And when you hold my hand, then I understand that it's meant to be

-Justin Bieber

"At 3, okay?"

I took a deep breath and shook my head.

"Not at 3?" Theo asked, confused.

"I don't need the count now." I shouted out to him. I took another deep breath, and jumped down. My hair whipped past me, my body falling down as fast as a lightning bolt. When I dropped into the lake, I didn't push myself up for oxygen like I always did. Instead, I let myself stay inside for as long as I could. It felt peaceful.

When I felt like my lungs were filling with water, I emerged onto the surface, pushing my hair back, blinking away the water from my eyes. Theo gave me a smile and pulled me to him. "Were you scared this time?"

"No." I replied to him.

"Do you wanna go over again?"

I nodded eagerly. He gave me his hand and pulled me out of the lake. The air slapped against our semi naked bodies, making it seem chilly even though it wasn't. We climbed up the hill again, walking over to the edge. I stepped back to let him jump.

But he didn't.

"What's wrong?"

He looked back at me. "You wanna do it together?"

I bit my lip, taking a deep breath and walking beside him. He held my hand, smiling all along. Our eyes met, an unspoken emotion passing on both of our faces, and then we jumped together. No count was needed. He understood me as much as I understood him.

His hand tightened around mine in the process. I laughed when I felt the air rushing past my ears, feeling the free-est. Our fingers interlaced on their own, as if bound together. When we hit the lake, our grip didn't lose. When we pushed ourselves out of the lake, our hands were still intertwined.

He wrapped his arms around my waist just as I coiled mine around his neck and pushed myself into him, sinking my head in his neck. He lifted my legs up and made me wrap them around his torso, burying his own head in my neck. And we stayed still, just like that.

We did it again, and again, and we kept on climbing and jumping till our muscles turned sore and we felt exhausted. We did it till our stomach hurt from laughing, our lips bruised from kissing, our skin turned numb from being in the water for too long.

My arm still hurt a bit, but the pain was worth it. It had been a few weeks since the hospital discharged me, and Theo hadn't left my side since. He was always there, making me food, tucking me to sleep, telling me he loved me when he thought I was asleep but I wasn't really. I'd heard him talk to the police on phone, and I knew he would handle it, so I didn't pry. I didn't want to anyway.

Bridget had cried when she'd seen me wake up. Savannah had pulled me in a hug and made me promise to tell her if something or someone was bothering me again. She told me she'd take care of it. Scott had made me laugh harder than I'd ever laughed in my life, and Dean had helped me tease Theo, something that we both enjoyed immensely.

Tobias and Ethan had come to visit as well. Tobias had joined my small team with Dean and we'd sworn to pull Theo's leg any chance we got. I was a bit surprised when I'd seen Anna and William enter my room with flowers in their hands, wishing me to get better soon. They told they were happy I was with Theo, and that I was a part of their family now. That had made me smile wider than I ever had.

When we left the lake and went over the hill again to grab our clothes, life seemed the most beautiful. I didn't think it could be more perfect than this. Theo draped a towel around me, drying himself off as well. He didn't say anything. I pressed a kiss to his lips and he kissed me back with the same passion, but didn't say anything still.

I grabbed my pants and was about to put them on when he lightly touched my arm. "Mia?"

"Yeah?" I turned around.

And then he bent down on one knee.

I gasped and stumbled back, my mouth open and eyes wide. I slapped a hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming.

I saw him holding a small box, and he opened it using his right hand, letting me see the beautiful ring inside. He cleared his throat, nervousness visible in his eyes. "I'm not proposing to you, not now, not yet. This isn't a proposal, Mia."

"It's a promise." He looked up, his eyes meeting mine. "It's my promise to you. A promise to love you, to take care of you. A promise to always be there for you. I've told you this a lot of times, and I'll tell you again. You're the only one for me, Mia. There's no one else in this world who can replace you in my life. Fuck it, no one can even come close to the place that you occupy in my life. And I don't even want to think about anyone else."

