“Good now, squeeze your hand shut,” Caelan smiled and I did what he asked, watching my prosthetic close around the apple in my palm but not crush it, “perfect. I think, with the fact you've officially stopped crushing everything we give you and can do small skills, I'll let your primary doctor know you don't need therapy anymore.”

“Really?” I smiled at my dad and he nodded happily before turning to Beau who was practicing jumping across the backyard, Ranger at his side.

“Yep. Both of you actually. Beau being able to jump without falling was the last thing I wanted him to finish. His strength has returned and you can function fine without us. You're both totally stable. Only took a year and a half.”

Beau smiled at me from his spot near a tree and I rested my chin on my right hand, startling myself as I regularly forgot that even if it was false, the implants in my shoulder and neck meant I could process sensation. We had spent the last year and a half together, healing and learning what normal meant for us now. For Beau, it was first learning to walk with a metal rod replacing his tibia and new metal knee. They tried to repair it during surgery but found it impossible and instead he had it replaced. His leg was deeply scarred but it didn't bother him as he was happy to simply be alive. Healing for me meant first the surgery for my prosthetic, followed by adjusting to the weight of wearing it before I even started learning to use it. It was deep black and I regularly wore sweaters to cover it when in public, still not quite ready for people to ask me what happened or stare. I never hid the hand but no one said anything so I was working toward being comfortable in short sleeves. I also had to learn about new foods I had never tried, eating something special everyday to find out what I had missed. I did find that I hated most fruit outside of melons and strawberries but soft textures like mashed potatoes and custard were now my favorites.

Kaia and Triss had gotten engaged during this time, Kaia dragging me to help her pick a wedding dress along with Alexander and a few of her friends from university. I was by far the most critical, finally helping her settle on a simple champagne-colored dress that showed off her entire back, a small string of pearls going down her spine and the chest was deeply cut, giving you a better view of the figure Kaia worked hard to achieve.

Beau spent the entirety of this time with me, lying around my parent's house and looking toward the future together. I had finally settled on something but had yet to tell him as I wanted to get Caelan's thoughts first.

“Hey, Dad?” I whispered and Caelan nodded, leaning closer, “I never changed majors. I decided that if Uncle Cash can be a dentist with a prosthetic, I can still be a pediatrician and the university accommodates students like me.”

“Really? Oh, Koa that's wonderful,” he laughed, hugging me tightly, “you'll be the most amazing pediatrician. Kids love you. We'll rent you another apartment so you can stay close to campus once you have to be there for classes.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey!” Beau ran over pouting, “why are we so happy?”

“Well,” I smiled and Caelan left us alone to talk. I grabbed Beau and pulled him into my lap, making him gasp loudly, “I didn't change majors. I'm still going to be a doctor. You're the entire reason I don't want to give up. I have to take care of you after all.”

“Koa,” he breathed out, studying me, “really?”

“I know university is killing you. You're stressed and angry all the time. So fuck it. We're 20 and 19 now. Quit university and move to an apartment with me. I'll work my way through school, you do whatever it is you want during the day. I don't care, I just want you with me.”

“I… I don't know,” he smiled nervously, “I want to finish university though. I haven't declared a major but I will now.”

“Yeah? For what?” I rubbed his thigh with my fingers, grateful I was able to feel it and he wrapped his arms around my neck slowly.

“Instead of nursing, I'll get a degree in medical front office. I'll learn how to bill insurance, manage patient appointments, and clerking. That way, when you open a clinic, I can run the front and you handle patients. We'll get nursing staff, I'll help manage them. We'll figure it out together.”

“Together,” I whispered, reaching up to pull his hair as it now came to his middle back.

“Koa,” he smiled, closing his eyes and I bit my lip.

We'd been equally tiptoeing around our feelings for the last year and a half and I refused to do anything about it. I was happy with what we had, scared if I tried to push it any further I would lose Beau. But I could tell he was getting impatient and I couldn't string him along for much longer. I either needed to ask him to be with me or let him go and we both knew that.

“Beau? Are you staying for dinner?” Caelan called from the backdoor and Beau practically fell out of my lap in a panic.

“Yeah! My mom's are going to Auckland tonight to see Arianna.”

Arianna was Beau's older sister, the same age as me, and she was attending the University of Auckland to major in social work. They looked quite similar, the same red hair and hazel eyes, but she was incredibly small, only four foot eleven. Arianna was also intensely shy, I had only spoken to her five times in nearly twenty years, but I knew she was a good person and Beau missed her a bit.

“Alright. After dinner, I want you to look at a few places, Koa. Your Matua found them, we want you to pick.”

“I don't particularly care, you can pick for me,” I laughed softly, disengaging the magnets on my prosthetic and pulling it off as my shoulder was tired.

“Trust me, you'll want to pick.”

“Fine,” I rolled my eyes and scratched Ranger when he came over to me, “there's my boy,” I cooed, making Ranger bark.

“Do you want to take him for a walk after we eat?” Beau smiled and I nodded, “It'll be good for my leg.”

“We won't go super far but I love that idea. We have to look at apartments first though,” I smacked my neck when a mosquito bit me, “gross. Let's go inside, I hate when this starts happening.”

