This is a longer than usual chapter, but it was time to end this story. Please leave a goodbye review/comment! Anon is enabled now, so go nuts! I'm going to do my thanks at the start this time, to conclude the story neatly at the other end. Love xo
Notinyourlifetimehoney In my mind Ezra had Colon/Colorectal/ Bowel cancer in the later stage; which, from my very limited knowledge of cancers (I'm no doctor or medical practitioner), I believe if found in a later stage does not have a 'brilliant' success rate. So that's where my mind was as I commenced and continued with this story.
princessjasmine12 Sorry I'm ending it now! It feels like time, so I have to go with it.
PrettyLittleFan I know, I'm putting lots in! It feels like the speed it should be as it wraps up! ;)
literaturefrenzy23 It does my heart too. Thank you for saying that, it was what I was going for :)
thehelloitsme :D THANKS! I hope you like the final chapter!
sandra1992 THANKS! :)
bite-me-im-irish Thank you! AHH NO, I'm making people late for school! Hahaha!
HarrylovesGinny09 She is ;) Ohh read and find out!
EzriaIsmySHIP12 Thank you SO MUCH! I'm glad you were having those reactions; I have the same as I write it! I hope you enjoy the final chapter! :) xoxox
LittleLiarxoxo I'm sobbing too! :(
SolitudeMyLove Thank you! :D I'm glad it's having that effect on you! Aww thank you! ;) xx
msbookworm93 Thank you! Aww I'm so glad! :D
ezriafan :( x
"If I got my wish, we'd have this forever," he smoothly spoke against her collarbone before placing a small kiss there. "I am grateful for every moment I am with you. I will love you for eternity," he said truthfully as she sniffled and drew back tears. She kissed him again tenderly and whispered "I love you too," while they both stayed enveloped in each other's arms.
"Aria, could you please tell me… Aria?" Ezra called as they reached their apartment. She had hardly said anything for the last 20 minutes, just held onto his hand. As soon as their apartment door opened, she ran to the bathroom and threw her head in the toilet. He threw their bags on the floor and ran as fast as he could muster after her. He himself was growing more frail, his skin losing vibrants by the day; but he was still going to follow Aria as fast as he could.
"I have wanted to do that for hours," she said with a smile. His face mirrored hers and she stood from the toilet, washed her mouth in the sink, and began walking to him for a loving kiss, celebrating the cause of her sickness. His hands traced the sides of her ribcage while they both basked in this moment; perfect but sad at the same time.
"Thank you," was all Aria said before he kissed her temple in response while they hugged tightly.
Exactly 8 months and 24 days later, they found themselves in a hospital room, cradling the most precious gift of all in their arms.
"Look, look," Aria said wearily as she rocked the infant in her arms. They were sitting side by side in Aria's single hospital bed, Ezra curled into the most precious to people in his life, happier than he'd ever been before "Did you see that?" she asked Ezra as he smiled yet shook his head. "And again," Aria squealed as Ezra ran his hand softly over the infant's head.
"He's looking straight at me," Ezra breathed, basking in this feeling.
"He knows you already," Aria said proudly, the tears immediately flowing down her face as she loudly sobbed. There were no longer any hidden emotions, 'remaining strong' in appearance with each other; both honestly communicated to the point where even if it made the other cry, they still spoke up.
"He is perfect," Ezra said to her as he lovingly kissed her neck and his hand grazed her thigh. She closed her eyes at the sensations, and was grateful when he chose to keep his head on her shoulder, as they stared at their bouncing baby boy. He was simply gorgeous. Perfect. And he was going to be raised by the most wonderful mother, cherished. Ezra didn't have the slightest worry; Aria was the most capable woman he'd ever met. She turned to face him, interrupting his thoughts as she smiled at him.
"He's perfect 'cause he looks just like his daddy," she said honestly before he kissed her lips in response. Their tender kiss continued for some time, as if it were feeding them energy while Aria continued to hold their boy in her arms securely. Ezra slowly pulled away and traced her lips with his fingers adoringly before she kissed their tips. Ezra smiled widely before looking at their baby again, his fingers trailing across his cheeks, 'like his mothers' he thought; he was going to be a cutie. Ezra ran his fingers under the baby's chin as he cooed in response. Ezra smiled tenderly, adoringly at his boy, as if he were made of gold while Aria looked between them and sighed contently. She had her men, she could rest right now.
