Whiskey for Elephants

20.

Okay, so this will be the end until further notice. Maybe I'll make a sequel, a RonxReader series, who knows? But for now, this is the last installment in this fanfic.
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  My eyes fly open and close again. The room is bright, I open my eyes again slowly. I hear gasping and cheers around me. I inhale sharply through my nose.
  I cough a minute and sit up. As my eyes adjust, I see my mom and siblings. I see Derek and everyone.
"Derek! You're.. you're alive! You were dead, I saw you! I saw you in the casket!" He gapes at me wide eyed. He slowly shakes his head. My mom presses a button. I start sobbing and Derek sits down in front of me, Matt looms next to him. Allison is rubbing Jamie's back.
   Soon some nurses come in. They ask what happened and when Derek says that I thought he died, they smile sympathetically. I didn't understand. A doctor soon comes in.
"Why is everyone looking at me like I'm a fucking weirdo?" I ask, concerned. "Am I okay? What's going on? Why am I in a hospital?"
"Slow down, Ms. Durant. Take it one breath at a time." The doctor says. He dismisses everyone in my room except my mother. She sits on the edge of the bed, he stands at the foot.
"Danika, can you tell me what the date is?" He asks simply.
"Duh, it's August 15th. 2018." He purses his lips.
"I was afraid of this. Ms. Durant? You've been in a coma for a month. It's July 25th." My breathing hitches. My mom squeezes my hand. "What.. how?" Is all I can manage.
"You were T-Boned driving home from a venue last June. I think you were in Bloomington." My mom says. I feel heavy all of a sudden.
"I remember turning around to go back.." I say, but my brain is struggling to put the pieces together. "I can't remember, I.." my mom runs her hand through my hair.
    It takes a while for the news to sink in. The doctor says that everything I dreamed was false. He said it made sense that my memories blurred after remembering leaving the venue and turning around. They gave me a sedative, mood stabilizer, and pain medicine.
   I kept checking Instagram for what I know to be true. I can't find anything about Ronnie and I being together. Now that I thought about it, seriously, it was too good to be true. I did tell them that I wasn't ready for visitors, but someone said that when I was they called first dibs. My mom said that whoever it was, was almost always asleep.
   I'm scared to nap, but sleep takes me anyways. I don't dream, I just sleep. When I jerk awake an hour later, the nurse calms me down by saying that it was okay to sleep.
  Another cloudy hour later, I eat some food. Bread bowls from Panera. Thanks, Matt.
"Excuse me, doc?" I say, stuffing my face. "Send whoever that is in will you?"
     A few minutes later, a face I wasn't expecting appeared.
"Ron.. I mean..Mr. Radke, why are you here?" I try to sit up more. I can't, so I cross my legs and lean back. The man looks like he hasn't slept in two years. He sighs and I swear he almost cries.
"Danika, Danika I had the dream, too." He's looking me in my eyes, his breath catches in his throat. His hands shake, just like mine. "When they said you had a dream about Derek dying I knew it was the same.. I just.."
"You didn't have the same dream as me, there's no way. There's no way. I dreamed about you and I together romantically and.." My face reddens at the remembrance of the sex that we had and when I told him I loved him.
"Danika I was there I'm telling you. I was in it with you. I.. Ask me something, I'll prove it."
"Where did we meet Derek?" I ask.
"A zoo near Columbus." He says, no hesitation.
"Why did he die?"
"Train derailment."
"Where did we go for his funeral?"
"Peoria, Illinois. Danika, you've got to believe me. There's no other reason that I want to kiss you so much right now, there's no other reason that I want to tell you I love you.. there's none." His words sober me, no one at the office knew where I was from. "Were in LA now." He says, as if he wanted me to know for authenticity purposes.
"You.." I start. "There's no way. This must still be a dream. You can't be real. You can't love me, I mean you're you." I stumble and cry again as I collapse into myself.
"Baby.. you're not hallucinating. You're here in the real world. I'm real." He's kneeling. "I'm real and I love you so much. Please believe me. I can't.."
  He grits his teeth before speaking again, blinking back tears.
"After experiencing all of that with you.. I can't be without you. I just.. I can't." He's crying, real tears. Tears that shake his body. They shake mine too, because I am hurting so bad and because he's hurting so bad for both of us..
"Ronnie... Ronnie..." I'm trying to get passed his name to tell him to kiss me but I can't. He understands.
    He holds the oxygen tube away as he grips my face in his left hand, while knotting the other in my hair. The minute his mouth is on mine, my body falls into an unknown routine. My arms find their favorite spot on the back of his neck, entangled in his short hair. My breathing slows to a steady pace and my heart slows. 
   He presses his forehead to mine as he pulls away to breathe.
"If every coma rebirth is like that.."
"I should do it more often, right?" I finish, referencing the subtle routine of our shared hallucination turned reality. It causes us to chuckle.
