Revolution- Runaways 3 [EDITING]

Epilogue: Peyton

The soft hum of the plane's engine was doing its best to lull me to sleep. Our flight from Seattle to Atlanta was almost five hours long, and we hadn't even made it through half of it. Eli had a book cracked open in his lap and a cheap set of earphones hooked into his phone. I had a movie playing on my screen, but it was getting boring. I had figured out the plot in the first five minutes. Right now, sleep seemed like a better option.

I leaned my head up against the window, watching the sun reflect on the clouds. It had been raining when we took off, but you would never be able to tell from this height. Up here, the weather was always nice. I had flown more in the past eight months than I had flown in my entire life, but the view never got old.

"You might be more comfortable over here." Eli's voice startled me. He had pulled out an earbud and was smirking at me. I raised an eyebrow, knowing full well what he meant. That didn't mean I was going to do it. "Oh, come on, you can't be tired of me already."

I rolled my eyes. Luckily this was a smaller plane, and we were seated on a row with only two available seats. "This is not the same as the CCSA planes, Eli. We're in public." But I rested my head on his shoulder anyway, giving in. The other passengers would just have to deal with it.

"This is all so bittersweet," he noted. "I already miss Canada."

"I know." We had been the last two people to leave, aside from Liz and Stella. Both had been employed by the administration in the past few months. Everyone else had left before Christmas, except for Luke and Daniel who had flown out the first week of January. That was a month ago now.

"But I can't wait to see my family," I admitted.

He squeezed my hand. "Neither can I. I want to meet whoever was lucky enough to raise you for the past seventeen years, because they did a pretty darn good job."

I chuckled. "You know Eli, we're in public."

"Shut up."

After months of discussion, Eli and I had finally decided to fly back and live in South Carolina, at least for a few months. We would both finish our GEDs and find jobs that would last until we could save enough money to move away. That had been my idea. Yes, I wanted to see my family, and I owed it to them after disappearing for eight months, but South Carolina harbored too many haunting memories for me. I could never live there for the rest of my life.

"You know, I also have to ask your dad—"

"We're in public," I hissed. As if the PDA wasn't enough for him. Geez.

"I forget how shy you are sometimes," he teased. I wanted to tell him to shut up this time, but I didn't. He would have just laughed.

The promise ring he had given me weighed heavy on my finger. I knew he was going to propose soon, but it wasn't going to be as soon as we had expected. The change in our plans that included visiting my family had shifted his vision. He still wanted to marry me, but he was a southern gentleman at heart. He insisted on requesting my dad's permission first, and that was going to be harder than he realized.

It would take months before we could be engaged. I tried to remind myself that that was a good thing. Maybe we had been moving too quickly at first, and this was how it was always meant to turn out. But it still disappointed me a little.

"We have all the time in the world," he stated out of the blue.

He said that phrase so often these days. Every time the new president was televised announcing the trial of another camp officer, every time one of our friends left Canada for good, every time one of us mentioned tying the knot, he would say those words. It was a constant reminder that our lives were no longer on the line.

We could struggle through the end of high school, or what our version of it would be. We could find jobs in one of the many newly reopened restaurants and clothing stores. We could save money grudgingly so we could fly to Arizona to see Micaiah and Reese, or California to see Alex and Anderson. We could find a car and take the drive down to Charleston when we wanted to see Daniel and Luke. We had the chance to live normally again.

I closed my eyes, thankful to be in the arms of the man I loved. He was still here, after everything we had been through. Colin, Marcus, Aaliyah, Kylie, and every other person who had their days cut short because of the Department of Genetics had not died in vain. The victories had come slowly, but they had come nevertheless.

My thumb brushed Eli's promise ring. "I love you," I whispered, begging him to understand every feeling I had put behind the statement.

He kissed my forehead. "I love you too Peyton. Always."