Avatar of Venus

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Spence VS Crawford, let's go 🥳🔥🥊
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How aboutttttt... the World Baseball Classic next month tho ⚾🙌❤️‍🔥

Bio

Thanks for the memories, even though they weren't so great.



This account is used for character/rp posts storage/vault purposes only.

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A @BrutalBx & @Venus Collaboration
TW: Death of a Partner | Mentions/Ideations of Death/Suicide






"I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, baby
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream would never do
I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing."


The tune of Aerosmith's most popular hit began to coax the sleeping figure of Caitlin Cleary back into a wakeful state. Although it was a song she had refused to listen to for the last five years, there was something different about the version currently filling the empty spaces of her bedroom that Halloween morning. There was no music to hum along to, or any instruments to carry a tune. In its place, a familiar deep voice was intoning the famous rock ballad in a murmured lullaby that took Caitlin back to flannel shirt days, lakeside nights, clandestine encounters and a whole lot of love.

Cece slowly began to open her eyes, giving them time to adjust to the faint rays of sunlight peeking into her bedroom. She could feel the energy and warm presence of another figure laying next to her; its gentle hand running their fingers through her silky red mane. At first, she half-smiled, assuming it was her boyfriend Niles Sinclair serenading her this morning. But then she remembered that Niles hadn't spent the night with her, that his voice wasn't this deep, and that he knew I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing was a banned song. Frowning with both curiosity and dread, the young woman carefully turned around to confront this stranger in her bed, ignoring the way her heart was hammering inside her chest with that fight or flight instinct going off. But when her eyes fell on the figure now in front of her, she nearly gasped in shock. Right there, laying in bed beside her, was her first love... 

David O'Hara.

“Hey there, pretty lady.”

David’s curly brown tresses framed his handsome face perfectly. He was dressed exactly as he was that fateful night: in jeans, boots, a flannel button-down shirt, and his signature Levi denim jacket. He wasn’t soaking wet and frozen solid like he was when they found his corpse; no, he was as warm and as full of light as he was the rest of the time. 

If Francis Callahan was the king of the school, David O’Hara was the Duke. His father was the most beloved member of Edenridge High staff that wasn’t named Beau. It was a lot to overcome and in hindsight; David never really accomplished that feat. He had lived in his fathers large looming shadow from the day he and his twin sister Jamie were born. He had considered making an appearance to her on this unprecedented eve but Jamie was….fragile and seeing her long dead brother might just be a little much for her. 

Whoever said being royalty was easy? 

While her peers had wasted time battling and getting over questions, hesitations and uncertainty about what was happening, Caitlin did the complete opposite. She didn't know how or why this was happening, but she'd be damned if she didn't take advantage of every second she had with the person she'd missed most in the entire universe. So as soon as she realized she could physically interact with the figure in front of her, the redheaded girl had burrowed her face into David's chest and began to sob quietly. 

"I'm sorry!" Cece desperately apologized to her former lover as she pulled away, matching rivers of tears continuing to stream down her heartbroken, freckled face. "I'm so sorry about everything, Dave. It was all my fault! Where they found you, how they found you-- I know you were coming to see me! I never, ever, ever, wanted anything like that to happen to you! I am so, so sorry… I'll never forgive myself for being the reason you're not here with me today."

“Caitlin, it’s okay.”

David held his girl close into his chest as she wept and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. “You weren’t at fault for anything. Shit just happens and what happened to me, it was what it was.” He had spent a lot of time on the other side, thinking back to the events that led him to his death. David, when he was alive, had little care about the world around him, about what went on in other people’s lives and the moments that made the world turn. Yet when something happens like what happened to him, it makes you think something fierce. 

“Look at it this way, CeCe: with me gone, you’ll find something better, someone better. Everything happens for a reason, kid."

Cece vehemently shook her head. "But they won’t be you," she whispered, cupping David's face with both hands and locking her eyes with his. "They won’t be you, David! They won’t be the guy I had a crush on since I was a girl. They won’t be the guy I fell head over heels in love with when I was fourteen. They won’t be the guy who was my first kiss, my first date, my first time-- my first everything! They won’t be the guy I'd sneak around for just to spend some time with, or the one who'd talked to me for hours, or the one who had me melting every time he smiled at me. We were going to get married and live in the cottage next to your parents' house. We were going to have a house full of kids that had my hair and your eyes. You were the one I was supposed to spend my life with, Dave! It wasn't supposed to be like this." Cece knew lamenting what could've been wasn't going to change what had already happened; but David needed to know that her heart would always belong to him.

