AN: Sorry for the ridiculously long wait time for a probably subpar and small ending chapter. For some insane reason, I still get reviews, likes and follows on this little ship that could story. So I decided it would be nice to finally give it a proper ending. Sorry it's so short, but I hope you all find it to be, at the very least, acceptable. (:

And it's dedicated to my girlfriend, my very own real-life Holly. I am so incredibly fortunate to have met her and have her in my life every day. :D

To say that Holly and I had been together for a long time now, would be an understatement. When I look back on how far our lives have taken us I am astonished. We went from two college roommates who could not stand one another, to two college roommates whose sole purpose in life was to out prank one another. When we went on that date to the arcade, I think the trajectory of our lives changed forever because everything about our relationship changed following that night.

Sure, I still love pranking the hell out of her. After years together I cannot move past eliciting her exasperated sigh due to my capers. It may be my favourite part of our relationship, actually. To see that beautiful crooked smile grace her face when she realizes I am just doing whatever it is I am doing to rile her up, well, it's the best part of all my days. How could it not be? I mean, have you seen THAT SMILE? It's definitely the eighth world wonder. Check Wikipedia, I just updated it myself.

I know with my usual antics most would assume I would have pushed Holly as far away from me as possible as our relationship came into fruition, effectively destroying it. To them I say, how dare you?! Who do you think I am?! (Okay, okay…so maybe…but do you know how hard it is to keep someone at a distance when a university board forces you to live with them? Then we made the decision to sign a lease together so there was no way of escaping that trap. Kind of hard to skedaddle to the hills with all those legal restraints. Or maybe it was the smile that kept me by her side. Or maybe it was the Holly!? It was definitely the Holly.) My bet is most people would assume Holly would have left after I pushed her away for whatever reason. Surely she would have taken her genius to some pretentious place like San Francisco or something equally as shitty, leaving me all by my lonesome in snowy, cold Canada, right? WRONG. I cannot say there haven't been times when I've probably deserved that to occur to me. Never fear, however, this story has a happy ending.

We both managed to find a job in our respective fields in Toronto. She is the chief medical examiner and I am a detective with 15 division. On days when I get really lucky, I get to deliver things to her lab and bring her lunch. We have been through a lot within our work realm, and it's been essential for me to have her by my side during difficult times. We've experienced a kidnapping and subsequent death of a trusted colleague and friend. She guided me through a shooting a short while after that in which a madman was targeting cops specifically. Despite her fear through these situations, she has been my rock. She has never once asked me to change careers or take a job riding the desk. She understands how important what I do is to me—how much it is quintessentially me. On days where I feel overwhelmed—as if what I do could never be enough, the bad guys will win anyways (and damn do I hate to lose)—she reminds me it is enough just to try. She likes to tell me if I wasn't on the force she would see many more bodies on her slab. I do not think I am that integral, but it's amazing to have someone who thinks I am.

As for our personal lives, they're much simpler. When we originally moved to Toronto, we moved in with a pair of my colleagues (and friends) Dov and Chris. That is, until Dov got drunk one night, told me he wanted to marry me, have straw hair coloured children and open presents on Christmas morning and not Christmas Eve. Sorry, buddy, have you seen my girlfriend? You're outta luck. Now, mostly, I liked to tease him about it. Which is probably awful, but it makes me laugh, and that's all that really matters to me. Following that little debacle, Holly and I moved out. It was time for our own space, anyways. We now live in a lovely place in Cabbagetown. Holly wants to get a cat, but I am not so sure I'm down with that. How do you even take care of a cat? Don't they poop in your house? What about the fur?! If I can't give it tequila we won't get along, anyways. That's our biggest squabble these days, whether or not to adopt a cat. How awesome is that? Pretty freakin' awesome if you ask me.

When I reflect back on our lives together, something Holly said to me once always dominates my mind. "Not exactly a fairy tale, still kind of beautiful, though."