~One Month Later~
"This seems like a pretty good spot." I pointed out to Theo. It had taken me a few days, but I finally convinced him that the shelter of my home wasn't the only place I had to be.
"Besides," I had told him, "you haven't even taken me on a real date yet."
The sunshine warmed my skin, and already I felt livelier. A breeze blew through the big oak tree we were under, shaking free what few leaves were left. I thought back to this time last year, when I was on my way to Beacon Hills. How scared I had been, and how I had planned to pass this place as a shadow, a figment of the imagination.
Now, I was watching the man I loved spread a blanket on the ground so that we could eat deli rotisserie chicken together under a balding oak tree. I had one fear still, and that was my brother, but he had been going around in the dark last I saw.
"Come on," Theo said, reaching over to me and gently taking my uninjured arm. He helped me sit down without bumping my splint and then sat beside me. "I can't wait to have this thing off." I complained.
"You have at least three weeks left," he reminded me, "which means you're still going to be babied. Now shut up and eat your lunch."
I giggled and plucked a fresh green grape from its vine. I plucked another and pushed it into Theo's mouth. "I can feed myself." He said around the bite. "And?" I asked, "Also, don't speak with your mouth full, it's a total turn off."
My teasing made him smile and he pushed a paper plate into my free hand. I put what I wanted on it, then leaned back against the tree trunk, feeling the tension of being cooped up leave me as the air rushed around me.
"So, this is what you consider a date?" Theo asked out of the blue. "I consider a date to be whatever we do together." I said.
"Oh yeah, because that hospital stay was really romantic and all." He scoffed. "Dates don't have to be fancy, but no, the hospital stay was not one. However, I'm glad you stayed with me. But hey, maybe when my collarbone has healed, we can do something you consider fun."
"In case you haven't realized, I'm not the 'fun' type." He replied, chewing his bite of a roll.
"That doesn't mean you can't try bowling." I pushed. "Bowling? Like, rolling a heavy ball toward pins? That's what you think is fun?" He asked.
"You're such a baby," I said, laughing, "you only don't like it because you haven't tried it." "Who says I haven't?" "It's written all over you damn face, Theo."
He shook his head in exasperation and took another bite of food.
"I realize that you haven't had a normal childhood." I said, watching his face tighten with tension, "What happened after your sister?"
"A lot. I couldn't exactly go back home and face my parents. I stayed with the Dread Doctors, remember the ones I told you about in the hospital? I was their first succesful Chimera."
"Seems like a hard life. I'm sorry." I said. "No harder than yours, and I did mine to myself."
I let him finish eating, then carefully laid down in his lap. I played with a small wildflower I had picked moments before, twirling it between my thumb and index finger. Theo's fingers ran through my hair as he watched the treeline closely.
"Theo, you're so on guard." I commented. "Never know when we'll have to save this town's ass again." He tossed back. "You need to relax." I said, putting my hand on his chest and waiting for him to look at me.
"This is our first real date. Shouldn't we be paying more attention to each other?" I said, and winked at him. His smile spread over his face, making warmth travel through my limbs.
He leaned down and put his lips on mine. "Technically, we're an official couple, considering you said you loved me already." He teased, breaking the kiss. "You said it back, and we were kind of already together before I broke up with you at the bridge."
"Tell me something," he said, "when you were told that I killed Tara, you reacted differently than a normal person would have. Like, you took it personally. Why?"
A knot formed in my stomach. I supposed that it was time to tell him the truth, considering we had talked about everything else from the Dread Doctors to Le Bete, and the guy he had taken pain from for the first time.
"It's hard to talk about." I admitted, turning my attention back to the flower. "And nothing I told you was for me?" He asked, pushing my hand down to my chest with his. He looked directly into my eyes, so there was no getting out of it.
I sighed.
"Damian is my brother." I said, images of my childhood flashing before my eyes.
Theo's eyes bored into mine. "The psycho maniac and serial killer is your biological brother?" He asked incredulously. "This is exactly why I didn't say anything before." I mentioned, sitting up from his lap. Theo's hand shot out and kept me in my place, but I didn't face him.
"I'm not disgusted, if that's what you think. I'm just shocked. You grew up around this monster? He killed his parents, and now he's hunting you. Your brother... No wonder you left the bridge in a hurry. I reminded you of him."
"Not anymore!" I rushed to assure him, "Just then. All I saw was a man who had killed his sister, and then my parents' came to memory and I couldn't handle it."
"And you've been running from him for years, under a fake name. I think I admire you even more now." "It's not something I'm proud of, Theo, and you shouldn't be either."
