Chapter Text
Getting reacquainted with his body after dying and being reborn is an odd sensation.
A few times, Buck has caught his lungs begging for air as he forgot to breathe, and, in the silence of his hospital room, he has become very aware of the sound of his beating heart, almost too loud it is.
Even just being able to touch, to smell – it’s overwhelming.
It’s the price to pay for being alive once more, and it’s more than worth the discomfort.
Buck has spent too much time with his feelings muted, his spirit dimmed, to resent feeling so vividly. Everything is vibrant – his soul, his heart, his emotions.
As it always should be.
The team acts strangely around him.
He would put the blame on himself, thinking he is only picking up on any strangeness because he has just been revived from the dead and is trying relearn how to be alive, but he knows these people. They know how to read one another with just one look. They have to with their jobs, there is never a second to spare asking each other what they should be doing.
No, they are indeed acting strange.
Buck feels the weight of their gaze on him but when he turns his head, he can only catch them looking away or pretending to look at something else, resolutely staring at anything but him.
They stay with him but say nothing as he is brought to the hospital to get his lungs checked, and when he is put in a room for overnight observation, they resume their odd ways.
Before his death, this would have sent him down a spiral of doubt and self-hatred – what did he do wrong?
Now, he only waits to them to talk.
He can leave them time to gather their thoughts. Dying has given him a new perspective, a new appreciation for in-between moments where anything can happen, when life can go into entirely different directions.
Mystery is possibility, and possibility is everything.
His journey with Nitya feels far from him, like the remnants of a vivid dream that fades away so very slowly until all that is left of it is the emotions it awakened.
Buck remembers his death in fragments, a mosaic of moments that only makes sense when observed from a distance, but he holds these memories close to his chest to keep himself warm.
Certain scenes he remembers as clear as day, but others, fuzzy and confused.
Most of what is left is what he has felt – grief, shock, self-acceptance.
He is grateful for Nitya. Without her he would have died a lonely death, never knowing how much has was loved or how much he was worth.
When Maddie joins them, she picks up too on the tension, but her relief at seeing her brother alive and whole must keep her from asking questions because she throws her arms around his neck and holds him.
He almost cries when she lets go, and he has to bite down his tongue – he wants to apologize, he wants to tell her he knows about her pregnancy.
He says nothing.
Hen clears her throat and, at last, he meets a teammate’s eyes – she holds it. She observes him, a slight frown at her brows, and then she seems to ready herself, squaring her shoulders and straightening her back.
“You said you died,” she says. “Why?”
Maddie startles, tears well up in her big brown eyes, and it’s with confused terror she looks at her brother.
There it comes.
It is true that Buck said that – he could lie. It would be so easy to pretend he does not remember anything from his escape, blame it on the shock.
But why? Lies have never brought him anything but loneliness and pain.
So, for the first of many times, he says the truth.
“Because I did.”
Eddie inhales sharply, taking a step closer instinctively, and Buck feels relieved at that. He knows now that Eddie cares for him, in whatever capacity that may be, and he also knows that they can fix whatever broke between them.
Buck won’t give up anymore.
He will fight for those he loves even if it means coming face to face with his own fears.
Buck loves Eddie and Eddie loves Buck, it’s as simple as that. It doesn’t matter if it’s romantic or not on Eddie’s part, it doesn’t matter if Buck has to watch the man he loves love someone else.
Healing will come, his broken heart will mend, but whatever happens, he will always have Eddie and Christopher in his life.
“What do you mean, you died?” Chim exclaims. “This doesn’t make sense, you’re alright.”
But he sounds unsure of himself and it comes out as a question almost.
“I know it’s nuts but you have to believe me. I did die, I was dead for a long time.”
The flames – they never touched him, it was the smoke that killed him, but he can still sense them licking at his skin, burning it to a crisp, hellfire all around him.
“I was in the basement,” he says, low as if afraid of disturbing the fragile atmosphere they have created. “I woke up there after falling, and I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see. And I’d lost my mask.”
Bobby sits on the edge of his bed and grabs at Buck’s calf, like he needs to make sure Buck is here, alive and real.
His family surrounds him, warmer than any flames could be. It gives him the courage to go on.
“The fire was all around me,” he continues. “But I was safe enough, I didn’t break anything, and the fire wasn’t touching me. I didn’t see the window. I didn’t look. I was tired, from the smoke inhalation but also tired from within.”
