All the Difference

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh,

Somewhere ages and ages hence.

-Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"

The world seems to be over-saturated with color as they run. Verdant greens and brilliant yellows under the shy hazy blue of sky. Every nerve in Tory's body is alert as they pass the green fields that surrounded the compound.

For some reason it made her think of that first day in South Carolina, when she'd come down to live with Kit shortly after her mother's funeral. How she'd felt as if her entire life was slowly fading away with every mile she took from the airport.

Lots of things had changed since then. Tory, herself, had changed. But the scenery, the scenery still looked the same. The endless sand dunes in the distance, that hid the long buried bunker. The same white-sand beach front and blue-green waves that rolled as far as the eye could see.

Morris Island was her home. Somehow, she'd forgotten that somewhere along the way.

She'd forgotten a lot of things, she thought, glancing at Ben's back in front of her, muscles rippling as he ran.

They ran for a long while, covering what felt like two miles before they finally stopped at the far end of the island, under a tree on the beach.

Chest heaving, Tory collapsed onto the sand, staring up at the patches of blue peeking through the leaves of the tree. Beside her, Ben settled, drawing deep breaths. The silence that followed as they struggled to catch their breath was a comfortable one, interrupted only by the lapping waves and the caws of seagulls as they dive-bombed the water in search of their next meal.

"You know they say a lot of the Sewee died at sea, trying to reach England," Ben says evenly, eyes scanning the horizon.

Tory shifts her eyes over to him, a smile blossoming on her lips.

"Tell me about it?" she prompts, smile deepening when he chuckles under his breath, glancing her way.

"The English that settled here in 1670, they used to trade with the islanders. The Sewee exchanged deer hides for beads and goods from Europe but eventually, they realized they weren't getting a fair trade."

"When they noticed the English ships always came in at the same place, they thought if they rowed far enough, to the spot on the horizon where the ships first appeared, they'd reach England. So they built a navy. Filled the canoes with the tribes' healthiest men and women, who took with them pelts, hides, the tribes' most valuable possessions. A lot of them drowned at sea… and the survivors, they were rescued by a passing slave ship and sold into slavery," he adds, tone somber as he glanced back out at the sea.

Tory swallows, the unsettling memory of drowning resurfacing in her mind.

Almost as if reading her mind, Ben nods, brown eyes finding hers. She sits up, running her fingers through the sand at her side.

"It's a shame they don't teach this kind of stuff in schools."

"It's really interesting. Horrifying," she continues, "but interesting."

"It's probably why I was such a moody teenager," he deadpans.

Tory blinks and then laughs so hard, she snorts.

"Yeah, that's why," she replies, shaking her head in fond amusement.

He has a wry smile on his face when she next looks at him, a fluttering feeling in her chest making her breath catch.

Drawing up her knees to her chest, she props her elbow up on her knee, resting her chin in the curved area of her palm.

"Sometimes tells me, you didn't ask me out here to tell me stories about the Sewee people though," she said pointedly, tilting her head in askance.

He ducks his head, hand coming up to scratch at the back of his head awkwardly.

"I- I'm confused. I don't know… sometimes I think I know where I stand with you and then you do something that leaves me back at square one," he explains, frustration tinting his words.

"This is about Chance then," she said quietly, drawing tighter in on herself.

"No! Yes… I just, I want to understand, Victoria."

Tory remains silent, sensing that he's struggling to verbalize something. He runs an agitated hand through his hair, brows knitted.

"I can accept that maybe, you didn't want to continue things with me then. I mean, after everything I did, how could I blame you for that? But Chance? I come back one day and you're with him and now, you break things off, saying it wasn't what you wanted and maybe it's wishful thinking but I swear you keep sending me signals... Just help me understand."

Tory sighs, knowing she owed him this conversation but not relishing the idea of actually having it.

"Ben, my decision then, it didn't have anything to do with you or Chance. And I forgave you a long time ago for everything else. That decision was about me, about being too caught up in what I'd lost… it blinded me to the future, made me lose sight of what was really important. It's why I started working at Candela, I was trying to find a way to be viral again and Chance… we grew closer during my time there."

Tory stares at the sand slipping through her fingers. Peeking up at him from underneath her lashes, she continues.

"I realized recently that I wasn't really happy. I'd just lulled myself into complacency. So I'm trying to be better about pursuing the things that actually make me happy."