"This ring is my commitment to you. We're still young, we've still got a lot to do in life. You wanna travel, and this is my promise to you that I'll help you accomplish that dream. I'm not proposing, because we've got our entire lives for that. But I will, one day." Any signs of nervousness had vanished from his face and he looked determined.

"I love you, Mia. You know that. You're my happiness, you're my everything, my angel, my reason for waking up everyday. I can't go on another day without telling you that I'm committed to you, and only you, for the rest of my life. I'll spend every second of my existence trying to be the perfect person for you, because you deserve it, baby. You deserve it all."

"This is my promise to support you in everything you do. You're my partner in crime, Mia, and I want that for my whole life. It's my promise to always make you laugh, hold you when you're upset, be close to you when you need someone, to not let you go. It's my promise to always, always catch you, angel, because I can't let you fall. I wouldn't."

I couldn't breathe. He said all of that, looking in my eyes. The intensity of his eyes was making me numb.

"Mia-"

The force with which I slammed my lips on his made him fall back. I pushed my hand in his hair to make sure he didn't hurt his head and kissed him with everything I had inside me. "I love you, I love you." I chanted against his lips.

He rolled us over and got off me, standing up. He gave me his hand. I looked at it, then back in his eyes. He was asking me for a lifetime commitment, and if this had been before I'd moved back, I would have ran away in the opposite direction. And maybe he knew that, which is why his eyes looked hesitant, waiting for me to run away.

But I had no doubts in my mind when I placed my hand in his.

He smiled, sliding the ring in my right hand, pressing a soft kiss to my lips. "I'm saving the left hand for your engagement ring."

"I'll be waiting." I whispered.

"Theo," I waited till he looked at me. "You wanna go for a ride?"

He looked at me, and when he saw what I meant, he grinned. "Is it our one day, Mia?"

"It is."

Nothing could ruin this right now. It was him and I, it would always be him and I. And it was everything I needed. We threw on our clothes. He held my hand and we ran in the direction of his car, buckling our seat belts and zooming past the streets.

I looked at him from the corner of my eye, thinking of the time I'd seen him for the first time. I'd thought he was gorgeous, but I hadn't ever thought he would be the guy I'd want to spend the rest of my life with. He looked back at me and grinned. Yeah, he was trouble. A big trouble for me. But he was perfect.

He asked me to wait outside when we reached the penthouse. I noticed he was smiling. I couldn't stop smiling as well. He appeared minutes later, wearing black Ray Bans, hiding his beautiful eyes from me.

He wasn't alone though. For the second time in my life, I saw Monique. I chuckled at its name. He scowled at me, as if he knew what I was laughing for. The veins on his arms made him look lethal. He stopped the bike in front of me, and pushed his sunglasses back. "Get on."

I took a deep breath, something I realized I always did when I was nervous. But I wasn't scared today. I swung my leg over the bike and sat down.

"Do you trust me?"

"I do."

He turned on the ignition, but didn't move. "Then hold tight, angel. And don't let go."

I wrapped my arms around his chest, feeling his heart beat below my palm. I bunched his t-shirt in my fist, moved forward and rested my chin on his shoulder just as he started the bike. I wanted to see everything this time.

"Never."

It was a promise. One that we both intended to keep.

*

~

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Before you take off, just a small request on my part. If you liked the story but forgot to vote, please take a moment to vote on the chapters you liked. Votes really help writers by telling them people like their work and also help the story to grow.

We've finally reached the official end of Catch You. To everyone who's supported me throughout this journey, this one's for all of you. THANK YOU! It is really difficult for me to put it into words how much this love means to me. The fact that you've reached till here tells me that you've enjoyed the story, and that absolutely makes me the happiest.

I'm actually sniffling while writing this because Mia and Theo are my absolute babies and I don't want to believe this is over. *insert infinite crying emojis* But, it had to come to an end sooner or later. That's made me sad.

Anyway, if you liked this one, go check out my other works, No Lies, and Dusk. I appreciate your support nonetheless in any way.

I love you all. Every single reader who's made it till here, or even those who've checked out my book, I LOVE YOU! I love you. Thank you so much, again.

Until next time, lovelies!

Love,

Rish