Waiting | a fanfiction

the epilogue

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" Little Jeremy Wolenczak, age 6, ran into his grandfather's bedroom, carrying a picture frame in his hands.

"Hey, Jeremy!" Lucas Wolenczak croaked. He was older now, much older, and his health was waning quickly.

"Grandpa, who's this in the photo?" Jeremy handed the picture frame to Lucas and Lucas examined it for a moment before smiling weakly.

"This was me when I was 19," Lucas pointed to himself. "And this was my girlfriend, Shelby." Lucas smiled sadly at Shelby's face. It had been a long time since he had spoken about her, even though he still thought of her every single day.

"What happened to Shelby?" Jeremy asked, taking back the picture frame to look at her.

"She died a long time ago," Lucas said.

"Oh," Jeremy whispered. He studied Shelby's face. "She's very pretty," he piped up.

Lucas grinned. "Yeah, she was."

"Jeremy!" Adam Wolenczak called.

"I'm in grandpa's room, daddy!"

"What did I tell you about going in there? You don't need to bother your grandfather," Adam scolded, marching into Lucas' room and grabbing Jeremy.

"No, no, Adam. He's fine. He was just asking me a question," Lucas told his son. Well, his adopted son.

After Shelby, Lucas was never able to move on. But he knew that Shelby would've wanted kids, so he adopted a boy named Adam and a girl named Beverly after he left the SeaQuest. Beverly had moved away to live with her husband, but Adam still lived nearby with his wife and his son, Jeremy. Lucas was too ill to move around or do anything, but they still visited often. Lucas assumed it was because everyone knew he wasn't going to be alive for much longer.

"What did you ask grandpa about?" Adam asked Jeremy, his voice softening as he crouched down to his son's height.

"This." Jeremy thrusted the picture towards Adam, and Adam looked at it for a moment before turning to his father.

"Who's the girl?" He asked Lucas.

"The love of my life, Shelby Renee McIntyre." Lucas closed his eyes and smiled at the thought of her.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about her?" Adam asked softly, lowering his voice.

"She died a long time ago, and I've never been able to make peace with her leaving. I don't know how I managed to live for those 19 years before I met her."

"Sounds like you really loved her," Adam said.

"I did." Lucas opened his eyes and Adam handed the picture to his father. Lucas admired the picture before setting it on his bedside table.

"So I can always look at her," he chuckled after Adam looked at him curiously. Adam nodded silently and waved to Lucas before taking Jeremy by the hand and leaving the room.

After several minutes, Lucas could hear the front door of his house close and he heard the sound of a car starting in the driveway. Lucas rolled over to his side with much difficulty, and looked at the face of his beloved.

The picture had been taken on the beach in Hawaii, before everything went down. In the picture, Lucas had his arms wrapped around Shelby and was kissing her cheek, while Shelby was blushing and smiling at the camera.

Lucas could remember every detail of that trip, good and bad. He remembered the agony in Shelby's face as she lay there, dying, but he also remembered how beautiful she had looked earlier that night, when she belonged to him. Lucas could remember how limp Shelby felt as she lay dead in his arms, but he preferred to remember how warm she had felt earlier that night as she laid beside him, their love newly consummated. He remembered how heartbreaking it felt to carry her dead body into the ambulance, and how depressed he felt as he watched her body be lowered into her grave. But he remembered how his heart skipped a beat every time she would kiss him, and he remembered how happy she made him whenever they were together.

And Lucas Wolenczak could remember how lonely he had been for the sixty years, eight months, and thirteen days following her death. But more importantly, Lucas could remember the first day he met Miss Shelby McIntyre, her golden curls bouncing and her shimmery blue eyes dazzling the cold medbay on the SeaQuest.

Lucas stared at the picture for what could've been minutes, but what could've also been hours or days. He didn't look away from the picture until his eyes couldn't stay open any longer. Soaking in all the beauty of what used to be, Lucas closed his eyes with a smile on his face.

•••

"Lucas," an angelic voice rang like little bells. He turned slowly, only to be met with a pair of piercing blue eyes.

"Shelby," he breathed. She was practically glowing, and she didn't look a day older than the last time he had seen her.

"It's okay, Lucas. You're okay," she smiled. Lucas gaped at her in awe for a second before running towards her as fast as possible. He could run!

Lucas ran into Shelby's arms and cried into her chest as she held him and stroked his hair.

"It's been so lonely without you," he whimpered.

"Everything will be better now. You're finally home. Everything is alright," Shelby consoled him.

"I love you," Lucas whispered, looking up at Shelby. "Shelby Renee McIntyre I've loved you and I've never stopped loving you and I know I'm always going to love you, no matter what happens."

"I love you, too, Lucas." Shelby kissed Lucas' forehead lightly as he continued to hug her waist tightly, and he knew that here, once again in the presence of the only woman he could ever truly love, everything was going to be alright.

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a/n:

Welp. That's the end. I had originally intended to end it at chapter thirteen, but Imana bullied me into writing an epilogue and publishing it❤️

Anyways, I know this is being published over a month after the final chapter came out, but I hope it's enough to tie you guys over since I killed off Shelby😳

So, all in all, thank you sm for reading this story. I know it's not the best but thank you for all the love and support and I love you all😙