Noticing she was beginning to drift off; Ezra gestured for the boy and snugly held him in his arms. No Ezra was not in well health, but he was well enough to muster the energy for the two people he was with right now. Ezra held him tightly before bouncing his arms and staring at the boy's large smile in response. 'Amazing', Ezra thought breathless. This was all still surreal, but yet again, everything in his life was surreal to him still. He glanced over to Aria who was facing them, smiling exhaustedly before she drifted to sleep not 20 seconds later. Ezra smiled at her sleeping. She simply looked like an angel when she slept; her delicate eye lashes resting against her beautiful full cheeks, her rosy lips tight yet at peace worn in a soft smile while she rested.
The baby started to stir, prompting Ezra to start singing softly to him while holding him with one arm, caressing his head and face with the other. He was so unbelievably tiny, so fragile. Ezra wondered if he would grow to the same height as him, his mother, or somewhere in between. Ezra thought to make a note of his exact height for future reference.
Byron knocked at the door, followed closely by Ella and Mike. "Hey," Byron said softly as he opened the door.
"Hey," Ezra said softly to them as they came in. Ezra passed the boy up to Byron after Byron gave him a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. "He's beautiful, friend," Byron said firmly to Ezra whose body fluttered happiness hearing the confirmation he indeed still liked Ezra, not yet wanting to kill him like a few months previous; 9 to be exact.
"My grandbaby boy, come here," Ella squealed as she carefully took the baby out of Byron's hands, not giving him the time to protest. Ezra quickly looked to Aria who was still asleep even after the slight ruckus. "He looks like you, Ezra. He's going to be a handsome one," Ella assured as she stared at Ezra's face which was quickly growing empty. With the baby in his arms or nearby, with Aria awake and her energy, he felt like the world was normal. Now, he was standing alone, growing increasingly uneasy.
"Ezra, hon, I'm going to put this little guy down in his cot, he needs a sleep. Why don't you be with Aria? She's left you room beside her, I don't think that was an accident," Ella hinted with a wink causing a soft smile to grow on Ezra's face. Byron and Mike knew that was their cue to follow Ella out of the room as she began to leave, soft nods of courtesy exchanged just before. Ezra got out of his chair and kicked of his dark leather shoes while he used the edge of Aria's bed to steady himself. He lifted Aria's blanket and crawled in by her side, positioning himself so he was facing her. He smiled as she smiled ever so slightly at his presence. His heart and body filled with warmth as he stared at his beautiful girlfriend. His arm laced around her back, pulling her into him. She was awake enough to know who was holding her, and she pushed her head into Ezra's chest cosily as they tightly held on to each other before falling into deep slumber. 'The world in his arms,' Ezra thought as he always did before he nuzzled his face in her hair.
It was 7 months of bliss for the small family. Ezra's pain became more evident on his face and Aria's constant worry for him grew in response. His eyes warier, his body frailer; yet he still constantly played with their son, Michael, or Mike for short. Michael Ezra Fitz.
When it came to her and Michael, she watched Ezra fight back the physical signs of his condition, as if to not make her worry. They'd all giggle and laugh and snuggle in together, usually on Aria and Ezra's bed. Michael would be carried out of his cot by Ezra as soon as one of them was awake. They'd both enjoy silly faces, tickling, kisses and snuggles until one of them had had enough, with Aria joining in next to them most of the time. But as soon as Ezra thought he was out of sight, his body revealed its true condition. He hunched over and began taking deeper breaths to make up for his maintaining composure with his family. He coughed, voice wheezed and his head was exhausted.
"Ez, hon," Aria called while she watched him. "Would you mind coming here? We need to talk about something important."
"Yeah, you okay?" Was what Ezra said with a smile and it made Aria cry.
"No, I'm not. I'm not okay because you're hiding your condition from me," she blubbered while he ran to sit beside her on the bed and he took her hand in his.
"Aria," he began and repeatedly kissed her cheek while her free hand came to clean the tears from her face. "I…." he said before sighing deeply. There was no way he could get out of this one. "I didn't want you to worry. Is that so horrible? I didn't want to cause you any additional grief," he confessed before kissing to the side of her mouth tenderly, his free hand running largely through her long hair while he held her there.
She turned to him and smiled, her fingertips ran down his cheeks before sitting on the top of his shirt. "I'm sorry, I get it," she said with a forced smile. "What do you say, we have Michael take a sleep over with his grandparents tonight?" Aria said raising her eyebrow to him as he smiled and had a slight giggle in response.
