—Heinrich Heine

"Welcome to Tucson International Airport. The local time is 7:32 p.m. with a temperature of fifty-two degrees. We ask that you please remain seated while we taxi to the gate."

The lights flicked on in the cabin, illuminating everything, as passengers rustled in their seats, eager to exit the aircraft. Perhaps I was the most eager of all.

I carefully adjusted Julian's new Batman cap and kissed his heated cheek to gently wake him.

"We're here, Jules," I said softly, when he started to rouse.

The doctor had cleared us weeks earlier as being healthy enough to fly, but Julian had business to take care of in London before we could make this pit stop in Arizona. Soon, we would've been on the way to our final destination of Florida.

"It's been here so long. I wonder if they've towed my car away," I said, once we reached the pay-by-the-day parking lot outside the airport. I fished my keys out from my purse to press the panic button. Some rows from the back, my car started honking and flashing. Nope, I thought, still here.

"I'll make this fast," I promised, as I drove us back to my apartment for a final time. "Just need to grab the last of my things and turn in my key. Are you sure you don't want to store the furniture somewhere?"

"We don't need it, love," Julian said, gripping my hand. "I forgot how odd it feels to be driving on the wrong side of the street."

"Get used to it." I teased with a huge grin.

My mom was so happy, and so was Adam. Rose knew I was coming home to Orlando for Christmas, but she didn't know that I was bringing Julian along. She also didn't know that we would both be staying for a long time. I wondered if Julian was nervous at all to meet my parents. I hoped not, as he had no reason to be.

"You've left your lights on all this time?" Julian asked as we arrived at my place, and parked in the front.

I thought silently to myself for a long moment, trying to remember. I couldn't have, no. I'd been paying my bills online all along and I would've noticed the increased usage since September, I decided.

"I..." My eyes looked around the parking lot. While scanning the area, I spotted a distinctive, green Corvette.

I thought very carefully about what to do next, then pulled a business card from my wallet. "Let me see your phone?"

"Everything okay?" Julian asked, while handing over his cell phone.

"I need you to wait by the front door. And don't say a word, okay?" I said, before exiting the car. Julian followed right behind me.

"What's going on?" Julian whispered as we walked, almost noiselessly, toward my apartment.

"It's Caleb," I whispered back, and used Julian's phone to begin dialing the number that was printed on the business card. Stealthily, I let the phone ring, while slipping it into my front jean pocket—microphone side up.

"No. No damn way." Julian was growing louder. "I can't let you, Brooke. Please..."

"Do you trust me?" I stopped to peer into his beautiful, russet eyes.

He huffed, in total exasperation. "Yes."

"Then stand right here, for now. Just wait," I calmly, and quietly, instructed him. "You'll know when to come in."

Julian stood there completely torn and flustered, as my hand gripped the door knob. As I had suspected, my apartment was unlocked.

When I walked inside, Caleb was relaxing on my couch—the one that Julian had given to me. I'd left it in perfect condition, but now, it was covered in stains, empty beer cans, and food wrappers. 

Caleb finally noticed me and stood up.

"Caleb," I said loudly, while trying to enunciate very clearly. "What are you doing in my apartment?"

"Well, hello there, Brooke." He slow clapped, with a sadistic smile plastered across his face. "I thought you might be coming back soon. Where've you been? It's beentoo long, sweetheart."

Caleb took a long step toward me, and I took a longer one backwards.

"Where have you been? The cops have been looking all over for you." It didn't even matter how Caleb got back into my place, so I didn't bother to ask. Little did he know, everything was about to end for him.

"Oh, here, there, everywhere." Caleb's soulless eyes traveled over me, as if he were sizing up his kill. Caleb had mistaken me as his prey for the last time. We sometimes forgot that there were larger, more powerful predators out there, just lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.

"You need to leave my place, Caleb." The growing volume of my voice created a small echo against the walls. "You know that I have an order of protection against you."

"What's that going to do?" Caleb took a couple more steps toward me, slowly yet meticulously advancing.

"I could call the police on you right now," I spoke very clearly.

