In Pursuit Of ✔

Epilogue

Henley leaned on her hiking poles, trying to catch her breath and readjusting her heavy backpack. Why she and Nick had decided to hike up the north side, 1000 feet higher than the south side, she had no idea.

Henley looked up ahead of her. Nick stood at the trailhead. She was so close to finishing their hike, but the final switchback seemed to stretch for miles.

"Need some help with that?" Henley could hear the amusement in Nick's voice as he shouted down to her.

That bastard.

Henley responded by forcing her legs to move again toward Nick. "You're ridiculous," Henley grumbled as she finally got to the top.

Nick kissed her. "Hey, you're the one who said she wanted to hike across the Grand Canyon."

It was true. Henley had been the one to suggest it. "Yes, but I wanted a hiking partner to go with," she argued, "not a mountain goat." Even though Nick was no longer a C.O.D.E. Agent and was now a full-time student, he was still in better shape than anyone Henley knew. And he certainly surpassed her in physical fitness.

Nick only laughed. "You made it, that's what counts," he said.

"I suppose this was much better than our last vacation," Henley commented.

Nick laughed again, but there was a hardness to it this time. They both had different coping mechanisms when it came to thinking about how they first met. Henley's was humor; Nick's was not humor.

Nick scared Henley half to death the first time his nightmares woke her up. His tossing and turning jerked her from sleep, and it took a good 30 seconds to shake him awake. His eyes shot open, panic deep within them, and only calmed down when he realized Henley was right beside him. He had pulled her close and held her that way for the rest of the night.

They talked about it the next morning, and Nick admitted that while he didn't have nightmares on a regular basis, they did pop up occasionally.

That afternoon, Henley had helped him find his own therapist.

Together, they sat down on a bench near the top of the trailhead. A shuttle to take them to the hotel at the North Rim of the canyon would be there in about 25 minutes.

"I got something for you."

Henley, who had been resting her head on his shoulder, looked up. "What? When? We've been hiking for four days." She gave a knowing grin. "Is it a rock?" she asked, doing her best to be serious.

Nick glared at her. "Here, take it." He held out his hand and deposited something small and smooth into Henley's outstretched palm.

She brought it closer to her face to inspect it. It was a simple, plastic key chain with the words Grand Canyon National Park written on it. She looked back up at Nick, confused.

He shrugged. "You said you wanted a souvenir. Sorry it's a little late."

Henley thought back to the last time she was in the park, confined to a hotel room with an increasingly agitated Nick. She barely remembered her request of something from the gift shop to compensate not being able to go hiking.

Henley clenched the key chain in her fist, bringing her hand up to her heart. The fact that Nick had remembered that conversation, and sought to make good on it now, was one of the many reasons why she loved him.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Nick smiled back at her. He didn't say anything; he didn't need to.

Eventually the shuttle came to pick them up and bring them back to the hotel. All of their stuff was already there, waiting in one of the cabins.

An hour later, Henley had scrubbed herself clean, washed her hair, and was dressed for dinner, waiting for Nick to finish showering and getting ready for dinner himself. The hike had been amazing, but the feeling of cleaning days of dirt and sweat off was almost as good.

"Miss Johnson." Nick appeared from the bathroom in fresh clothing, his hand held out to her. Henley got up off the bed, placing her hand in his. "Will you go out with me?" he asked.

Henley could just barely keep herself from snorting at his request. Nick's adjustment to post C.O.D.E. life took many forms, from stopping himself from scanning his English classes for enemies to keeping calm when Henley wasn't home exactly when she said she would be. He also was turning into quite the romantic.

"I would love to go on a date with you," Henley replied.

They sat together in the dining room at a table next to the window and facing out over the canyon. The sun had just disappeared over the horizon, so the pink and orange streaks still littered the sky and golden light bathed the landscape.

"What?" Henley had been staring out the window as they waited for their food, but as she turned back to face Nick, she found that his gaze had been on her.

"Nothing."

"Nick."

"Really, nothing." He held up his hands in defense. "I'm just glad we're here."

He looked more relaxed than Henley had ever seen him. She herself felt more content than she had in a long time. "I'm just glad C.O.D.E. is paying for you to get your degree so we have the money to afford this trip," Henley teased him.

"I think it also helps that we're only paying rent for one apartment."

After Nick showed up at Henley's apartment, he never left. Everyone in Henley's life, except for Freya, thought they were moving too fast. But Henley ignored their concerns; they had basically already lived together for almost two months. When she first met Nick, never in a million years would she have thought that a year later they would be living together and on vacation together. Henley couldn't have been happier.

"I'm just happy to be with you," she said in all seriousness. "I don't care where we are."

Nick picked up her hand and kissed it. The gesture conveyed every single one of his emotions, and neither of them felt that the need to ruin the perfect moment with more words.

The two of them and a peaceful silence.

Why would they want anything more?

Hello everyone!

Thank you all for reading my book! I really appreciate that you've taken the time, and for everyone who has voted and commented, I'm so grateful for all of the support. I'll be going through an editing process in the coming months, so all of your comments will be very helpful. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts about the story, so don't be afraid to reach out!

Once again, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!