"Yeah, yeah, I'd like that," he said excitedly before kissing Aria tenderly, sweetly. They then pulled back and rested their foreheads against each other.
"My beautiful boy," Ezra said as he got Michael out of his cot. Aria, unbeknown to them had pulled out her video camera to film their spontaneous interaction. It was something she had been doing since Michael was born, yet Ezra had only caught her once or twice. "Look at you," Ezra began as he ran his fingers over Michael's face, Aria zooming in on her boys. "Absolutely gorgeous like Aria; you are! Don't tell her I told you, but she is the most special thing in my life, your mumma," he confessed to his boy in amongst pulling ridiculous faces at him. "You are an extremely close second, and I can't imagine my life without you either, and I am so glad you're here to look after her," Ezra said letting out a loud sob and his eyes filling with tears, that cascaded down his cheeks. "I need someone to look after her, watch her when I'm gone. 7 months old, you can hack it, right?" Ezra said with a soft giggle as Aria moved her camera-free hand to also, silently, rub her tears off of her face. "I love you, little man. You're going to make me so proud. Just, be happy, yeah? Do whatever career you want, love whoever you want. Just be amazing, be yourself." Ezra concluded as he snuggled Michael tighter into his arms and began turning to join Aria. Aria darted out of the way, hid the camera, and sat on the bed like she was none the wiser.
"Hey," Ezra said with a smile, gesturing Michael forward a little in his arms.
"What's goin' on?" Aria said breezily.
"Nothing, you know, 'man talk'," Ezra winked.
"Oh good," Aria said with a laugh. "Just no beer yet, little man," she said teasing Michael's chin before Ezra's eyes lifted from the boy to meet hers and she kissed him tenderly. She deepened the kiss and it made Ezra gasp happily whilst still holding onto Michael. Aria eventually removed her lips from Ezra's before she smiled at her beautiful man, before she ran her hand through his hair and he closed his eyes briefly at her touch.
"Hello," Ella announced loudly when Ezra, Aria and Michael were at her door. "Do I get my grandbaby boy?" Ella started to fuss as she took Michael out of Aria's arms. "You kids have a nice night, everything's fine here," Ella smiled to Aria and then Ezra as Mike took the bags of Michael's in off the porch.
"Thanks, love you," Aria said casually, giving Michael a final kiss on his forehead. Ezra edged forward towards Ella and Michael whilst shaking slightly. He ran his hand lovingly across the little boy's face before he kissed him tenderly on his forehead, his cheek, his nose then his lips. A flash caught Ezra's eye, but it didn't faze him; he knew Aria had been sneaking pictures every chance she could. And he was so grateful she was.
"Bye," Ezra said softly as Aria interlaced her hand in his and they headed to their car to go home.
"I've spoken to a lawyer," Ezra began, as Aria curiously stole a glance towards him while she drove the car. "Everything will be to you and Michael. My apartment, it's yours. I paid off the rest of the property with the last of my savings. My parents helped a bit. So, you'll both be taken care of in that regard. No worries there," Ezra spoke matter of factly, and Aria had no idea how to respond, so she chose to remain silent. Ezra looked at her and saw a tear in her eye. 'She heard me; she knows' he thought sighing a deep sigh of relief in response.
