"Let's leave."

Ross and I have been standing above the two graves he's been avoiding his entire lifetime for almost two hours now...

Without a single syllable escaping his lips.

"Ross," I held back his hands, bringing him in front of me.

There was no way in hell im letting him break the promise he made himself.

Who was I if I wasn't the one to encourage him?

"You can do this," I held his cheek, making him look up, "You can do what you've been longing for. Come on, lovely."

"But I-"

"No buts. You can do it," I intertwined my hand with his, watching him nod slowly to himself.

I couldn't ever be prouder to see him smiling lightly, looking beneath him and bringing me into his arms speaking out the words of his long made oath, "look at me, now...look at the hopeless, helpless kid you've left a couple of decades ago. Look at where I've gotten through the sweat I've shed...and the love I've felt. All these years, with you waiting for hell beneath your graves for underestimating a child you've given birth to, only to throw away.

"Look at me fucking now, Lynches."

Look at him now.

"Ross," I tugged onto his arm, watching his smile turn to face me, growing before it was planted against my lips.

Say it, Lia.

Say it.

"I love you, Ross," I said against his lips, making him pull away to stare at me with his widened eyes.

"W-What?"

"I love you," I nodded, watching his smile being taken over with flushed cheeks and a dropped jaw.

"W-what are you saying? Are you positive- what is going on?"

"I love you, Ross. I love you now, I've loved you months ago...and I'll keep on loving you 'till the day I die."

I'll love him as much as my heart does...And I couldn't hide it anymore.

He was lost, yet smiling. Shocked yet calm at heart.

His hands found mine, interlocking our fingers together as his forehead rested against mine. "I love you," He whispered, making me chuckle lightly.

"I know,"I nodded, speaking complete truth.

Ross' actions poured love...he never hid his love from me. Not even before I granted myself to him.

"Can you tell me what you just said out of the cemetery? I just need to believe my ears."

"Do you believe your heart?" I whispered, watching his features fall as his eyes searched mine. His hands grabbed mine, bringing my palm to his chest to let me feel its thudding, beating state.

"I believe that, yes."

My smile was the only response I had, for his heart drove me speechless. I had to hold his hand and leave through the huge gate, dragging his lovestruck state along.

"Wait," he stopped me, pulling me in front of him, "tell me here."

"I love you, Ross," I chuckled, watching his smile grow by every second that passed.

"Again."

"I love you, I love you, I love you."

"Oh my," he mumbled, exhaling shakily. "You're going to be the death of me."

"I love you!"

***********************

"Picture your parents, a memory of you sat with them. Remember the little details, the place, their states, yours...all in a photograph. A Polaroid, perhaps," he held on to my hands, breathing in softly as I watched his serene state and his closed eyes, rested on a lounge chair. "Now...with a lighter, light the Polaroid up. Bring the fire against its tip, hold on to it as the fire catches it. Watch it turning red, curling up...watch its tip turning black as the smoke evolves from it, and land it onto the pile beneath it. Let it takeover, eating, burning, crawling to everyone's faces on the picture, as It extends with rage, redness, and leaves with black, thick ash."

My words and his breaths were the only sounds filling the thin air between us, along with the picture I was trying to draw in his mind.

I knew this would work...his peacefulness, his imagination and my voice.

"Watch the fire eating into the picture, crawling further and further from it's nonexistent end, burning it till the entire thing is but black and grey ashes...all the way until the light you've ignited is long gone into smoke. All the way," he slowly opened his eyes, watching the way I slowly breathed.

"You're amazing, kitten," He mumbled, patting my head as I smiled. "Your voice...really helps me."

"I don't want you sad," I sighed before spontaneously joking him in the wide lounge chair, resting on his chest, "I'd do anything to drive sadness away from you."

"Angel," he played with my hair, losing his fingers in it as I closed my eyes. "The same goes to you."

"I love you."

His lips landed on my forehead before his arms wrapped around me, engulfing me slowly. "I love you, Babygirl."

He was home

And I've been homesick for too long now....

"I grew up anonymous, Lia. Be my fate."