❝Where you go I follow
No matter how far
If life is a movie
Oh you're the best part.❞

Chapter Fourteen:
Closing the Deal
(cont'd)

"So...France, huh?"

I smiled a little shyly and leaned back against the door.

"It was a long time ago."

"Not long enough for your inappropriate best friend to quit joking about it."

"Sounds to me like you're jealous," I hummed, grinning when Hans looked stunned at my implication and muttered something about me not thinking right. "Helena's the Jasper to my Hans. You've got nothing to worry about."

"I know that," he mumbled, still looking a little unsure. Trying not to openly laugh at how adorable he looked, I pushed myself off the door gently and walked to where he stood, looping my arms around his waist.

"Besides, I've got everything I want right here."

Reaching up on my toes, I pressed a soft kiss to his lips before separating to look into his eyes.

"Thank you so much for today, and everything else. You have no idea how much it means to me."

With those words, I wiped away the lingering traces of whatever clouded Hans' mind as his face broke out into a warm, affectionate smile. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in till we were chest to chest. Leaning his forehead in to meet mine, I could feel his breath against my cheeks when he opened his mouth to say something before thinking better of it and kissing me instead.

I'd come to feel that Hans' kisses spoke for a lot more than he did. Considering how physically fuelled our relationship had started out, it didn't surprise me when I realized that we communicated way better through our bodies than our words. Which is why he didn't have to tell me why he'd done all this, or how happy he was to be a part of my birthday. He didn't have to tell me, because I could feel every bit of his love as he kissed me breathless and held me to him like I was his universe.

Hans' hands ventured lower down my waist, fluttering over the curve of my backside before he bent down on his knees and simultaneously, swept me off the ground and into his arms. Our lips disconnected as he carried me in his arms, my hands looping around his shoulders and in his waves of midnight black hair but the way he held my gaze the whole while told me he was far from breaking away. When we entered the bedroom and he set me down on the foot of the bed, I didn't expect him to let go of me but he did, only momentarily before promising to be back. I watched as he walked over to the other side of the room, rummaging quietly through a desk of drawers in the wardrobe before glancing over his shoulder at me and smiling.

"I have something for you."

Hans walked over, holding whatever it was he planned to give me behind his back.

"I'm not very good at getting presents," Hans said, sounding rather unsure of himself. "But this is something I've wanted to give you for a while now. Since I realized just how big a place you hold in my life and I...I knew it would be the perfect way to show you..."

I watched, an eyebrow raised at how fast Hans spoke, whether out of nervousness or excitement or a combination of both. It was very unlike him to ramble this fast. Hans sucked in a deep breath, his colorful eyes glinting in the moonlight before he sunk to the ground, all too quickly, on one knee. My hands fisted on the sheets in shock, watching in mute silence as Hans brought out a rectangular velvet box from behind his back.

"Tris..."

This was too soon. I mean, sure, I had said we'd have beautiful babies but that didn't mean I wanted them right this very moment. Oh Lord, I loved him but he really did need help with deciding on presents. This was big. Way, way too big.

"Hans, I think we should-"

Without a second to spare, he popped open the latch and opened the box to a piece of jewelry that shone and sparkled beneath my eyes...that wasn't a ring. The shaky hand that had flown to my mouth fell to my lap, somewhat in relief as I leaned forward to stare at the necklace he was presenting me.

The pure silver winked in the darkness as the moonlight kissed its surface. I peered closer and noticed the small but intricate pendant at the end of the loop; the infinity symbol confined within a small circle that encapsulated it. Carefully, I took the necklace out of the velvet felt. It was so delicate in my hand as I traced the small pendant with my thumb, scared that the silver might even break if I pressed too hard.

"This was a gift from my mother."

My eyes shot up to Hans' face. He was staring at the necklace, a small smile curving his full lips.

"I don't remember when she gave it to me but I remember wearing it all the time. I didn't want to take it off, even after I grew out of it and it started to choke me."

He rubbed the back of his neck, grinning a little foolishly at me as if he was still embarrassed by his childhood actions. I smiled back at him, fingering the delicate silver questioningly.

"You want me to have it?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

Hans scooted closer to me on the ground with his knees. He took the necklace from me and held it gently in his open palm. I could tell by the way his eyes crinkled as he smiled down at the symbol of his childhood he held in his hand, that this necklace was more than just an accessory.

"For starters, I can't wear it anymore. I don't want it to collect dust in the drawer anymore. My mother wanted me to have it and I...it means a lot."

"I can see that." I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, earning another beautiful smile.

"I want you to have it, Tris." Hans held my gaze, and I felt his hand tighten in mine as he continued, "You are a part of my past. I feel like gifting you with this would show you how much I want for you to be an even greater part of my future."

I was truly touched by his words and had to fight the tears that started to brim at my eyes, biting down on my lip to contain my emotion.

"And what the necklace symbolizes, the legacy my mother had in mind for it...its purpose would be fulfilled with you."

Hans slowly settled the necklace back in my open hand, pressing the pendant into my palm till I could feel the cold burn of it against my skin.

"She believed in infinity, even when the world limited her. She wanted me to find what she'd chased all those years, and I did. You are my infinity, Tris. And that's why, it's only fitting for you to have this necklace."

I could barely register the significance of what Hans had just told me before he shifted forward on his knees and took the necklace from my shaking hand. My eyes stayed wide open as he hovered over my shoulder and parted my hair. The pendant settled comfortably near the dip of my collarbone as Hans clicked it into place. Falling back on his knees, he grinned at me, lit eyes settling on where the infinity his mother had promised him crossed my own.

"Beautiful."

My lips trembled as I willed myself to say something. Anything to show him that this gesture meant the world to me. Hans absorbed the tumultuous flow of emotion crossing my face with a spreading smile. He didn't comment upon my quiet, awed reaction but reached out with a hand and touched the silver on my skin.

