"There is a Reaper, whose name is Death,
And, with his sickle keen,
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,
And the flowers that grow between."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Jeff's schedule was packed with appointments, so it took Lucas a couple of months to secure the three hour time slot he needed for his sobriety tattoo.

Gus was the first one to greet them at the shop that day. He'd been thrilled about Lucas and Nora getting back together and now "checked in" with them every time they saw him.

"How's everything?" he asked before even saying hello.

"Everything's fine, sweetie," Nora said reassuringly.

Now that Gus's life was normal and probably better than it had ever been, he'd developed a deep fear about anything going wrong or anybody fighting or disappearing on him. Lucas and Nora didn't mention it, but they both noticed and talked about it when they were alone. Beyond that, he had also been pretty secretive lately, so Lucas wasn't surprised when he said,

"I have two surprises for you guys!"

"So that's why you've been acting weird lately?" Lucas asked.

"Well one is a big surprise, so yeah I've been kinda nervous 'bout that one. Come see!"

"Sure, okay," Nora said, allowing Gus to take her hand and pull her over to one of the artist's booths while Lucas trailed behind them.

In the chair, there was a very pretty girl with red curly hair getting a tattoo on her upper thigh. She wore a black tank top and short shorts.

"This," Gus said, pointing at the girl. "Is the big surprise. Hex. She's a friend of mine from when I was here before. And now we're... more than friends, I guess you could say..."

Hex looked at them with an obviously forced smile. "Hey," she said through gritted teeth. "Sorry, this thing hurts like hell. I'd shake your hand, but I can't stop gripping this pillow."

"No problem. Nice to meet you," Nora said.

Lucas said hi as well and took some time to study her. He had heard Gus talk about Hex since they had first met at the ranch, and she was as beautiful as he'd described, small in stature like him, and her blue eyes were bright and clear. If he'd seen her on a screen first, he would have assumed they were photoshopped.

"Are those your real eyes or contacts?" he asked.

Hex laughed. "Um... they're my eyes. Thanks I guess."

"Sorry. They're just unique, but in a good way. So what are you getting done?" Lucas asked, trying to make out the tattoo from his upside down vantage point.

"Oh, it's a little tree sapling to go with Gus's forest fire tattoo. It represents the new growth. Well, our new growth together."

"Your first tattoo?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, it's my first one. I never wanted a tattoo but Gus talked me into it."

"I'm getting good at this job," Gus said smugly.

"I'm still too much of a chicken to get one, but I'm keeping an open mind. So what's the other surprise?" Nora asked Gus curiously.

"Oh it's in Jeff's booth. I'll go get it!"

When he came back Gus was carrying a huge gift bag, and Jeff was with him.

"Nora," Jeff said, giving her a hug. "Didn't expect to see you, but I'm glad you're here."

"Lucas needs me to hold his hand," Nora said.

"I do not!"

"Here it is," Gus interrupted, thrusting the bag at Lucas.

It was such a large bag that Lucas had to set it on the floor first. Then he tossed aside a few pieces of tissue paper and pulled out a large, Indian style blanket. It was insanely soft and warm, brightly colored Native American designs lining the dark blue background, which was the exact color of the night sky.

"Wow... this is... really nice, Gus," Lucas said, impressed.

"Remember I said I'd get you one 'cause you guys made me one for Christmas? Not only that, but that birthday party was the best shit anyone's ever done for me. I wanted to get you a nice one to say thanks. It's hand-made. I got it online."

Nora reached over and ran her hand across the soft fabric. "It's beautiful, Gus," she said.

"Thanks man, it's awesome," Lucas said.

Gus was beaming. "I wanted to pay you back."

"You didn't have to pay us back," Nora said kindly. "We did that because you're our friend."

"Well, Lucas, you're my best friend. And, Nora, you're my friend too. I wanted you guys to have somethin' nice," Gus said.

Lucas carefully folded the soft blanket up and put it back into the bag so it wouldn't get damaged on the journey back to Marcus's. In reality, he was speechless. He had never realized how much that birthday party, and his friendship in general, meant to Gus.

"Okay we don't have all day to do this tattoo," Jeff said, motioning for Lucas and Nora to come back to his booth while Gus stayed with Hex.

"Alright, kid, this is what I've got," Jeff said.

He took the sketch out of a book and showed it to both of them under the light.

It was Gus's drawing of the Grim Reaper, but only the upper half, the bottom disappearing in a swirl of gray and black. The Reaper had his skeletal hand on the plunger of a syringe, a wicked smile on his gaunt face. Somehow Jeff had succeeded at making that syringe look like a weapon instead of a tool. Below that were the numbers 111 to represent the date he'd stopped using, 11/1, the day after Halloween.

"It's awesome," Lucas said excitedly. "I love it!"

"It's really cool, Jeff," Nora added. "Does Gus know you're using his design, baby?"

"No. I wanna surprise him when its done."

