance Troupe! We have interviewed your dance teacher in Salem, New York, and watched you practice (our scout sincerely apologizes if he startled you or your friends), and you have made the final cut!

The letter went on to tell me whom to call upon receiving the letter, but by then I was screaming.

"Erin."

"Hey, Logan, how's it going?"

"Great, great. I'm glad to see you're feeling better. And congrats on getting into Riverdance!"

I smiled. "Thanks."

"Listen, do you remember that conversation we had when we first met?"

I thought a moment. "You mean the one about you?"

"No, about how you had said you didn't have a nickname."

"Oh, yeah, yeah."

"Well," Logan smiled. "I couldn't sleep last night, and I took a little walk down the halls…. Saw two familiar people by the basketball court…"

I put my hands on my hips, a smile spreading across my face as I got ready to complain to him about privacy. Before I could say anything he spoke up, but he spoke quietly.

"And I also saw one hell of a light show with those stars."

"What are you getting at?"

Neither of us spoke for a moment, one in which Logan grinned.

"Firefly."

Seven months later

"Erin! We start in fifteen minutes! Are you excited? Your first show and everything!"

"I know, I know! I'm kinda nervous."

"Don't be," my new friend Siân smiled. She, too, was a dancer on the Riverdance troupe, and she seated herself next to me in front of a makeup mirror. In front of me, I had a picture of my family, and another picture of me and Kurt.

"Oh my, Erin, who is that?" Siân pointed to the picture of me and Kurt. Although she knew I was engaged, she had no idea what my fiance looked like, only that he, like I, was a mutant.

"Huh? Oh, you found Kurt," I grinned, picking up the picture.
Siân sucked in a breath. "So that's your fiance!"

Nodding, I waited for the shut down, but got a big grin instead. "Firefly, he looks so cool!"

I burst out laughing. "He, ah… he's not like anyone else I've ever met. He's gonna be here tonight, you know…." My voice dropped down to almost a whisper. "The school I go to has reserved the first ten rows for it's students and teachers. My family's gonna be there, and Kurt will be there, too."

Siân beamed. "That's awesome, Firefly…." My friend thought a moment. "You know, how did you get that nickname, anyway?"

I smiled. "Oh…. It's a long story."

Oh my God. Okay, don't panic. You're going to be fine. You're not going to screw up. How do I look? Is my dress okay? I can't believe they let me wear the one Kurt got me; total irony it looks like the others. Yipes.

Okay, here we go. Breathe, Erin, breathe…. That's my cue!

Dancing up there with those people was the most exhilarating thing ever. If someone had told me when I was a kid that I'd be doing this as an adult I wouldn't have believed it myself. I nearly screwed up fifteen minutes into the show when---

Yeah, I think I got it- HOLY SHIT. I managed to make out Colin Dunne and Jean Butler in the first row. Amazingly I didn't screw up, but as I danced front row and near center to the last number I could feel my eyes begin to tear up. I'd arrived.

I was up there, dancing the dance I loved the most for ones I loved most, when it hit me- this was what life was all about. I had been searching for this moment for seven years, and here it was. From the backyard of a house in Raleigh, North Carolina, to the streets of the nation's capitol, all the way to the woods of New York State, and now on the stage of Radio City Music Hall, I had went looking for it and here it was, lighting up my nights like a firefly.