Me before you

chapter 39

As the windy blue-skied summer drew on, the realisation began to dawn on Sana that she had been living in Lincoln for more than a year.

For a year she'd been learning to connect with her son again, learning to connect with herself again, learning to smile at people in the street. It had been nearly a year of long grey beaches, park benches and Granny's takeout. A year of Y/n Y/l/n.

In more than twelve months, she would have known Y/n. Sure, they hadn't been together for the full year, but for the majority of it she'd been right there by her side. And honestly? It had been the best year of her life.

She would have known Y/n for a whole year... And she still hadn't introduced her to her father.

That particular realisation hit Sana in the bath. It was a lazy summer Saturday: she indulged herself and started the day with a soak, while Louis watched early morning cartoons downstairs.

She'd just settled into the tub when Kosaku sent her a simple text asking how she was and whether or not she was going to watch the meteor shower with Louis later – just an ordinary check- in message, the kind he'd been sending her every morning at ten o'clock precisely, ever since he learned to text.

Sana opened up the chat and had started to tap out a reply out of instinct – yes, she was fine, and no there hadn't been any developments with Y/n's condition, and yes, they were all going stargazing tonight like half the town, and how was he doing and – no.

Still holding the phone high out of the bubbles, Sana deleted her entire reply.

She took a second, breathing in the warm honeysuckle-soap-scented air. After a second, a smile came over her lips and she had her response. All's well. If you're free this afternoon, we could have a quick call on Skype? I could introduce you to someone.

Sana hit send before she could think better of it, sinking back down into the warm suds with a new flutter of excitement in her stomach.

The rest of the morning passed in a contented, summer-holidays bubble – she had lunch with Louis. He helped her cook: she was teaching him a few basic recipes. She walked him to his friend's house – it was too nice a day to drive. And from there she walked to the Parks', laptop tucked in her bag, anxious smile playing over her lips, warm breeze winding through her hair.

By the time she'd got through Sarah and Marco's fussy greetings– she found them side by side on sun loungers when she went through the garden to the annex, enjoying the sunny weather – she was almost nervous. Ridiculous, Sana thought dismissively, but then the memory of Mitsuko and Y/n staring each other down flashed into her head, and maybe it wasn't so silly after all.

No, she told herself, shaking the thought off. Dad was going to love Y/n, she knew it. The flutter in her stomach was more excitement than nerves. It had to be.

The annex door was open in the heat, and she made her way down the hallway with her heart pounding hard in anticipation. Barely a day had gone by the past month without Sana walking down that hallway, but still... She couldn't help breaking into an easy smile as she pushed through to Y/n's room.

"Sha," Y/n greeted brightly, fresh-faced and smiling. She swung her chair around from the window, wheeling over to meet her. "Hey."

The curtains and window were open to let in the sun, and the radio was turned on, playing some sweet folky ballad. Y/n looked comfortable and laidback with her easy smile and bare feet, hair loose and wild over the material of her black tee.

Partly because of the rush of warmth the sight of her still gave Sana, and partly to assuage the squirming in her stomach, Sana made her way straight to the chair and leaned down, hands covering hands, to press a sweet, swift kiss against her lips. It was only supposed to last a second, but when she tried to draw back, Y/n leaned forward and the next thing she knew she was in her lap, hands buried in her hair, shivering as Y/n tilted her head to deepen the kiss.