"But you aren't calling them, are you?" He seethed through his teeth, then grew more confident. "So, Brooke... how's the groupie life treating you?"

"Leave. Now," I demanded, unperturbed by his attempted insults. He knew nothing of the bond that Julian and I shared. 

I'd never again give Caleb the power to break me down. Not when Julian had done so much to build me up.

"I think you want me to stay." His white t-shirt was torn at the bottom hem and stained with ale.

"Like hell I do." I repeated my unequivocal desire for him to go away. "Leave."

"Where's Julian tonight, anyway?" Caleb's eyes went wild, accentuating his short, wiry, disheveled black hair—which made him look even crazier than he sounded, if that were even possible. "It's been a while since I've talked to him. How's he doing? Has he been around much?" 

I froze into place.

"What? Didn't know that I talked to him?" Caleb sneered at me, clearly pleased that he'd finally affected me in some way. "Your little dork of a coworker at the jazz show did an awful job of watching your things when you went off to the bathroom. All I had to do was say I was your brother, and he let me take over your seat."

But, it couldn't have been... I checked my messages and calls, I thought.

"We don't even look alike, aside from the dark eyes and black hair." Caleb pointed to his head, then at mine. "It was just too easy."

"Leave my apartment, Caleb," I reiterated. My pounding heart echoed through my ears. I felt the heat gathering in my face. 

"I saw loverboy texting you and decided to send him that nice photo of you and your nerdy coworker. Then Julian started calling and calling..."

No.

"In case you're wondering, of course I had to answer. It would've been rude not to. He was just so worried that he'd lost his favorite groupie." Caleb snickered, and inched closer to me. We were only feet apart then. "Julian must've thought the dweeb answered your phone, but nah, it was just me."

"I hate you. I hate everything about you. I wish I never met you." My fists clenched instinctively at the realization of the snowball effect that Caleb had caused, for Julian and me both. "I'm warning you, don't get any closer to me. You won't like what happens if you do. Get out now."

He continued speaking, ignoring my cautionary words.

His ignorance, and desire to hurt and abuse, would cost him.

"Loverboy got pretty sad after I told him not to call back, and then hung up on him. It almost brought a tear to my eye." Caleb pretended to swipe a finger across his waterline. "But, the good thing is, it's a piece of cake to delete texts and call histories, so you never had to know. Ignorance is bliss or some shit, right?"

Caleb took another step toward me, goading, and I could smell his rancid breath, laced with alcohol. Flashbacks passed behind my eyelids, of uncomfortably rowdy parties, late night screaming arguments, and Caleb's careless hands. It made me more than slightly nauseous.

"Last chance, Caleb," I warned, with a fire in my wide eyes. 

He still saw me as the same weak girl he knew from so long ago—the one that may have accepted this abuse or excused it somehow. The one that might've believed his promises and gone along with his excuses. The one that might've listened, when he claimed that hurting me had been a mistake.

Caleb was my mistake, but he had mistaken me as the girl he used to know. It would be the last mistake he'd make, when it came to me.

"Leave," I said, with finality. 

"Or what, Brooke?" He breathed into my face, making me grimace and close my eyes tightly. "Huh?"

I heard a loud thud and opened my eyes to see Caleb lying flat out on the floor.

"My name comes out of your mouth an awful lot, tosser." Julian forcefully kicked Caleb's side, making him groan in pain. "If you wanted an autograph, all you had to do was ask."

Caleb shuffled and stood to his wobbly feet, attempting to go after Julian. A fretful gasp fell from my lips as they grappled before me, locking arms and cursing. More than anything, I was terrified of Jules injuring himself again, but Julian never lost the upper hand. In fact, Caleb never even got in a single hit on Jules. He tried, and failed, to strike Julian. Caleb tried and failed again.

This was partially due to Caleb's disorientation, but could mostly be attributed to my Julian's quiet strength and knowledge. His brute force was unassuming, but also wildly unforgiving, once successfully provoked. 

I watched as Caleb's nostrils slowly trickled red from Julian's quick, forceful, prevailing shots. For what he had done, Caleb had to pay. And my soulmate was, no doubt, here to collect a toll. But this spanned far beyond the purpose of simply teaching Caleb a lesson. Julian was resolving my past and securing his place in my future. 

