A/N: This is for October8th2005, as well as all of my other readers (Em, Beez, lots4love, d4s, cj).

The setting sun still felt like it was burning, and the smell of the sea had infiltrated their skin. She sat on the beach towel, her long legs stretching out from underneath her dress and her arms extended behind her, supporting her. Dan couldn't quite decide what she had fixed her eyes on; she seemed to look at something and at nothing. And from where he was standing, she was as beautiful as she had always been.

He sat beside her, slowly touching his lips to her cheek once they were at the same level. She turned her head to look at him, and smiled gently when she saw him do the same.

'What are you thinking about?' he asked, covering her hand with one of his.

'You,' she said, and looked at him again, grinning at how cheesy it sounded. 'And me,' she finished, dropping her gaze by the minuscule difference needed to avoid looking straight at him. And through him.

'And...' he encouraged, his fingers caressing the back of her hand.

'And I'm not sure if I want to know what the future holds for us yet or not. I mean...where do we go from here?'

'Where is this coming from?' He tried to keep his voice calm and gentle, but not caring if he didn't manage. Why did it feel like he was treading on thin ice?

'I'm just scared that, once we go back home tomorrow, I'll be at work all day, and the New York Times will refuse to let you come home and we'll never see each other. And you'll have a pretty secretary and a hot boss and, after a while, you won't even want to come home to a tired me.' She added the last part with a soft smile, hoping to lighten the heavy tension she felt hovering over them.

Relief allowed him to laugh, and he placed his hands on her hips, encouraging her to move on his lap.

'I knew I shouldn't have let you spend so much time in the sun. It affected you quite a bit, didn't it?' One of his hands rested on her thigh, his thumb caressing the soft surface of it, while the other cupped her cheek, feeling it tense as she giggled.

'Serena, everything else in my life comes second. You are my main priority, more important than my new job, or my supposedly hot boss.' She laughed again, gently placing her hand on his cheek, her forehead leaning on his. 'The end of this vacation is only the beginning of our lives together. And you shouldn't be scared of that, because as long as we're together, we're more powerful than anything.'

'Do you realise how cheesy what you just said is?' Her lips were stretched in a beautiful smile just inches away from his.

'Oh, I realise,' he said, and closed the distance between their mouths.

-xoxo-

As soon as their plane landed at JFK, Serena knew she left a part of her, a part of them, behind between crumpled sheets, hot sand and gentle waves. What scared her the most was the fact that she would never get it back; she would always miss the element of the freedom and youth of a young adult relationship. Setting foot in New York meant that she was officially an adult, required to present to work the following day wearing a much too expensive suit and six-inch Louboutins. It seemed that nowhere in her new life was a place for midnight walks in Central Park, or anymore 'vacations', or even sea food paella on the terrace. Mornings wasted in bed replaced by early coffees in the office, midnight crises instead of falling asleep in his arms in front of a really outdated movie.

With every metre they advanced towards the Upper East Side, she wanted to shed another tear. But she didn't want to worry him; the man whose hand was intertwined with hers, and whose shoulder she rested her head on.

It was almost midnight when they arrived at their apartment, and Dan gave their bags to the doorman, then came to collect her from the car.

'Do you feel like going for a walk, or are you too tired?' he asked, smiling, as he already knew the answer.

-xoxo-

The park was as beautiful as always, and, as they walked, her arm around his waist and his around her shoulders, just as eons ago, she had a strange feeling in her heart that she was leaving it behind; ridiculous for someone not only living in Manhattan, but also a few metres away from its gates.

She enjoyed the faded darkness of the park, the occasional flickers of light from the streetlamps reminding her too much of a city she was trying to forget.

They walked down the same path as always, eventually arriving at their bench, the most random bench in a park filled with them, but which meant a bit too much to both of them. He stopped there, and turned to face her, taking both her hands in his. She saw him look at her, and turned her head to one side, smiling gently. So he just lifted one of his hands and turned it her gaze back to his.

'I hate it when you do that,' he explained.

'So, you know how we talked about our future, and whatever it holds for us here, in New York. Well, I am of the opinion, and this can just be me, by the way, that we can make our future together. That way we don't have to guess.' Serena noticed his eyebrows bend together, slightly, as he dropped one of her hands and searched in the pocket of his jeans.

'This is my promise to you, Serena, that you will never have to fear being alone. That you will never have to worry about there not being an us, or about anything else that you were yesterday. I want this to be me giving you the security you need or want. This is my promise to you that I will love you forever. Just like I'm meant to.'

One of her hands impulsively covered her mouth once she saw him get down on one knee. Her eyes rested on the delicate ring, and she couldn't stop a stubborn tear from escaping the corner of her eye.

'Serena. Will you marry me?'

He watched so many emotions flow through her, every fresh tear counting for one. He waited patiently, hoping she would finally utter the answer he was hoping for. He didn't even think about what would happen otherwise.

She finally spoke. An unorthodox answer.

'What about our parents?' she said, moving her arms around her, nervously, clearly not knowing what to do with them.

As weird as it sounded, he knew that question might have been asked that night. And at that moment.

'What about them?' he asked. She let out a weak laugh and knelt in front of him, placing her hands either side of his face. She felt like, at that moment, she forgot how to utter those three letters she wanted to say. So she kissed him, water sprawling from her cheek onto his.

Once they pulled away, he took her left hand into his, and gently placed the ring on her finger. He lifted it to his lips, and kissed it, only to pull her closer to him afterwards and unite their mouths again. They moulded perfectly against each other, and her arms locked around his neck once she felt his tongue slip gently against hers.

Slowly, he felt her relax against him, and, later, he took a moment to touch his lips tenderly to her temple, once, twice, a third time.

Their foreheads joined, and he saw that her eyes dried, yet her smile was still strong on her perfect face.

'So is this your idea of a 'yes'? Because otherwise I might need that ring back,' he joked, and kissed her cheek.

She laughed in the way that four-year-old way that he loved the most, and hid her head his shoulder, only after whispering a soft 'yes' in his ear.

-xoxo-

Her office was spacious, and her assistant efficient, and she expected a lot more to do for the first day. But she only browsed through old issues of Cosmopolitan, gently smiling when she would see herself on some of the pages.

The phone on her desk rang, and as soon as she heard his voice, her eyes lit up.

'So your secretary sounds professional,' he said.

'Yeah, she actually is. Have you met your boss yet?' she asked, impatient to hear the reply to that.

'Of course I have. Got assigned my first piece.'

Her eyes rolled, and her fingers started tapping the desk in front of her. 'Okay, so on a scale of one to ten, what would you rate her? And remember we're engaged, so you can't lie to me.'

She heard him laugh on the end of the line. 'Ooh, I would say a definite seven or eight.' An unexplained chill washed through her. 'There's just one problem. Married men are really not my type.'

She laughed loudly with him, her fingers stilling instantly. 'You won't meet him, though. I kind of have a problem with that,' he clarified, and she smiled.

She wouldn't have wanted to anyway.

'So you said you got assigned your first piece today. Can you tell me what it is, or will I have to wait a week to find out?'

'It's the beautiful story of a couple belonging to different worlds, who, after going through so much, got engaged one night in Central Park. It's the story of the happiest man in the world. I think I can relate to that.'

She basically heard him smile through the phone.

Just as she was. 'Dan?'

'Yeah,' he encouraged.

'I love you.'

He did too.

A/N: I missed writing for this story, so I took a bit of time to (hopefully) surprise you with an epilogue. I hope you guys like it, and if you do, PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks for your support :) Christina xxx