Epilogue

God, I was bored.

Life on Earth was as entertaining as it had always been, but I was sick of watching it. Matt and Angel were still happy, Celeste still traumatised by teenage existence. Baby Aaron was no longer a baby, he was all grown up and Lilly was a perfect mom.

I couldn't bear to watch Aaron. Recalling and writing my life, my life spent with him, was painful and tiring. I felt cleansed and all that, but memories can hurt like salt in a wound. I wanted to go home.

I left to stay at The Plains for a while, take a little break. Maybe I'd find some peace, a time when I wasn't haunted by all I had left behind. Funny that, a dead guy being haunted…

I unlocked the front door of the house and let myself in. I was going to make myself a coffee and steady my nerves a bit. I felt like crying, but I instantly condemned myself - what did I have to cry about?

I thought of Aaron, wondering if he was thinking of me wherever he was. I thought about him a lot, and I knew he thought about me too. The separation between us wasn't just painful, it seemed plain unnatural.

There was knock on the door, startling me from my thoughts. I didn't know anyone locally, so who would be visiting me? I put down my coffee with a sigh and headed to the front door. I checked myself out in the hall mirror as I passed.

I saw a 15 year old boy with a halo of silky auburn curls, milky skin and curious brown eyes. I was frowning. I wondered if this was how Aaron saw me when he closed his eyes.

There was another patient knock on the door and I shook my head, sending my hair flying and hoping to clear my head of all Aaron related thoughts.

I opened the door, still frowning and looking at my feet. I don't like looking people in the eye.

"You do have nice feet, but they're not that enchanting Deo."

I glanced up, not daring to believe it. It couldn't be true, no way was I that blessed. I forced myself to look at him.

His blonde hair was still the colour of liquid sunshine, his eyes as blue as a summer day. A small smile was playing sexily around his lips. The lines from around his eyes were gone, his constant frown of the last few years vanished. He seemed to be positively glowing, although I couldn't see straight because the tears in my eyes were actually blinding me.

"Hey, hey, don't cry," Sixteen year old Aaron said, pulling me into his arms.

I leaned against him, trying to tell myself I was dreaming, that this was one mean trick. After all I had done, after all the pain I caused him, Aaron was here. Aaron was holding me.

"This is real," He murmured. "I am here, at last." He sighed as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I was sobbing uncontrollably, really I was. Lame, but true.

"I've missed you," I sobbed, but I knew those words didn't even come close.

"Understatement of the year," He smiled as I pulled away a little. He wiped my tears away with the black sleeve of his shirt and kissed my forehead.

"I can't believe you're here," I confessed.

"You've been so many things Deo. A fallen angel, a human being, a junky boy. But for now and forever, you'll be mine."

"Yes, I will be. I'll be yours, I promise!"

You remember how I told you that kisses with Aaron were the best I ever had, my whole life? Yeah, well they were also the best kisses in the after-life.

He pulled my hips to his and our lips met for the first time since the day I left for Seattle. I draped my arms around his neck, ensuring that he couldn't pull away until I was ready to let him go - not that I would ever be ready to let him go. His hair trickled over his collar and over my pale fingers, like a veil of golden silk. His hands settled in the small of my back, pulling me up on tip toe so that the kiss wouldn't break. His tongue teased my lips apart (he's such a tease) and fluttered inside my mouth like a trapped butterfly. I pulled away reluctantly, gasping for air. He was flushed a pleasant shade of pink, and he smiled shyly at me.

I laced my fingers through his, bought his pale fingers to my lips. Slowly, I kissed each perfect finger, my eyes never leaving his.

"I have so much to talk to you about," I told him. Our lips met again and again, each kiss bleeding into the next in a web of gentle but passionate kisses.

"We can talk later," He murmured lustily, sliding inside and closing the front door behind him. I couldn't help but smile.

"It feels like I've waited forever for this," I said thoughtfully as I followed him up the stairs. We reached the bedroom door and he turned to face me.

"Well let's not keep you waiting any longer." He opened the door, but I hesitated at the threshold.

"Wait…tell me." I muttered softly, but he heard me and he knew what I meant.

"I love you Deo. I have always loved you. I loved you that day you first kissed me, I loved you the night we first had sex. I loved you the day I named you Deo and I loved you the day you got on that plane," His eyes clouded over with tears, and his next words were full of pain. "I loved you the day I got that phone call saying you were dead and I loved you the day I died."

"I love you too Aaron, I've watched you almost everyday. I love you," We kissed again. "I love you," I repeated, murmuring to his mouth as we stumbled together into the bedroom that was almost a mirror image of the bedroom we had shared.

"So show me."

"I will, I'll show you till the end of time," I promised.

He smiled his most beautiful smile at me, and that was happiness. I was happy, "the hills are alive" happy.

Finally.