“I was pretty amazing wasn’t I?” David had always had that cheeky edge and even in death, humour was still his best friend. 

Caitlin let out a shaky chuckle and nodded. "You really were."

David pressed his lips to the girl's forehead and, deciding to finally break their embrace, got up off the bed.

The curly haired boy wandered the room he had spent many a night in so many years ago; it hadn’t really changed, it even smelled the same. “I see you kept hold of my vinyls… Nice.”

"That's not the only thing I still have," she told him with a sad smile, taking up a seating position in the middle of the bed. "If you want a real trip down memory lane, pull out the brown box under the bed and bring it over here."

David brushed his chin with his palm after he had pulled out and opened the box under Caitlin’s bed. “Wow." It was filled with mementos from their clandestine relationship over five years ago. The redhead had kept pretty much everything from their time together: photos, letters, postcards, flowers and even his letterman jacket. It was amazing to David that even so many years on from his death that she held on to all this memorabilia from their time together. As happy as it made him that he was still on CeCe’s mind; it did make him feel somewhat uncomfortable. He had been gone for a long time now-- she shouldn’t be still pining after him.

“You really are hung up on me, aren’t you, kid?”

"I'm not sure I ever won't be."

David glanced out of the nearby window where you could see the shimmering waters of Lake Eden. Had he not crossed the water that night, things would’ve been different: things would’ve been as Caitlin wanted them to be. That just wasn’t the case. He may be back from the dead for however long, but he couldn’t turn back time-- he wasn’t Cher.

“CeCe, you’re allowed to feel as you do. But remember: you can’t change the past. There’s no use dwelling on it. I’m gone. So look to the future-- look to your future.” He took a seat back into the bed, holding onto his old letterman jacket. “Listen, I’ve been gone for years and I’ll be gone for the rest of them too. I’ll always be with you, kid. Always watching over you. But you have to let me go and get on with your life. This place, this town, it’ll eat you alive if you let it. Don’t let it. Be better than this place. Like the song says: ‘Carry on, my wayward son’….I mean…daughter…you get what I’m trying to say.”

But I’m scared… Caitlin croaked, lower lip wobbling with the premise of tears as she settled next to David on the bed again. “I’m scared of so many things, Dave… I’m scared I’ll never find someone that’ll make me feel the way you did. I’m scared of feeling like betraying you and what we had just by contemplating the idea of someone else. I’m scared that, if I ever do find someone else, that I’ll eventually forget you. And I’m freaking terrified that I’ll fall in love with someone this deeply again and lose them like I did you. I never want to go through this heartbreak in my life ever again.”

In retrospect, Cece hadn’t been this raw, real or vulnerable with anyone in years. Even as a child, the redhead masked her feelings with her sweet and cheerful disposition to prevent her loved ones from worrying about her. But David? David had known her better than anyone. He used to read her like a book. If there had been anyone in the world that she trusted with her mind, heart, feelings and emotion’s workings more than Danny or her older sister, it had been David

“Heartbreak is a part of life, Caitlin,” David wrapped his hand around hers and held it in his lap. “It hurts like hell and it can take forever and day to get over but once you get beyond that pain, it gets better. That pain in your heart, the voice in your head telling you that it’s not worth it, it’s wrong. It gets better and life will always find a way to give you what you’ve earned. You’re gonna struggle, but it’s what makes life worthwhile.”

Caitlin shifted her eyes away from David to stare at the floor. She took a deep breath, and before she knew it, was spilling her darkest secret to her beloved. "I used to have those really dark days, you know? I would wake up sobbing really really hard after having a nightmare about you, have a split-second relief of thinking it was all a dream, only to break apart all over again when I realized it wasn't: that you were truly, actually, really gone. I couldn't sleep for weeks. At one point, I thought about putting on my best dress, walking over to the lake and tying bricks or cement blocks to my feet so I couldn't come back up when I jumped in after you…" she admitted while wiping away a few stray tears, her voice breaking as she made the confession she hadn't voiced out loud to anyone else before. "But I didn't do it, because there was a voice in my head that told me it was all going to get better someday. Sometimes I'll be blindsided by a memory of you, and before I know it I'm a crying mess in the middle of my bedroom again. But sometimes everything feels like it's okay. The good days slowly started to be more than the bad. And yet, there are some days that I can't help but wonder… Did I ever do anything to deserve any of this?"

