After a week in California, Lulu was beginning to finally feel comfortable in her relationship with Dillon. While everything was not perfect, she almost preferred it that way. With her life, she didn't know how to handle perfection. Without it, she was afraid that they might give up fighting to be together, becoming apathetic about the truly awesome gift they'd been blessed with – their love.

As she sat on the terrace alone early that morning, the cool, salty sea breeze whipped around Lulu, instantly sending her mind back to those final days of summer in Port Charles. Below, the waves crashed against the pebbly shore. It amazed her that those same waves had been there for millions of years, creating and destroying traces of life in their wake. In this infinite world, the ocean could so easily make you feel so big and yet so small in a single tide. Hugging the mug of hot coffee between her palms, she silently thanked the fates for the millionth time for giving her this life.

Dillon silently slid the door open and came to join her on the balcony. Lulu didn't bother to move her eyes from the waves. He had come to understand that those first minutes after she woke up belonged to only her. If he could be with her without needing her to be attentive, she didn't mind if he accompanied her. She valued those waking moments because it was her time with her thoughts. She didn't have to be on point during that time, she could just be her.

Finally, after nearly emptying her cup, she turned slowly to watch Dillon. There was something so deliberate about his movements as he typed quietly at his laptop. He had been writing a little bit each morning while she enjoyed her coffee. Lulu had read a passage yesterday, quickly becoming enamored with the mystical love story he had spun. He had managed to paint her as an astonishing heroine who would do anything to get the life she had dreamed about. His words made her fall in love with herself, and that was when she knew how powerful the screenplay was going to turn out to be.

A pang of something unfamiliar washed over her as she closed her eyes. There was something so addicting about the exquisite pain of wanting someone so much. No matter how long they were together, she would always want him. There were a million different meanings behind that statement and nearly all of them applied. It had been a hard thing for Lulu to admit when she finally told Dillon how much she loved him. In the past, it always seemed to get her in trouble when she thought it, let alone even thought it.

Coming here had been a big step for her, the first step toward the rest of their lives. Arriving in California was the end of many endings for them both. For Lulu, it was her simple beginning for their forever. For Dillon, it was finally finding what had always been missing. Either way, they both knew that their lives until then were simply questions to be answered. And that answer had to be, I love you.

"I want to go home," she murmured, turning her eyes out back toward the ocean. She said it simply, not feeling the need to explain. He would know that she meant that they should go back to Port Charles together – back to their families, their homes, their lives.

Dillon stopped typing for a moment, trying to read if there was anything more behind her words. After deciding that there wasn't, he went back to clicking away at the keyboard. "I'll call the pilot this afternoon. We can leave in the morning," he replied. He knew that his return to New York was eventual, and they had spoken about it more than once throughout the past week.

Lulu knew that his response was purposely deliberate and blunt. He wanted to give her what she wanted without having to compromise his own needs. "You don't have to come if you're not ready," she offered. "I know that you're on a roll with this writing, but I am going to have to go home eventually. I left a job behind, and it's almost time to enroll at PCU. I can't just let go of everything because I've fallen in love with you."

"I would never ask you to," he countered with a smile, shutting the lid of his computer. "I might be on a roll with the writing, but it has nothing to do with being here in California. It has everything to do with being here with you. I'll be able to write wherever I am so as long as you're by my side. Whether it means the west coast or the east, it honestly doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm happy with my life as long as I'm with you, Lu."

She smiled up at him behind hooded eyes, a stray tendril of golden hair falling across her forehead. Cocking her head slightly to the side, she gestured for him to join her on the chaise. "You were too far away," she purred as he climbed on the lounger behind her, wrapping his strong arms around her slim frame. Resting her head on his chest, she felt instantly at ease about the awkwardness that was starting to creep in before. "I'm sorry I just put that out there like that."

"You never have to apologize for a single thought you have," he promised her. "Lu, you need to recognize that it's okay to just be you. You're the person I've fallen in love with you. If you want to go home to Port Charles, we will go home together. Relationships are all about the give and take. You came here for me, and I'll go there for you. Our family is there. Our friends are there. Our life is there. It may not always be, but for now it is."

Lulu turned her head to look into his eyes. Port Charles wasn't home to her, those eyes were. Dillon was her home. She had never seen it quite that way, quite that wholly, but it hit her hard now. "What do you miss most about home?"

"There are a million different things," Dillon chuckled. "I miss sitting across from you at Kelly's, listening to the same songs that have been in that jukebox for decades. I miss drinking coffee on the terrace at the mansion, looking out over my grandmother's roses and thinking about how she would feel if she was here. I miss waking up to the sounds of my family fighting, instantly ready to jump in the middle of it. I miss our movie nights when grandfather gets indignant about two teenagers taking over his elegant theatre. I miss the smell of Port Charles at dawn, driving my car along the harbor, heading over to the docks to think. I miss going to the boathouse when I've had a really bad day just to remind myself that there is something good still."

"You never answered my question," she pointed out. "What do you miss the most?"

"I can't believe I'm about to say this," he admitted. "I think I miss my mom the most. For the long time, she was the only person in my life. Though she was never reliable, steady or constant, she was at the center of everything in my world. Even if we're just fighting, she is probably the most important person in my life after you. No one will ever know me quite the way she does. There are a lot of things I want to tell her about my time here, even if she won't understand any of it. Since coming here, I've come to appreciate my mom more now than I have in a long time."