"Well hell, you're one of the best survivors I know of, and that's saying something. If that's not something to be proud of, I don't know what is." "I don't mean my survival. I mean the reason why I have been made to survive."
"You don't have to worry about it anymore." He said, gently pulling me into his arms, "He isn't going to hurt you, not as long as I'm around to stop him."
"Thank you. I love you." I said, pulling his face to mine gently.
"That reminds me," he said after our kiss had ended. I sat back and he reached into his back pocket and fished out a tiny, red velvet covered box. My breath left me. Could it be...?
"Hope you'll forgive me for not kneeling." He said, and opened the box. Inside was a silver ring with a small, dark blue gemstone in the middle. He set it in my lap and kept his eyes solely on the little box. "I won't go into details. But know that I've thought long and hard about this, and had to do a lot of convincing myself."
I took the box into my trembling hands, gazing at the beautiful ring inside and knowing what it meant, what he was asking me.
"You...want to marry me?" I asked, carefully touching the smooth silver band and the tiny, deep blue stone that winked in the rays of sunlight that shone through the branches.
"Sure, why not?" He answered, a teasing tone in his voice. I met his eyes, then handed the box back. "Well, if you're not going to kneel, the least you can do is slide the ring on." I said, smiling at him.
He laughed, then picked the ring out of the box and took my hand, flawlessly sliding the ring onto my finger. I admired it from afar on my hand, then looked to him again. "It's beautiful. Thank you."
"I love you," he stated, pulling me back to him, "and I hope I'm not dashing any dreams, but let's keep this small, okay?" "None are dashed. A big wedding would only announce to Damian where I was. Court house?" I replied.
"Perfect."
~Two Weeks Later~
"Would you relax? You're going to ruin my hard work." Cora said, pinning my hair back with bobby pins.
"Sorry," I said nonchalantly, straightening my white sundress for the fiftieth time. "It's just Theo. He's not even wearing a tux, he's wearing blue jeans and a white button up." She commented, forcing the last pin into place.
"It's my wedding day! Who cares what he looks like! I'm just nervous about this big ceremony." I said. "Big?! It's Melissa and Argent, me, Corey, Mason and Liam. And the pastor." She tacked on. "We didn't want to draw attention, plus, we're not exactly family people, okay? You guys are it."
"Even my brother wore a tux when he married my sister-in-law," she mumbled under her breath and I chuckled. "Anyway," she continued, "when you hear the music start, just begin walking down the aisle. Nothing fancy." She said, then walked out the door.
I took a deep, shaky breath, and clutched my small bouquet of fake pink lilies close, awaiting the cue of music to begin my ascent up the aisle to my fiance.
After what felt like a million years, I heard the trill of Pachelbel's Canon start. I took the first step into the aisle and met Theo's eyes, feeling a smile come across my face.
Just a few steps later, I was at his side and repeating every word that the pastor said. After the ceremony was over, Theo pulled me into his arms and kissed me deeply.
After all was said and done, we had pizza at the gazebo in the park with everyone and talked until the glow of evening brought forth the deep purple sky of nighttime.
Theo and I made our way back to our house, a new, two bedroom apartment that we'd planned to move in to today after the wedding. As he opened the truck door for me, he scooped me up into a bridal style hold.
I laughed, holding onto him. "This was completely unnecessary." I told him. "Well, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to hold you, now could I?" He said, then pushed the door open with his foot and carried me over the threshold.
"Wow, I had forgotten how open it was." I said as he sat me down. I walked over and sat down on the new couch, bending so that I could take off the ballet flats I had worn pretty much all day. Theo settled beside me, and went to take off his boots as well.
"Want something to drink?" I asked. "Yeah," he said, and I stood and walked into our kitchen, retrieving a cool bottle of champagne from the fridge. "Why a girly drink?" He asked as I sat down on the couch again, putting my tired feet in his lap.
"I don't exactly want to pass out drunk on my wedding night." I teased him, pouring two glasses halfway full with the bubbly, white liquid. Theo took his glass and clinked it to mine, then took a swig, and I followed it.
"Pretty good," I said. "Yeah, for a wannabe soda." He said. I rolled my eyes, and set my glass on the floor. I pushed myself into his arms and pressed my lips to his jawline.
He turned, pressing his mouth to mine in a deep kiss. It felt so good to be in his arms, and without worry of having to quit what we were doing.
As if he'd read my thoughts, he broke the kiss for a second to ask, "Going to stop me anytime soon?"
I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him to me possessively.
"Never again." I promised.
**Thank you all for reading! The next chapter will be the final one for this story, and then fanfic #2 will be in the works! I have loved writing this and want to thank all of you again for putting time into reading it, because I do appreciate it so much! Hope you all have a great day!**