“You didn’t do anything, kid,” David stroked her gorgeous red hair. “But that voice in your head was right. Things did get better; Niles? My boy Mika? I’ve been whispering in your ear this whole time, baby girl.” He grinned at her goofily, proud of himself for some stupid reason that he would never admit to. “I don’t know what the great plan is but what I do know is that as soon as I figured out that I could influence your world from where I was, I did. I started letting you know that the sadness wasn’t forever. You moved on and I’m glad you did.”

As soon as Mika and Niles were mentioned, Cece whipped her head to look back at David with wide, shocked eyes. "You know about them?" she asked, her lower lip wobbling with the guilt painted all over her face. Their names sounded strange coming from his lips, like a child enunciating a curse word. Even after his admission that he'd been the one to influence their presence in Caitlin’s life, it still made her feel as if she's been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to.

“Of course I do.”

David leaned back on the bed with a smug sort of grin across his face, while Cece followed suit and rested her head on the crook of his shoulder. “Who do you think sent them to you? Mika is my cousin, so I had a bit more influence on him than I did Niles.” He glanced out of the crack in the curtains at the world he once knew and sighed. It seemed in some ways that the light had gone out. “That said, him breaking your heart was never part of the plan. I can influence but I can’t control. I do think that you’ve always been loved, though, by everyone. There’s just grander designs, I guess.”

'Loved by everyone'... That was an interesting choice of words from David. Was this a subtle way of him confirming that Mika had indeed reciprocated Cece's feelings during the time of their involvement? The damage was already one and done, of course-- nothing would change the heartache he'd caused her. However, it did bring the girl some relief to know her intuition hadn't been mistaken, and that she hadn't been betraying David's memory in any way by trying to move on.

"As true as that might be, I still have a very big question for you, Dave. Was I ever loved by you?" she asked him, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips while she looked up at him. The answer was obvious, but she still wanted to hear confirmation from her eternal lover. 

The young man smiled at her and kissed her lips. "With all of my heart.”

As the redhead brightly smiled back at him and hugged him tight, David couldn't help his deep sigh. He didn’t know how much time he had left with Cece before the world returned to normal and whatever was happening stopped. For all he knew, he could be back on the other side the next time she opened her eyes. He could tell the pain was still raw, but hopefully after this she could finally find a way to move past what they were and start focusing on who she is.

As for Caitlin, the encounter marked the arrival of a new dawn to the rest of her life. His love for her, like hers for him, would always live on forever. But with David's blessing, and the undeniable confirmation that she was not to blame for his passing, the young woman would now be able to find the unwavering strength within herself to truly move on forward. She was free to love and live life to the fullest, heart at peace knowing that David would always be taking care of her.
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Still fighting with myself over bringing an Aphrodite daughter, an Athena daughter, or both... Stay tuned...😫

UPDATE: Decided onnnnnn... drumroll, please...
💗 Laren Athena Hastings | Daughter of Athena, Legacy of Aphrodite| FC: Mimi Keene | Color: D992B0
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A @Venus & @Aces Away Collaboration



"Maliq?"

"Mornin' momma," Maliq replied, running a hand over his face as he turned over in bed. He looked over at the clock and realized several things at once: his bed was empty, it was thirty minutes passed when he usually awoke, meaning Nat or Jonie turned off his alarm. The fact that either of them awoke before him was surprising enough. The final thing his sleepy mind realized was that he almost always calls his momma first, and that her voice was shaky in a way that he only every hears on That Day. He was awake in an instant. "What's wrong?"

"I promise I didn't take anythin', Baby. I didn't take anythin' but I'm still seein' 'em. I need you an' Jonie ta tell me ain't crazy. Please."

"We're on our way." Creed threw the blankets off and got dressed quickly before shooting out the bedroom door, barely stopping at the sight of Jonie and Nat making out in the kitchen. "Save it for the road, we gotta go see momma." He spoke up, tossing them both their jackets and heading for the door, holding it open for them before closing it behind himself.

“Is everything okay?” Natalia questioned, alarm bells ringing immediately at the urgency in Maliq’s tone.

"What happened to Momma Kam?" Jonie asked as they made their way down the stairwell.

"Don't know, but she's seein' our parents so it's nothin' good." Creed answered, nails digging into his palms as the three of them pressed forward.

