Epilogue: Back In The Olden Days-7

"Yeah, him and Justin's at the old house." I put my phone away, adjusting my head on the pillow as I studied him. He looked like he was trying to appear like he was at peace but I knew he was still being bothered. "Sam?" I exhaled. He opened and drifted his eyes over to me, pulling a faint smile on his face. "Yeah, love?" "It bothers you doesn't it? Letting it go?" He tilted his head back. "Kind of. It's harder than I thought." "I'm sorry." "It's not your fault. It's my body giving up on me." "You're making it sound like you're extremely old now." "I kind of am." "You're not even forty yet. Shut up." He laughed before frowning. "I'm gunna miss the team. The crowd. That feeling of walking out onto the field and just hearing everything," He took my hand. "Seeing the kids yelling and our friends and family when they can make it yelling with them and you there being there with me mentally and physically. It always makes one of the best feelings ever." My fingers went over the wedding ring on his ring and I glanced up at him like I had done for so many years with him by my side. He suddenly spoke. "I guess it's the way I have to look at it. I have to see it as a good thing- a great thing because I'm leaving behind one thing to another, to be with you guys more. Fuck, I miss being with you guys and not missing out on such important events." "You don't miss out on important events." "I missed Annabeth walking for the first time. You know how much I hated that." "I know." I whispered. "And I always go to Charlie's first soccer games since the he could play and I missed this year's." "Sam, you have from today to catch up on all those things you missed." "I know." He pressed a kiss to the back of my hand. "You know we're all really proud of you. The kids and myself." And after years of being together, where people left and people came into our lives, we did have each other. He was with me for all the moments, all the minutes, all the seconds he could count. He was with me when I squeezed the life out of his hands during the birth of our first child. I was there when he had gotten his first tattoo, the ones of his sister's and his birthrate in roman numerals on his arm and her initials beside the date. His sister was someone he spoke of whenever he got the chance to especially to Annabeth. The kids all knew the origins of their names. When Sam was going to Bath on the anniversary of his sister's death Annabeth offered to accompany him with us. She even left a flower. She felt like it was necessary. Lauren reminded me of my mom a lot and Charlie reminded me of Sam's grandfather. They held the little traits I could see in them. Like how Charlie was most likely going to get a dog that he had been asking me for weeks before the phone tomorrow and how Lauren always carried a book with her. The kids were like little pieces of the past wrapped in a bundle of the future. "Hazel," He got my attention. "What are you thinking about?" I looked up at him, reaching over to turn the lights off before pressing a kiss to his lips. "I'm so in love with you." "After all these years, you still are?" He chuckled, teasing. "Yeah. How many years, days, months, minutes, seconds has it been?" I asked sarcastically. "Since what Hazel? The first time we met? The first time we kissed? The first time you smiled at me? The first of everything between me and you?" "Everything." I asked. Sam blew a raspberry with his lips, putting his arm behind his head. "That's a lot of firsts." "Yeah but they're with you and you know the time." "I do but it doesn't matter, does it?" "Not really." I whispered, looking into his green eyes. "I'm in love with you too." He said. "Now, sleep. We've got a long day tomorrow. Dream of me." I didn't even have to look at him to see the smirk on his face. I scoffed. "You're so cocky." "You wouldn't have me any other way." I laughed. "Night Sam." "Night Hazel." Three kids later, in the house that Sam's Grandfather had left for him so many years ago I slept with a smile on my face. And in those years that I was certain Sam knew the time that had flown by in what felt like a blink of an eye, we grew up. From adolescence to adulthood to parenthood in a way that made it seem so difficult and challenging at times that I wondered what the hell I was doing or if the opportunities I had gotten were for me. And through the ups and downs, the happy, angry, sad moments, I remembered something my mom had told me all those years ago. She told me that I would find a guy that would love me for all my flaws, all the weird parts of me and in a way for so much more than I thought I was. Sam was that person. He was that guy when I was 17, a teenager who thought her future was set and didn't want anything to not go her way to when I was in my mid 30's with our three pieces of happiness sleeping in different rooms. He was that guy then and he was that guy now. Sure, Sam has a weird way of counting seconds but I was certain that that was the one form of time we would have together: Forever.