Sandbox Love Never Dies

Rewind

Zoe Benson woke up the next morning feeling completely at peace. She hadn't remembered coming home from her birthday party last night, but she was thankful her fellow witches looked out for her and made sure she was okay in getting home. Madison had left the party 20 minutes before it had officially ended, saying something about getting a birthday present, which is what she didn't really want, the thoughtful birthday party was more than enough for her, but her girlfriend was as persistent as she was which led to an argument unwon on her end. She rolled over, expecting to feel soft blonde hair or a warm cheek underneath her fingers, but she was met with the rough bed sheets and complete disappointment. She opened her eyes and saw the side of the bed the blonde usually occupied had been unslept on, which made her panic as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and padded over to the door, opening it quietly and tiptoeing down the stairs, careful not to disturb anything in her path to alert anyone that she was awake yet. She heard voices coming from the kitchen and so she followed them, stopping just before the entrance to the kitchen and peering around the corner, hiding herself as best as she could. She saw Madison sitting at the table with Nan, Queenie, and Cordelia, who were laughing at something that she said. She looked so beautiful from where she was standing that she wanted to dig out her old camera from her belongings and snap an instant picture of her, but she was afraid the moment would pass by too quickly, and unfortunately it did. She swallowed her disappointment as she craned her neck to hear what they were saying, but she was unsuccessful and she huffed, moving closer and closer to the entrance of the kitchen but by then it was too late. She collided with the wood paneled floor and the air escaped from her lungs as she felt pain spread throughout her body.

"Holy shit Zo!" She heard the blonde say as she rushed from her seat to help her off of the floor, which she was grateful for. She leaned against her girlfriend as the other witches sat at the table, completely shocked by what had just happened but also slightly amused, knowing that she was eavesdropping because that's just who Zoe Benson was; she hated being left out of anything, no matter how big or small said thing may have been.

"I'm good." Zoe said after a few moments, releasing the iron grip she had on the shorter girls shirt and moving slightly away from her but still lingering in case she felt like she was going to fall again. Madison suggested that they go upstairs and let her lay down and as much as she wanted to protest, she couldn't find it in herself to, so she allowed herself to be led up the staircase and down the spiraling hall to their room, where she proceeded to tuck her into bed and sit on the comforter next to her, stroking the hairs that were sticking to her forehead away in an attempt to calm her down and to remind her that she was there, just like she would always be.

"Mads? You really didn't have to get me a birthday present. The party last night was more than enough, and you know that's all that I would want anyway so why trouble yourself?" The look on her face was curious and she looked into her green eyes and wondered how much she had actually spent on whatever she had gotten for her, and she hoped that it wasn't as expensive as she thought it would be.

"Actually, it was homemade. Um, I didn't want to buy you something that was fake or anything, I wanted it to be from the heart, and I hope I achieved that." Madison went over to the desk that held their shared laptop and a small lamp that had been a gift to her, and opened the very last drawer, retrieving a simple plain white box. She shut the door with her foot as she made her way back over to the twin size bed, plopping down on the bed and holding the box on her lap as she waited for the brunette to pull herself into a sitting position against the wall. Once she was situated, she handed the box to her, suddenly feeling very timid. Zoe took the box from her visibly nervous girlfriend and carefully removed the lid, looking at the contents of the box. Inside was a leather bound scrapbook with the letters Z and M glued to the front of it. She felt a smile find its way onto her face as she flipped open the cover and stopped to read the hand written inscription on the page

Zo,

I will love you until every last star in the galaxy dies and even after, I will love you.

-M

She felt her eyes well up with tears as she traced her fingers over the smoothly written letters, feeling as if she was there with Madison when she wrote it. She flipped to the next page and immediately was bombarded with pictures of herself, but pictures of her from 5 years ago rather than present day. She was smiling in almost all of them and almost never looking in the direction of the camera, which made her think that the blonde had taken them when she was off guard, she did have a knack for photography when they were young teens after all. Zoe flipped another page and saw a picture she hadn't knew she had held onto all of these years. It was the two of them, smiling brightly outside of their former middle school without a care in the world. She didn't have to look at the back to know what it said:

Z&M; best friends forever and ever.

The farther she progressed in the book, the more emotional she became. Memory after memory washed over her as she viewed more and more old pictures, all of which she was smiling in and looking at the blonde as if she was her life, which she could say now that she was. She hadn't known it then, but she was in love with her best friend and through photographs it was incredibly easy to be able to figure that out. Every year they grew together was a year that both of them fell more in love with one another than they thought was humanly possible. Zoe reached the last page and was surprised to see a Polaroid of them from the previous night, but she was glad that someone had captured one of the times she was genuinely happiest in her life. She carefully removed it from the plastic casing and held it in her hands, admiring how happy the two of them were. Their faces were widened with bright smiles and Madison was looking at her as if she was the light in the darkest part of the room, just like she had always done, and the brunette felt more tears well in her eyes, slightly blurring her vision. In the photo, they had their arms locked tightly around one another and looked so in love that she couldn't contain the tears in her eyes anymore. She felt them slide freely down her cheeks as she turned the photo over, crying even faster when she saw what the blonde had written on the back with a black sharpie.

you're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be.

Zoe placed the photo back into the protective casing and shut the book, holding it close to her chest as she wept. She had never gotten such a heartfelt gift in her life and she cherished it so much already that she hoped that she would never have to part from it, at least not soon anyways. She put the book inside of the box and wrapped her arms around Madison, who was teary eyed as well. They held onto one another for what felt like hours, relishing in this moment, and savoring it for when they would not be together anymore. They both felt it as they held each other, but they chose to ignore the feeling of dread both of them had settling in the bottom of their stomachs. The girls pulled apart and sat on the bed, smiling at one another as they talked about something that wouldn't seem as important to other people as it did to them, and they basked in the feeling of one another's presence, both of them holding this memory as close to their hearts as closely as possible, and hoped that it would be enough to keep them warm in times of peril. The rest of their afternoon was spent with the other witches that shared the house with them, joking around and even having a late birthday dinner to celebrate her birthday party that Cordelia had been unable to attend. 

As the night wasted away and everyone else fell into their beds out of exhaustion, the two girls were wide awake, watching movies and giving each other makeovers just like old times, snickering at things that only the two of them would understand, and just living as if they were teenagers again without any weight on their frail shoulders. They went to bed that night holding each other as they always did, but tonight it was different. Maybe it was the feeling that both of them had earlier that afternoon, but it felt like this would be the last time they ever held one another like this and they fell asleep hoping that it wasn't true.

If only they knew.

A/N: So I updated twice today and will most likely end this book tonight. Thanks for all the support, comments and votes and follows and all, I really appreciate it. I hope you all have enjoyed this story because I know I've enjoyed writing it for all of you. I may write another Zadison fic in the very near future, we'll just have to see, won't we? Votes and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated because they really motivate me! I hope y'all are safe and living your best lives right now, love you all so much and thanks again for supporting me through this story and my one shots fic!