A/N: Hope you guys like the epilogue. It's short, I know. But I think it wraps everything up pretty neatly. I've liked writing this story, overall. Thanks for all of those who've followed and reviewed. You guys rock! :)

She stirs in bed, sated, lazy, tired, warm... and alone, she realizes when she reaches for him underneath the tossed sheets.

She cracks her eyes open and sees his side of the bed empty. She groans inwardly as she stretches, relaxes back into bed for a second to let her muscles ease, then flips the covers off her, setting her bare feet down onto the hardwood floor of the cabin. She stands up, stretches again by reaching for the ceiling, nakedly pads her way through the bedroom, grabbing his flannel shirt off the light fixture on the wall next to the doorway and slips her arms through it, only bothering to button three buttons.

She loves wearing his shirts.

She looks out the window that looks out toward the lake and sees him standing on the balcony, clad in only a pair of jeans. She smiles as the sunlight of the early spring hits his skin. Her bottom lip falls in between her teeth with crackling want and deeply loving desire as she pads her way through the cabin, stepping over their leather jackets that they let fall to the floor...

Again.

She gets hit with a hard whaft of nostalgia from the memory of that day when they peeled their jackets off in that exact same spot she just stepped over.

She steps out through the sliding door as stealthily as she can and reaches out, running her hands over his sides from behind, stepping into him and running her hands around his front then up to his shoulders, pressing up on her toes to kiss the skin behind his ear tenderly and teasingly. "You know," She breathes into his ear just before placing another kiss behind his ear, "could you give me the luxury of waking up in your arms once in a while?"

She hears him chuckle under his breath and turn his head. "I'm sorry." He apologizes with a soft smirk and moves his arm to pull her into his side. She keeps her arms around his chest as she rests her head down against his shoulder. "I was just having some trouble sleeping, that's all."

"And you couldn't have just laid there?" She proddes jokingly. "You do it all the time at home."

"Well, at home, I don't always get this view." He says and looks out toward the glistening lake shimmering through the tree line.

She smiles and lays her head back down on his shoulder, looking out toward the water. "I forgot how beautiful the lake was."

She feels his lips press down against her hair for a second, "That's not the view I was talking about."

She rolls her eyes, tongue in cheek and shakes her head against his shoulder. "You know, babe, you snuck us up here kind of suddenly." She says, looking up to him after a moment of admiring the shimmer of the water. "We haven't been up here since we first got together."

"That was a great afternoon." He says in a low voice, making her chuckle. "Great night, too."

"Even better morning." She says sexily, swirling her finger around against his chest in a small circle.

"We've uh... we've had a lot of great mornings, haven't we?" He asks, looking down at her with a soft smile.

"After ten months? Yeah, we've..." She moans, pressing herself against him, "had some incredible mornings."

"And we've..." He starts again, looking down to the ground, "come a long way since then."

"We've had our fair share of trials and tribulations, that's for sure." She's beginning to wonder what got him thinking about this. There's something off in his eyes.

"And we've always come out on the other side, right?" He asks, slightly tugging her into his side.

"And come out stronger, yeah." She answers quickly. "Rick, what's going on here?" She asks, pulling back a bit, instantly feeling him stiffen like a board in her arms. "You've been acting strange all week. First, you insist that we ride up here for the weekend, taking a scenic route. And don't think I didn't notice how far away you were last night."

He only answers her by clicking his jaw and maintaining a lack of eye contact.

And she begins to worry. "What's going on here, babe?" She asks tenderly, putting a warm hand over his heart.

"Well," He says in a shaky voice. "I-I just..." He begins and reaches into his pocket. Her eyes follow him, feeling him almost tremble in her arms as he tugs his hand out of his pocket. "Didn't want to make it too easy for you to run away, I guess."

She sees his balled up fist as he's holding it out in front of him, and something in her heart erupts. With widening eyes, she looks back up to him, seeing incredible hesitation and shaking fear.

He opens his hand and shows her the ring. "Kathrine..."

"Yes." She says with a lift in her voice.

He lets out a short breath, "Houghton..."

"Yes." She repeats.

He freezes, looking up to her with shock. "B-but I didn't even ask yet."

"I don't care. Yes."

"Y-you d-"

"No, no, yes."

"No?"

"Not no."

"Not no?"

"No, yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes!"

"Really yes?"

"Yes!"

She yelps and leaps forward, smashing her lips against his in an emotionally charged kiss, feeling warm tears fall down her cheek. His arms move around and pull her in. She feels completely weightless as his kiss flows through her. He kisses her sweetly over a face-splitting smile and leans his forehead down against hers, framing his face with her hands.

Ten months ago, she went chasing after someone. She went running toward something. She went chasing after him, and it led her here. To the very place she finally got what she'd been running from these past years before them, which now, all seem like a distant memory of a distant person that wasn't really her. She found it hard to believe she could fall for someone harder than she had for him before, but ever since that day in this very cabin, all she's done is fall harder.

And now, they finally have what they've both been chasing after.