Bitter, rancid indignation was clearly plastered across Jules' face as he not only defended my safety, but also upheld my honor. Still, I nervously looked on, while Julian expertly put Caleb into a hold on the floor, intermittently knocking the side of his face. 

Vexed. Unflinching. Competent. Unfaltering. Tenacious. Unyielding. Tireless. 

My Julian was all of these things, and his steadfast courage ignited even more confidence in me.

Caleb dizzily, and unsuccessfully, struggled to break from Julian's tight, dominant grip. For as long as I could remember, Jules had wanted to get his hands on Caleb. Now that the time had come, my fiancé epitomized an icy determination. 

My pride for his resiliency swelled within me, making me glow. Granted, I never wanted Julian to be in a position where he had to fight, but I couldn't deny the reassuring realization that boxing had done my fiancé good. 

My Julian was strong. 

My Julian was healthy. 

My Julian was definitely back. 

"You're not going anywhere, asshole," Jules said with certainty. Caleb bristled with a final sigh of acknowledged defeat. "Just give up."

"Hands up!" Officer Sansbury busted through the slightly cracked open front door. My plan to call him and let him hear the confrontation had worked. I could only have imagined how fast he must have driven to reach my apartment so quickly.

Julian let go of Caleb and walked over to stand by me, gripping me into his strong arms—the only arms I ever wanted to feel around me. Even with Caleb's rabid glare focused directly on us, I had never felt more safe.

"He attacked me!" Caleb said, while pointing at Julian and swiping under his bloody nose. His attempt to shift the focus and blame on someone else, like a child being reprimanded, was pathetic and transparent. "Look at my face! He assaulted me! I want to press charges!" 

For one long, nerve-racking moment, my insides felt close to implosion. Julian couldn't get in trouble for this, could he have? With anxious precision, my eyes darted between the three men in my living room. 

"I didn't see anything," Sansbury said, alleviating my fears, as he threw Caleb down to the carpet and aggressively cuffed him. "You're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law."

"This is bullshit!" Caleb screamed over and over, as Sansbury led him out of my apartment and corralled him into the back of the unmarked police car. 

Through my opened front door, Julian and I took one last look at the raven-haired insect, behind the window of the cruiser. Though I tried to, I felt absolutely no sympathy whatsoever. Caleb had asked for this. With all of his actions, he'd demanded it, actually.

It was Caleb's turn to pay for the damage he had caused—both tangibly and internally.

"My fiancée," Julian held his arms wide open, emphasizing the announcement to himself and to me, "Is. A. Merciless. American."

"Italian American," I corrected him playfully.

"Italian American Maldivian Brit." Julian laughed at his mumbled concoction of nationalities. "Try saying that five times fast."

Julian's beautiful, glinting, brown eyes stared into me, and a soft smile crept across his face, lifting his cheeks.

"I love you, Jules." I breathed deeply.

"I love you more," he said seriously, in the gentle, accented voice that I loved more than any other.

"It's over." I turned my cheek into his warm chest and breathed a final, heavy sigh of relief. "It's all over."

"Well, almost." Julian pecked my cheek, with a glow in his own. "We've still got to pack."

...

"Finally," I said, as Julian placed the last small box into the trunk of my car, and slammed it shut with a sense of accomplishment. "I have some actual clothes to wear now."

We stood next to each other, behind the black car, for a silent moment.

"Do you want to say goodbye to it or anything?" Julian motioned toward the apartment, then gripped my shoulder.

I looked back one last time, knowing I would never again be enclosed within the pain of those four walls. 

Never again would I feel the dread and uncertainty of what may have awaited me, behind the closed door, each time I returned to open it. 

Never again would it serve as a barrier between my old life and my new one.

"No." I shook my head with certainty and moved into the passenger seat, letting Julian drive like he wanted to. "I'm ready to go."

1. "Endlessly" by The Cab

2. "Ever After" by Marianas Trench

3. "Coming Home" by Anthem Lights