Uncharted: The Girl Who Changed Me (High School AU)

Epilogue

 10 years later......

It was close to the evening and I was lying on the sofa, allowing the sleep in me to get the better of me. But I had a good reason for that. For the past week, I had been trying for us to get a place at an expedition, but it had been hard to find one, especially since most company don't really prefer freelance treasure hunters and journalists. So yeah, that drained me. 

Just before I could fall into a deep sleep, I felt a pat on my shoulder. I tried to ignore it, but that seems to be not a option for the person. Finally, I gave in and slowly opened my eyes. 

"Hello?" I said tiredly. My eyes wandered for a bit before I saw who was the culprit. It was a young girl at the age of 5 with short blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was smiling and waving at me once she saw me woke up.

"Hi, daddy." she said happily.

I smiled tiredly before forcing myself to get up and sit on the sofa, rubbing my eyes. "Hi, Cassie. What's up?"

She then reached out her hand and handed me my mobile phone. "The phone was ringing." she mentioned. It took a while for my brain to adjust what she had just said before looking through my phone. I find out that I had a missed call from Elena. She went out to attend a meeting that would hopefully get us a place at an expedition. After I composed myself, I rang her back. 

"What's the excuse?" Elena answered.

I smiled. "Hey, Elena. Sorry, the sleep took over me. What's up?"

"Well, I had the talk with the company."

"And?"

"Well, it looks like the search continues." I fell onto the sofa and sighed. Elena must have heard my sigh as she replied to it. "Look, I tired but..."

"I know, but still...." I sighed, rubbing my eyes and feeling a sense of frustration. Then, for some reason, I heard Elena giggled. 

"Hey, why are you laughing?" I asked with confusion.

"You know, Nate? I never took you for the gullible type." she said, still laughing.

"What do you me...?" I stopped midsentence, realising what she had done. "You got the place, didn't you?"

"Yep. Going in a months' time." she said excitingly. 

I laughed. "Alright, you got me. So you heading home now?"

"Yeah. I'll see you soon."

"See ya." I then hanged up the phone and placed it on the small table next to the sofa. 

"What happened?" Cassie asked curiously. 

"Well, it looks like we'll be going to Italy!" Cassie let out a big cheer before jumping about the living room.

"We're going to Italy! We're going to Italy!" she chanted.

I got up from the sofa and started to head to the kitchen. "How about some cookies for celebration?" I asked. 

"Yeah! Cookies!" she cheered before running to the kitchen.

"Where does she get the energy?" I said to myself. 

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It was the evening and once again, I was sleeping on the sofa. The cookies was maybe a bad idea since it made Cassie a little bit hyper. She ran around the house, almost hurting herself, before finally getting tired. I was already tired to begin with, so this sort of killed me. 

Since I was that tired, I didn't know what was going on in regards to my surroundings. So, it came as a surprise when I felt a hand on my head. I quickly got up in shook and turned around. There, I saw a familiar face.

"Whoa! Easy there, cowboy." Elena laughed, almost in shook as well. 

I sighed before falling back on the sofa. "Why do you do this to me?"

She then came and sat next to me. "Don't know. I didn't know you were sleeping, though. The TV is on, so I thought, you know."

"Yeah, unlikely story." I simply said.

She chuckled before putting her head on my shoulder. "You told Cassie?"

"Yep. She's very excited. It took a while to put her to bed."

"Yeah. Thought so." she smiled. We watched TV for a while, just me and her. As we were, my eyes caught her hand, noticing the wedding ring on it. Memories of our time together, from our dates, the proposal, our wedding to where we are now came flooding back in. I locked my hands into her, holding it tightly as if my life depended on it. 

She looked at me and smiled. "You're alright?" she asked. 

I nodded. "Yeah, just.... how long has been since the day I met you?"

Elena thought about it before shrugging her shoulders. "Honestly, I can't remember how long. I remember we met in the school's library."

"Yeah. Did you... ever think that meeting would lead us here?" I asked.

She smiled and shook her head. "Not at all. I sort of thought of you as a slacker."

"Which I was." I mentioned. 

She laughed a bit before continuing. "True. But people change. It wasn't like you were going to be a slacker forever. Otherwise, we wouldn't even be here."

I smiled. "Yeah. But the only reason we are here is because of you. If it wasn't for you, I would have been living in a messy apartment, hanging out with Rafe and them lot and... well... not be with you." I looked into her eyes as I said it. I felt a sense of realisation about what I had said. I said it so many times, but looking at her made that statement even more true. 

She smiled as she lend towards me and kissed me. I held her arms to allow the kiss to last longer. When we pulled away from each other, she smiled at me again. "Well, I'm glad I was able to help you."

I shook my head, which made her give a confused expression. "You didn't just help me. You changed me for the better."

She chuckled a bit before leaning on my shoulder. "I love you, Nate." she whispered quite loudly. 

I lightly kissed her on the head before placing my head on hers. "I love you too, Elena." I closed my eyes, allowing the sound of TV and her breathing to fill my surroundings.

I started to remember our first meeting. In that school library. When she handed me that book. When she said her name to me. 

I smiled at those memories. "Who knew she would be my wife." I thought. "Who knew she would be the girl who changed me."

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Thank you to everyone for reading my story.