For the first time in so long, Madeleine Grey was safe. There were no Romulans, no kidnappers, and no torturers; there was nothing to possibly hurt her. She was back aboard the Enterprise and there was just her and Bones, lying safe in each others arms after so long apart. As Bones began to kiss across her jaw line, she sighed in contentment and smiled.

Yes, she was safe and this is where she belonged.

Bones finally stopped his trails of kisses only to speak to her. He held her tighter as he did.

"I missed you."

"I know you did," Maddie giggled. "You must have told me that about a hundred times in just the past hour."

"Well, I just wanted you to know that I did."

She cupped his face with her hand and gently caressed the skin on his face, his stubble tickling her fingers. He had obviously neglected himself whilst she was gone. "Well, I missed you too."

He smiled at her words and closed his eyes, feeling her fingers on his skin. "And I love you too."

"Now, you can tell me that as many times as you like," she smiled.

He opened his hazel eyes and looked into her blue ones as he repeated the words again. "I love you Maddie."

"And I love you Leo," she whispered as her lips met his in a sweet chaste kiss. It set their skin on fire and both of them loved the feeling of it. It was their indication that they were meant for each other. They were soul mates. Maddie pulled away and smiled at him before nuzzling her head on his chest. He rested his head back onto his pillow and instinctively ran his fingers through her long brown hair.

Maddie closed her eyes as she quietly listened to the sound of his heartbeat. The more she nuzzled into his chest, the faster it would go, which made her laugh internally. She loved the way that something as simple as that would have that effect on him.

"Leo?" she asked.

"Hmm?" he replied, his eyes now closed too.

"What would you have done if I didn't come back?"

He opened his eyes and subconsciously gripped her tighter, pulling her to him more. "Does it matter? All that matters is that you're back with me and I'm never letting you go again."

It was true. The second she had reappeared on the Enterprise, he vowed to never let her go again. He had almost lost her too many times. He had almost lost her when the USS Columbia was attacked, he had almost lost her when they didn't know if she would be placed on the Enterprise, he had almost lost her to Spock and now he had almost lost her to Romulans. It would never happen again. He would make sure of it. He would dedicate his life to protecting her and keeping her from harm. He would make sure to tell her he loved her everyday and show her his love in any possible way he could.

She had changed him so much and all of it for the better. He was once the miserable grouchy doctor, who would get annoyed at any little thing. But she had calmed him down and made him smile more. He would no longer frown anymore (unless it was at some young Ensign doing his job completely wrong). She was the light in his life and every little thing he did now would be for Maddie.

"I know that, but what would you have done?" Maddie said, moving her head to look up at his face.

"I don't know," he said, deep in thought. "I would have avenged you that's for sure, that is unless Jim beat me to it first. But otherwise, I don't know what I would have done. I would have retreated into myself and never come out. I'm absolutely nothing without you Maddie. I need you, so without you, I would have become nothing."

Maddie gave him a sympathetic smile, touched by his words. "Well I would have wanted you to be happy. I'd want you to find someone else and live a happy life."

"I couldn't have done that," he told her in all seriousness. "Its always been you and only you. There wouldn't have been anyone else."

Maddie felt tears falling from her eyes at his words. She couldn't quite believe how much she loved this man. Bones slowly leant his head down and began to kiss away her tears.

"Sorry," she whispered to him.

"It's ok," he smiled at her, kissing her forehead. She slowly calmed down and laid her head back onto his chest, listening to his heartbeat once again.

"Leo?" she asked again.

"What?" Bones replied.

"I'd have been the same. It's you and only you."

Bones' grin was so huge it was amazing how it managed to fit on his face. He loved hearing that coming from her.

It was silent for a while as Bones tried his hardest to build up his courage. He wanted to ask Maddie something and he was too nervous to do it. The question would change his life, whatever the answer would be so he had to find the courage and spirit to ask it. He had been planning to ask it her the night she was kidnapped but was obviously interrupted, so he knew that he had to ask it now.

"Leo, is something wrong?" Maddie asked, noticing his heart rate had picked up due to his nerves.

"Yeah, I wanted to speak to you about something," he said, moving to sit up. Maddie sat up along with him and looked at him with a confused expression. What was wrong with him?

"What's wrong?"

"I wanted to ask you something," he said.

"You know you can ask me anything," she said with a sweet smile. Bones lifted his hand up and brushed his fingers across her cheek.

"I love you," he whispered quietly to Maddie, causing her to giggle. He moved slightly to get to his bedside table. He opened the draw and took something out of it, not allowing Maddie to look.

"Leo?"

"I love you, you know that, right?"

"Of course I do," she said. "And I love you too." Bones could never get bored of hearing her say those three words.

His face looked at her in all seriousness, yet it was filled with happiness and love. "I want to spend forever with you Maddie, I almost lost you and I won't lose you again."

"I want to spend forever with you too Leo and trust me, I'm here to stay," Maddie replied.

"I want to know if… you will do me the honour…" He was getting nervous now; it was the biggest moment of his life after all.

"Leo?" Maddie said again.

"Marry me," he finally said, presenting her with the ring he had just retrieved.

"What?" Maddie whispered with wide eyes.

"Marry me, Maddie. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

At that moment, Maddie began to cry and smile before she finally leapt into his arms, embracing him at tightly as possible.

"Yes!" she said to him. "Yes, yes, YES!"

"Really?!" Bones said. Maddie nodded as she pulled away and Bones placed the ring on her fourth finger.

"God, I love you," he said to her.

"You've said," she joked before she pulled his lips to hers, knowing that is where she belonged and would remain forever.

THE END!

Hello!

A huge thanks to Toadflame, miller330, Skatinggirl2011, PATDfan2012, Caffeinekid, WinchesterWench, abbby, Vulcanvamp, JainaZekk621, Rock'N'RollGirls, hulachowdown, Blue-Eyed Chica and Yayyou for reviewing the last chapter.

Well that's it guys! It finally ended and its ended on a good note I think! I have other stories that I'm planning to do, so I don't know if there will be a sequel. I may do one, I will see how big the demand for one is.

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed, alerted, favourited and simply just read this story. I have LOVED writing it and I'm glad that everybody enjoyed it. All you guys mean so much to me. I feel so loved.

So all I have left to say is… live long and prosper! X x