After we saw off the last of the guests Magnus sat me down and wouldn't let me do anything at all. He tidied everything; cleared every dish or little scrap of wrapping paper that had missed our cursory efforts. I kept asking him to leave it alone and just come relax with me but he didn't rest until everything looked just right. Even then he dissapeared into the spare room.

"Magnus?" I asked after him, wondering what on Earth he was up to.

"Just wait right there!" He called back.

I had to stop part-way through getting up and settle back into my seat. I'd never been an impatient sort of person but something was making me buzz. Besides the little wine I'd had, that is. There was a sense of anticipation in the air. When Magnus came back into the hall, he looked like he was on a mission.

Magnus walked perposefully over to where I sat. In his hands he had a box, a little ribbon-wrapped present that must have been hidden away all day. He grinned at me and held it out, it was covered in the same blue paper he'd used for all my gifts.

"I thought we were done exchanging?" I questioned, feeling sort of bad that I didn't have anything else for him.

"This is extra, Sweetpea." Magnus slid down beside me and slung an arm over my shoulder.

The box was light in my hand, I shot my boyfriend a dubious look. He threw up his pokerface and I had no idea what to read from him. All there was to do was pull on the ribbon. It slid away easily and Chairman Meow immediately pounced on it happily. As I peeled away the paper I was vaguely aware that the kitten had ran under the couch with it.

It was difficult to pay him much attention when I realised I must have been holding jewellery. I knew the kind of little velvety boxes those trinkets were stored in. The idea of looking inside suddenly became very daunting.

"I was going to wait until New Years." Magnus began, bringing his arms around me and covering my hands with his. "You know, fresh starts and everything…"

"Magnus..." I shook, hoping we could just go back and forget that this was happening.

I didn't want to go down this road, or have a conversation about exactly why I wouldn't. I'd just spent my day surrounded by couples who had broken down. It wasn't particularly reassuring that their vows meant anything at all in the end.

And Magnus himself was a key part in one of those couples.

"You can't-"

"I'm not proposing." Magnus cut me off, and more relief than I'd ever felt flooded through me at once.

All the same, his thumbs grazed over mine as he helped me to pop the box open. I wasn't sure what I expected to find inside. However, I did expect to find something. Instead the box was empty aside from a little slit where I assumed that a ring would usually sit.

Magnus' arms encircled me. I was surrounded in him but I couldn't see his face.

"You and I both know that marriage doesn't mean to me what it means to others." He spoke softly; warm and sincere. At least we were getting onto the same wavelength, confused though I was. "This is something different. This is a promise."

I turned myself around, feeling like I needed to see Magnus' face. The box remained in my hands, the one thing that was between us. Magnus' hands wondered up to my face and rested there. The rough tips of his fingers grazed my temples and tilted my head up a little to really look at him.

"A promise?" I repeated.

"The promise of eternity." Magnus' eyes bore into mine like this was the most serious proposition he had ever made. It quite possibly was.

"You want eternity before we've even had a year." I pointed out, shaking my head. It was just like him to come up with something like that.

I didn't want him to reconsider his words, but I realised that I was expecting him to. Magnus, my Magnus, with the world's shortest attention span and zero reverence for any monogamus concept. I thought he might change his mind. If it wasn't for the sudden clarity in his voice I might have even blamed it on the drink.

Magnus didn't relent even a little bit. I swallowed a lump in my throat, overwhelmed by the gesture. No person had forever to give but Magnus wanted the promise of all the time we had. And it was what he wanted. I could see it clearly when Magnus didn't try to mask his feelings.

I took a deep breath in, waiting for him to say something dumb and ruin it all.

"I'm not going to love you any less after one year or a hundred years, Alexander." Magnus insisted.

I remembered Camille telling me, what felt like a forever ago, how Magnus was more loyal than I thought he was.

If you let him, he would give you everything.

I kissed him with all I had in me. He could have it. He could have my everything so long as I had his.

I felt him take the box out of my hands and set it down somewhere as the kiss deepened. His mouth lingered against mine and my mind began to drift right back to the very beginning, with Isabelle and the coffee shop. I could barely picture what my life would be like if my sister never pushed me to visit Magnus' table.

I imagined a different reality, somewhere, where I walked right on past Magnus Bane instead of taking his order. In this reality I'd gone to Prom stag instead of sneaking off into the night. I had never had anything to do with, much less slept with, a married man. I finished school without the nasty rumours. Magazines had no idea who I was. I went directly to College and and studied hard. Or maybe I went to the Museum and never lost my job...

Magnus pulled me closer against him and none of that mattered. I could have saved myself some heartache if I had just passed Magnus by; but that would be because I would never have fallen in love.

If things hadn't gone this way I may never have gained the empathy it took to made amends with my Father. I'd still be alone and much more naive. I wouldn't have so many of the friends I had now.

And I wouldn't have Magnus.

So I wasn't bitter. I was happy. I'd always rather be happy with the people in my life who mattered than meet the approval of people who don't even know me. Didn't know us.

Mine is a long story. It's the story of a home wrecker who didn't always make the best choices in life. But it's also the story of people who did the best they could with a bad situation.

By some miracle we ended up happy. We had everything. We had eternity.