fire watch - episode 005 - the yellow of stone

part 32 Everything back to normal

A few months later.
Tom and Oswin finally set a date for their wedding day which they were all very excited about, in all the stress and insanity of barely surviving yellowstone they almost forgot they were engaged. They wanted to have a day all their friends could come, and they needed a place they could all go to and everyone could have access like Delilah however all those things added together made it pretty challenging but they were determined. Tom and Oswin decided on the 11h of September 2023 on a beach in france. Delilah and Steph were extremely excited for them and went with Oswin when she got her wedding dress, it took such a long time to find a dress that worked for her. However after a few dresses, she decided not to get a white dress she wanted a black one because she loved how it looked and suited her. Delilah and Steph who were the bride's maids decided to get purple dresses, with dark blue belts because they looked cute. Steph said “I am glad you guys made me a bridesmaid because I shouldn't be its only family” Oswin nodded “yeah, but we don't have enough people for that, and you're the best thing” “thank you for choosing me” “yeah, of course I mean you're Delilah's friend, and she talks about you all the time, so you've kind of become a part of the family” she smiled “yeah, friend... anyway, you look beautiful in that dress” “thank you”
On the day of the wedding.
Helen was helping Oswin with her makeup, but she didn't need that much because she has a beautiful face without it. She was helping with more nerves than anything else because Oswin was very nervous. Delilah would help however she was helping Tom with his suit as best as she could. Tom and Delilah both looked in the mirror, Delilah told Tom "I am proud of everything both of us have done, since mum, we have both grown a lot, done a lot" Tom hugged her "I'm proud of you, you've been the strongest person throughout all of this, you helped me to get through this" "we got each other through it" they went down the line, and they did their vows. They celebrated for hours. Tom and Oswin were both extremely proud with Delilah because after everything that had happened after all the stress and fear she had gone through she never started her drinking again. They went on the best honeymoon of all time staying in france doing a lot of drinking and partying.
After they had got married.
They decided to sue the forest service because they left them behind to die and the forest service weren't exactly able to fight that in court. They managed to get 2.3 million credits which was exactly what they needed to start their retirement knowing they really deserved it after everything that had happened. Tom and Oswin decided to help Delilah by giving her a million of it. Delilah tried to say she didn't want it, and they should have it but Tom and Oswin weren't listening and made her have it. She got her first flat which was huge with a TV room, 3 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, a workroom that she didn't really use so turned it into an office and just a hang-out space. She decided to let Steph move in with her, and they became the most amazing friends, getting closer and closer every day.
Meanwhile with Tom and Oswin.
They decided to buy a huge house with many, many rooms and the most beautiful view of the mountain and forests and with 2 pools because one wasn't enough for this huge house apparently, they loved it finding it the perfect place to settle down it also wasn't far from Delilah's place and they constantly had visits and dinners with her and Steph. Even though they were in retirement, they never stopped wondering who the hell those scientists were and what were they doing. While watching the news they managed to find out what they were doing and what had been going on for the past few months on a very special island and how the island could've changed the course of Zarlum for the rest of history. Oswin said “they're sending an army down there, but they don't know who the scientists were” “yeah, well we have all the files they had at Yellowstone explaining stuff. They might need them” “so what do we do?” “We send it to them of course” however that never happened.
When the year was 2024.
Delilah and Steph were now 24 and Tom and Oswin were 64 years old and 63 years old. Tom and Oswin had finally settled down into their retirement which felt a little strange, but they loved it just finally being able to relax after a life well lived. Delilah had begun working she would write down her ideas for her comics, she would draw out the template for the book write down everything then draw it. She began printing them out, making thousands of them to hopefully sell. Tom, Oswin and Steph would read them saying they were awesome, so she began publishing them online. It didn't take long for people to find them and they loved them and needed more, so she printed more and more than created another comic following on from the first. When she was on her 7th comic, people came to her saying she could do a lot more, and she could sell her comics to them, but she decided not to because she would have to give them the rights and they could do whatever they wanted with the characters, she believed the only person who should be in control of her characters was her, so she turned them away. Steph told her “you will have more people like that, what do you want to do?” she thought for a moment “they want me to sell my rights to the comic, so they can sell them in their stores” Steph nodded “yeah” Delilah smiled “so how about we just open our own store” Steph turned to her “our own store?” she nodded “yeah, the Delilah comic store, the DC... no that's copyright” “could I work there?” “of course, we could run it together. We really can do this!” they both decided to start looking at stores to buy and found a small store that was a comic store before it closed they put her comics on the shelves and the moment people knew it was open, her business levels went up by a huge amount, and she made thousands selling her comics for just 85 pence with 80 pages, so it's a steal of a price. She made a lot more comics and people loved where the stories were going.
When the year was 2025.
Tom and Oswin were now 65 years old and 64 years old. Delilah and Steph were both 25. Oswin and Tom were one day sitting reading books when they got a call from Delilah. Oswin who was closer picked up the phone “hi Delilah, what's up?” “I was wondering if Steph and I could come round, we have to talk to you guys about something” “yeah sure, we haven't got anything planned for today” A few hours later. Delilah and Steph arrived both looking nervous but they were clearly trying to hide it which told Oswin and Tom that whatever this was about it was important and it was going to be hard for them to talk about. Delilah moved herself to the kitchen table. Steph sat next to her. Tom made them cups of tea then sat opposite Delilah. Oswin got them some of the cake she had made sitting next to Tom. They spoke for a while then Delilah said “now there is a reason we are here, and we have waited for a long time to tell you this, and I guess there's no point in not telling you now” Tom leaned forward a little to listen “what is it monkey?” Delilah put her cup down rubbing the side of her mug because of nurves which she did a lot “well I've known this for many years, I actually knew this before Yellowstone, but I didn't want to tell you for some reason. Steph has told me to tell you because you're very understanding and you have a right to know” Tom smiled “yeah I really am very understanding” Delilah nodded "yeah and you always told me when I was a child that I could do what I wanted with my life and that the choice was mine" Tom nodded "exacly" “well... basically I'm a... lesbian” Tom nodded “that's fine, I completely understand that. What did I always tell when you were a child?” she smiled “it's your life not mine” “exactly, why didn't you want to tell me?” she shrugged “I don't know, I just didn't really know myself, I was scared and confused” "you could've talked to me about it" Oswin said “you know Tom really is the most understanding of people” “yeah” “by the way I do have a girlfriend before you ask” “oh, when will she be meeting us then?” Delilah smiled then moved her head to the side. Tom looked at Steph then realized “oh it Steph sorry I'm a fucking idiot, I mean of course you're living with each other” they laughed then started talking normally again. When they left Tom said that Delilah was brave for what she did.