Chapter 62: Hope

Life has a funny way of working things out just when you start to beleive it never will. Look at where we are now.

___

Laughter filled Jaimie-mae's old

room as she got out of bed. She was barely standing on her own two feet and Fabian found this oddly amusing.

"Stop laughing at me Fabian," she whined as she tried to shuffle to her suitcase. "We're supposed to be hanging out with our families and i can hardly walk."

Fabian tried to stifle his laughter behind a pillow but when he realized it smelled of the two of them he threw it across the room with a grimace.

She winced when she stooped down to open her suitcase and she was silently mumbling under her breath about Fabian not being able to keep it in his pants. This was all her being dramatic because of the soreness, but really, Fabian had made her feel so good.

When she stumbled getting back up from her crouched position, he began to get worried so he sprung up and grabbed her by the waist.

"Im sorry Jaimie," he said as he placed a kiss on the back of her neck. "Was i being too rough for you last night?"

He chuckled as he noticed the blood rush up her face.

"N-no. Im just a little sore."

"I'm sorry. Let me take care of you."

She smiled to herself at his sweet words. He was such a gentleman. Well sometimes.

"Should i kiss it, make it better?" He teased.

She quickly glared at him. "A bath should help."

"Alright, well let me help you. It's the least i could do since you did so well last night."

***

"Why are you limping?" Mason asked as he casually walked up beside Jaimie-mae and grabbed her hand.

Of course he had to be the one to notice she was walking with a limp. The limp was hardly noticable and neither one of their parents asked or payed any mind to Jaimie-mae. But of course, sweet little Mason had to be the one to spot the limp.

Fabian had to hold back a snicker as he watched Jaimie-mae's face go through tons of different emotions.

"I-i, well..."

Fabian smirked."We were wrestling and i made a mistake and slammed into her too hard."

That one comment had Jaimie-mae coughing until she couldn't breathe and both of the brothers were worrying about her well-being.

When she straightened up, she shot Fabian a glare and punched him in the arm. "Not cool," she hissed.

Fabian chuckled quietly and subtly grabbed her butt causing her to let out a little yelp.

"You guys shouldn't wrestle," Mason said in his intellectual, kid genius voice. "You can get seriously injured. People get permanent injuries sometimes from wrestling, so you have to be careful."

"Thanks for the advice little man. Next time we'll use... protection." He sent Jaimie-mae a subtle, yet seductive wink and a smile and he could see the blush spreading on her cheeks like a wild fire.

The two families; which were basically one whole one now, were just walking aimlessly. The didn't have a destination, they were just simply... walking.

They wanted to spend time together without the distraction of the tv or their business. They just wanted to enjoy each others company in the fresh air.

When they came up to a bunch of rose bushes, Fabian tugged Jaimie-mae around abruptly and pulled her into his chest.

"Remember this place, beautiful?" He whispered into her ear.

Her eyes scanned over the area before they widened as she took in the rose bushes. How had she not noticed where they ended up?

At first, when Jaimie-mae didn't move or respond, Fabian thought he had made the wrong desicion by bringing her here, but then the giggle that escaped her mouth eased all of his worries.

She wasn't scared anymore. The memories were always there, but now they didn't scare her.

"Yeah, I remember. How could i forget?"

Fabian looked down at her and stared into the blue eyes he fell in love with. And then he took in her cute button nose and her gorgeous smile.

"You saved my life here," he said quietly as he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. He could feel her smile even brighter beneath his lips.

"My life changed here," she whispered back.

"I hope the change wasn't too bad."

She shook her head. "It was better than i could have ever asked for."

Fabian knew she was telling the absolute truth. He could see the fire and determination in her eyes. It was there from the day he met her, but now it was just more prominent.

The truth was, change didn't always turn out to be a bad thing.

Once upon a time, change was the worst thing in the world to Jaimie-mae. Who could blame her?

Her life had changed all in one day because of a school shooting. Sixteen people died that day, one of them was her bestfriend Rosay. And Jaimie-mae never failed to miss her.

Jaimie-mae had developed a mental illness that day and that was nothing to be ashamed about. It was just sad because so many people have some type of mental illness and they shouldn't. People shouldn't have to go through trauma all the time, enough to scar them mentallly.

Abuse shouldn't be happening.

Shootings shouldn't be happening.

Bullying shouldn't be happening.

Discrimination shouldn't be happening.

But they do happen and people get through them. They stand firm and strong and Jaimie-mae just happened to be one of those people.

A lot had changed for her. She moved schools and towns and left behind old friends. She grew out her hair and changed up her style. She cried a lot and then shut people out. She went to therapy and talked to strangers. She had to get over the death of her best friend, but no one could really do that.

