Limitless

Chapter 40 (Epilogue)

"Okay, you're done," John said, tossing his gloves into the trash bin under his desk.  Harry stood up off of the table and looked down at the new ink on his hip - a large and bold "Mr." 

I shook my head but giggled as Harry looked proudly at the new mark on his skin.  If I hadn't known Harry very long, I would have thought he was a little weird, but after a year and a half of solid dating I was used to his odd choices and placements of tattoos.  As I looked at the bright red skin that burned around his ink, I also looked at the skin that was damaged - the burns that had healed from the fire.  I took a moment to look down at my own arms, still a little scarred from the incident.  We both healed nicely, thought it took a while, and the burns were beginning to fade, but I knew that they would be there for a long while.  Part of the sundial on my shoulder ended up getting messed up, but after the burns healed enough, John was able to fix the parts that were missing.  

Harry grinned at it and poked the red skin around his "Mr.".  Finally he spun around enthusiastically to face me. "Your turn." 

I laid down on the table. "Will you please just tell me what the tattoo is first? I don't know for sure if I trust you, and it is my body."

Harry shook his head and grinned down at me. "It's our year and a half anniversary today and you don't even trust me enough to surprise you with a tattoo."

I raised an eyebrow. 

"Where do you want it?" John asked, the drawing ready in his hand. Harry had already told him what to draw and approved the tattoo design without me seeing.  John was even so good as to hold the paper so I couldn't see the drawing either right then.

"Hip okay? Like me?" Harry asked me.  

"Well how big is it?" I replied with a question.

"Not too big-" he answered, making a circle with the thumb and pointer finger of both of his hands. I sighed and nodded.

"Hip is good." 

John rolled the strange wax on to my hip and carefully placed the drawing on top of it.  Once he knew the outline of the drawing was imprinted on my skin, he peeled the paper off.  Harry grinned above me. 

"Ready?" John asked, picking up his needle.  I nodded.

It only took him a few minutes to trace the drawing on my skin. He added a little bit of shading and a red color to the inside. "Dammit, make it look nice," Harry growled at one point.  He stood over John like a hawk, making sure the tattoo was perfect.  I didn't understand why this one was so important.  John always did a good job, but Harry was making extra sure of it this time. 

"Okay, you're done too," John exhaled after twenty minutes of coloring and shading. I began to sit up and look down at my ink, but Harry stopped me. 

"Close your eyes," He ordered, grinning. 

I furrowed my brow at him. "Really?" 

He nodded excitedly, but switched to pouting when he saw I was irritated. "Please? Just until I get you in front of the mirror?"

I frowned but closed my eyes. He carefully took my hand and helped me off of the table, across the parlor, and to the mirror.  I held the elastic of my shorts away from the sensitive skin as Harry positioned me. "Okay, ready?" He stood behind me, covering my eyes. 

"Yes, Harry! Let me see already!" I laughed.  He dropped his hands and put them on my waist to help me hold up my shirt.  I first looked at him, staring proudly down at the ink, and then took a look for myself.  The cursive burned into my skin, the shadow around the writing making it look like it was popping off of my hip and the red adding a little POW to the overall design too. I blushed hard as I read it over and over and over again. "Mrs." 

Harry buried his chin into my shoulder and met my eyes in the mirror. "Lou?"

I bit my lip and grinned harder. "Harry." 

His hands slowly left my sides and he stood up straight for a moment before dropping to his knee behind me.  I turned slowly to look at him and covered my face with my hands, trying to hide the biggest smile that ever covered my face.  Across the parlor, John made some sort of animalistic shriek of excitement. "Aww shit guys, I can't even handle this right now." He sprinted into the back of the parlor, disappearing behind the curtain.  I giggled at him but quickly looked back at Harry.

His green eyes danced as he looked up into mine. "Lou, will you marry me?" He pulled a black box from his pocket and opened it revealing a single diamond on a plain silver band.  For as simple as it was, it was gorgeous. 

I hesitated. "Well I suppose I'll have to now," I said, looking back down at my tattoo.

Harry laughed and stood up quickly, his lips meeting mine as he wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up into a twirl.  My mind raced with all different thoughts - about the wedding, about the tattoos, about the ring, about how I would tell the other boys (even though they probably already knew), and about our future together.  When Harry and I were apart before, we were miserable, going nowhere with our lives.  Together, we were infinite.  We were unstoppable.  We were limitless - and I was ready for a life full of dares with him.