I recently finished Girl Underwater by Claire Kells, which is a wonderful book about a swimmer who is suffering PTSD from her being one of the only 5 survivors of a plane crash. It's a wonderfully written book and I urge you to check it out if you're interested! It's published as a New Adult but I'd honestly think it's fine for YA too.

I found the epilogue a bit sparse, because there are a lot of unanswered questions; what happened in between? What happened to Lee and Avery? Colina and Avery? This is my attempt through a oneshot to fill in the gaps. Please enjoy!

I really liked writing this as well, so I might do a second one on Colin and Avery's son as well. I filled in the gaps to their college life, but I also want to fill in the gaps for the family life. What do you think? Let me know!

Much love,

Ain

I can feel everyone's eyes on me. This shouldn't be this hard. Only I haven't talked publicly about the crash since...since the crash happened.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Everyone is here; press, media, Lee, my parents, my brothers, my old swim team, my new swim team...and just about the entire city of Boston at this rate.

I try to calm my heart down but instead it starts to race like it's in a marathon instead. But suddenly I feel a pair of arms around me, hugging me, sharing their warmth with me, sending my love, and I know who it is. I twist around to see his pool, blue, bluer than anything, eyes.

"Don't be afraid." Colin says as I lean into him and breathe in his peppermint scent. It's intoxicating and calms me down.

I give him my stare. "Don't be afraid isn't going to make me feel better, Shea." I retort, and he smirks. He's in a suit, and the blue tie brings out so much blue in his eyes. Like always, it takes my breath away. He smiles and twists a strand of my dark brown hair. I was a brunette again, even after I swore to stay blond, and I remember his smirk when he first saw my brown hair.

"It won't be bad, I promise. And if it does get bad, just remember that I'm here." He shifts so we're locking eyes, and I smile tentatively, as his warm hand rubs up and down on my arm, sending warmth through my veins.

"You're right. I've got this." I say, taking another deep breath. I'll be speaking first, and then Colin. We tipped off the press that we were talking about Flight 149's crash, and of course they were eager to hear about the story. So there were probably well over a hundred people here tonight.

I just graduated college, and Colin had already graduated last year. Every year I've been trying to be a bigger part in the boys lives; being there for school nights, baseball games, and watching them grow up. Two and a half years, and a plane crash that connected all of us together. Little Aayu, now five, and Liam, already six, were in the audience with their aunts and uncles and grandmas and grandpas. People who were there for them when I couldn't, and when their parents were gone.

Colin smiles down at me softly and I can feel my heart trip over itself, and I can feel the sparks in my veins as he presses his lips against mine, and they are like peppermint, hinted with a breathiness that was almost like sugar.

"Go get 'em." He says, and I smile, giving him one last peck on the cheek as we listen to the introducer, Coach Toll, our college coach from Cali. I hear applause, and then silence, and then papers rustling.

"Two and a half years ago, on Flight 149 from California to Boston, the world suffered one of the most tragic plane crashes in history. Killing two hundred and four people, leaving five survivors." He takes a deep breath and pauses.

"Two hundred and four people included our fellow swimmer, Phill Mackey. Two hundred and four people include someone's beloved parents, Jonah and Luna Caldwell. Two hundred and four people, ranging from babies to grandparents, perished in the Rockies." Another pause, and papers rustling.

"Two hundred and four people who never lived to tell their stories. But five did. Five lived to tell their story. And their names are Avery Delacorte, age twenty-one, Colin Shea, age twenty-two, Tim Caldwell, age nine, Liam Taylor, age six, and Aayu Gupta, age five. And today, we will listen to their story, of what truly happened. So I introduce to you, Avery Delacorte, who was nineteen at the time of the tragic incident."

I hear applause, and I know it's my cue to go on. I smooth down my evergreen dark green dress that skims my knees, and matches my eyes, twirl a strand of chocolate brown hair, and then throwing one last terrified glance at Colin, who gives me a reassuring smile, march onto the stage.

The applause roars even louder as I appear and I shake Coach Toll's hand. He leans down and whispers in my ear, something that the audience would never hear. "I never doubted you for a second."

And with those words my heart soars. He exits the stage and I wait for the last bits of applause to die down as I search for Liam and Aayu's eyes, whom are shining with happiness at seeing me. I tap the mike twice.

