Chapter Forty

A year and three months later.

Alison stood on the quad with two suitcases and a backpack, holding up a rolled up piece of paper triumphantly. She was surrounded by a small group of people, who were all hugging and congratulating her. It was impossible to wipe the smile off her face and her mind seemed to be stuck on repeat. I did it. I graduated. Even though it was a semester later than everyone else, she still felt so successful and happy to be done.

But her happiness was mixed with the sadness of leaving all of her friends. She and her parents had agreed that she would be leaving as soon as she got her diploma, and so she had to say goodbye to all her friends today.

Her former roommate Jen pushed through the crowd to give her a big bear hug. "You did it, kid! You can now be welcomed into the big, scary world they call adulthood," she said, pulling back and wiggling her fingers creepily at the last word.

Alison shoved her shoulder teasingly. "Yeah, yeah, sure. But you'll miss me, admit it."

Jen rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll miss you. Happy now?"

"Yes, I am."

"But I'll only be missing you for a semester, and then I graduate and get to be an adult. And I'm sure I'll stay as far away from you as I possibly can once I get a job."

Alison laughed. "I'm sure you will." She went in for another hug, her vision becoming blurry for a moment. She blinked and the tears in her eyes went away. "But you have to call or text or something, okay? I don't want to lose touch with you the way I did with Kylie."

Kylie had graduated with the rest of the class and had emailed Alison a couple times before completely failing to stay in contact at all. Alison had tried to talk to her but there had been no reply. It had made Alison sad, and she was determined not to lose any of her other friends the same way.

She went around and hugged each of her friends goodbye, sharing inside jokes made in the last year and a half and promising to stay in touch. She gave them all a last group hug and dragged her bags down to the place where she knew her parents' car would be parked, her smile mixing with the tears that had begun to run down her face. Her father greeted her with a hug as she got to the car, then helped her put her bags in the trunk. She turned and waved goodbye one last time before getting in the back of the car with Erik and Étienne. She watched out the back window as the car drove farther and farther from the place she had begun to call home.

Étienne, who was sitting in the little seat in the middle, put his arms around Alison's waist and hugged her. Alison smiled gently down at him and hugged him back. She looked up and noticed Erik watching her with a strange expression on his face. It looked like a combination of love and nerves. She raised an inquiring eyebrow at him and the expression melted into a smile.

The last year had been an interesting one for both Erik and Alison. They had reached a place of understanding in their relationship after many fights that had threatened to break them apart for good. But their love was always stronger than their anger and once they had managed to cool down, they were able to discuss their problems and come to solutions that worked for both of them. They had learned to be there for each other and their relationship had grown comfortable and happy.

Erik had grown more comfortable around people and was beginning to make himself famous through his talent, despite his lack of education. He had picked up the nuances of life in the 21st century admirably and by now, no one could guess that he had once come from another century. He had created a mask that had made his face look normal and he wore it most of the time, even though Alison hated it. They had begun to talk about their future more and more. Alison was hoping beyond hope that there would actually be a future for the two of them and that their talks weren't just cloud castles of a life they could never have.

Étienne had gone up to Boston to live with Erik, making it easier for Alison to visit them. Sadie and Michael paid for Étienne to go to daycare for half the day. On the nights that Alison didn't have homework or Erik didn't have practice, they would meet and spend a lot of time as a family. Erik had been teaching Étienne how to play the piano in his spare time and Étienne was picking it up very quickly: he could play like someone who had taken three or four years of lessons instead of just one. He was becoming bright, curious, and popular at school. His parents were very proud of him and Alison was looking forward to spending more time with him since she was done with school.

"So, I finally have a graduated daughter," Sadie said into the silence of the car, smiling back at Alison from the shotgun seat. "What do you intend to do with your newfound freedom?"

"Erik and I are going to stay in Boston for a while at least, and I'm probably going to go find a job somewhere or other. I've already started applying but I haven't heard anything back."

"You're a talented young lady, and the places you've applied for will see that. I'm sure something will turn up. But let's not talk about the future tonight. Let's just celebrate!" Michael took one hand off the wheel, reached back, and squeezed Alison's hand.

They pulled up at one of the nicer restaurants in town and all of them piled out of the car. All five of them got a table and ordered their food, eating, talking, and laughing their way through dinner.

At the end of the meal, a silent signal seemed to pass between Michael and Erik. Erik leaned close to Alison and said quietly, "May I talk to you for a moment in private?"

Alison nodded. They both pushed back their chairs and left the table. Alison followed Erik outside into what were the gardens in the back of the restaurant in the summer. Now there were no flowers, just soil and grass and the fountain in the middle. But somehow, it seemed more beautiful and lonely. Alison reached for Erik's hand and Erik pulled it away. Alison frowned, feeling a sense of foreboding.

In reality, Erik had not wanted her to feel the way his hands were sweating with nervousness. He was terrified that tonight his words would fail him, and he would never be able to work up the nerve for what he was about to do.

He led Alison to a bench towards the corner of the garden and sat down, inviting her to sit with him. He hoped fervently that she couldn't hear the way his heart was pounding. Alison sat and looked at him expectantly. "What is it, Erik?" she asked.

Erik took a deep breath and cleared his throat, running over the speech he had written one last time in his head. "Angelique," he began, "the first thing I want you to know is how much having you in my life means to me. You know all about my childhood, my life as a murderer, my face, everything, and you have still not run away. You've taught me so much about love and life and taught me to think about myself in the world in completely new ways. You've given me things I never dared to dream I could have, and even borne my child."

Alison listened, smiling a little, but in her heart she was worried. Where exactly is this speech going?

"You've proved that you love me in so many ways and I've never expressed it as much as I should have–"

"Of course you have!" Alison protested. "You've never given me any reason to doubt–"

"Angelique," he cut her off. "Please do not interrupt me or I will not be able to finish this."

Alison looked into his eyes and saw his nerves for the first time. She was growing even more concerned about the direction this was taking.

Erik took another deep breath and continued. "I can't make words begin to express the way I feel about you. And there's something I want to say to you tonight that I have difficulty finding the words for, so I'm going to use music to help me say it instead."

The moment was building and his heart fluttered like a hummingbird's. He slipped his hand into his right pocket, took one last deep breath and sung softly, "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime…"

Alison's eyes went wide as she recognized the tune and the words. Wait, he's not going to…

"Lead me, save me from my solitude

Say you'll want me with you here beside you

Anywhere you go let me go too

Angelique…"

He slipped off the bench to one knee as he fluidly drew the diamond ring from his pocket.

"That's all I ask of you."

Alison's heart stopped.

Erik trembled, waiting for her answer. The last fear of rejection slithered through him like a snake. The voices of his mother and his various tormentors over the years echoed one last time in his head. You can never be loved. You will never have a family. How could anyone care for a freak like you?

Alison could see their life together flashing in the reflection of the ring. She saw them growing older together, maybe having other children to love. She saw them becoming old together, dying together, never apart for the rest of their lives. And she knew that her answer had been given the moment a nineteen-year-old girl had flung herself into a black-clad stranger's arms.

"Yes."

THE END

A/N: So that's all, folks. Thank you to everyone who stuck with me for this entire story and left reviews. Thank you to the people who left review on almost every single chapter: you are awesome and I couldn't have done this without you. Thanks to Franziska and Kris, who beta'd parts of this. Thank you all so much! Hope you enjoyed it.