Chapter 4

A cherry blossom fell on her face and she gently held it in her hands. She remebered the time when Ender and her had found a cherry tree when they were on an imaginative adventure through the rainforest (the grove of trees by Maya's house) and how they claimed it as their tree. Ender had taken a sharp rock and carved Ender + Maya Forever. Then they continued on as they watched the lions feast on a zebra (a squirrel eat at some type of nut). Maya had went to that tree often. She would recarve their names tons of times, and then she eventually carved Ender + Maya Forever ten more times, one for each year that had gone by. She then claimed all cherry trees as her's and Ender's. Whenever she was around them she felt cozy like she was right next to Ender. She looked up at the tree and stood up. She placed the cherry blossom in her hair and then climbed up the tree. She hadn't climbed in a tree in such a long time. In fact, the last time she did climb a tree was two days before Ender left. Unconsciously, she felt like she was going against Ender somehow if she was climbing a tree with someone else, or even by herself. She was letting go, though, so she decided to climb it. She climbed as high as she could, but that wasn't too far since she was too heavy for some branches.

She pulled the cherry blossom out from her hair and picked at the petals saying, "He loves me, he loves me not." It ended with a "he loves me." She pulled another blossom and did again. This one was a "he loves me," as well. She did it with two more blossoms and they were both "he loves me." Maya had always been somewhat obsessed with the number five. She was born on the fifth of the fifth month at five in the morning. She had five cousins. Then there were plenty more things that were with the number five. If the fifth flower is a "he loves me" then it's still true, she thought.

She picked the first petal. "He loves me." Then the second. "He loves me not." Third. "He loves me." Fourth. "He loves me not." Fifth. "He loves me." Sixth. "He loves me not." Maya frowned as she looked at the petalless flower.

"Well that's false."

Maya looked up and there she saw Ender, who had been in the tree all along.

He climbed down and sat on the branch she was on. He stared at her with his intense eyes. "How could it say I not love you? I love you so much, Maya."

She smiled and flung her arms around his neck, not caring that she could make a wrong move and fall off the tree, which she ended up doing. She took Ender down with her.

"Oh," Ender groaned as he hit the ground.

Maya had still been in his arms, so she didn't take the brunt of the hit. She laughed and slid up so they were face to face. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Better than I have been in years." He held her tighter and rolled over. He looked down at her and kissed her.

It was an awkward, sweet, wonderful first kiss for the both of them.

"Will you marry me?" Ender asked like it was the most natural thing.

Maya smiled. "Of course I will."

"Good. Peter was already calling in favors and getting it organized. If we didn't get married God knows what he'd do to me."

They laughed.

"You know when I arrived back on Earth I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I figured I'd just rule some part of the world. Now, all I wanna do is be with you. Let's have kids. A lot of them."

"Didn't you use to say we'd have eight?"

"Yep. I think ten is better, though."

They laughed again and kissed again.

Ender sighed. "When I was in Battle School, I had always planned on just coming home and getting married to you."

"Well now you are, and you can't take it back."

"You know I never would." He kissed her. "Now go make me a sandwich."

Maya had fallen asleep lying against Ender. Ender couldn't sleep because of all the birds chirping. It was impossible for him to sleep with so much noise going on. He heard practically everything. He heard footsteps approach and looked to see Petra and Bean coming towards them. They smiled down at Ender and Missy.

"We figured this was enough time for you," Bean said.

"We didn't want to walk in on you two getting it on, and who can go for more three hours, especially virgins like you?" Petra said.

"Don't worry about that, at least not after the wedding."

"Who's your best man?" Bean asked.

"Peter demanded that he will be." Ender shrugged. "You can be the - other man. When are you two getting married?"

Petra glared at Bean. "We're not," she stated flatly.

"That's too bad. You're human enough to fall in love Bean. You're just scared of what might happen, and that just makes your love bigger." Ender smiled to himself.

They didn't say anything.

Ender sat up and gently woke Maya up. "Come on, baby. Let's go get married."

The wedding was exactly the way Peter said it would be. Ender had to admit, he knew how to plan a wedding. Everything was immaculate and Maya was especially pleased. Her parents were so glad to see Ender, her entire family was. He smiled from ear to ear as she walked up the aisle. She looked beautiful. Petra was her bridesmaid. Her cousins were the flower girl and ring bearer. Everything was white, other than the cherry blossoms. The whole world was watching as their savior got married to a sweet, little girl from North Carolina that only a handful of people had heard of.

"I do," said Ender.

"I do," said Maya.

They kissed.

The reception was small with great food and entertainment.

"Now you get to live out the rest of your life the way you should," said Alai to Ender.

Ender smiled. "It'll be your turn next," he said.

"Nah, I bet it'll be Bean and Petra."

"They said they wouldn't get married."

"You know they will."

"I've been thinking," said Bean to Petra. "It might be possible that the disease could be reversed."

"In you?" Petra asked with an eager smile.

"No, I'm already born."

Petra took a minute to think about it. She smiled. "So in order for this to be reversed in someone, they can't be born yet?"

"Yes." Bean smiled down at her.

"Well, there's no one else with your disease ."

"Yet." He wrapped her arms around her. "Let's get married."

She smiled and kissed him. "It's about time you came around."

"Well thank Ender. You know how he is with words."

They both looked at their friend who was smiling exuberantly at his new wife. They kissed, and then the married-to-be couple did, too.