"So you'll be takin' it, then?" The landlord in James' building was a nice enough man. He'd spoken with Skittery briefly and got a good impression of him, and now they were wrapping things up.

"Yes, sir, I think so." Skittery took one final look around the apartment and nodded.

"And when can you move in?"

"Well, I ain't got a lot of stuff, so I expect to be all moved in by tomorrow or the day after."

"Good, good." The man nodded. "And you won't be comin' in late with the rent, will you?"

"No, sir, I'm workin' two jobs here right now, an' my girl, I'm hopin' she'll be here two, she works. So you'll find a couple'a real good tenants in the two of us."

The landlord's smile faltered a little. "Son, I don't know how I feel about lettin' young couples shack up in my building."

Skittery shook his head. "Oh, no. See, I'm hopin' to get hitched. We won't be shackin' up under your roof, sir."

"Alright, good, good." He nodded. "So you'll be movin' in startin' tonight, then?"

"Yeah. Um, if you'll excuse me for a little while, though, I got a little somethin' I gotta go take care of, but I'll be back here in probably about half an hour."

"Take your time, son."

Skittery whistled jovially as he walked the few blocks to the Brooklyn lodging house. He greeted the caretaker and jogged up the stairs, finding Penny in her bunk, sewing an apron. "Hey," he said, leaning against the door frame.

Penny looked up. "Well, hello!" She set the apron down beside her and stood up. "I wasn't expecting you here so soon." She tucked her hair behind her ears and smoothed her skirt, then smiled at him. "You look excited about something."

"You awful busy right now?"

She shrugged. "No, I can take a break... why?"

He held his hand out. "C'mon. I got somethin' I wanna show you."

They walked back the few blocks, with Skittery staying in excited silence and Penny asking questions the whole way.

"Seriously, Skittery, where in the hell are we going?"

They approached the building, and Skittery grinned. "Here."

"Who lives here?"

"Lots'a people." He jogged up the couple flights of stairs to the apartment door, and unlocked it. Stepping inside, he pulled Penny in. "Whattaya think?"

She looked around. "I think it's an empty flat. Why? Whose is it?"

Skittery grinned proudly. "Mine."

Penny blinked. "What?"

"I been savin' for a couple'a years, an' I'm pullin' in a little extra money with my two jobs, an' I finally got enough to pay for my own place."

"Wow, Skittery," Penny said, looking around again, this time impressed. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," he said, closing the door. "Um, I know it ain't much, but there's room for two, and maybe... um, maybe three, someday." Skittery shuffled his feet nervously, looking around the room. "It's a good place to start out, don't you think?"

"Skittery, what are you talking about?"

"Well, I been thinkin'," he said, staring more at Penny's forehead than her eyes. He finally worked up the courage and his eyes met hers. "You and me, we ain't been together that long, but long enough to love each other, an' we've known one another for a while here. I was thinkin' it could be us, I mean, you and me, livin' here... that is, if you'll have me." He took her hand and smiled nervously. "I can't give you a ring or nothin', but I can give you my word..." Skittery coughed, shook his head. "What I'm tryin' to say here is... Penny, will you marry me?"

Penny stood, staring, stuttering. Unable to actually speak coherently, she just nodded.

He scooped her up with a kiss, and walked further into the apartment to take in their new home.

And so it was over. Life could go on in the best of ways. The world could be right again and its people could be happy – for four of them, more so than they ever thought possible.

A/N: Ladies and gents, it's over. Complete with fairy-tale ending, because it needed it. I want to thank you all for faithfully reading, and for your encouragement. I really hate to end it here, but there really isn't anywhere else to go with it, and it needed to end on its highest note. I achieved what I wanted to with this story. I hope you all saw that. I love you all. This story, in its entirety, is dedicated to Rustie73 for her incessant egging-on throughout the duration of the writing process. Thanks, Rustie, and thanks to the rest of you as well. -Layne