When they got back to their house, no words were spoken. Aria wrapped her arms tightly around Ezra's back as they heatedly kissed. His tongue deeply caressing hers as they both moaned in happiness while his hands stroked her cheeks. Shoes were kicked off and they stumbled backwards towards their bed. Ezra fell first and Aria crawled on top of him, smiling broadly like he as she began to straddle his hips. He sat up a little and kissed her with everything he had, making them both groan as she responded just as eagerly. She slowly undid the buttons of her shirt as Ezra watched speechless while she smiled at him and continued to undo the shirt. The shirt then came undone and she threw it to the side of the bed as she bent back down and placed her lips to his. His fingers traced from her lower back, to her stomach. He sat up and kissed her stomach tenderly, before lifting his lips to the centre of her white lace bra. He moved down one of the straps and began running his hand over where it was, kissing her cleavage as he did while her breathing became ragged. Her gasping made her grab his face and throw their mouths and tongues together as she started to grind on top of him. His hands caressing under her skirt as she did, his fingers then traced her knickers as she moaned and pushed herself into his touch as he groaned. He pulled back and began hurridley throwing off his clothes and she did the same before they came together again, Ezra on top this time as he kissed lovingly down her body. His lips found her breasts, his tongue circling their centres as his hands traced between her thighs. She gasped loudly as his fingers explored, before his movements became faster and she threw her head back gasping. She bucked into his hand before she screamed loudly; her breathing trying to even out again before she broke into a relieved laughter. She pushed him gently, keeping in mind his condition, and she positioned herself on top of him once more. She kissed his mouth once more, licking his lips before her mouth trailed kisses and soft bites down his chest and he began gasping. Her hand traced down his torso and continued past his hips as he sighed, swallowed deeply and stared deep into her eyes. She began stroking him as his hand caught her free arm for support. She smiled and moved her hand faster before he too saw stars and groaned deeply. They both smiled lovingly before she brought her body against his once more and they tenderly kissed. Their hands ran through each other's hair, along each other's torsos before he took control and rolled her onto her back. He buried himself in her and she screamed before sighing deeply while he groaned. He kissed every part of her upper body he could while she smiled basked in their love. She kissed all over his face whenever she could while they moved. Absolute love radiated as they reached their peak together, and abruptly began the climb down.
His arms held her tightly as they lay. Her fingers ran through his chest hair as they lay silent in their thinking. Each other's company made everything perfect without words.
"You are my world, you always will be," Ezra whispered into her cheek before kissing her there. At his words, she snuggled deeper against his shoulder.
"I love you, I love you, I love you," was all Aria said as they both smiled from the warmth of each other, yet cried silently as they fell asleep at the same time.
Aria woke smiling the next morning, the light streaming through the multi-panelled windows of their apartment. She turned and looked at his face. Something wasn't right.
"Ez," she said as she began touching his face. "EZ?" she wailed as she began frantically pushing him in the arms, chest and tapping his cheeks. She broke instantly, no delay, and cried uncontrollably. His arms were still around her and she lowered herself back to where she was for a few minutes more. She stared at his sleeping form for as long as she could before her vision was blocked from her tears. She touched his face once more, slowly trailing over his wrinkles and freckles. She lifted her lips to his one final time and tenderly kissed him goodbye. "I love you," she sobbed, "I will always love you."
"Aria?" Ella screamed as she bashed on the apartment door. 24 hours ago, Aria called the hospital and made arrangements. Since that phone call and their visit, she had curled herself up in her side of their bed and she stared blankly at his, feeling his presence as much as she could. "ARIA" Ella screamed before Byron kicked down the door. As the door fell on Aria's side, she still didn't flinch. Michael wasn't with them; Mike was clearly looking after him. Ella and Byron stood and saw their daughter, in one of Ezra's old sweatshirts, absent from reality in a foetal position on the bed. She abruptly sat up and charged for her bathroom and could be heard being sick. She slightly tipped back to reality, not the reality of out there, but the reality in this bathroom; that because of last night, she had another child with Ezra in her stomach. She graced her hand over her stomach while she lent her head on her wrist against the toilet seat while she wore a soft smile, her heart grateful.
"Mum," her son Mike began.
"Yes hon," she said to her 7 year old son while she held the hand of her 6 year old daughter, Elle; the name chosen with Ella in mind.
"So dad was this awesome college teacher, right?" he said proudly while they walked to the local small cinema.
Aria smiled and giggled a little. "Yeah, he was," she replied with a wink. "And boy was he handsome," she told the kids as they 'eww'd' and 'grossed' in response while she smiled reflecting.
"Hey now, think about it. Would you two be as good looking as you are without him?" she said truthfully, intentionally lifting their egos while they thought. Elle laughed getting what her mum was doing and Mike nodded approvingly, definitely agreeing with what she had said.
"Well, as man of the house, I have to agree with you mother," he said firmly while the girls looked at each other.
"Why I'm glad you agree, son," she said with a huge smile towards the sky. Her lips quivered as she cried a little. She reflected on the video she took of Ezra holding Michael, telling him he'd be the man of the house, and she shook her head to clear the tears. Ezra was still here with them, she knew that much.
I am honestly crying right now. That was hard to write. I think it's important to occasionally get that little kick to treasure what, and who you have in your life though. Enjoy every moment.
See you around the site ~St0ryTeller xox