I Want You All To Myself

Epilogue

Josh's POV 

Some things never change. For instance, Operation Save-the-Baby had failed like everything else I'd ever done. But it had gotten me to Hayley, and in the end that's all that really mattered. It wasn't an unborn baby that I had truly been trying to save; it was-brace yourselves, this will sound corny-our love. Yes, that special thing Hayley and I had that, for some reason, wouldn't go away no matter how hard we tried.  

Luckily, we had managed to make peace and-here it comes again-our love had ceased to be a fucking nightmare and had become what it was supposed to be: a beautiful and serene emotion that would lighten up our sad eyes when life decided to throw bricks at us.  

Unfortunately, I still had to go back home and face my mother-in the hope that she would be holding a gun and not a chainsaw. I explained to dad the situation and he'd taken it like everything else I'd told him, with a sorry expression and a faint nod. He had then called mom to tell her that I was alive and well, and decided that it would be ok with her-without actually asking her, that goes without saying-if I stayed at Hayley's for the few days he had to go to California for his business trip. Then, he could come back to pick me up and bring me home. 

I was very happy with that plan. 

Hayley and I had ages to talk about all our misadventures and I'd very romantically promised her that if anything bad happened again-as if that wasn't inevitable-we wouldn't have to talk about it later... we would face it together. She'd cried a little and hugged me, and kissed me, and... well, we had followed that road until it brought us to another perfect night-but this time we'd made sure nobody was getting pregnant.  

Then came time to say goodbye again-more tears-but it was a happy goodbye. She promised she would call me every day and that we would see each other again soon. Of course, there was no way she could promise that but, deep down, I knew that one day the distance wouldn't pull us apart anymore. 

Back home, after explaining to my fellow secret agents what had happened and even though it was technically a failure, I received a fair round of applause from them. Nicole even did a little dance-jeez, that girl was strange... but sweet-while Matt watched her with drool dripping down his chin.  

Every day, I called Hayley or she called me and we would talk about this and that for endless minutes. I kept the last gift from her close to me at all times, like a guardian angel. It was the best gift I'd ever gotten: a small, pink paper swan folded to perfection, with tiny black eyes and heart-shaped feathers.  

Her name was Francesca.  

Hayley's POV 

Jack and Alex left so fast that day that I didn't even have time to wave goodbye. Even though I had told Josh about it and he'd made me feel a whole lot better, I still felt guilty for acting so badly. 

I just never thought Jack and Alex were... lovers. I had nothing against the notion of homosexuality but it was just such a shock. I would have never expected it...  

But there it was. And come to think of it, it was a very good thing too. It had saved Jack from his depression by giving him another reason to be happy, someone who truly cared for him and would never do what I did. It had saved Jack's life.  

I just needed to talk to him again. Surprisingly, he came to me before I went to him, knocking on my door the evening right after Josh left, like they'd had it all planned out.  

"You think I'm a freak," was the first thing he said to me. 

"Of course not!"  

"Damn, Hays, it was written all over your face when you saw us! The only way to make it more obvious is if you were holding a sign that said 'Die fags'."