Forever Yours, Daniel ✹ Phan (Sequel to House Plants)

Chapter Twenty-Three (Finale)

Aj's POV
-
It was so surreal. It was horrible.. But it was happening now.
It had been 15 years since we first started our YouTube careers, and we were up to 10 million subscribers on our joint channel, and on each of our channels.
We didn't want to have to spend our money from YouTube on something so depressing, though.
-
"My dads....were the best people we could've ever had for dads. They always had smiles on their faces...even in their last days with us." Catherine was crying during her speech. "Our mum is the only person we have left... Our only parent."
I had to continue for her as she went over to our mum who was sitting nearby. Mum wrapped her arms around my sister, as they both cried.
-
"We had the honour of being Dan and Phil's kids....and seeing them grow old together. They were only in their late fifties when they died.. God chose to keep them.. And they have been looking down on us since." I said. "The two of them met in 2009... And became best friends. They lived together since 2011, moving from Manchester to London after Phil moved to Manchester to be near Dan. They were only best friends, until 2016, and Dan proposed in 2017, and they got married in 2018... They were supposed to be together forever. But now, their forever had to continue in Heaven. Thank you all for coming. Catherine, would you like to sing now?"
She walked over to the piano with me.
-
Catherine sang beautifully as I played the piano.
"Baby, can't you see? I'm calling... A guy like you, should wear a warning..."
We chose to perform Toxic by Britney Spears, the song our dads bonded over and loved. It was the song they sang together at their wedding.
-
"I'm addicted to you, don't you know that you're toxic?.." The song was over. We walked over to our dads.
-
They laid peacefully, next to each other in the coffin. We had the mortician dress them in the tuxedos they wore at their wedding and have them hold hands. We kept the engagement ring, but we made sure the mortician left their wedding rings on.
"We love you dads..." Catherine whispered. I hugged her and tried not to cry. It was hard.
-
The hardest part was that we were out of the house when they had passed away. They were home alone when their house was broken into and they were poisoned. The criminals did not want their cause of death to be seen so it took longer to find, but they were arrested after Mum heard them next door. She had called the police when she saw the lights on early in the morning, and heard loud noises, but it was too late. They were already dead.
-
We went to the site of the burial, and I drove my sister and mum.
-
The priest had us each drop dirt on the coffin after it was lower into the ground. Catherine couldn't stand being around any longer without crying more and more, so we had to go home after getting a rose from the flower display that was on the coffin.
Mum came with us, as she couldn't bother staying without her children.
-
It was May 31st, 2046 when they laid or dads to rest, and it was a painful experience.
-
Less than two weeks later, it was what would've been Dan's 55th birthday. We went to the cemetery and found our dads' headstone.
Catherine brought a balloon, and placed a rose by the headstone, that read "Forever Yours, Phillip.... Forever Yours, Daniel.."
-
We stood, facing the headstone and sang happy birthday to our dad.
"Happy birthday Daddy..... We miss you." We let go of the balloon together, letting the celebration go into Heaven to find Dan.
-
We agreed that we would do this each year for both of their birthdays.
-
We went to the house we grew up in after the funeral and found a note that was laying on the computer desk in their bedroom. It read "To Catherine Angela and Adrian James.... When we are gone, open up the camera and watch from the beginning, to 12 minutes."
-
I opened up the camera and we hooked it up to the television. Our dads had a video for us.
-
"Hey kids... We made this video as soon as you turned a year. It was for emergency, really, in case we are not around anymore.. If you're watching this video, there's a chance we have passed away..." Our dads talked to us through the video.
"We love you, and your mum, Cat, knows what we asked of you. We want you to move to America with her and continue your lives there. By now, you're both in your late twenties, and you're well rounded individuals. Remember that you'll forever have each other.. We will be watching over you...." Phil said.
"And Catherine, I hope you become a singer..... I feel you inherited my musical ability.... Same with you, Aj. If she's a singer, I hope you can play for her." Dan finished their dialogue.
"We love you so much, and we wish you luck. You'll be amazing in whatever you do. Bye guys."
-
The video was so gut-wrenching to watch, but heartwarming as well. They wished for us to be musical, from our first year..... And we are.
-
Catherine and I lived moved to America with our mum after our dads passed on the video. Mum found us a house near her old house, where she was able to move back in.
-
A year later... Catherine came to visit me and my 5 year old daughter.
-
"Aj?" Catherine called from the other room.
"What?"
"Your niece wants to show you something." She was laughing as I walked towards her.
"Well what's this?" I was handed a paper. A drawing of Catherine, my niece Jess, and my brother-in-law, Stephen. There was footprints on Catherine's shirt that Jess had drawn and colored blue.
"Wait.."
My sister and her family were visiting while my daughter, Rae, was playing with her younger cousin.
"I'm pregnant, Aj." She hugged me.
"I'm gonna have a nephew..." I almost cried.
"Two. You're having two."
She was 3 months pregnant, with twin boys.
It was the happiest I had been since Rae was born. It was also the first time I had cried since Rae was born, since my wife, Deliah, died during childbirth.
-
Five months later, my nephew was born. Stephen and I got to witness the birth of little Daniel James and Phillip Michael Anderson.
-
As Catherine laid in the hospital bed, exhausted from the birth, Stephen and I held my nephews.
-
"Oh my God.." Catherine nearly jumped up out of bed.
"Is something wrong?" Stephen asked.
"Did you feel that?" She looked at me.
"Feel what?"
"The...hands...."
-
As soon as she said, I felt it. There was a warm touch on both of my shoulders, the size of our dads' hands.
"They're with us.." Catherine teared up. Stephen was hopelessly confused, but he eventually realized.
-
Both of the babies were asleep, but then they woke up, their eyes opened. They weren't crying.
They both looked up towards the ceiling and it looked like they nearly smiled, and I knew why.
"Cat?"
She looked at me. I looked at both boys, and said "They're watching over us.."
-
Then I saw it... The cactus plant that Dan had given Phil before they started dating. It miraculously survived all these years.
"We're going to be okay." My sister said, seeing it, too.
-
The End.
-
Please read the next part, as it is a note, like in the prequel.