Box Shaped Heart Ch. 34

A little. I mean, he could have been dead. That changes a person.

I'd say you should be careful, that's all.

"I thought I was remembering everything about the accident. But, oddly enough, until that girl came up and spoke, I wasn't. Not everything," Alex explained. "I had no recollection of you saying that, you know, before seeing the video. About how you wanted Aron to be happy. It must be nice," he said, his beautiful green eyes darting to one side.

"What?" Carter asked.

"You know. To feel for someone like that. To have someone feel for you like that."

Ah, that. All right, this was awkward. He had no idea what to say to the guy.

"You'll find someone," he said, remembering some of the things he had seen in a movie where some girl was trying to console one of her friends who tended to be awfully and unexplainably unlucky in love.

Alex smiled.

"You're just saying that," he said, but his eyes shone a little brighter.

"I suppose," Carter sighed. "I don't really know what to tell you. I just thought that would make you feel a little better."

"I think I understand now what Aron sees in you," Alex measured him through his eyelashes, his head a little thrown back. "You're a funny guy. And choked full with good intentions."

"Thanks, I guess," Carter mumbled.

The grocery bag was getting heavy in his arms. Taz was getting restless, too.

"Anyway, I'll sign the papers and I promise the divorce won't be a problem," Alex spoke.

"Ah, that's nice."

"But I'm keeping the car," Alex's eyes thinned.

"Keep the frigging car," Carter shrugged. "Aron would never take a gift back. And driving that kind of car is overrated, anyway."

"How do you know?" Alex snorted.

"I watched a documentary. A Veyron is still better," Carter said promptly.

To his surprise, Alex didn't get mad at hearing his precious vehicle getting insulted so directly. Instead, he laughed.

"Just like I said. You're funny. All right. So I suppose my karma gets a bit of its rightful balance back now that you and Aron have my blessing to get hitched," Alex spoke, but that last part seemed addressed mostly to himself.

Alex didn't seem to remember the body swap. Yet, he seemed a little changed. Maybe the whole thing did change him, at least to some degree.

"Well, I suppose this is it," Alex put on his sunglasses and threw Carter the kind of smile that was making him a star. "I would say to give my best to Aron, but frankly, I think he doesn't care about that."

"I'll tell him, anyway," Carter replied.

Alex squared his shoulders and waved goodbye as he started walking toward his car. For a while, Carter just stood there and watched the guy climbing behind the wheel. Funny, the guy was slightly turned to one side and seemed to talk to someone next to him.

Someone who did not seem to be there.

Ah, probably the guy was just using his hands free and was talking on the phone.

***

"Would you go a little outside and look for the moving truck?" Aron stole a small kiss from him, as he held his hands away from his body, like a surgeon.

"Sure thing," Carter replied with a kiss of his own.

Aron was cooking, and his hands were covered in flour. He could barely wait. Aron had said it was going to be a surprise. And this time, he hadn't bought the ingredients so he had no idea what the treat was going to be. No problem. He was ready to be surprised.

Only his things had to arrive. Although Aron had had the house completely furnished, he had agreed that a few things could be transferred from Carter's place, if not for another reason than that they both decided that it would make their home a little more Carter oriented. Aron was all for equality. Carter didn't care that much. He loved Aron's taste in curtains and everything. Although he had put some effort into choosing those plates. He only hoped the moving guys were not going to turn them into more pieces than they were.

He rushed into the street. There was no sign of the van. He was about to go back into the house when he noticed someone waving at him from the other side. Could it be ...?

Mark was gesturing for him to cross the street and he was smiling widely.

"Hey," he said, and eyed his not exactly guardian angel with a bit of unease.

"Relax, Carter," Mark patted him on the shoulder, the moment they were on the same side of the street. "I just came to say goodbye, this time for real. I'm glad to see that you remember the accident now."

"I do," Carter said slowly. "Wait, now that I remember ... oh, no, are you here to take Aron away from me?"

Mark laughed.

"Carter, you earned your happiness. And could anyone really take Aron away from you? Ever?"

"Ah, cool," he relaxed. "So, any funky business from pesky humans you need to take care of? Or you're ready to go ..." Carter gestured with his hands as if he was expecting Mark to stretch a pair of wings suddenly and soar into the sky.

"I'm actually done here for the moment and that makes me really happy. Maybe I'll even take a holiday," Mark said with mirth. "Although I must say you really did scare me. As I told you, you gave me quite the fright. Do you know now what your most ardent wish was? Still is?"

"Yeah," Carter smiled widely. "For Aron to be happy."

"That was quite an important point in the case I made for you," Mark said, nodding gravely.

"Up there, you mean?" Carter pointed at the clear sky above.

Mark nodded again.

"Can you imagine? I was just having my tea when your name started rolling on the list of the people ready to be taken over the river," Mark spoke, his eyes a bit unfocused.

"Over the river? Like Styx?" Carter asked.

"It is incredible how spot on some aspects from humankind's religions are," Mark said. "Of course, it is not a river like others."

