And here we are. The last letter of the alphabet. Have no fear, tomorrow you will get an epilogue just to see how everything pans out for our two lovers :)
Huge, incomprehensible thanks to all who have reviewed this story. It has been the definition of a wild success for me and I am just overwhelmed by the kind words and support you've all given.
This last one is my baby, I'm ridiculously fond of it so I do hope you all like it just as much as you have the other chapters!
*insert gigantic Teslen-y, season 5-y hug here*
xx
Z is for Zebra. Because Zebra's can change their stripes, not just their suits.
Growing up, I was always taught to believe in marriage and the sanctity of such an action. At a young age I did decide it wasn't for me but none the less, my parents expected it of me. I remember loathing the idea, the concept of being tied to a woman who wouldn't understand my work made my skin crawl. I thought it for lesser beings, those who were affected not by great understanding of complex matters but instead suffered through mediocrity.
I was pretentious and insufferable, I know and I remained that way for a great many years. Marriage was not for me. Ever.
And then one day I went to Oxford, another institution who wouldn't understand me and wouldn't appreciate what I had to offer. So it was with disdain I entered my education there, with the firm belief that I was above the emotions that drove mere mortals. For several months I stuck to my beliefs, completely certain in myself.
Until I met you.
You were bright and beautiful and challenged acceptable boundaries and were my equal in ways I never thought I'd find. For a time, I tried to stick to my guns, grasping onto whatever shreds of those foolish notions I could remembered between fantasies of making you laugh in delight.
It didn't happen all at once, in fact it took decades for it to really sink in but, from the first moment I heard your hearty laugh across a crowded room, my stripes began to change.
That which had defined my person for so many years fell away bit by bit, leaving instead a man who could care, who could love and, more importantly, who wanted to love.
I dabbled in others and what they could provide me but it was never quite enough. You were this incomparable creature to whom no one could match up to in my eyes. Of course, you were not perfect but in many ways it was your flaws that made me love you even more. The way you snort softly when you laugh, the way you can't resist humming after the final bite of your meal, even the way you fidget over a cup of tea. You aren't perfect, not by any means but if you were, you wouldn't be my Helen, the woman who showed me what love really is.
Our life and our love is made up of more than twenty six golden moments but in some ways they do not matter. Right now, I am focused on the future, our future.
So, Z is for will you marry me? Love of my life, apple of my eye, my darling Helen. Will you do me the utmost honour and become my wife? Because I am, in some strange way, your very own Zebra.