Warren opened his eyes. He was sitting on a swing-bench attached to the bough of a very large tree. The swing-bench was green and flowers on vines twisted around the ropes holding it up. Beneath his feet the grass was as green as he'd ever seen it and was strewn with flowers curling delicately around him.

'Where am I?' he wondered.

Something caught his eye. He turned further round and saw Layla walking towards him through the grass, in the green dress she wore at her funeral with white flowers tucked in her hair and a gentle smile playing around her lips.

He smiled in spite of himself; she looked more beautiful that he remembered. But wait…she was dead. He'd seen her lying in the ground. And he was dead; at least he thought he was. He hoped this wasn't some trick his mind was playing on him.

'You're awake then,' she said simply, sitting down next to him. 'I thought you were never going to join me. Mind you, it was a bit of a shock when you did.'

'I'm sorry, and I don't mean to sound dense but what? Where are we?'

'Heaven, I guess, or at least someplace peaceful. It was just me for a bit and that was alright. I was happy and at peace, finally. I grew these flowers. And then you came, which was exciting but then I remembered you must have died, so I was sad for a while. Why are you here Warren?'

'Well I think you answered that one Layla. I died.'

'I know that, stupid,' she said gently, pushing him slightly. 'But how? Were you run over by a bus? Or something more exciting? I imagined you having exciting times while you were away, it helped me not to worry so much.'

'You worried about me?' he asked, genuinely touched.

'Of course. How could I not? You upped and left in such turmoil that I didn't have a chance to say goodbye or find out where you were going. No one could find you, you know. And everyone was looking, you must have hid yourself pretty well.'

He shrugged modestly.

'And anyway, you're avoiding my original question. How did you get here?'

'I jumped,' he stated, 'off the top of the Paper Lantern. I came back to tell you… well, to tell you something but then I found you were dead. So I went to your funeral, but I was too late. You were already in the ground and there were lots of people around. I wanted to say goodbye to you,' he choked, 'but I couldn't. Not there. So I went to the restaurant and sat on the roof for a while. Thinking, about you mostly, and other stuff. What a waste everything was, my life, everything. So I did it. And it was like it wasn't my body anymore, you know? Like something or someone else was controlling it. I just stood on the edge and jumped off. I guess it worked because I'm here.'

He lifted his gaze from his feet where he'd been staring throughout his tale. Layla's eyes brimmed with tears and when he looked at her they spilled over.

'Oh, Warren,' she whispered, 'I'm so sorry I put you through this. And now, because of me, you're dead and the world is deprived of a great human and superhero.'

'Layla, Layla no,' he said in hushed tones clasping her small, fragile hands in his big ones attempting to soothe her as the flowers around them started to wilt. 'You didn't make me do anything, I just couldn't see the point anymore. There was no one who cared for me; I had no job, no qualifications, hell I didn't even finish high school. I was never going to amount to anything while I didn't…' he swallowed, this was it.

This was the time he was going to tell her how he felt. What he'd carried around all these years.

'What is it Warren?' Layla asked concernedly.

'I couldn't amount to anything while I wasn't with you. You see, I came back, on the day of your funeral to tell you that I love you. When I saw you that day in the Paper Lantern just sitting by yourself after Will had stood you up you just looked so frail and hurt. I couldn't imagine doing that to you, ever. I wanted that night with just you and me to last forever. And I know you probably don't feel the same way,' he garbled, 'but I had to tell you. Layla, I love you. I always have and I always will. I came back because I couldn't keep living my life without you. You make me feel like a totally different person.'

He stopped, his throat had become constricted and tears fell from his eyes. He felt a hand caress his face. He looked up and saw Layla's smiling face, her eyes shimmering with tears.

'Oh, Warren,' she said. 'Oh, Warren you have no idea how long I waited to hear you say those words. How many times I imagined it, even when I was with Will. I saw you, you know, when I died. You took my spirit by the hand and led me here, sat me down and told me everything was going to be ok. And it was.'

'So all this time,' Warren said wiping the tears off her face with his fingers, 'I loved you and you loved me and neither one of us did a damned thing about it? We're so stupid,' he said, laughing.

'I guess we are, but then again, we're not exactly the most likely couple are we? I mean me, the hippie chick and you, Warren Peace, a fireball-toting hothead from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. I can't believe how much we missed out on.'

'I know, I can't believe it either,' he said as she laid her head on his shoulder and he held her hand in his. They seemed to fit together so well, her dainty hand encased in his large one.

'But now we have limitless time together, the rest of time if you will,' whispered Layla in his ear.

'I can't wait,' he said softly as the sun set behind them and the flowers at their feet closed up for the night. A gentle summer wind stirred their hair as the swing rocked back and forth and the two souls met and joined in an everlasting peace.