"Your mom has been really good to me since you left," she told him. "Actually, your entire family has been there for me. It's the first time I've really felt like I belonged there, which is pretty amazing considering neither you nor my father was there."

"Speaking of your father, we're going to see your mother before we leave," he told her. "I know that I've kind of put it off, but I wanted to make sure that everything was copasetic on his end before taking you there. He's finally ready to let you see her. I'm sorry that I had to keep you away from her for so long."

Lulu shrugged, indicating that she was no longer angry. "It honestly doesn't matter when I see her, Dillon, as long as I get to see her," he told her. "This time around, I don't necessarily miss my mother, I miss the woman that she used to be. Having her back last November was a gift that I may never get again. I can't dwell on the family I could have had. I need to be thankful for the family I do have. The Quartermaines, my dad, Lucky and Cam, Nikolas and Spencer, Carly, Aunt Bobbie, Michael and Morgan, Lucas, my grandmother and you – that's my family."

Dillon reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear tenderly. "You've grown up so much in the past year, Lu," he said. "You are such a different person than you were a year ago."

One year ago, she thought, they had both been different people. For better or for worse, it was impossible to deny that life had changed drastically for them both since the summer of sin and secrets. "A year ago this week, I told you that I was pregnant," she remembered. "I was standing alone on the docks when you came by, wearing that blue tee shirt that I always loved. You were so stunned when I finally made the admission, trying to search for the right thing to do. It broke my heart to have to tell you, especially when we both started crying."

"You had your hair in pigtails, and even though I was angry, I remember thinking about how beautiful you were," he recollected. "We yelled at each other, especially after I offered to take care of you. I was a little self-righteous, not thinking about how it would affect you. I remember screaming at you and you taking off. I stood alone on that dock for over an hour."

"A month later, I got the abortion," she whispered, her words almost becoming lost in the air. "I wish things had been different."

Her quiet confession stunned Dillon for a moment. Though there had been glimmers of regret about that awful month in the past, this was the first time she had voice it outright. "I know, Lu," he murmured, pulling her closer to him as he stroked her hair gently. Lulu pressed her face into his chest, muffling her sobs. "I know that it's a sad anniversary to have, but it's ours. We made the choices that we made, and we can't go back. We can take this time to remember, but you can't beat yourself up for it."

"I never thought that I would want to be a mother, but I do someday," she whispered. "Our child would have been so loved. I know now that we would have found a way to make it work. I was so selfish because I didn't want to give up my life. I didn't want to risk hurting anyone. In the end, I ended up hurting everyone."

"Stop it!" Dillon nearly screamed, wrapping his hands around her shoulders firmly and shaking her gently before dropping his voice a few decibels. "You do not get to talk about yourself that way. Your choice was far from selfish. I've told you this a thousand times, and I will tell you a million more. You are going to be a mother someday, and I know that you will be an amazing one at that. You will always remember our first child as the one that might have been, but you need to think about all the things that actually will be. Lu, I know it's hard, trust me. Just know that I'm here to love you no matter what."

"After we see my mother this afternoon, I just want to spend the rest of the day with you alone," she replied softly. "We can get some food and go to the beach. I just want you to hold me."

Dillon leaned down and kissed her intently. "We can do whatever you want for the rest of our lives. When you look at me like that, I can't imagine ever arguing with you again."

Lulu thought for a moment before a wide smile played across her frosted lips. "I want to be your wife for the rest of my life," she replied. "You can fight with me all you want to if you'll give me that one thing. I just want to be married to you."

He didn't say anything for a minute as he reached for the nearly empty bottle of water next to them on the small patio table. Lulu became worried that she had said too much, going to place that he likely feared after his divorce from Georgie. The teenaged sweethearts had gotten divorced for many reasons, including her age. What made her think that they were any different? They were both so young, just 19 and 20.

Unscrewing the cap to the plastic bottle, a thousand thoughts were racing through Dillon's mind. Had she really just said that she wanted to be married to him? Tipping the water down his throat, he felt a calming peace overtake him. Fingering the bottle, he finally laid it back on the table. "When I first met you, I could barely stand you. I thought you were this loud, obnoxious brat that was doing her best to make waves," he confessed. "And then, you became my best friend. You worked your way into my family and became my closest confidant. I could tell you anything. A bit later, we both made some mistakes, and before I knew it, we were in the boathouse making love."

Lulu was too busy looking in his eyes to see his movements. Sliding off the chase, he knelt on both knees in front of her. "We went through a time of anger, a time of pain, a time of loss, a time of remorse," he continued. "It was hard, but we got through it. Last spring, I was lucky enough to get to fall in love with you all over again."

"Our journey to this moment has been a long and winding road, full of ups and downs that neither of us could have expected nor would I want to replace. This is the life we have chosen for ourselves, and I guess I'm just lucky that you chose me," he went on. "Lesley Lu Spencer, for me, there is no one better in the world. Whether it is today, tomorrow or 50 years from now, I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Dillon pulled the plastic ring from the lip of the bottle and held it up to her left hand. Sliding it down her ring finger, he smiled up at her. "Will you marry me?"

Even the rapid tears falling down her face couldn't obstruct the ecstatic answer from Lulu. "Yes," she screamed, her voice echoing over and over again in the bright blue sky. Dillon pulled her off the chaise, standing up so that her feet didn't even touch the ground. Holding her firmly against his body, he kissed her until they were both breathless. It didn't matter how spur of the moment or fast into the relationship the engagement was. Some things are just right in this world, some things like Dillon Quartermaine and Lesley Lu Spencer.