a/n: You guys rock! Thanks for the love and sticking by me! Here is the long awaited next chapter. Remember, there are only a few more chapters left. :weep:

From here on out, the story is no longer Kat's story - it is THEIR story. So I will switch point of views between Kat and Sean from time to time.
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Sean’s POV-

It was a Friday evening, and I’d had a long morning at the hospital. But I had made a point to have the night off – I’d been planning for this night all week and wanted it to go perfectly.

After a hot shower to calm my nerves and a quick shave, I’d pulled on an old set of sweats and gotten to work on dinner. I rarely had the time to cook an elegant meal, but I was pulling out all the stops tonight. I sat a chopping board on the counter and got everything together.



My relationship with Kat had started again after those stolen kisses in the rain. The next 3 weeks had been amazing. She truly was the love of my life and I was so grateful to have her back.

We’d fallen back into place effortlessly and everyone was thrilled. I can’t tell you how many times we doubled with Pete and Sophia in those first few weeks. But tonight it would just be the two of us.

Kat had spent a lot of time in the new house, helping me unpack and organize. The place was almost as much hers as it was mine. She felt comfortable here, and I liked that. But tonight I was aiming for a more intimate setting.



The table was set, candles lit, and dinner was in the oven. I headed upstairs to change clothes before showtime.

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Several minutes later, I heard my cue: the doorbell. Kat was here. I hurried downstairs to greet her, and found her looking stunning in a blue dress. My memories of her, only a day old, were but a pale comparison to seeing her standing in front of me.



“Hello, beautiful,” I said, grinning as I pulled her into my arms.

She smiled in reply and I could see that she was trying to figure out my plans for the evening. I hadn’t given her so much as a hint when I’d asked her to meet me here tonight.

“Dinner awaits,” I said, leading her toward the dining room.

“You cooked?” she asked, seeing the table set. In all the years I’d known Kat, I’d never made dinner for her. But tonight I really wanted to impress her and show her how much she meant to me.

She smiled up at me, evidently pleased with the date I had planned.

As we ate dinner, my mind wandered to other times I’d spent with Kat. Like our first date. Those first days of our high school relationship had been amazing. I couldn’t believe she’d said yes to me. Kat was so smart and caring, I’d thought she was unnattainable.



Other times, like in college, were more difficult. We’d always tiptoed around our real feelings for each other. Perhaps that’s how things ended up so broken.

We’d been through so much together; I wasn’t going to make any more mistakes this time around.

“Kat, do you ever regret how things turned out?” I asked, taking a bite of my lobster.

Looking up through her thick lashes, she replied. “Sometimes. I mean, I can’t regret the choices I’ve made, because without those mistakes I wouldn’t have my girls. But yes, I wish things had worked out for us.”



Remembering how we’d fallen apart was still a struggle for me. The scene that had played out after my failed proposal had haunted me for years. And then later, when she’d told me there was another man… I hadn’t been able to keep myself together.

“The first time I ever truly regretted my actions was the day of Pete and Sophia’s wedding. Do you remember how we had to walk together during the ceremony?” I asked.

She nodded.

“I’d thought that seeing each other again might re-spark something between us… but when I saw you with him – Emilio – I saw that I’d lost you for good. Being around you that day was the most painful thing I’d ever had to do, up to that point.

“You were so beautiful that day – but then again, you always were. It took everything in me to stop myself from crawling on my knees and begging you to take me back. So… I distracted myself with that loose blonde.”

Kat stifled a giggle. “Oh, I just thought you were being a jerk.”

I laughed at her honesty. “Nope, just hopelessly in love with a girl that had long moved on…”



There was a brief silence.

Kat shifted her weight in her chair and reached her hand across the table. “Let’s not talk about the bad times,” she said.

I leaned forward and placed my hand in hers.

“From here on out, there will only be good times,” she said, and paused for a moment before adding, “Forever.”



I am convinced that never before in the history of man has one word conveyed so much. She was telling me everything I wanted to know in three small syllables. At that moment I knew that we were meant to be together. No matter what had happened in our past we had found our way back to each other.

Emboldened by this, I decided that I could wait no longer. Excusing myself from the table, I gathered our empty plates and walked back into the kitchen. Depositing the dirty dishes in the sink to be washed later, I opened the silverware drawer. There it was – the thing I had hidden earlier today. Quickly, I dropped it into my pocket and turned to get the dessert I had made in advance.

I steadied myself by grabbing the countertop and took a few deep breaths before returning to the dining room. It had only been a few weeks, but I was positive Kat had just let me know she was ready for our future to begin.



This was it. Everything was perfect, and the love of my life was sitting in the next room waiting for me.

Returning with the crepes, I sat down across from Kat again.

Paying no attention to the plate in front of me, I cleared my throat and nervously slid my hand into my pocket.

“Kat, the day we first met, I knew there was something about you. Over the years, I was lucky enough to fall in love with the most beautiful, intelligent, and caring woman I have ever known. That love has been tested, dragged over hot coals, and pushed to its very edge. But it has survived, stronger than ever. And I was lucky again when it grew into a friendship more powerful than anything I have ever known.”



My fingers closed over the thing in my pocket – a small velvet box.

“Kat, you are my best friend, and nothing would make me happier than to spend the rest of my life with you.

I pulled the box out and sat it in front of me, nudging it across the table towards Kat.



“I have to know if you will give me a second chance. Will you marry me?”

My heart pounded as I thought about the last time I had asked that question. It had been my fault for rushing her before, and I hoped that she was ready to take this step with me now. But as the fears ran quickly through my mind, they were just as quickly replaced with reassurance. We were different people now; both adults, living full lives. The timing was right, I just knew it.

Her eyes widened as she took in the small black ring box, and she tentatively reached for it. A wide smile played across her face as she gingerly opened the lid.



I’d been wrong before, about the significance of one word… her reply now was by far the sweetest sound I’d ever heard.

“Yes!”

I let out the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding and jumped up, taking one long stride to stand in front of Kat and pull her up into my arms. She beamed at me.



“I thought you’d never ask,” she said. “I thought I’d scared you away before, in college. But I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.”

“Oh, Kat. My love.” I leaned forward and kissed her then, passionately. And it was like we’d never been apart.



It was the kind of kiss that threatens to consume you - The one in which a man wonders if there is such a thing as destiny, because it feels like he’s just fulfilled his.

She’d said yes, and we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. All my hopes and dreams were within my reach. All of my doubts and fears were wiped away. We would face anything that came our way together, as a team, inseparable.

I let go of Kat and held her hand, both of us admiring the diamond that now sat on the third finger of my future wife’s left hand. Hmm, future wife. I liked the way that sounded.

“It’s so beautiful,” she murmured.

“No,” I replied. “Without you it’s just a piece of rock. On your hand it is priceless to me.”