16 Months

15.11.13

"A year ago, you did not know today. You did not know how you'd make it here. But you made it here. By grace, you made it here."

- Morgan Harper Nichols

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Healing was a process. Somedays she felt like she could conquer the world, and somedays she felt like she was hanging on by a thread. Slowly, day by day, those hard days seemed to come fewer and farther between. Through the difficult days and the happy days, Shawn was by her side through each one. He always was.

The day that she got the all-clear from her doctor, she felt like she was on top of the world. Recovery had felt like forever and now that she was technically 'out' of recovery she felt as though nothing could stop her. Her and Shawn walked out of her doctor's office hand-in-hand, a wide smile plastered on both of their faces.

"How should we celebrate?" Shawn asked her excitedly. The sun was shining, birds were chirping; the whole world just seemed a bit brighter suddenly. 

"I don't care...just as long as I get to celebrate with you," she mused as she laid her head on his bicep as they walked back to the car. They spent their afternoon walking around the park, eating ice cream, visiting the old tree they had carved their initials into and dancing in flower patches to music that only they could hear. Their night was spent between bedsheets, his lips lovingly tracing the prominent scar on her chest before they got lost in each other and a heightened euphoria that they could only ever reach with each other.

Death was no longer lingering in the forefront of both of their minds but Shawn was still determined to make sure Camila got to cross off every item on her list. A few months after her doctor cleared her, he surprised her with a two week trip to Europe. They spent the first week in France, enjoying the city of love and taking full advantage of all it had to offer. They were both confident that they had never eaten that many pastries or loaves of bread in their entire lives. They kissed under the Eiffel Tower as it twinkled in the night and on the very last day they added a padlock with their names scribbled on it to the Pont des Arts, finally allowing them to cross number fifteen off of her bucket list.

They spent the next week in Iceland. Number eleven on her list was to see the Northern Lights and he knew that if he was going to take her to see them, he wanted to take her to the best place possible. She wasn't a big fan of the cold weather but when they finally stood underneath the purple and green aurora in the sky she couldn't bring herself to care about the temperature. 

The only thing left on her list was number thirteen: experience New Year's Eve in Times Square. Ever since she was a little girl she had dreamed of standing in the heart of New York City and watching the ball drop at midnight for New Year's. It had always been her favorite holiday. She stood in the street staring up at the colorful, lit orb as the city counted down in unison around her. Shawn stood behind her, his arms draped over her shoulders as her hands held his forearms. As soon as the clock hit midnight and the ball dropped she turned around and connected her lips to his. She couldn't help but tear up at the realization that she had officially crossed off every item on her bucket list. At one point in her life she genuinely didn't think she would live long enough to complete them all. Her eyes were welling up with tears as she pulled away from the kiss.

"Hey, are you okay?" Shawn asked, his voice laced with concern.

"Yeah," she said with a teary giggle. "I just really didn't think I'd ever get to finish the list. Thank you, baby. I couldn't have done it without you."

"I promised you." His thumb brushed over her cheek. "I promised you we would finish it." Camila nodded and stood up on her toes to kiss him again. "Hey, uh..." he stuttered as he pulled back. He was clearly nervous. "Do you think you could help me with my list now?"

"You have a list too?"

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily call it a list. There's only one thing on it. But I think you'll be able to help. In fact, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who can help." Camila cocked an eyebrow at him. She admittedly thought he was making a dirty joke until she saw him pull a small box out of his coat pocket and get down on one knee.

"Oh my god," she gasped as she realized what was happening.

"Camila, I wanna be yours. Forever. No matter what. I promised you I would take care of you always and I meant that. I'll love you always and I want to be with you always." He flipped open the ring box, revealing a gorgeous solitaire diamond ring; a ring so perfect that she wouldn't have been able to pick something better if she tried. "Will you marry me?" Camila didn't even take a second to think about it before excitedly nodding.

"Of course," she choked out. He slipped the ring on to her left hand before standing up and taking her into his arms, lifting her off of the ground as he held her tight against him. They were so entranced with each other that they hadn't even noticed the small crowd gathered around them creating a celebratory choir of cheers and 'aww's. 

Their wedding was small and intimate; just family and their closest friends on a beautiful, sunny afternoon in the same park they had made so many precious memories in. They married under the shade of the tree that still housed their carvings. They kept their honeymoon simple; escaping to a serene lake house for a few days that was just a few hours from their home. 

Four years into their marriage they decided to start the adoption process. An eighteen year old girl who was pregnant with twin boys decided that they would be the perfect parents and the rest was history. They got to take home their sons, Rio and Grey, just a few months later.

On the boys fifth birthday, their family expanded once more. A stray dog with no collar wandered into their backyard as they were celebrating Rio and Grey. Camila convinced her husband that they should let the pup stay with them while they searched for it's owner. They reached out to local shelters letting them know of the dog, made signs to hang around the town, they posted on social media and even took it to a local vet to see if there was a chance it had been given an identification chip. They did everything they could to find its owner but nothing had been successful. What had once been just a temporary house guest was now their loyal companion. Rio and Grey had been lovingly calling him "Pancake" throughout his stay, so that's the name he kept.

Neither of them could have predicted that this is where they would end up. After that date when they stood on her doorstep discussing Harry Potter, they had only intended on keeping it casual and seeing where things went. Shawn was looking for someone to fill the void in his heart left by a family he had loved and lost and Camila just wanted someone to hold her until her lungs eventually gave out and her body gave up on her. Neither of them could have ever imagined that things would play out the way that they did. After she had invited him in that night, they shared a bottle of wine and made a toast to new adventures with unforgettable people. It was safe to say that their lives were full of countless incredible adventures, and there was no chance in hell they'd be forgetting each other any time soon.

The End.

A/N: Uhhh...surprise? This is the last chapter. I know that may be disappointing to some of you but I just really don't have it in me to continue this story. It was either give up on it completely and never finish it or just end it here. Thanks for sticking through this story even though it was sad as hell and I only updated it once every few months. Lmao. 

Also, I'm fully aware that the Pont des Arts doesn't allow locks anymore but it was on her list so we're making an exception for this story.

One last thing: would anybody be interested in a alternate sad ending/epilogue? I have an idea in mind but if none of you would be interested in it then I won't do it.