A/N: I'd like to dedicate this short story to Rachel and Jane for creating the ship, for motivating me and for being superstars :) . Please note, the chapters are meant to be short. - Marina
Epilogue.
Molly’s auburn hair clings to her face and his hands find themselves tangled in the locks, his fingers just as wet as the ground beneath them. Never has she been so close to him, close enough to touch, to kiss, to memorise. This moment will not end for her because she has waited for it for a lifetime; he has become as much a part of her life as her memories. Moments in time that she will not let herself forget lest they fade. They are real to her and reliving them makes the pain worthwhile. They remind her of what it is to feel, what it is to cry and what it is to love unrequitedly. And as Teddy wraps his arms around her shoulders she cannot forget the pain, but it makes their embrace all the more exhilarating. It is a thousand times more intense than her daydreams, than her idle wishes. She dares to grasp him close to her and never let him go. She has let him leave her behind too many times and each time she has awaited his return, knowing it only brings confusion and heartache.
Really, she has not changed from the shy girl who never braved conversation with him; she is constantly in awe of this boy who has been part of her life since before she can recall. A passing presence in her life, it has always been inevitable that she will fall for him, that she will want him to be a constant in her life. Why they kiss, she does not wonder. Some things she cannot question and will seize with every fibre of her being that longs and yearns for him, that tingles at his touch. Some things are meant to be, no matter the consequences.
Boyfriends have come and gone, trying desperately to live up to a standard they do not know or can ever reach. For although she has pretended she has moved on, no man was ever good enough to match up to Teddy. No man has grown up with Molly and knows her inside out, upside down and all over. There are some things you can only share with your childhood sweetheart, and she has found hers, found hers and will never let him go. She holds him closer, closer than any man has been before because she loves him. She loves him.
Her love has been hidden away for longer than she wants to count, for now the years she has spent waiting are a blur. As he runs his hands through her wet hair, she expresses her love and brings it out of the shadows. She can’t help but smile into his lips, for she cannot believe this is happening to her. That he chooses her over the confident, pretty women he has met, that she is no longer just the younger cousin of his lover of once upon a time. It’s like a fairy tale and now she has her happy ending. She is no longer the ugly duckling.
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