Ben smiles warmly although it doesn't quite reach his eyes, which seem to ask, Do I make you happy?

She wants to reach out and reassure him, tell him if she could choose again, she'd choose him but the words feel sticky on her tongue, crowding up against the roof of her mouth and making it difficult to swallow.

"So what are you going to do now that you've left Candela?"

Tory smiles then, almost giddy as she thinks about her plans for the future. Ben's breath catches.

She hasn't told anyone yet, aside from Kit (and Whitney, who'd walked in on her filling out the applications and was simply overjoyed at the idea, crushing Tory into a hug she'd had to wrestle her way out), but she wants to share it with Ben.

"I'm planning on going back to school, doing my masters in childhood education."

Ben's eyebrows fly up in surprise. "Working with kids? Didn't think you'd be interested in that."

Tory hums thoughtfully. "Honestly, I didn't know I was either but I met this little boy… this wonderful beautiful little boy -" Tory's voice threatens to crack, her words already shaky and too full of emotion as she recalls Grayson, but she forges on. "He had a hearing disability and I ended up learning some sign language to communicate with him. Being around him and the little ones at Pewee soccer, helping Jackson with his homework, even the debutant girls Whitney works with, all of it just made me realize that I love working with kids. I want to continue working with them."

Ben shakes his head, lips breaking out into a small smile.

"What?" Tory asks, eyes narrowing in mock suspicion. Ben laughs, shrugging. "Nothing. I just think you'd be really great with kids… I mean, all the illegal stuff we did as kids aside."

Tory scoffs, shoving him into the sand. He sits back up after a moment, still chuckling, mirth shining in his eyes. The question bubbles up and out of her mouth before she can even stop it.

"Have you thought about it? Having kids, I mean."

Ben's laughter tapers off slowly and he can't seem to quite meet her eyes but when he speaks, the 'yes' he breathes is filled with such longing, she can't interpret it any other way than it having to do with her.

When he looks up at her, she can see the confirmation in his eyes, unspoken but clear. Her heart seizes and she wants to reach up and kiss him, caress his cheek gently, take his hand in hers. Screw it, she thinks.

She reaches over and taps the back of his head, slotting her fingers in between his when he uncurls his fist and turns his palm over and open.

"For what it's worth, I think you'd be an amazing father," Tory replies quietly, eyes sincere and locked on his.

His eyes flicker around her face, almost as though wanting to memorize every aspect of it. Feeling a surge of confidence, Tory smiles shyly.

"And if I could… go back to that day," she pauses, heart beating an irregular rhythm against her sternum, butterflies fluttering in her stomach. "I'd choose you. Everytime."

Ben's eyes light up with pure joy, his hand squeezing hers momentarily, reassuring himself that this was real. That she was real, what she'd said was true.

Leaning in, she presses a soft kiss to his cheek. He smells of spice, just like the other Ben.

"Think you can wait for me a little longer? My life is a bit of a work in progress at the moment," Tory jokes, pulling back to grin at him.

Leaning his forehead against hers, he murmurs underneath his breath, eyes fluttering shut. "For you, Victoria, I'd wait forever."

Tory melts and with a soft noise at the back of her throat, she leans in to kiss him. His lips are every bit as warm and soft as she'd expected, a sharp contrast to his rough and calloused hands, which come up to cup her face. It's slow and sweet but passionate, holding the weight of 14 years.

When he bites at her lower lip, opening his mouth under hers, she whines and pulls back. If she didn't stop this now, she'd let it go as far as it possibly could, which meant they'd probably end up doing it on the beach.

Slow. They needed to take things slow. She owed it to him, to herself, to Chance too, who would undoubtedly hear the news soon because nothing ever remained secret for long in Charleston.

"What about you? What are your plans for the future?" she asks, still distracted by the proximity of their faces. He sighs, puff of air warm on her cheek.

"I'm not sure. I'm happy to work at the shop for now while Tony's away but eventually I'll need to find work elsewhere, something more sustainable in the long run."

Tory hummed thoughtfully, her mind going back to the other world. She could suggest the Charleston PD, she knew he'd be an amazing officer. But she had promised herself that she'd stop dwelling on the past, stop trying to recreate what she'd had once. She was going to do good on that promise.

When she glances back at him, Ben is still staring at her, expectant, waiting on her opinion. He always cared about what she had to say.

"Well, wherever you end up, I know they'll be lucky to have you," Tory replies sincerely, hand to his chest, his heartbeat steady and strong underneath her palm.

