It is with great sadness that I say that 'What it means to be loved' has finally come to an end. This is the last chapter. I must thank you all so much for your continued support. So, for the final time, enjoy! :)

Three years later...

(Christine)

"Mamma. Mamma. Pretty flutterby." Angelika said happily as she sat in the safety of Christine's arms, her eyes trained upon the little figure as its' delicate papery wings fluttered in the gentle summer breeze.

"Yes Angelika, it is very pretty. Can you say butterfly." Christine said, delighted at the progress of their daughter. Not yet three, she was exploring the world around her and the language which had taken herself so long to master.

"Bu-ter-fly." She said, clapping her chubby little hands together in delight, repeating the new word over and over.

"How are my two favourite ladies? I thought mamma could do with a tall glass of lemonade, and a little glass for my little Angel." Erik said affectionately, emerging from the shadows of the house into the glaring sunshine, his face mask-less and exposed to the world.

"Pappa. Pappa. Butterfly." Angelika cooed, struggling to her feet and walking unsteadily on her little legs to her beloved father, who with one hand still holding the tray of drinks, swept his daughter up into his arm, and pressed her wiggling against his chest. He had at first been reluctant to expose his face to his innocent daughter in fear that it would scar her for life and that she would never come to accept him. The first time that he had revealed his face to her, she had been a few days old, and yet even then, gazing up at the deformed man who leaned over her crib, her eyes soft with love, she pressed her chubby fingertips to his cheek and gurgled happily. And Erik's heart had broken. After everything that he had suffered in his life; from the moment that he had been forced to wear his first facial covering from the few days after his birth to the moment their cherished son departed this world, he broke down in tears, the salty droplets an unending torrent that traversed the uneven lumps and bumps of his face to splash gently onto his daughter below, caressing her with his overwhelming, unending love. She had accepted him, flaws and all.

"Thank you my love." Christine said, accepting the drink from Erik and drinking deeply as he set down his precious cargo who collapsed at Christine's feet, tugging at her skirt to attract her attention. Whilst one eye had remained the molten gold colour of her eyes at birth, the other had mellowed to a deep, rich hazel. After much consultation and anxiety, they'd been reassured that although rare, there was no problem with their daughters' eyes and that this feature would be something which would distinguish her from the crowd.

"Mamma, mamma, tell pappa about the butterfly." Angelika said, her gaze drifting between both her parents. She was the spitting image of Christine. She had her dark, chocolate curls that fell loosely to her lower back, neither parent having the heart to cut them. Her little button nose and perfect lips made Christine's heart contract every time she locked eyes on her precious daughter. Created in the most intimate moment of love, she was their everything.

They had tried for a sibling for Angelika, but to no avail for a year, until a further examination revealed that complications following Angelika's birth had rendered Christine incapable of bearing further children. But they had their daughter. And she would always have them.

"Well, you should have seen it my love. It was so pretty, wasn't it Angelika." Christine said, gathering her daughter in her arms and smiling as she nodded enthusiastically. "It's wings were so big and it fluttered so gently in the breeze..."

"I want to be a flutterby." Angelika stated, with all the sincerit year old could muster.

"Butterfly." Both Erik and Christine corrected together, the former taking a seat beside his beloved wife and she in turned rested her head upon his shoulder contentedly. Christine gazed lovingly at their daughter, her eyes softening, and Erik placed his arm protectively around her shoulder.

"It's alright, my love. I miss our son more every day that passes, but I swear our daughter will never grow up lonely. We will be her parents, her playmates, her best friends. She will have a life that we could only have dreamed of as children. "

"I know, my love, I know." She said wistfully, and Erik pressed his twisted lips to her forehead, his love for her choking him.

"Mamma, pappa, a butterfly. Come here Madame butterfly." Before she could stop her, Angelika had risen to her feet and clambered after her prize, her hand outstretched as if to catch the elusive creature, whilst her parents sat, complete in the warm of their love and the sight of their daughter learning to be a child despite the many grief that had plighted the lives of her parents. She had been born happy and free to parents who cherished her every movement and breath and vowed that they would sooner die that have a hair upon her precious head hurt. That's what it truly meant to love, and to be loved.

To be continued?