He hesitates but he has to say it. No one can help him if no one knows what’s wrong.
It could have been terrifying to open up to so many people at once, but they deserve to hear it, they have to hear it, and he knows any onslaught he will face will be out of the love they hold for him.
“I didn’t try to get out.”
Maddie sobs out. He gives her a small smile and catches her hand to squeeze it, a silent excuse.
Bobby’s hold on him has grown tighter still, more desperate, and when Buck looks up, he sees only horror written on Hen and Chim’s faces.
Eddie is shaking.
“I gave up,” Buck confesses – it hurts to say out loud but it’s freeing too. “I didn’t see the point in fighting my way out. And so I died, but then I was there, still in the basement, outside of my own body, and I could see it. I was dead.”
He felt nothing then, not even surprise. He was dead and that was a relief. He could go on, disappear from the world and not have to face the consequences of his action.
It would have been so easy to fade away.
Maybe that’s what death is, lose sense of one’s own identity to become part of something bigger, something that encompasses all there is – to become one tiny part of the universe, no longer one unique soul but a link in a forever chain of existence.
It would have been peaceful, but Buck has much to live for still.
“Evan,” Maddie whispers brokenly.
“There was this woman,” Buck continues because he can’t stop now, they have to understand. “I think she was the universe made flesh. She showed me many things.”
“What things?” Eddie asks – scared, tensed.
He might be scared because Buck is talking about giving up on his own life, or because what he is saying sounds insane, but Buck himself isn’t afraid. He can make them see.
“Things I needed to see, stuff that I forgot. First, she showed me what it would have been like if I had never been born.”
“Okay, George Bailey,” Chim jokes with little humor.
“Who?”
He shares a confused look with Maddie but she does not seem to get the reference either.
“Right,” Chim says. “Forgot you didn’t know movies. Go on.”
Images of Hen kneeling at Bobby’s grave, of Maddie with blond hair and shaking hands, Eddie and Christopher without the support they needed from the 118, rise up to his mind but he can’t catch them. They are but a fleeting thought, gone as soon as they arrived, but they hurt plenty anyway.
“Then, she showed me your lives if I stayed dead.”
Buck tries to press on but his breath catches. He allows the tears to fall without shame – forever he will carry the cries of Maddie and Chim, echoing on and on in his heart, as they fell to their knees, grieving his death.
The helplessness at having to watch so much misery while still being unable to reach, to comfort, is not something he will ever rid himself of.
“Buck,” Eddie says. “Talk to us.”
Buck feels deeply, and even at the worst of his depression, he did feel deeply still, though the only emotions he felt were negative.
The love he has for Eddie transcends the universe, goes beyond death itself, so when Eddie begs him to talk, Buck can’t do nothing but just that.
“It was awful, you were all so broken over it, and I – I saw my own funeral.”
The silence that follows is louder than any gasp or shout.
It must be hard to believe, Buck knows he sounds mad, that all of what he is saying could be born out of a delusion induced by his brush with death. But he has no doubts, he died and looked beyond the veil, saw the universe in its beautiful and cold infinity.
“I can prove that it’s true, I’m not making things up,” he promises and he nudges his sister closer until he can whisper into her ear without anyone else hearing it. “On Saturday, you’re planning on telling me that you’re pregnant.”
She jumps out of his reach, her eyes are wide and her mouth opens and closes a few times with no sounds coming out.
Around them, their friends are confused and frowning, but Buck keeps his focus on Maddie.
She searches in his eyes for anything that would give a lie away, but he is not laying and he has nothing to hide. He bares his heart to her, to them.
“Chim told you,” she tries though she doesn’t sound like she believes it herself.
“Told you what?” Chim asks, his gaze flying from one Buckley sibling to the other.
“You know he wouldn’t,” Buck tells his sister. “I saw it, in a future that will never be now. But I saw.”
Maddie stares at him, frozen, and then, low but firm, she says, “I believe him.”
He senses everyone else’s hesitation, but he has other cards to fold.
Still holding Maddie’s hand, Buck turns to his team.
“The party you all threw me,” he blurts out, racking his brain to remember the details of the scene. “Chim joked that he only wanted me back on the team because it was more fun to tease me than Eddie, and then May came to tell Maddie she had to go to pick me up.”