"You'll need to take off your shirt and I'm gonna transfer this to your skin. It won't hurt... yet," Jeff said.

"Yet?" Lucas asked as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.

"The chest is a pretty nervy, touchy place," Jeff said, transferring the drawing onto the left side of Lucas's chest. The cold made him jump. "See? Very sensitive. You'll do fine if you breathe through it. Check it out in the mirror."

Lucas looked, and a thrill of excitement shot through him. "It's perfect."

"Good. Go ahead and get comfortable and get ready for a fun three hours."

The sensation of the needle was only ticklish at first, faint and vaguely annoying, like the little sharp feet of bugs landing and crawling on him over and over. It went like that for the first half hour or so. Lucas was beginning to think he had this down, but soon the ticklish sensation changed from annoying to painful. Luckily that was when Jeff gave him his first break.

"You doing okay?" Nora asked him.

"Yeah," Lucas said stubbornly. "I barely feel it. What does it look like?"

"It looks amazing so far. Hang in there."

"Look, I'm a manly man, Nora," Lucas joked.

"Oh silly me. I must have forgotten," she replied sarcastically.

The second hour was when the sensation turned from painful to excruciating. From there, it was sheer survival. Lucas tried not to show how much it hurt, but he couldn't stop tensing up, his fingers digging into the slippery vinyl of the chair. By the third and final hour, he was lightheaded and jerking.

"Almost done, kid," Jeff mumbled each time his muscles involuntarily twitched.

"I'm fine," Lucas said in a high voice. Nora just laughed and shook her head.

"I thought you were a manly man?" she taunted. "Manly men don't twitch."

"Fuck you," Lucas said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry, baby! I shouldn't joke. I know it hurts. It'll be over soon," she said, smoothing his hair off his face.

By the time Jeff finished, Lucas felt like his flesh had been slowly peeled away layer by layer. He was sure he would look into the mirror and see bare muscle where his skin had once been. But no, his skin was still intact, though a little red and swollen. And the tattoo was finished. He didn't dare touch it, but looking at it made the pain of the past few hours worth it.

"I love it, Jeff. Thank you so much," he said.

"No problem. Remember what it stands for," Jeff reminded him as he began putting tools and ink bottles away. "Always remember that."

"I will."

Hex was gone when Nora and Lucas walked back into the lobby. Gus was chatting with Ethan.

"Okay show me. Now," Gus said, motioning to them.

Lucas pulled his shirt up. Jeff had put a clear plastic wrap over the tattoo so it was still visible. Gus studied it, his eyes growing wide.

"Wait..." he said, and Lucas and Nora both laughed.

"Wait. That's my drawing! You got my drawing?" Gus asked incredulously.

"Yep. It was badass," Lucas said.

Gus blushed. "Wow... that's awesome. It looks really good too. I can't believe you've got something I drew permanently on you!"

"Consider me your first client," Lucas said, pulling his shirt back down.

As they left the tattoo parlor, Lucas was keenly aware of the raw pain of the tattoo. He put a hand over it and thought about Jeff's words again, the reminder to always remember what it stood for.

—————

It was the summer of love.

Well, for the four of them it was anyway. Lucas was the happiest he'd ever been, and even though Nora didn't say the words, he could tell she was too.

His music was better than ever, and he wrote countless songs in his notebook, most of them about loss and change, death and rebirth. Sometimes Gus would come over to hang out with them and listen to Lucas play while he drew tattoo designs in a sketchbook.

"Dude, you're getting really good on that," Gus said one night, nodding at Lucas's guitar.

He was playing the acoustic tonight, and Nora was resting her head against his shoulder. When Lucas heard Gus's statement, he immediately rejected it.

"I'm not good," he said, shaking his head. "I just love it."

"You are good. Damn good. You could make money playing around here on the street corners like those guys who play those gold J lookin' things."

Lucas glanced up, amused. "Um... that would be called a saxophone."

"Whatever you knew what I meant, smart ass," Gus said, playfully flipping him off.

The days were long, hot and lazy.

Gus and Hex hung around outside in their free time despite the temperature, spending time
by themselves in places only they knew about for hours and hours. The city was a playground for them.

Lucas was learning how to play the guitar solo from Stairway to Heaven, and Nora danced in her bare feet in their tiny room. They were all so very happy.

Lucas tentatively began to hope about the future again, to dream new dreams and pick up those he'd replaced with heroin. He felt good about himself again.

The only imperfect thing was their living situation. Lucas and Nora were still sharing the twin bed at Marcus's place, but they had started a savings for the first and last month's rent on their first apartment. In the meantime there was just enough room on the small mattress for them to spoon at night. They usually did this naked and on top of the covers. It was simply too humid and sticky to sleep any other way. The bedroom window was left open to let in the soft breeze, and the soothing sounds of the city drifted up from below. They made love to its rhythm both morning and night.