A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates!

Chapter 9: New Year's

New Year's used to big a very big event. Julie told R there used to be big parties, and that a ball used to drop in New York City and there was champagne and people kissed at midnight. Now, people didn't even stay up til midnight, usually.

"Now, every year, we just hope for a better one." Julie said sleepily, her head on his chest as they laid on the couch, basking in the sun that streamed from the window.

"Do you think things are gonna...get better?"

"They already have."

R worked on his sketching every moment he could. He had started full-body portraits-Nora standing in the kitchen cooking, Julie sitting on the couch, staring into space, even Marcus, staring wide-eyed at some magazine. He was getting better.

He got his hands on any sort of art he could, studying it intently. Given, the portraits were his favorite. Some of the paintings were of nude women, which, when Marcus stumbled upon him staring at one, nudged and called him a perv.

"It's art. Not Playboy." R replied.

Secretly, he dreamed of painting someone that way. Julie in particular. He wanted to capture every beautiful curve, every small detail that he loved about her, onto a piece of paper. But he didn't know how to ask for something like that, or how she would react.

On December 31st, Julie grabbed a hot cup of tea and wrapped herself up in a blanket. She paged through one of R's sketchbooks that was lying around. She smiled, running her finger along the lines of his drawings. She noticed one of his portraits of her, amazed at how wonderfully it was drawn. He drew her with a gleam in her eyes and a dimple in her cheek. He had captioned the picture "Julie" with a small heart next to her name. She blushed. His love for her was so endearing and so sweet and she loved him back so much and she just wanted to show him in some way.

He walked in then, seeing her with his sketchbook. "Hey," he said, peering over her shoulder. "I drew that."

Julie chuckled. "It's beautiful. What time is it?"

"Eleven. Do you realize it'll be a new year tomorrow?"

"Yeah...it's funny, I stopped thinking about it a few years ago. Everything blended together...all the months and years, it was all the same to me."

"Is it still like that for you?"

"Not really. Things have definitely changed for me." R sat down next to her, tracing her fingers very softly. "I love you, R."

He looked up, briefly, and smiled. "I know."

"It's like...I look at your drawings of me and...I think 'this is how he sees me'. And..I just...I think...'wow. I love him, so much. I want to show him how much I love him'. And I don't know how, so I have to tell you in my...very...un-eloquent words." R reached out to run his fingers through her hair. "Things have changed so much this year, and so much has changed, things are really getting better...and at some point I just stopped believing that would happen, ya know? My only hope is things will just...go on from here and get better. You bring so much happiness to my life, R." she sighed, shaking her head. "I sound so stupid."

"No, you don't," he replied, setting his head in her lap, staring up at her upside down. "I see so much beauty in you, Julie, because you see beauty in a world where there is so little of it."

They talked in soft, low, sleepy voices, for quite awhile, though they spent several minutes looking up at each other, not saying anything. "Hey, look, almost midnight." R noticed. They watched the clock in silence until it turned to midnight. They then turned to each other, and kissed with all their hope and their love and their happiness and everything they had. Julie wondered, and hoped, that maybe other couples were kissing now, too. That they had the same hope in their hearts.

"Happy New Year," R whispered.