As the Darkness Approaches the Light

Chapter 14

When Caroline walked into her class Monday morning, she was met with a round of applause and several "congratulations". She smiles and her cheeks turn red as she makes her way over to her computer.

"So, uh...you guys, heard, huh?"

Just about all of them had seen various videos of the proposal that were now online, as had just about all of Motionless in White's audience. Sometimes it was still a little bit weird to share such personal aspects of her life with an audience, but at the same time, it was flattering to walk into her classroom and receive a round of applause, knowing that her students were celebrating with her.

Caroline received several more "congratulations" and "can I see the ring?" and "have you guys set a date yet?" and other questions and statements of the sort throughout the day from both students and colleagues. It didn't bother Caroline though. If anything, she loved to relay the story over and over again because it was such a magical moment.

It was only when someone had mentioned that soon there'd be a bunch of "mini Motionless's" running around, that Caroline had only given an awkward laugh in response.

The rest of the week though was great. Caroline loved talking about the engagement and wedding plans and the future. It was so funny that up until now, Caroline hadn't really given too much thought into marriage. Even when she was dating Avery and the two of them thought of getting married before Avery died, that was more so a pipe dream than anything else because same-sex marriage wasn't legal in Pennsylvania at the time. Caroline never wanted to marry Kurt, even when she'd convinced herself that she loved him. She knew deep down that he wasn't who she was supposed to be with.

Then Chris came along and changed everything. When the two of them had talked about the idea of marriage in the past, Chris had told her about a lot of his past commitment issues, and that there was a time where he didn't even believe in marriage for himself. It was fine for others, but not him. However, after finding himself a bit, working on his mental health and taking on therapy, he'd decided that he would be mentally ready to make a kind of commitment such as marriage when the time was right. Caroline had usually been an "in the middle" kind of person; she was capable of commitment, but whether or not said commitment turned into marriage hadn't mattered to her in the past, as long as she found someone she loved and wanted to be with forever.

Now that she was engaged though, Caroline had fallen in love with the idea of being a wife, and having such a fantastic companion through life as Chris. As the next couple of months went by and wedding planning really started, not only was Caroline eager for the wedding itself, but she was excited for what married life would look like for her and Chris.

However, this major life-change got Caroline thinking about other ways that her life could potentially change...

"I think I want to start looking into surgeries that could give me my sight back," She confesses to Chris one night.

Chris had just gotten home from tour that morning, and would only be home for a few days, but had wanted to sit down with Caroline and catch up with her since it had been a while since they'd seen each other. Caroline had talked about the possibility of undergoing this surgery before, but this was the first time Chris had ever heard her seriously talk about looking into it.

"Really?" He asks.

"Yeah, I...I guess I've just kind of decided to be optimistic about either way that this could go. Say I were to have the surgery, and God forbid, it doesn't work...Well, then, nothing changes. I already know how to live life as a blind person, so my life would just go back to normal, and everything would be fine. If it does work though...I mean, God, I'd get to see you. I'd get to see flowers and trees and Noah and I'd be able to look my students in the eye, and...would it be hard to adjust? Yeah, definitely. I'd have to learn how to read again and judge things by sight rather than by touch and I'd have to learn how to drive and everything, but...I think all of that is doable, right?"