They are torn, wanting to trust and believe him, and fighting against such an impossible concept.
“Why would anyone tell me that?” he presses. “Come on, you know the only way I could know that is if I’d been there with you.”
“This is insane,” Chim states. “But alright, I’ll roll with it.”
He flashes a grateful smile to his friend, relieved that at least one of them believes him.
But Eddie, Hen, Bobby – they still pause.
“After the tsunami,” Buck tells Eddie, bracing himself. “You put Chris to bed and you talked. You talked about me. He told you he was sorry for losing his crutches, and then he said that he kept looking for me and that he knew he’d find me.”
Eddie mouth opens only for silence to come out.
“He said I was a hero, and you said so was he, and that even heroes needed to sleep. And then he asked if he could – ”
“ – spend the day with you again,” Eddie finishes for him, having found his voice again.
“Eddie,” Bobby says, an unasked question.
“He’s saying the truth. I believe him.”
“Okay,” their captain breathes out. “Then so do I.”
Hen only nods, still uncertain but willing to listen him out.
“If it’s true,” she falters, “then you essentially killed yourself.”
Buck looks down, “Yes.”
“You can’t ever do that again,” Bobby whispers, broken and terrified.
“I won’t,” Buck swears and he looks at them all one by one, trying to share his determination. “I was wrong to give up, I know that now. I’ll never do it again.”
And it won’t always be this easy, but such is life, and he is glad to live it.
There will be much to talk about, his family will need time to heal from this too and so will he, but none of them will have to do it alone.
Buck gets released two days later with orders to continue resting.
In the hospital, he has never found himself alone, his family wouldn’t let him.
They still have some doubts about his experience with Nitya, especially the more skeptical ones like Hen, but they can’t deny how changed he is.
It’s okay, they can’t really understand what he has seen. To be honest, neither can he. The grandeur of what he has seen still escapes him – the universe itself, impossible to grasp with its infinite vastness.
Nitya whose essence is indescribable, brighter and bolder than anything that exists, powerful and dangerous but mesmerizing like a natural catastrophe – bringing with her destruction and rebirth both.
Eddie visits Buck too. They talk, but they avoid talking about anything that could tip the fragile balance that they have found.
Buck waits. Eddie will come to him in his own time.
Hen has just gone from dropping him at his place and for the first time in two days, Buck is alone with his thoughts.
He used to avoid that like the plague, try to run away from his own mind.
Now, he is glad for it.
There is still so much he needs to process, so much has happened and he has barely begun to work through it.
He turns when the the sound of the front door unlocking makes itself known.
Seeing Eddie walk into his apartment with the key he has given him puts some of Buck’s heart at ease.
Some things never change.
Neither men say anything for a long time and Buck takes that opportunity to stare at Eddie.
He feels none of the anguish he used to – Eddie’s feelings are out of his control, there is nothing he can do to change them.
What he can do is be in charge of his own feelings, and these feelings are beautiful, there is nothing to be ashamed of.
He forgot how easy it is to love Eddie, but it is – so very easy. Buck fell in love with Eddie gently, without pain, without expectations.
His love for Eddie nourishes him, it makes him more. It fills him up, makes him want to better himself, makes him reach higher. It makes him.
If Eddie never shares Buck’s feelings, then it will be alright because they will still be the best of friends. There are many ways to be a family and they are one already. They share a powerful bond, forged in life and death situations, but also in continuous support over the years.
Buck loves Eddie because Eddie is kind and caring and brave and smart and so many other things, big and small and all magnificent. Buck doesn’t love Eddie because he expects anything in return – his love is giving.
As long as he can stay in Eddie’s life, in Christopher’s life, then it’s all that Buck can ever need.
“I wish you’d come talk to me,” Eddie says suddenly, pained, and his face crunches in guilt. “I should have been there for you more and instead – ”
Buck shakes his head before giving his best friend a gentle smile that hides nothing of the love he carries for him.
“It’s not your fault,” he says. “It could never be your fault. Something was wrong in my brain – it’s like some information wouldn’t pass through. You, the team, Maddie, anyone, you could have all told me a hundred times a day that you love me and it wouldn’t have stuck.”
Eddie’s gaze falls down and his shoulders drop – he too knows about the darkest corners a mind can go to.
