His Virgin Stripper

32

One and a half year had a way of changing everything without asking permission.

Aero was proof of that.

He was everywhere at once now, walking around like the world was something he personally owned. Loud, bubbly, always laughing at something even when nothing was particularly funny. People adored him without trying, and I couldn't blame them. He made it impossible not to smile.

There was a time I used to sit beside his incubator thinking too much about what could go wrong. Now I was the one chasing him down hallways and pretending I wasn't out of breath after five seconds.

Life felt lighter like that.

More normal.

Celestine was better too, just in a different way.

I didn't see her in person anymore, not for the past year. But I got updates. Therapy progress. Small improvements. Bad days mixed with better ones. She was walking again, slowly building herself back piece by piece. Not fully healed,  but no longer stuck in that hospital version of her life.

That was enough for me.

My mother too stayed in touch, but I gave no response . No heavy conversations. Just updates, check-ins, quiet rebuilding in the background of everything else.

I was okay with that distance.

It didn't feel like losing them anymore.

It felt like time doing what it needed to do.

And somehow, I was okay too.

Richard is being punished by law.

And Elijah and I are actually feeling better.

Elijah and I were engaged now.

It still felt a little unreal when I thought about it too long. He made it simple. 

The engagement party will be small.

That was his idea.

"I don't want it to feel like a performance," he said.

And honestly, it didn't.

It felt warm.

Aero was the first one to steal the attention, which wasn't surprising. He was running around in a little outfit I knew he'd ruin within the first hour, laughing at everything, talking to people like he'd known them forever. 

I stood at the edge of the room for a moment, just watching him.

Elijah came up behind me and gently took my hand.

"You're smiling," he said.

"I always smile when he's like this," I replied.

He squeezed my hand lightly.

"He's happy," he said.

"Yeah," I said. "He is."

There was a pause, comfortable this time.

Just life happening.

Elijah tilted his head slightly toward me.

"You ever think about them?" he asked.

I knew exactly who he meant without needing to ask.

"Yeah," I said honestly. "Sometimes."

Both of them rebuilding in their own ways without me needing to be in the middle of it all the time.

Elijah nodded like he understood that answer.

"They're doing okay," he said gently.

"I know," I replied.