Alex's pov-
I didn't think I'd ever see her again.
Not really.
Not standing in front of me like this—alive, breathing, still Ava. Still wearing too much perfume. Still too soft around the edges. Still looking at me like I'm not broken.
She turns around slowly when she hears me come in. She's standing by the window in the stupidly oversized cardigan she always wore when she was tired. And she looks tired. So goddamn tired.
But beautiful.
Still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
"I thought I'd lost you," she says. Her voice is barely there.
"You didn't."
I want to say more. I want to fall to my knees. I want to scream. I want to cry. But I just stand there like an idiot, trying not to shake.
When she finally turns to me fully, I see it—the storm of the past three years in her eyes. And yet… she's here. Still here. Still mine, somehow.
"I heard your voice," I say, my throat tight. "On that call. I thought maybe I was dreaming."
"I missed you every day," she says. Her voice cracks. "Every second."
That's it. I'm done pretending.
I move forward, slowly, like I'm afraid she'll disappear. But she doesn't flinch. She meets me halfway, and when I wrap my arms around her, it feels like breathing for the first time in years.
She fits.
God, she still fits.
Her face is buried in my shoulder. I feel her tears soak through the thin fabric of the hospital gown. My hand is cradling her like she's made of porcelain. Maybe she is. Maybe we both are.
"You brought us home," I whisper. "You... you found us, Ava."
"I told you," she murmurs. "I'd burn the world for you."
I pull back to look at her—really look at her. Her lips are trembling. Her cheeks are wet. But she's smiling.
She lifts a hand and brushes the hair off my forehead. Just like she used to. Like we're still young. Like time never passed.
"I don't care what we were before," she says. "I don't care what broke us. I care about now. I care about you."
She says it like she means it.
And I believe her.
When she leans in to kiss me, it's not fire—it's warmth. It's memory. It's a thousand sunrises we never got to see.
She kisses me like I'm still hers.
And I kiss her like I've been waiting a lifetime.
"I'm going to love you again," she whispers. "And I'm going to do it better this time."
I swallow hard. "I never stopped, Ava."
She presses her forehead against mine and holds me like I'm something sacred.
I didn't think I'd ever get this again. I didn't think I'd be allowed.
But here she is.
And here I am.
Somehow, we made it home.