Always Have

As the sun began to dip below the horizon, casting a warm, golden hue across the sky, a gentle breeze swept through the trees, rustling their leaves like a contented sigh. The air was filled with the sweet scent of blooming flowers and the chirping of countless birds, as if nature herself was celebrating the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of two people who had found their way back to each other.............or something like that. Colton and Mallory were introduced by friends at the age of 12. It wouldn't be until 4 years later that they finally decide to get together. In 2013 Mallory finally said yes to the boy who had been on her case for years. Colton had asked her every year on the same day! They never knew life was the put into hyper drive at that moment. Unknowing by the time their first year of dating they would already have a new baby, by the second be married, and by the third be so close to meeting the second baby. They moved, moved some more, and moved even more. The tasks and problems they put themselves into always solved, memories always made. Even added a third baby! Through every single thing that happened one thing has never changed, if there was Mallory, Colton followed shortly after (usually with small children yelling, laughing, or elsewise drawing attention right behind both of them). They are and always will be a team, a force, a unit, a pair, or whatever else you may want to call them. They are absolutely without a single doubt what love should be. Colton and Mallory walked hand in hand, their steps slow and deliberate, savoring the moment and the quiet beauty that surrounded them. They stopped beneath the branches of an ancient oak tree, its gnarled trunk a testament to the countless years it had stood tall, witness to countless stories both joyous and tragic. It seemed fitting that they should find each other here, beneath the sheltering branches of this wise old tree. As they sat on a nearby log, Mallory leaned into Colton, feeling the warmth of his body and the steady beat of his heart. She gazed up at him, her eyes shining with love and gratitude, and wondered how she had ever managed to find her way back to him. It had been a long and winding road, fraught with danger and heartache, but somehow, someway, they had found their way back to each other. The memory of their shared past flooded back to her: the training, the battles, the trials they had faced together. They had made quite the formidable team, she mused. Not only had they saved the world from the tyrannical rule of the dragon, but they had also managed to slay the beast itself, earning them the title of Dragon Slayers and the eternal gratitude of the kingdom. As Colton chuckled softly, a deep rumble that vibrated through her. "You know, I've often wondered what we would have done if we had never met." He paused, searching her eyes for a response. "Would we have still ended up where we are now? Slaying dragons, saving the world?" Who will ever know?