His gaze is a disbelieving one, either because he doesn't quite believe what she's saying or perhaps because he still doesn't quite believe this. Tory tries not to feel too dismayed by that thought, after all, Ben had always been upfront and clear about his feelings, where he stood. It was Tory who'd let herself get lost along the way. She couldn't blame him for being hesitant.

"I'm lucky to have you," she adds, her words slow with weight.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to see that."

Ben doesn't respond but when he kisses her, soft and sweet, it feels like a new beginning.

18 Months Later

Tory groaned, hefting her bag higher on her shoulder as she entered her building and glanced up at the stairs. Even if it was only a flight of stairs up to her apartment, the sheer effort of making it up that flight weighed on her.

It had been a long day of classes. If she'd known studying to become a teacher would be this difficult, she might have thought twice about her plans for the future. Still, it would be worth it in the end. She had to believe that and she did, the memory of Grayson and her weekly interactions with Jackson and Ella's Peewee soccer group keeping her resolute.

After checking her mail, she made her way up the stairs to the second floor, steps slow as she grumbled the entire way. The hallway upstairs was dimly lit, the fading sunset casting long shadows across the walls.

She sighed when she caught sight of the figure sitting by her door, shaking her head in fond amusement.

"You know I gave you keys for a reason, right?" Tory wondered out loud, brow raised as Ben stood.

"Well, the whole 'waiting by your door' thing would be a lot more romantic if you didn't live in an apartment building," he shrugged, hands reaching for her waist. She glanced at the takeout bag still on the floor.

"You got me food. That's definitely romantic," she murmured, arms coming up to wrap around his neck. They shared a kiss, brief and soft, and then separated, Ben taking Tory's bag from her and picking up the takeout bag.

Closing the door behind them, Tory toes off her shoes by the door. The living room flooded with light behind her, golden warmth bathing the place. "So what were you up to today?"

"Well," Ben started, voice muffled from the kitchen. After a moment, he reappeared with plates and utensils in hand. "I got everything we needed for tomorrow's party. Confirmed with the others we'd be meeting at Morris at 3."

Tory smiled softly, feeling grateful for the fact she got to call this wonderful man her partner. Crossing the room slowly, she came to a stop before the chair he'd settled on, tipping his head back gently to rain kisses on his face, soft and persistent until his lips bloomed into a smile.

When she glanced down at him, running fingers through his long hair, the grin on his face was so wide and full of happiness, Tory knew it was an expression she'd want to remember for the rest of her life.

Leaning against him, she inhaled the familiar scent of spice she'd come to associate with him. These past 18 months hadn't been easy, especially in the beginning but she was happier now than she could remember being in years prior and as she looked down at him now, she thought of the box, hidden deep in the back of her closet.

She thought of the photograph she'd hidden there, taken from a family album full of pictures that didn't exist, from a reality different than theirs. She could see it all too clearly in her mind's eye. Grayson's chubby face looking back at her from the rug in the picture, caught mid-laugh, green eyes bright with joy, freckles peppering his coppery brown skin. Beside him, the other Tory staring back, the same green eyes peeking out from behind stylish bangs, her own freckles a stark contrast on pale skin, a fond little smile playing her lips, fingers poised to tickle. On the couch, Ben sat with Coop's head in his lap, staring down at the two of them, eyes soft and a smile tugging at his lips. It was such a simple picture but it meant so much to her.

The future still held so much in store for them.

"You have that look on your face again…" Ben whispered.

Tory shook her head lightly, her hair fluttering softly against her cheeks. "There's no look."

She settles in his lap feeling warm, her arms finding their way back around his neck as his wrapped around her waist.

"What's on your mind?" he asks.

She thinks of Karasi then, her cryptic non-answers, her shrewd eyes and kind hands. She'd given Tory the world, had given her the courage she'd needed to change. To risk and turn and grow.

"Just that I love you… and I won't let us fail."

NOTE: So we've reached the end of the line... thank you all for your endless support and kind words. This fic has been a long work in progress but your comments kept me going so this is my love letter to you all. It's never too late to change things and turn your life around.

I will be working on the continuation piece to FWTSNS but aside from that, I will be taking a break from writing for the Virals fandom as I'm hoping to expand into new fandoms and I'm unsure as to what project to undertake next for Virals. Feel free to PM me however or find me on Tumblr! Links on my profile.