Summer was over, not officially of course, but the days were getting shorter and cooler. Rory, Theo, Wills and Tristan had seen Lisa back to England the day before. It had been teary between the girls, especially the old room-mates. They had gotten to know each other al over again during the past week.
And now they were all making plans, brought back to reality by the changing leaves. Tristan was heading back to Harvard, Rory to Yale and Theo was moving out of the apartment she shared with Nate. He was in Florida for the weekend and she was staying with Tarique, a friend from college.
Tristan and Rory were meeting her at the apartment to help. Theo walked to the apartmen from Tarique's, savoring the last of the lazy summer sun. As she neared the apartment she could see them sitting out the front, they had driven up together.
Tristan looked up from where he was sitting on the low wall, and she was there, like she'd been for more than two years now. The girl he'd loved the girl he still loved. He had come so close to blurting it out that night, to tearing himself open and screaming it to the world. But he couldn't…it wasn't that he was frightened, although, in a way he was. It was just that she was so beautiful, so perfect right now that he didn't want anything to mark it, because if it did it would be indelible. And this clear picture of her was what he wanted to take away, to lock up in a drawer so he could take it out on dark days and live by its illumination.
The excitement was building up in Theo, as long as a tinge of sadness that she quashed. Her heart fluttered and she felt as though her feet couldn't carry her fast enough as she broke into a run.
She was running towards him now, her hair streaming out behind her. She was everything that young and beautiful was supposed to be.
"I like the way you don't hide it when you're excited about something" a small smile played with corners of her mouth and he kissed her.
"I got it! I got it!" She cried as she came closer to them. He didn't know what she was talking about but caught her when she threw herself into his arms, never wanting to let go of this gift.
"What are you talking about?" He asked her and she laughed, throwing her head back as he set her down.
"The woman at the party who asked about my dress? That niece of Emily's old friend? She owns Starry Fae the major fashion house in London Tristan! She wants me to go and study under her! I'm going to London! Can you believe it?" In those few seconds his world came crashing down. One the one hand he had Theo back one the other he was losing her all over again.
"That's something I can believe in" He told her with a smile"
Rory hugged her.
"Is this what you want?"
"It's what I want right now" Theo answered happily and Rory smiled, it was enough, it was too much. Tristan watched both his girls. So were so happy, so full of life. He had preached about half-lives to Theo. Was that what his was now?
They started up the steps but Theo stopped. Tristan and Rory, a step above her looked down, confused.
"You know, this is profound…but we will never be more young and beautiful than we are at this exact moment"
No…it couldn't be. He couldn't be living a half-life while he was content, enjoying his study and had his girls back and happy. Suddenly he knew this was where he was supposed to be now, who knew in two years time? Who cared? The three linked arms and continued up the steps to the apartment.
AN: Well, that's it. That's all I have. I am so proud of actually finishing this, it's been a mammoth effort between work and uni. Please still R&R and let me know if I should publish the first and third installments of the trilogy. The third follows them into these new lives they're all forging, and the first is set at Chilton.