"Hello." I say. It echoes through the quiet room. "My name is Avery Delacorte and I'm probably most famous for two things; one, surviving Flight 149, and two, lying to the entire world about it."

This sends chuckles throughout the room and the sound of laughter loosens the last remaining tension in my body.

"Today I will be talking about what really happened." I say, my eyes searching the crowd until they land on my parents, who are confused, and then the press in the back, who's eyes are anticipating a breathtaking story. We never told anyone anything until now. Until I was ready. It was all me. "Flight 149 was a devastating crash were five survivors who supposedly only crossed paths for five hours and stayed there for five days, before getting rescued. However," I take a deep breath.

"I lied about what happened." I say quietly, an the microphone picks up the five, small, insignificant words. "We - me, Colin, Tim, Liam, and Aayu - weren't together for five hours. We were together for five days."

I lock eyes with Edward, my favorite brother, and take a deep breath. "We were together for five days. We lived in a lean-to that Colin built from the plane wreckage. We fought off a bear. We survived hypothermia, Aayu and Liam's fevers, Colin's shoulder that nearly got torn off by a hungry bear, Tim's sickness from diabetes that nearly killed him, watching a pregnant woman give birth, and both her and her son dying." My voice cracks.

"Every day, was like a countdown to death." I say, thinking of all the thoughts I had. "I wanted the boys to grow up and become men, when I thought we would never survive. I wanted Colin to have the chance to become a father, when we all knew we were going to die. I wanted me to have the chance to start over; start over college, and do what I really loved, the mile, the 1500 instead of mid distance, the 200s that I never genuinely wanted to swim."

I see Lee now in the crowd, sitting with the rest of the Cali swim team, and he's with his new girlfriend, Miya. He gives me his bright and easy going smile, encouraging me.

I close my eyes. "Five days we were together and staved off death, illness, blood, injuries, together. And then one day, day five, I swam the lake. There was a orange emergency bag that could save us. Colin was too injured to swim the lake, so I did it. I swam for a hour in my clothes, and inside there was a flare. And that flare saved me, but didn't save the four others I was with."

I close my eyes and continue my story. "It wasn't until we emergency landed at the hospital that I gained consciousness and remembered the other four. That I had left behind. And they found them, and in the end, we all survived, and recovered in the hospital. And then there was the one thing that everyone wanted. Everyone wanted the story of our survival. There were two hundred and nine people on that plane, and we were the ones that survived. So everyone wanted the story. But I lied to them."

I take a deep breath and search for another pair of eyes, this time landing on my dad. He has a small smile on his face. "Post survival. Everyone clamors for what really happened. And now, I can see it in everyone's eyes; why did you lie about five days on there? And really, the only answer I can give you is this; I struggled in my own way. I didn't want to relive those awful days ever. Five days of my life and every second I thought I was going to die. And in the end, I suffered severe PTSD because of it. So I hid from it, but that was cowardice." I close my eyes, thinking about all the therapy and psychologists and psychiatrists I visited. "No," I say. "I shouldn't have lied, because this story isn't about me, or us surviving. This story is about the two hundred and four people that died in that crash. And we need to honor them, and their deaths, and we survive to tell their story."

I take a deep breath and smile at the curtains to my left, where Colin emerges. Cameras click. I lean into the microphone one last time. "And that is why we are here today. To honor two hundred and four lives that are lost, and remember them in legacy forever."

The roar is deafening this time, as the claps slowly begin, and turn into a storm, of sound and everything in between. It's like thunder, and everyone is suddenly standing, and the sight of all the cheering makes my heart overflow with love.

I look up at Colin, and I smile. We did it. He smiles down at me and pulls out a thin, blue velvet box, and slips the ring that is inside of it onto my left, ring finger. It's a beautiful engagement ring with a small gemstone a pale blue one like the pool, and the band is like twining silver weaving together to raise the blue jewel. And then there are five specks of diamond around the blue jewel. One for each day we survived. Together.

I hear the applause grow even louder and people cheering and whistles as people see the ring as it slips onto my ring finger, and I twine my fingers with him and smile out into the crowd.

"Sorry I made you take your ring off," he murmurs into my ear, only loud enough for me to hear, "But it's really funny to the media's surprise right now as they realize what the ring means."

I giggle. "As long as you promise that I never need to take it off again."

He smiles down at me. "Never take it off." he whispers, and I squeeze his hand tighter. This is what we are meant to be. Together, and surviving, and never separated.