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Read... the... Author's... Notes. For the love of Sanguinius, PLEASE, before you comment or send hate mail. You have opposable thumbs, live up to that evolutionary gift. If characters are having sexy time, they're 18 or older. Deal with it.
Epilogue- Never Another Day Without You
I was already liking Paris. No. Loving it. People were clapping quietly in the café as I led Alexa out of it, her arm threaded through mine, my hand clasping hers. Alexa was looking at the ground and blushing, trying to control her smile. She'd said almost nothing since I'd found her.
"Jamais un autre jour sans toi..."
she had whispered in my ear, with tears on her cheeks as I hugged her while the café looked on.
***
We walked slowly through the neighbourhood, saying nothing yet. We just wanted to feel one another's presence. I never once let go of her hand, keeping it clasped in both of mine. Every now and then, she would turn to look at me and I was stunned all over again by her angelic beauty- the limitless depths of her sapphire eyes, the radiance of her golden hair, the purity and joy of her smile...
I'd never been more in love with her. It felt like a dream, walking with her now.
We walked through the
Square des Epinettes
quietly, letting the warm summer air embrace us. Any ambient noise of the bustling city all around us was lost, because we were focused only on one another. We stopped and just stared at the statue in the center of the park for some time, although I was admittedly only faintly aware of it. There was only us.
We began walking again and I allowed her to lead me wherever it was we were heading.
"We off to an
atelier
?" I asked, grinning.
Alexa smiled and shook her head. She was so unusually quiet. I think she was still overwhelmed by my presence. "Afraid not. Just a little apartment off Roberval, sort of tucked away beyond notice."
"That sounds nothing like you." I mused.
"I couldn't agree more," she said quietly. "Let me take you there."
We walked casually through the streets, eventually reaching
Rue Roberval
, and she brought us around behind a large, old building, the foundations of which dated back to the 1700's at least. We entered through a small, walled-off garden and she used a small, antique key to access a stairwell. Two flights up and she brought us to a door.
"Promise not to laugh?" she asked as she put the key in the ancient lock.
"No." I replied simply, making her shake her head. She opened the door and led me inside. The apartment was tiny, basically one medium-sized room with several half-partitions meant to give it a multi-room feel. The living room was also the bed room. A tiny kitchenette terminated in a small round table perhaps big enough for two. The bathroom was a closet large enough to hold a toilet, a sink and a skinny shower stall. If I used the toilet, my lower legs would be visible in the hallway, it was
that small.
The walls were a light grey with floral wallpaper trim. Some plants hung form the ceiling and a radio that might have been older than Paris itself sad next to her bed.
"I like what you've done with the place." I mentioned, making her blush.
"I've only been here three days," she murmured. "Nothing here is mine. I... I didn't-"
She stopped talking as I hugged her to me. She didn't move at first, but then she put her arms around my waist and sighed in what I could only describe as deep relief. I could readily share the sentiment.
"I'll never let go of you again." I whispered to her, making her tremble slightly. She looked up at me and tears shone in her eyes.
"And what now,
mon coeur
?" she asked.
I shrugged and pulled out my phone. "Guess it's time to check in..."
She watched nervously as I dialed and then her eyes went wide as I pushed the phone into her hand, with the speaker function on. Before she could say anything or hand it back to me, someone picked up on the other end.
"Alex?" resonated my mother's voice across the line. Her tone betrayed her concern. "Alex?"
With a trembling hand, Alexa replied, her eyes squeezed shut. "Karen?"
"Alli?" mom exclaimed in barely contained shock. "It's Alli!" I heard her almost yell, the response to which my dad laughing jovially and Freja and Jeanie both crying out in delight. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she said quietly, not quite sure what to make of all this just yet. We hadn't really discussed anything since the café, just basking in one another's presence and never wanting to be apart again. It was entirely possible that she had never expected to speak to her family again, even if I was here. "I... Karen, I-"
"I'm so glad your safe," mom breathed. "So Alex is there with you?"
"She's on my phone, mom, so yeah, I'm here with her." I said, laughing. "I haven't been sacrificed to the lesbian death cult she, Jeanie and Freja started up just yet."
"There would be worse ways for you to go, young man," mom said dryly. "Now zip your yip and let me talk to my baby sister."
Alexa sat down on the corner of the bed, still looking both numb and nervous, her eyes distant with trepidation. Not surprisingly, mom spoke first.
"Alli, I'm not going to say much right this second, it's going to be a quick call," she began. "There's a lot for you and Alex to discuss. But I wanted you to know we're all relieved that you're fine. I love you and I miss you, we all do."
"I miss you too..." Alexa said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper, and even then, it nearly cracked with her emotion. Mom ended the call and Alexa stared at the screen for several seconds before looking up at me.
"They were worried..." she murmured.
"Terrified is a better descriptor," I answered, sitting down next to her on the flimsy fold-out bed, which creaked under my weight. It would have completely broken under dad, but he probably couldn't even fit in this postage stamp of an apartment. "When we saw you were gone, it-"
Alexa threw herself against me and burst into tears, sobbing. I held her tight, choking back my own anxiety and pain. Her being my aunt was the furthest thing from my mind. All that mattered was that Alexa was the woman I was completely in love with.
"How can you forgive me?" she rasped, trying to control her crying now.
"We're not worrying about that, Alexa," I said soothingly, stroking her hair. "There's so much to talk about."
I then took her cheeks in my hands and gazed into her beautiful face. "And a lifetime of joy to live."
She said nothing, just staring into my eyes.
"I'm not gonna say anything blithe like we were right all along," I said, using my thumbs to wipe the tears away from her eyes. "But I can say that mom and dad sent me to get you and bring you home. As my wife."
Even through the tears, her eyes were alight with endless wonder. "They... know I'm your wife?"
"A lot has happened since you left," I answered, nodding. "We talked. A lot. It wasn't easy on anyone. But in the end, they understood how in love we are. And they know you're my wife and approve. At least, they're working on it."
She just stared into my eyes. "Your wife..."
Then she blinked, almost snapping out of her secret reverie. "Alex, tell me everything, please."
I smiled and nodded before taking her hands in mine and recounting the entire ordeal from beginning to end, including the role Jeanie and Freja played in its resolution. Alexa listened breathlessly, almost like she was fit to burst. Tears shone in her eyes again.
"I can't believe after all this they want me back..." she murmured. "I thought they hated me for what I'd done."
I shook my head. "Alexa, I don't think anyone could ever hate you. You are, hands down, the most incredible person I know, and I've known my parents my whole life."
She sniffled and booped my nose. "Sweet-talker. I was just thinking the same thing about you, and I know your parents too."
I drew a deep breath as I composed my thoughts. "I... I won't say that all of this pain was unnecessary, Alexa, because it might have needed to happen to get us all where we're supposed to be on this issue. You going missing broke mom's heart, but she can't imagine life without you. It was dad who finally came down on our side, and that helped mom do what she so desperately wanted to and approve of us."
"How can they not hold all this against me?" she asked. "They knew I was in love with you and tried to ease me out of it."
I chuckled. "Which makes perfect sense at the time and from their perspective. If you weren't in love with me, and I developed some idiotic teen boy crush on you, dad would have thwapped me on the back of the head and told me to snap out of it."
She giggled now. "Yeah, I can see that. You would've been really annoying if you'd been crushing on me. Always trying to sneak peeks at me, setting up that remote camera in my room..."
I raised an eyebrow. "You knew about that?"
"You're not
that