“The thing is, you all did tell in a million different ways and I didn’t listen. People say that there is more than one way to say I love you and it’s so true. But now, now I’ll never forget how loved I am, and now you know that if I do, you can remind me of how lucky I am to have all of you.”
Buck will only need a hand extended to him so that he can pull himself out of his own hell.
“You do have all of us,” Eddie tells him. “You have me.”
This elites an almost amused smile out of Buck – the irony would have gutted him.
“You’re my best friend,” Buck says.
“No – I mean, yes.”
Eddie bites his lips and then he must decide on something because he stares right at Buck, showing none of the hesitation he has been carrying around Buck for the past couple of weeks.
Christopher’s teacher, Ana, she asked me out on a date. I think I’m gonna go.
“Listen,” Eddie starts decidedly. “I’m sorry I got so distant.”
“It’s okay.”
“But it’s not, I never said anything and I pulled away and then I couldn’t look at you anymore. You deserve so much better than that.”
The ache of it is still present – all of his suffering is still there. If there is a magical cure for pain, then Buck hasn’t found it, but he can live with it. Time heals all things, and he has time still to grow and to live.
“Explain,” he offers, gentle. “Then we can fix it, together.”
Eddie nods and he takes a moment to gather his thoughts. He has known it since the first first moment he has laid eyes on him, but Buck is endlessly in awe of Eddie’s beauty – not only physical. Everything about Eddie is stunning.
“Did you see me in the future you stayed dead?”
Buck startles. This not anything he would have expected Eddie to start with.
“Yes,” he admits in an exhale.
“How was I?”
It’s not something he wants to ever think about again, but he has found that sometimes the things he does not want to think about are the things he should put his focus on. Ignoring them won’t make them go away, they will only bury themselves deep within and rot the foundations of who he is from the inside until it risks crumbling him entirely.
“It was years after I died,” Buck says slowly. “You were talking to Hen, she kept saying that you had to date people, but you wouldn’t hear it.”
Eddie laughs but it’s dry.
“Of course,” he scoffs, without humor, and self-deprecate somehow. “You know why future me wouldn’t date anyone? Because you were gone and nothing else could ever compare to you, Buck.”
Buck frowns, “Because… I’m your best friend?”
“Because I’m in love with you.”
He freezes, “What?”
It can’t be. This doesn’t make sense, and yet – Eddie would never lie about that, he would never make fun of Buck.
Still, “But Ana?”
“I never went on a date with her,” Eddie confesses, flooring Buck all the more. “I told you that I would but I never managed to even give her a call.”
“I don’t understand,” Buck admits. “If you love me, why did you – ?”
He trails off, unable to finish the sentence. It’s only the air blowing on his skin from the opened window and the hurried rhythm of his heartbeat that reminds him that this is indeed real, this is not a dream and he is alive.
“I’m so sorry,” Eddie whispers but his gaze never leaves Buck. “I didn’t know how to handle it, it felt too real, too big. One night we were cleaning up the dishes together and we didn’t even have to talk. I felt peaceful, like I’d never been before. And I got – ”
“Scared?”
“And guilty.”
“Why?” Buck asks. He wants to reach out to Eddie, drag him into his arms, but he holds himself still.
“I’ve never loved Shannon like I love you. I know that Shannon and I could have never made it together, no matter what happened.”
They were never meant to work together, Nitya had said.
“But you,” Eddie continues, “I love you so much, and you and Chris get along so well. It just, it feels so easy to be a family with you.”
And though they have so much to discuss still, Buck feels a piece of his heart shift and settle, giving him a newfound sense of peace. He was lost at sea for so long, drifting in a storm, and it’s only now that he sees land on the horizon.
There are still miles to go, but he knows his release is coming.
“She’s dead and we never even got a chance to try,” Eddie laments. “Not as partners but as co-parents. For Christopher, we could have tried. Now she is gone and we will never know. And we spent so much time trying before, staying together when we both knew it wouldn’t lead anywhere, hurting each other because we didn’t know how else to be around each other.”
Eddie releases a shaky breath and this time Buck doesn’t resist, he steps closer, close enough to make Eddie feel his presence, but with distance enough that he does not feel trapped.
“I look at you, Buck, and I see this new beautiful chance at love.”
“But you’re guilty because Shannon will never get one,” Buck finishes for him.
Eddie only nods, dejected, but Buck won’t let that happen.