   After an hour of much needed making out with Ronnie, my mom and family joined us. I was more than happy to reintroduce them, equally happy to watch him fall into routine with them again. I was sharing this moment with Ronnie, who swore that regardless of whatever reason it was we fell in love.. we were alive and we were in love, and I couldn't be happier.
   After a while, I was laying in bed with my sister, the family Theologian.
"What do you believe in?" I ask her, playing with her hair.
"Something that's similar to reincarnation, but for people. I, myself, lean toward polytheism.. but what I solely believe in is spiritual reincarnation and fate, something like forcing you to take second chances with people or situations."
"An example?"
"Sure.. for instance... let's say you like this guy in school, but you won't ask him out, because you think he'll say no. I believe that there's a reason you have whatever reason you like him. I don't care what your reason would be, I care about the reason that says, there's 7 billion people on this planet doing the same thing, what makes it special when this one person does it." She pauses.
   "So anyway, due to whatever reason that is.. you like this person and do nothing about it, but this person stays in your life as whatever you trust them as. Whatever is in charge of fate will find any was whatsoever to try to get you to take that risk, especially if you're meant to be. If that means him being your kids teacher that you impulse fuck, if it means killing a relative and making him the coroner, or hell, if it means almost killing you and making you hallucinate a whole ass relationship."
   I eye her conspicuously. She knows.
"So you know about the dreams?"
"I believe you guys know each other that well. I couldn't help but listen. I wanted to know why this random walking tattoo was here everyday for a month. There's only one thing I don't believe about the situation." She says, looking at me pointedly.
"What?"
"There's no way you beat Matt in bullshit, he's a fucking cheater." I laugh, causing her to laugh and I feel okay about this weird relationship. 

~~~~~ one year later~~~~
"I am going to pass out, Matt." I lean against him. He was giving me away, today. Dad passed away last December, shortly after Ronnie proposed to me.
"It is ominous. You getting married on the anniversary of you waking up." He chuckles. The music starts and I squeeze Matt's hand til my fingers leave purpley marks on his skin.
"Dude, chill. Everything will be great. That guy loves you more than people love anything. More than Brina loves me." He kisses my cheek. We hear my cue.
"I can't do this." I say, violently shaking my head.
"Yes you can. Deep breath." I do as instructed. "Okay baby sister. Let's go."
    We walk out. Our wedding is a typical wedding. Whites and greens, family of both people getting married. I smile and watch my baby cousin throw flowers down the aisle. I take a deep breath and tear my eyes off of the ground. Then I see him. The world melts away, I'm glad. The nerves my body exhibited disappear as I draw closer to him. Him and that crooked little grin on his face.
    When I reached him, he hugged my brother first, then took my hands and spun me to check me out. The wedding guests laughed, I blushed, he chuckled.
"Can I kiss her yet?" He asks the reverend, which causes the guests to laugh some more.
"Ever the joker, aren't ya Radke?" I joke, waiting to say our vows. He smiles at me tenderly and I melt. There's nothing this man can't be attractive doing.
   "You may now kiss the bride, yes, seriously." The words don't come out of his mouth fast enough. Ron pulls me as close to him as possible, kissing my mouth hard enough for me to have to bite my tongue at the inappropriate noise i wanted to make. When we break off, I smack him. He bows.
  After we take pictures with everyone, he pulls me into a hall closet.
"Hello Mrs. Radke." He says, his voice gravelly and low.
"Hello, Mr. Radke." I respond, cheesing hard as hell.
"I really get to keep you forever?" He whispers, wrapping his arm around me. The way he says it breaks my heart. 
"I get to keep you forever?" Is how I respond. "We have our entire lives until you understand how amazing you are." I finish speaking.
"And to get you to trust others better." He says, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "I love you, Danika." He murmurs into my neck.
"I love you so much.. Ronnie, I need you to know that."
"I do know that. I need you to shut up, so that we don't get caught making out in here." He pecks my neck but the friendliness disappears as his lips part on my neck and he flicks his tongue against my skin.
"Okay okay, but Ronnie?" He stops kissing my neck.
"What now?" He hisses. I almost laugh because it was comical to me that we were in a closet hiding.
"I love you."
"I love you too, baby, I'll never get tired of hearing you say that, but I'm trying to make out with my wife here..." and I let him. I melt into him, as natural as it's become.
   I'm the happiest I've ever been and all I did was take a leap of faith. Now, I've got all I could ask for. A small family in addition to my already large one. Great friends, a great job, a great life. In the dark, I peer up at him  and think..
   I hope you know how much I love you, Ron. How much I love Willow. Thank you for finding me at Warped so long ago. Thank you for not giving up on me. I'm so glad I hung on. I'm so glad you did too.
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Until next time, you guys. Have a good one!