Stars Align

epilogue

"Thank you ladies and gentleman for taking a trip with me to the stars."

The lights in the planetarium brighten a bit and Nathan stands in front of the room behind a podium, anxiously biting his lip.

Two years later, he finally has his PhD in astrophysics. He has a job at the university and decided to do presentations at the planetarium part time. This is one of his last run throughs before he gets to present to the public.

"So," he asks expectantly. "How did I do?"

I stand to my feet, clapping my hands and walking to him in front of the empty room. "That was fantastic, baby," I say, clasping my hands behind his neck and kissing his lips.

"Really?" A cute and eager smile spreads across his face.

"Really."
"In that case, I may just have to give you a special, extended presentation." He smiles, biting the corner of his lip.

"Oh yeah?" I ask quirking a brow, smirking slightly.

"Uh-huh." He nods his head, slowly walking backwards to the podium. He clicks a few buttons and messes with some things before walking back over to me, straightening out his blazer.

"I love you," he whispers, resting his forehead against mine and placing his hands on my hips.

"I love you too." I smile.

"None of this would be possible without you, you know? Thank you for always supporting me and staying by my side through these hectic few years. I don't know how I could have done all of this without you. I defiantly wouldn't have any hair left if it wasn't for you," he jokes, referring to all the times I've yelled at him for tugging at his hair in frustration while studying.

"You're right," I giggle, referring to his hair comment, absentmindedly running my fingers through the hair on the back of his head. "But, you did this, Nathan. You made your dream come true. I was just lucky enough to be by your side through it all. I can't even begin to add up all your numerous hours of studying. I'm so proud of you for how hard you've worked for everything."

"Thank you," he whispers, a small but shy smile graces his face. "But, I haven't made all of my dreams come true, yet." He nervously bites his lip.

I furrow my brow, waiting for him to explain.

He brings his lips to mine for a short, sweet kiss. Resting his forehead back on mine, he stares into my eyes with such love and adoration. He nudges his nose under mine uttering for me to look up. When I look up at the ceiling there are a hundreds of twinkling stars spelling out the words 'will you marry me?'

I gasp, coving my mouth with my hands, feeling the back of my eyes start to pinch. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

When I look back at Nathan, he's down on one knee with a small square box in his trembling hand.

"Stella Flack," he begins, taking a deep breath. "It's you. It has always been you and I curse myself every day for not realizing it sooner because I'm selfish. I can't get enough of you and the thought of not being with you when I could have crushes me. Like I said, I don't know what I'd do without you and I don't want to waste another second thinking about it. You're beautiful, smart, funny, kind, and my best friend. Stella, you're mine."

I'm full on crying at this point and from what I can see through my tear blurred vision, a few tears have slipped from his eyes as well.

"Will you make me the happiest man alive and spend the rest of your life with me?"

He shakily opens the box to reveal a simple silver band with a simple diamond in the center that has two tiny diamonds on each side shaped like stars. It's perfect. Nothing gaudy or flashy, but something simple with so much meaning behind it.

"Yes!" I say immediately, nodding my head with the biggest smile on my face.

He breaks out into a smile himself, grabbing my left hand and slipping the ring onto my ring finger. Standing, he's quick to cup my face into his large hands kissing me repeatedly, smile still playing on his lips.

"I love you," he whispers. "So much."

"I love you, too."

"So, now how did I do?" He grins, and I know he's referring to the proposal.

I can't help but think back to when he asked me what I thought about his plan to propose back in Paris at the restaurant, and he made me tell him what I would want from a guy if he proposed to me. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he'd listen and be the one proposing to me years later.

"Beyond perfect." I smile.

"I guess the stars finally aligned, huh?"

I can't help but laugh at his cheesy joke. "I guess so."

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Aaaaand let the credits roll! Gah! Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the journey of Nathan and Stella! <3