Silently, he opens his arms and, without hesitation, Eddie comes to crash into the embrace, breathless and trembling.
“You deserve good things, Eddie Diaz,” Buck tells him, hoping his certainty will be enough to make Eddie see the truth of his words. “It’s not your fault Shannon died and you shouldn’t spend your life living in regrets and remorse.”
“I know,” Eddie mutters, but knowing and coming to terms with it are two very different things.
“I’m in love with you too.”
What a relief to say it out loud at last.
“You deserve to be happy, Eddie, I want you to be happy. I loved you in silence for a long time, since we met if I’m being honest, and I will love you forever. I died and I didn’t tell you how I felt. All the reasons I was holding back feel meaningless now. I love you. I’m in love with you, and I will wait for you as long as you need.”
Eddie tightens his hold on Buck but he stays quiet.
“We can be great together, we’d work. We both deserve this, we deserve to be happy, and Eddie, you deserve that most of all.”
“I don’t think I’ll need a long time.”
Buck closes his eyes to enjoy the press of Eddie’s body against his, the smell of his shampoo, sweet and fruity, the warmth of his skin against his skin where they meet – it’s intoxicating, a delirious drug Buck doesn’t mind becoming addicted to.
“It’s okay, I can wait,” he promises. “I’ve seen worlds where we’re not in each other’s lives, and they were grim. Maybe, we truly are meant to be, or maybe we make that decision for ourselves everyday. Whatever it is, I choose you, in this world and in any other there is. It’ll always be you.”
Eddie leans away from Buck but only to look straight into his eyes, his own are burning with love and sincerity.
“My heart beats for you, always. It will still beat for you in death.”
Wordless, breathless, Buck reaches for Eddie. He presses his lips at the corner of his mouth, not quite a kiss – a promise.
There will be more.
They keep on holding each other afterwards, drawing strength and support in one another.
“Nitya,” Eddie starts but stops for a moment before continuing. “I don’t know how to feel about her.”
“She helped me see what I couldn’t see. And I’m not saying I’ll never get depressed again, but I know I have you and that it will never change. She gave me a second chance.”
Eddie’s hand goes to caress Buck’s birthmark, almost of its own volition it seems.
“Then I’m glad she was there.”
“Happy thing I died, huh?” Buck jokes, but Eddie makes a pained noise and his fingers move to grip at the back of his head, bringing their faces together, foreheads pressing together.
“Don’t. Don’t even joke about that.”
His eyes are closed – Buck puts his hands on Eddie’s sides, bringing him ever closer.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, I didn’t think.”
“When the floor gave in, I thought I’d lost you.”
“You didn’t, I’m here. I made it out.”
Eddie opens his eyes and they shine brighter than Nitya’s ever could.
“You found your way back to us.”
“I did. I always will.”
There are few things Buck knows for certain. He knows his family loves him, he knows his life matters, and he knows he will always fight to get back to the ones he loves.
Six months later
“Hey guys,” Buck whispers as loud as he dares – he is wearing a smile bright enough to rival the sun.
“How’s the world’s best baby?” Albert asks in the same tone, right by his side and smiling just as bright.
Maddie and Chim both laugh quietly. They have dark circles under their eyes but they are glowing with joy and pride.
Next to Maddie’s hospital bed, there is a cradle and inside of that cradle, Buck can see a tiny teeny baby – his heart grows tenfold.
“Do you two want to meet your niece?” Maddie asks, grinning.
Buck’s eyes meet his sister’s and both Buckley siblings share the same look of pure boundless happiness. He is almost shaking with anticipation and so he lets Albert hold their niece first. His nerves calm at the sight of the usual bouncy man so delicate as he cradles the baby close to him.
Hope Han-Buckley stirs when she is placed in her Uncle Albert’s arms but she remains fast asleep.
“She’s beautiful,” Albert breathes out – Buck isn’t surprised to see him tearing up too.
The room has become a bubble only for them, no outside noise reaches them, all attention fixed on Hope in her uncle’s arms.
Buck is impatient to hold her but he can’t deny Albert this moment with her, but Albert, kind and sweet, must sense his growing excitation because he turns to him with a smile.
“Do you want to hold her?”
He is too overcome with emotions to speak so he gives a small nod, and then, Hope is being settled into his arms in all her blue-stripped bodysuit glory.
