Personal blog of @carolinemorrison

The first cry barely registered with Hannah. It drifted into her dreams, distant enough that she almost slept through it. But then she heard it again. A soft whimper. Then another. Then, as if someone had turned up the volume to 11, a full blown wail crackled through the baby monitor.  Hannah’s eyes fluttered open.

 3:18 a.m. 

She stared at the glowing numbers for a long second, willing the crying to stop on its own. She silently bargained with the universe. Please settle yourself.  The crying only grew louder.  Beside her Garrett let out a sleepy sigh and rolled onto his side, blissfully unaware. One arm was still stretched across the mattress where she’d been moments ago, reaching for her even in his sleep.  

She looked up, instantly realizing that that was a big mistake. Nico stood in the middle of the room, damp curls dripping onto his shoulders, a towel slung around his waist. His chest was. . . she’d seen it a million times, she was his doctor at one point for crying out loud, but he was no longer a tall, gangly teenager, but a ripped, muscular man. 

For one horrifying second, her brain stopped functioning entirely. 

“Are you okay?”

Me: *starts working on a School Spirits story, an Off Campus story, finished a Doogie Kameāloha M.D story and started a new Doogie story*

And I took all my kids to the beach lol

After everything they'd lost, everything they'd survived, and everything they'd fought their way back to, Lahela finally had an answer.

Read the epilogue here!

She glanced  over her shoulder. “Yeah?” 

“You hungry?” 

A grin spread across her face. “That depends.” 

Nico raised an eyebrow. “Depends on what?” 

“Whether you’re buying or not.” 

He laughed. “Sunny’s?” 

Lahela felt her smile grow.  She nodded. “It’s a date.” 

NIco looked down, a tiny sad smile fixed across his face. “For the record, I still have like twelve unread drafts of texts I never sent you.” 

That pulled a real laugh out of her. Her laughter faded into a soft silence, neither of them knowing exactly what to say. 

Slowly, Nico turned his hand over against the concrete between them, palm up. It was an offering, not an expectation. “We don’t have to figure everything out tonight,” he said quietly. 

Seriously he was like one of my first TV crushes. . . You know that that means right?