"She's what," Jonie choked as they reached the parking lot, taking one of Maliq's hands and twining their fingers together while indicating to Nat she should do the same on his other side. The girl nodded and did as she was instructed. "That's usually more of a…more of an anniversary thing ain't it?" He asked, referencing her use of psychedelics on the anniversary of her lovers' deaths.

"She didn't take anythin', Jone, this is happenin' on its own."

The uncharacteristically silent Natalia had allowed herself to be dragged away from the apartment by her lovers without protest, worry bubbling up in the pit of her stomach with every step they took. From the moment she had started her relationship with Creed and met her, Kamilla Briteson had become Natalia’s second mother. The two women understood each other in ways a lot of Edenridge people couldn’t relate to. Being a Serpent partner came with risks and responsibilities, and although the Belmonte girl was aware of them, Momma Kam had taken it upon herself to be her guide. Even after she, Creed and Jokes had broken up, the relationship between her and Kam never changed. They still went out on their weekly lunch dates, still texted every other day, and she was still one of the two people Tal went to whenever she was overwhelmed, stressed, happy or in need of guidance. Now, it was Natalia’s turn to be there for the woman who had so loving and willingly taken her under her wing as the daughter she never had.

“Wh-What happens on the anniversary?” Tal heard herself asking, more as a way to avoid any unnerving silence from settling between them.

The two men shared a quick glance before Creed's scowl deepened and he quickened his pace, pulling them along.

"Momma Kam takes a special cocktail'a drugs that kinda…gives her a mellow hallucination for the day? She basically slips back inta the old days when...when our parents were still here. When we show up at the end'a the night she'll have had made a whole dinner but been sure our parents helped. The stove is usually left on an' all the lil' things she said they took care of would be left undone. We gotta go through the house as she comes down from the high an' make sure shit's turned off or put back." Jokes dropped Creed's hand in order to wring his own together, cracking his knuckles in nervous habit as he recalls their yearly worry. "Aside from that, she basically just smokes pot the rest'a the year. But she OD'd once when we were thirteen so if anythin' weird ever happens she makes sure ta call us. Just in case."

"Just in case." Creed echoed, turning onto his mother's street and heading to his childhood home. Natalia vehemently nodded.

Both their phones buzzed and Jokes pulled his out to find a text from Mordechai.

"Looks like it's not just Momma," Jokes mumbled faintly, turning his screen so Creed could see the message. "Boa is seein' Danny, an' his buddy Poppy was seein' somethin' too."

Creed stared at the screen, his eyes distant and dark as he tried to process this. They were at the front door, just a piece of wood between them and his mother and maybe…

"So they could be real." It was said with no inflection, despite being meant as a question. Creed had checked out emotionally as his mind went through the possibilities. He couldn't even deal with the thought of little Danny right now. "Right-" he said, taking a breath and turning to Nat. "You stay behind us."

The dark-haired girl nodded again, holding onto one of Maliq’s muscled arms with both of hers wrapped around it. She didn’t know what exactly they were dealing with here. Was it a bad batch of drugs? Had someone laced the latest batch with psychedelics or hallucinogens to give it an extra kick? She knew Prof would never allow anyone to mess with his brand like that, but you never knew these days. Whatever it was, she was somewhat relieved that she didn’t have any deceased family members that could appear to her as it was seemingly happening with the rest of the crew.

“Are you sure I should be here, babe? Do you think it’s safe for me?” she asked him, a small frown of nervousness settling on her forehead.

Creed matched her frown, shaking his head. "Don't much matter now, it's not safe ta leave ya out here. When I thought it was just hallucinations it was different but...just stay behind us, I don't know wh-"

The door opened with a small whine and Jokes pulled Natalia behind him as Creed turned to face the door, both their faces going ashen.

"...Dad..." Creed choked out, his father smiling at him and looking as pristine as the day he drove out of the city on a run and never made it back. Quintel Briteson opened his arms and his son fell into them like not a day had passed.

"My baby boy, you got so big," he looked over to Jokes, glancing curiously over his shoulder at Natalia before returning to his face. "You both have. Come on in, we've got 'er calmed down a bit but I think she needs ta know other people see us too. Then ya c'n introduce us ta your friend." He winked at Natalia as he retreated inside, the boys following after as if drawn by a magnet.

In the living room, Kamilla was lying on the couch with her legs flung over Tama's thighs from where the woman sat on the last cushion. The room reeked of weed, and Creed quickly identified the source as the blunt loosely held between his mother's fingers.