“Hi there,” Buck murmurs, voice wet. “I’m your Uncle Buck.”
“Isn’t she so small?” Chim says, awed. “She’s basically peanut-sized.”
Buck smiles – so this is where the nickname came from.
Once more, he thinks of Nitya.
He is endlessly grateful for her and for her intervention. If she hadn’t stepped in, he would have never been able to hold his niece close to his heart and listen to the hushed voices of Chim and Maddie talking, while Albert seems to have appointed himself as their official photographer.
Hope opens her eyes slightly, fixing them on Buck, and Buck melts.
“Hello, Hope.”
What a perfect name for a child that represents a second chance for so much of her family.
Her parents have found in each other the love and support they have been searching for so long in the wrong people. Albert finds in her and his brother another chance at a family – here in Los Angeles, both Hans have found a family that their father was never able to give them.
And to Buck, she is hope personified – the beauty after the darkest chapter of his life.
Months ago, Buck could have never imagined himself to experience such uninhibited elation.
Had he kept on giving up, he would have never experienced this moment, and though he owes a lot to Nitya, he has to recognize and celebrate his own strength.
It was his decision to go back to Earth. If he had continued refusing to see what was before him, he would have never gotten to that point.
It takes a lot of courage to recognize that one was wrong, but it is always the right thing to do – for oneself and for the world, however big the world might be for one single person.
“She’s perfect,” Buck says, and Chim grins.
“She’s our daughter, was there ever any doubts she would be?”
Buck laughs along with everyone else, he is too happy to tease back.
Hope will grow to become the kid he has seen, and this Hope will have her Uncle Buck, and he will tell her stupid jokes to make her laugh, teach her how to get out of troubles with her parents – do everything an uncle should do.
Until then, he holds her tiny frame closer to him.
Life goes on.
Hope grows.
Some things change, some remain the same.
Soon, it’s close to three years after Buck died.
His story could have been very straight-forward – death and then that’s it, it’s done. One chance at life gone by, too late to change anything.
But like anything in his life, he had to make it more complex. His death was only a detour.
Buck doesn’t have to imagine how life would have been had he remained dead, and those images haunt him to this day.
(The first time Athena gave him a forehead kiss, Buck all but collapsed into her arms, crying, apologizing for a pain he hadn’t caused, and though she must not have understood half of what he was saying, she still held him close until his sobs subdued.)
Sometimes, his self-worth slips away from him, but when that happens, he turns to his family.
They are quick to reassure him of their love for him. It’s not always saying the words aloud, a simple moment shared together can be enough to ease his worrying heart.
Learning how to love himself has also made him a more present friend – he is freer, freed from the burden of his darkness, more in touch with his emotions and so he can be there for them more firmly.
Life isn’t beautiful every day.
Some days are gloomy and dark.
Some days he even wishes he hadn’t begged Nitya to send him back. He wishes that he had let the flames swallow him whole.
Those days never last. The sun always rises, chasing away the shadows.
Everything is fleeting. Darkness will not surround him at all times, and the moments of joy are to be cherished when they happen to keep himself warm when his heart grows cold again.
Happiness isn’t euphoria because euphoria never lasts.
Happiness is grounding and stable and Buck is happy.
And on this day, as he holds hands with Eddie, proclaiming their love for each other in front of all their family to be joined in marriage, he is happier than he has ever been.
And when they walk down the aisle, cheered by everyone they love, Hope and Christopher throwing flowers the highest and cheering the loudest, Buck spares one thought to the one who allowed him this moment.
Never will he forget Nitya, spirit of flame and the Earth and the stars who showed him the truth. It wasn’t easy and she hadn’t been soft on him but neither had she been cruel.
He needed to accept his own worth and she had showed him the way.
Buck has no idea if she can see him now, if she knows what he has become. One day, hopefully not for a long time, he will meet her again and he will only have question to ask her.
Have I made you proud?
Something tells him he has. If anything, he has made himself proud at least.
Out of the corner of his eyes, among the crowd, Buck catches sight of impossibly dark skin and glinting eyes and he turns just in time to see Nitya disappear into nothingness.
“Buck? You alright?”
He turns towards Eddie, his future, and he smiles.
“I’ve never been happier.”
Nothing is given in life but the present. This doesn’t scare him anymore.
He can go on to live it to the fullest.