She just had to... move on.

She had to endure change.

And then, one day, a boy got hit by a car and once again - everything changed. And this time, it was for the better.

She found a way to deal with her panic attacks. She climbed over obstacles she thought were too hard to climb over. She fell in love. She got a puppy with the person she loved. And she did it all with a smile on her face. Well, most of the time.

Jaimie-mae learned that change wasn't always a horrible, life altering nightmare. Sometimes it was good and came with gifts like Fabian.

She had to keep in mind that people do change, so she had to learn to let things go. Things do go wrong sometimes, but that just allows you to appreciate them when they go right. In that case, no matter how horrible the start was, it led her to Fabian and her new family.

Family wasn't really something she had much of back in her old town. And now she had one.

Jaimie-mae learned that sometimes good things fall apart so better things fall together.

And yeah, sometimes that's not always the case, but sometimes it is and you just don't notice it. Sometimes people fail to see the good things sitting right there in plain sight for them to see because their so focused on the thing crumbling to peices. And that's one of the worst things you could do.

"Fabian?"

"Yeah?"

"Can i tell you something?"

"Yeah, of course."

"When i first met you, i didn't just have PTSD."

He raised his eyebrows. "Anxiety?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"Before i met you, i had this... i guess you could call it an irrational fear."

"Oh yeah? Of what?"

"I had a fear of falling in love because i was scared i would lose them like i lost Rosay."

He looked down at her with sad eyes as they held each other and just swayed to the breeze on the sidewalk.

"Are you still scared?"

She smiled softly. "No, not really."

He kissed her forehead. "Good. You don't need to worry because i've been told i'm pretty hard to get rid of."

She giggled lightly and pressed her cheek into his chest.

"Fabian?"

"Yeah?" He asked quietly. It was quiet and it felt like it was just the two of them there, he didn't want to ruin it.

"Your heart's beating really fast."

"Yeah, you do that to me sometimes."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, you do that to me too."

He chuckled and smoothed back her hair. He suddenly remembered what he had to do. It was now or never. He had to do it while he still had the confidence and the composure.

So he pulled away and got down on one knee, snatching a little velvelty case out of his bomber jacket.

"Jaimie-baby, i think its about time i wife you up," he laughed nervously.

Her eyes widened before she started subtly shifting her weight and looking between the box and his big brown eyes.

"I think i made it pretty clear when i gave you that promise ring you've got there on your finger, but just in case you didn't know; i want to marry you, so much. So much it hurts and i'm not taking no for an answer."

Neither Jaimie-mae nor Fabian could hear the clicking of the cameras in the background. All they could hear was the sounds of their hearts beating in sync.

"Meeting you... was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me and it was crazy the way we met. Becoming your friend was my choice and i know it was one of the best desicions i've ever made. Now, falling in love with you, that's a whole lot different. That was out of my control, but im glad it was because i would have messed things up.

I know that we are super young and whatever, but i feel like i should just... you know, add another ring to make it obvious that you're mine. I have to take the oppurtunity while i have it because there will never be another person like you, you know that right?"

Jaimie-mae could feel the tears getting lodged in her throat and all she could do was stiffly shake her head.

"Yeah, well i'll meet tons of people in this world but there will never be another like you. So... not that im really giving you a choice but... will you marry me?"

There was a word Jaimie-mae had once learned through her love for english. It was the word:

Rhapsodic

Meaning: extravagantly ecstatic

It was the best way to describe the way she was feeling. The word was just so long and perfect and it put all the excitement and joy and love and overwhelming happiness she felt in that moment; into one.

Rhapsodic

Fabian was pulled off the ground by the collar of his shirt and he melted into the most heart warming kiss he had ever experienced in his entire life.

And he knew what it meant.

Jaimie-mae sometimes had a terrible time trying to express herself in words and the best way she could get the feelings out was by either: crying, screaming or getting really affectionate.

And the kiss she was giving him definetely meant a yes.

When they pulled away and they were both gasping for air, Fabian opened his eyes and looked into hers like the first time they met. The day he got hit by a car.

The first day they were both given hope.

"You haven't even see the ring yet," he said breathlessly.

"I didn't have to, i know what i want and i want to get married to you. And everything you get me is always beautiful anyway."

He smiled and suddenly thought back to a word Jaimie-mae taught him a while back.

Trouvaille

Meaning: a valuable discovery, or a lucky find; something lovely discovered by chance.

And Jaimie-mae was just that. Maybe even more.

She was his valuable discovery of hope and he was hers

And they wouldn't have things any other way