Calmed down indeed.

Zeti was sitting in the recliner in the corner, the one that he always passed out on when they were alive because none of the adults could go a day without injury so they often crashed together in this very room to stay close to one another. Many times Jokes and Creed would join as well and they would watch a stupid movie and fall asleep all piled together. The nights always seemed colder after they'd died.

"Hey momma, not that I didn't believe ya b'fore, but there's no doubt you're not crazy now," Creed spoke up, kneeling next to her and making sure she saw him make eye contact with the ghosts. "I don't know what's goin' on, but I brought Jokes an' Puff with me."

Kam gave them all a shaky smile, guilt in her eyes as they fell on Nat.

"Sorry Babypop, I never wanted ya ta see me all outta sorts." She had always been the one trying to advise Natalia and help her along, be strong for her to show her it was possible, even if the Southside brought tragedy. The girl was the daughter she never had and a bright hope for both her sons' futures. Being weak in front of her always seemed to take more wind out of Kam's sails than it did with others.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Kammy,” Natalia reassured her, rushing over to her second mother and kneeling next to her beside Maliq. She gently cradled the woman’s face between her hands before planting a tender kiss on her forehead, the woman's eyes fluttering shut in response. “You don’t always have to be strong for everyone all the time, you know? It’s okay to reach out for help whenever things get overwhelming. You taught me that, remember?”

"Oh, I like this one," Tama spoke up, lightly tapping Kam's ankle. Kam kicked her lightly in reply, a playful smirk tentatively growing on her lips. "You always wanted a daughter."

"And one that can remember and spit back your life lessons, too," Zeti spoke up, an inviting smile on his face as he saw Jokes inching towards him. He stood, wrapping his arm around him in a bear hug. "Looks like things've changed a bit." Jonie gave him a watery smile before heading back to Creed, gripping the other man's hand tightly and murmuring quietly enough only the two of them could hear. Zeti turned his attention back to Natalia. "Can ya fight too? Or are ya on the stealthier side?"

"If you're gonna harass the girl ya could at least introduce yourselves." Quintel cut in, arms crossed and eyes heavenward as he wrangled his lovers. Zeti sent him a bitch face.

"What, she don't know 'bout us?" Tama asked dramatically, hand over her chest in betrayal, only to break character and laugh when Quintel came up behind her and shoved her head forward. "Just kiddin'. I'm Tama Thunder, that's my husband Zeti Slick, and behind me is Quintel Intel. Nice ta meet'cha."

It was an acceptance, a welcome, to greet her the way Tama did: using both given and serpent name together. The lost generation was giving her all of them, both facets, while they had the chance.

Natalia could only stare at the newcomers in wonder, her mouth slightly agape. The many photos and tales of the departed Briteson-Kraeter family members didn't do any of the justice. No image could ever capture the stunning beauty of Tama Kraeter's exotic features, or the confidence with which she carried herself (much like Natalia's own). No picture could ever recreate the playful sparkle in her husband Zeti's eyes anytime he smiled, his handsomeness, or how his demeanor was so irresistibly charming. And no tale could ever truly explain the pearly white brightness of Quintel's perfect teeth, his attractiveness, or the richness of his baritone voice. They were all so beautiful, so captivating, so lovable... It was easy and heartbreaking to see why their passing had been so hard on the loved ones they left behind.

"Tama, Zeti, Quintel: it truly is an honor to meet you all," the young woman declared, taking the time to make eye contact with and address all three adults with the same reverence one would use when speaking to a very important person. "I'm Natalia: Maliq and Jonie's girlfriend. The boys call me Puff. I've heard so many stories throughout the years, and I'm so glad I have this opportunity for us to meet."

"Oh I really like this one," Tama laughed. "You're adorable, I can already see what our boys see in ya."

"Pull back a bit, love, don't wanna scare 'er off," Quintel said from behind the couch, smiling at Nat. "Not that ya seem ta scare easy."

"Babypop kept both'a them in check when they started datin', she ain't scared'a much." Kam revealed with a light laugh, reaching out and squeezing the girl's hand.

"She didn't keep us in check!" Jonie cried indignantly, looking to Maliq for support only to have the other man shake his head.

"That ain't a hill I'm boutta die on, J." He denied the other, pushing him forward into the room. "Go say hi ta both'a your parents properly."