"I guess," Carter murmured, dumbfounded with the revelations Mark was so leisurely sharing with him.

Probably it was no vital information, and the not exactly guardian angel could talk about it with a mere human.

"I ran downstairs right away and pleaded with the guy responsible with wiping the names to put your case up for hearing. The fact that you yelled from the top of your lungs that you wanted Aron to be happy really helped. It was just the stuff I needed to point out that there would be no ground for your name to be wiped so prematurely. Since your demise would have just made Aron unhappy, thus making your wish impossible."

"Wow, so you were like my lawyer?" Carter wondered. "Glad you won."

"I'm glad, too," Mark chuckled.

"Can I ask you something?" Carter said.

Mark nodded, with the same big smile on his good natured face.

"Will, you know, Alex be okay?"

Mark's eyes filled with fondness.

"Yes, I guess he will be all right. Nice of you to ask about him. Would you like a mint?" Mark changed the subject.

Carter looked at the open metal box offered and picked one.

"Does my breath stink?" he asked, and attempted to exhale into his palm to test that.

Mark laughed.

"No. But I couldn't find any blue and red pills. Plus, I like mints."

"I like them, too," Carter said and popped one into his mouth.

Hmm, it was a really good mint. Not so minty, and a little sweet? He wondered as he savored the taste.

"Where did you get these?" he asked and turned toward Mark.

Only to discover that the guy had simply disappeared.

Well, it was a bit sudden, but probably the guy was busy with who knew what other situation. It was not like he could keep a guardian angel all to himself.

Plus, he had Aron. So, all in all, it was a pretty good deal Mark had cut for him. Carefully watching for cars, he crossed the road, and walked back into the house. A pleasant smell wafted to his nostrils. Hmm, cookies?

"So, still no sign of them?" Aron called from the kitchen.

"What?" Carter asked, shaking his head.

Aron looked at him, a bit surprised.

"The moving truck. Did you make a round of the neighborhood? What do you think about it?"

"Ah, no, not exactly," Carter replied, a feeling of confusion tickling his brain like the soft feathers of a flock of birds.

"You were out for more than half an hour. Ah, you went to that small store at the end of the street?" Aron moved closer and sniffed him. "I grabbed some mints the other day from there. They don't make them like they used to, but these guys still know their stuff."

Ah, Carter clucked his tongue. Yeah, he had been to the store. And the mints were great, too.

"Want some?" he reached into his pocket and took out a metal mint box.

Aron smiled and took one.

"Yeah," Aron confirmed. "They're really good. Hey, is everything okay with you? You seem a little off."

Carter stared into Aron's eyes, and smiled.

"Worried about me?" he laughed.

Aron put his hands on Carter's shoulders and squeezed them tightly.

"Well, you do have the bad habit of running into the street, right in front of moving cars," he joked. "I might have to get a leash. For you, not for Taz."

"Ah, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do that again," Carter snickered. "Losing weeks of my life, just lying in a hospital bed, in a coma, is not exactly among my priorities. I might feel a little confused over that lost time, I think."

"Do you feel any dizziness? Or headaches?" Aron asked, looking at him, like he was ready to whisk him to the hospital that very moment.

"Nah, nothing like that. Although," Carter said slowly, "I just feel like I had the most amazing dream, and I cannot remember much of it. Ah, damn it, it's like on the tip of my ... brain."

"Your brain has a tip?" Aron chuckled.

"You have no idea," Carter laughed, too. "And he's a scumbag, too. I don't particularly like talking to him."

"You don't have to talk to him anymore," Aron brought him closer to embrace him. "I'm here, and you can talk to me anytime."

"And damn I'm glad for that," Carter laughed. "Although I'll still talk to him. Just when you're not around. And not because I'm lonely. Because I'm not. Not anymore."

Aron kissed him sweetly.

"Hmm," Carter purred in delight. "So what did you make?" he pulled at Aron's collar to hold his soon to be husband accountable for the delicious smells coming from the kitchen.

"Let me get you a madeleine," Aron said. "It will make you feel good."

"A madeleine? There's nothing you can't cook, right?" Carter commented, but he let himself dragged along, without putting up any resistance.

Aron didn't reply to that, and just pushed him to sit at the table on which a plate loaded with the small French cakes. He took one and groaned in pure delight the moment the taste hit his buds.

"Would you like some tea, too?" Aron turned holding a steaming pot.

Carter nodded enthusiastically. He was already feeling better. And memories of a strange dream involving something weird, like him living for a while in Aron's ex-husband's body, slipped from his mind as they had never been there.

Aron was his. Forever.

*****

Author's note: This was about it, good people! Next time, the epilogue will come and wrap up this story. I hope you enjoyed it until the end.

I just want to address special thanks to everyone who supported me along the way, and encouraged me. For your kind words and understanding, I will always be grateful. Carter was not always easy to write, but he was as interesting and amazing as any writer would hope for in a muse. Also, for your appreciation of him, I am deeply thankful.