"Beautiful," he repeated, but there was something different this time. He sounded close to breaking, as if the sight of me before him wearing his necklace was all he had ever hoped to achieve out of life. His colorful eyes flew up to meet my own and it was then I noticed that he was closing the space between us, his hands on the necklace curling around my neck gently.

"I love-"

I caught his last word with my lips, sighing into the release of his kiss. My hands wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him in tightly so I may never let go. One of his hands rested on my knee, making me tremble as something more than desire overtook what was left of my beating heart.

"I love you."

I wasn't sure who said it this time but it didn't matter anymore. All I wanted to feel was him. The slow, tantalizing burn of his mouth as he kissed me; fast, slow, rough, gentle and every other way in between. The kisses grew with urgency and soon, neither of us could breathe as Hans pushed me gently back against the mattress with a look on his eyes that held the promise of every singular beauty that life could ever give me. And when he kissed me again, I knew. These moments were worth everything that had come before them - the tears and heartbreak, the ugly words we'd exchanged, the sacrifices we'd each had to make.

He was everything. Everything, and beyond.

Clothes peeled away from our dancing skin and formed forgotten puddles on the floor. Hans' face was covered in a half shadow as he made his way on top of me but the broken fragments of the moonlight were enough for me to see that he was smiling, the look of utter reverence and joy never quite leaving him. I held my arms open in front of me, like a child in need of a hug which made him release a low chuckle of amusement. He came forward and I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his torso, welcoming him with another searing kiss.

Everything about the way we moved was proof that this was where I was meant to be, that he was what I had needed all these years. The way we fit together, molding into one, as if God himself had created us for that one reason because when Hans and I were together, everything made sense. There was a clarity to my life that had never been there before and finally, finally, I was whole again.

His tongue danced with mine, leaving the lingering taste of him on my lips before he parted and ventured lower to kiss, taste, and tease every inch of skin he could find. Hans' right hand tickled a path down to my thighs, parting them enough to shift his weight and press himself closer to the warmth I had to offer. It was different from before; not done with sensual intention but of emotional conviction. I could see it in the way he moved back to look at me, his dark hair framing his face but not enough to hide the adoration and love in his colorful swirling eyes. My throat tightened. That one look had me feeling more beautiful, more needed than I had ever let myself believe I could be.

"I love you," I uttered in one shaky, shallow breath. My heart trembled with the weight of the words I'd released. But I didn't feel the creeping edges of fear pollute my heart, neither the uncertainty - the pinch that foretold heartbreak. This man had consumed my body and soul, and in doing so, had freed me. Fascination flooded into my face as I repeated, louder, and surer than ever before, "I love you."

Hans watched my transformation with wide eyes of wonder. A smile inched its way onto his sculptured mouth and he stared at me like I was the only thing that mattered anymore. He lifted the hand propped on the pillow beside my head and wiped away the tiny drop of moisture that had crawled down my cheek. Hans pressed his lips against mine, not kissing me but whispering against my mouth, a single plea, "Say it again."

"I love you."

He let out a long, shaky breath of release- feeling my words touch beyond his lips. The tears don't stop me from saying it again...and again...and again. They don't stop me as he presses his forehead against mine and we breathe together, in and out, forming a separate universe of our own. They don't stop me as he enters me slowly, filling up every essence of my being until I was nothing without him.

"I love you."

The words turn into a shared mantra as he begins to move. The rise and fall of our bodies take the place of those words, sighing and singing in the pleasure of our union. All of me breaks as he claims me, consuming me piece by piece, then building me up again in a rush of emotion and desire too much to take all at once.

At some point in the climb toward euphoria, Hans had grabbed my hand in his and pressed it against the thrumming of his chest. He held me there, skin against skin, eyes locking into mine. Soon enough, I felt it. The pulsing of his heart - untamed and unbound. It made mine go crazier until all I felt, all I knew was him.

His movement.

His voice.

His love.

Him.

I didn't just hear his desire for me in the way he rasped "I love you" in my ear, sounding utterly broken. I didn't just see it in the mad loops of infinity overwhelming my body in euphoric pleasure. I felt it; everywhere. In how he moved; inside me, out of me, filling me, changing me, destroying me, until there was nothing left but just the two of us.

Our hearts. Beating in tandem to the crescendo that enveloped us in everything we had spent our whole lives dreaming of and chasing. Everything we had found in each other.

It was all too much, too soon but the stampede inside me gave way to a release stronger than any that came before it. My body arched off the bed, into Hans' arms as we let go together, in perfect synchronicity. Even as the sensations slipped away and faded into a fuzz that left me panting and blinking away spots in my vision, we trembled in each others arms as we held on desperately to every last tremor.

Hans nearly collapsed against me but he held himself up just barely, boxing me in beneath his arms. My hands that had knotted themselves in his thick mane fell limply to my side but with the last bit of energy, I reached upward and touched the pendant, tracing our infinity with the tip of my finger. Hans dipped down and placed a gentle kiss there before nestling his head against the curve of my bosom. I sighed and wrapped my arms around him, holding him as our breaths steadied.

Quiet fell upon our little universe. As our breaths consumed us together with the beat of our healing hearts, I promised myself that I would never, ever let go of what we'd created.

My eyes fluttered shut and it all flashed by in a single stream; the flecks of the blue sky and golden sunrise in his eyes that had captivated me from the very beginning, the storm that had destroyed them when we'd almost given up and the pieces of heaven meeting Earth when we'd persevered instead.

Hans had sealed the deal, the second he'd walked into my life. It just took me a lot longer to come to terms with the fact that from the very start, he would be the one to liberate me. It was him...it always had been.

After all, it only takes closing one deal to change absolutely everything.  

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