He stumbled forward before pinwheeling his arms to regain his balance. Brushing off imaginary dust, Jonie looked up to see his father had already stepped forward to stand before him, Tama slowly untangling from Kam's legs before the both of them gathered him into a proper family hug. They whispered affections in his ears as he cried silently into their shoulders, calling Maliq over halfway through the tears to join the hug.

"So," Quintel spoke up from where he was now on the couch next to Kam, the latter having sat up and pulled Nat down to her other side while the others reunited. "How'd ya meet our boys?"

Natalia's green eyes immediately went to meet Maliq's brown ones across the room, and there was no disguising the way the corners of her mouth turned upwards before she immediately pursed her lips together. Her mind immediately traveled back to that Northside house party September of her junior year-- the one in which she and Creed had officially met. The scenes were replaying themselves back to back in her brain like the screening of a short film: the seductive dancing, the shameless flirting, the passionate kissing, the scorching hot hookup they'd had in one of the host's bedrooms--

"We, um, we met at a party," the Belmonte girl said as simply and matter-of-factly as she could, biting back a complicit smile.

Creed however seemed to be an open book to his family, his face flushed and eyes suddenly darting. Jokes snickering in the background certainly didn't help. Tama and Zeti shared a look as Quintel's eyes lit up with mirth.

"Oh, so it's like that, huh?" He teased, all of the adults laughing at the look on Maliq's face. "Hey, no shamin' here baby boy, I met your ma at a party too."

"That was a serpent party," Creed rejected immediately, still trying to regulate the look on his face. "And ma was workin', this was some Northie's party I was dealin' at."

"Come on now, ya ain't gotta defend it, ya ain't done nothin' wrong."

"I know that…" Creed grumbled as he looked down, flustered. Quintel laughed again and pulled Creed down to his other side, the four of them officially filling up the couch. The Kraeter trio settled at the recliner and loveseat across from the couch.

"What do you do now?" Zeti cut in, taking pity on Creed and attempting to get back to learning more about Nat in one fell swoop. He was pretty good at bulldozing conversation into new directions.

"I, uh, I'm a college student, actually," Talia answered, shifting around the couch to get into a more comfortable position. "UMass. Finance and Business Administration major. Volleyball scholarship. Pledged Sigma Delta Tau in my first semester of freshman year. Starting my sophomore year spring of next year. There's a bit of a family emergency happening, so I took a break this semester to stay home for that."

"Wow," Quintel murmured, slinging his arm around Maliq's shoulders. "You're one impressive lady. What drew ya ta our two delinquents here? No offense ta our boys, but that seems ta be a different social circle your comin' from."

"I mean, have you seen those faces? How could anyone not be drawn in?" she joked, and after the laughter around the room had subsided she continued. "They're just… such amazing young men," the dark-haired girl gushed, shooting both Creed and Jokes a warm, loving smile. "They're hard working, sweet, caring, thoughtful, attentive… I could honestly go on all day about how awesome they are. They've been with me through some of the most challenging times of my life, and have never done anything other than protect me and make me feel safe and loved. I've always been a firm believer that there's more than meets the eye; that it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from as long as you're a good person at heart. Maliq and Jonie are the perfect example of that. I couldn't have asked for or dreamed of having better partners."

There was silence from the parents as Maliq and Jonie beamed at Natalia despite their red faces. Zeti was the first one to break it.

"...Can we cry as ghosts? Is it possible? I just might regardless." He spoke as him and Tama both put a hand on their son's shoulders and smiled at him.

"We are so proud'a you boys." Quintel agreed as he threw his arm around Maliq and gave him a loving noogie.

"We always knew ya'd be good men, and we're so happy we got ta see it ourselves. Even some'a your good choices first hand." Tama put in with a wink to Nat.

Kam, relatively silent next to Nat as she watched all her favorite people interact, turned to the girl next to her and gave a watery smile while squeezing her hand. "I'm glad your gettin' ta meet 'em, Babypop. I've wanted this for all'a ya since the first time Maliq brought ya home."

"And I'm so glad I have the chance to," Tal responded, wrapping her arms around Kam and pulling her into an affectionate hug. "I know how much this means to you and the boys, Kam, and I want you to know it means just as much to me."

Kam smiled, patting her cheek and placing a kiss to Nat's temple.

Finally, after so many years of suffering, the world of the Briteson-Krater families was right again... Even if it was just for a little while.
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