Title: In The End

Summary: It was them.

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: The characters belong to people with way more money, but less imagination.

Author’s Notes: This was just an exercise to see if I could limit myself to 500 words. 500 since I can’t seem to be able to do 100 word drabbles.

And this is for Claire. Because she’s sweet.

In The End

She would think sometime much later that their meeting was somehow destined. That fate or karma or something else like God had decided that their lives were too simple, too easy, too pedestrian. Other times she would think it just a really bad coincidence. But she would know no matter how far apart they were that, really, they were still connected.

He would think back upon that first meeting as a blessing or a curse, depending on the mood he was submerged in at the time. That he must have done something extraordinarily good or even more terrible to have her brought into his life. But he would know that no matter how close they were, there would always be distance.

She would think of him as a teacher, an artist, or the one she could always trust. Even when that trust was bent and frayed. Sometimes she would have to force herself to remember that he was also a lover.

He would think of her as a breath of fresh air, a feminist, or the one whose expectations he never seemed able to live up to, even when he tried. Even when she said it didn’t matter. Sometimes he would have to remind himself that she had never been his wife.

She had realized early on that he was the only one who could ever truly break her heart. But, he was also the only one who could ever really make it beat faster or slower depending on his moods. She had known that she could never truly run from him, on the whimsical thought that if she got too far, her heart might just stop beating altogether.

He had figured out within about five minutes that she would always have a small part of his soul wrapped around her finger. And that small part glowed more fiercely than the rest of his being. So it was worth it, to him. He had discovered that he could never truly possess her, although she would act as though he did. Sometimes.

She would smirk when the years had passed, thinking that others might wonder at the time they had wasted. She would know they had almost not waited long enough. But their golden years would be more precious to her than her entire youth.

He would shake his head at the thought that they were meant for each other. He would pretend that those eight years spent at the most recognizable address in the country were the best years of his life. He knew that she was aware he relished retirement, if only because of her.

They would end up sharing a bed, but not a bedroom. They would have separate offices in the house. They would laugh, and sometimes even cry. But they would grow old together, not gracefully, but fractiously. As they were wont to do. It was destiny and also a curse. It was a blessing and it was fate. It was them. Together, in the end.

The End