I grabbed my arm from the table as Beau went to get the single forearm crutch he used when he got tired from the grass and we headed inside, finding my parents huddled around a laptop as Caelan stirred something in a pot. I no longer panicked when he cooked, grateful to eat whatever he made for me, and I started learning to cook better as well, knowing how important it would be for the future.

“What's going on?” I plugged my arm into its charging port near the backdoor as the mechanics worked on a battery and not my body's energy.

“We're just looking at places. I'm making that spicy beef stew you like,” Caelan smiled, “never dreamed you'd want things like this.”

“Me either,” laughing, I absentmindedly scratched the scar on my chest from the accident, “so. Can I see these places now?”

“After we eat. Dinner is basically ready so take a seat.”

I pulled out a chair and gestured to Beau who happily took it before I sat next to him. I did this every night essentially as he seemed to always eat dinner with us. He never wanted to leave our house and I never wanted him to, needing him around me.

“Here,” Alexander served us soup followed by a glass of white wine for each of us as we had come of age at 18 and he had no qualms as long as we didn't drive. I was still a bit scared to be behind the wheel so Beau would drive us most of the time if we went anywhere together, “Koa? How was therapy?”

“Oh!” I smiled at Caelan who returned it with a laugh, “I'm officially done. Dad isn't worried about me anymore, I stopped crushing everything he gave me to hold. I can pick up pens, pins, and small objects with my fingers. Just can't write but I could already do that left-handed so it hasn't bothered me. I also can't type but I use a dictation program and that works better for me. I just make small adjustments when needed. Beau finished therapy today too.”

“Yep!” Beau giggled, “I can officially jump and run without exhaustion or fear of falling. I do have to have my knee checked every ten years since it's not real as well as probably needing it replaced but I don't care.”

“That's amazing. We got the settlement from the lady that hit you as well. She was drunk,” Alexander sighed, taking a sip of wine and I nodded, “couldn't stop in time. They did see she made some attempts but not early enough. So it's a $300 thousand dollar payout to you each for damages now that the case has officially closed. Koa, yours came today, and I know your parents have yours, Beau. Plenty enough to cover part of medical school or whatever you plan to do.”

“Medical school,” I nodded, making Alexander beam in pride, “I won't let the accident hold me back anymore. I still want to open my own clinic and help lower-income families. I might not make as much as you do, but I'll take pride in my work.”

“That's what matters,” Alexander patted my hand, “and you, Beau?”

“Oh medical records and billing to run the front of Koas clinic. We already planned to work together anyway, I just don't want to be a nurse.”

“That's lovely. Well, eat up and we'll show you the places we found. I think they're perfect for a 20-year-old university student.”

“Beau is coming with me. Do any have two bedrooms?”

“Yes,” Caelan smiled, “I figured he'd go so I made sure they all did.”

“Thank you.”

We ate dinner slowly, enjoying each other's company as Beau sipped his wine between bites, his face bright red from how spicy the stew was. I felt the same, my taste buds still not fully adjusted to the heat of certain foods but I loved it.

Once dinner was done, we moved to the sunroom to watch Ranger run around the backyard, the wall entirely open and mosquito netting down to keep the bugs out but allow the breeze of a wonderful spring night as it was now October.

“I love spring,” I sighed happily, making Beau laugh.

“This is autumn back in New York. Remember when I went with my parents two years ago and was super confused by the weather?”

“Oh right! Well still. It's spring, no matter what anyone says.”

“Here,” Alexander dropped his laptop on me and I gasped, “What?”

“Matua, these are townhouses. Not apartments!”

“You'll be in school for another 6 years including clinicals. You'll want a home, not a tiny apartment. Trust me, it's why I got my house when I lived in America. Somewhere comfortable with a bit more privacy.”

“I can't afford this…”

“We know,” Caelan patted my head, “it's going to come out of the fund we have set aside for you. The same one we have for Kaia. So look at these and pick one. Have Beau help.”

“Well… okay.”

I looked through 10 different places before I stopped, a small smile on my face as I flipped through pictures of a beautiful townhouse. It was about 16 minutes from my parent's house, the bottom of the townhouse made of a darker wood, the top story white brick with large windows. There was a garage that shared a driveway with the people next to me but I would be on the end so I didn't share a wall with another townhouse. The front door opened to the open-concept kitchen, dining room, and living room. All of the walls were white, and the kitchen was galley style, everything on the same wall that ran parallel to the driveway. Above the counters were an entire row of cabinets with lights under them. There was plenty of room for a dining table and I could see that whoever staged it, had separated the living room from the kitchen and dining with a couch. There was no real back garden, just a deck made of the same wood as the siding and I smiled when I realized it was similar to our sunroom, the wall opening entirely to let fresh air in. There was a small bathroom with a shower across from the staircase that led to the second floor which held two bedrooms, one facing the backyard and the other to the front which meant they shared a wall. At the end of the hallway was the last bathroom, this one with a shower and tub combo. Every room was white either by paint or tile and the floors were gray carpet except the bathroom and kitchen that had small octagonal white tiles.

“This,” I whispered, “I like this one.”

“Me too,” Beau smiled, “it's cute and has plenty of space for two single men like us.”

“That's good because that's the one I bought,” Alexander snorted and I snapped my head over surprised, “it reminded me of the apartment in Tokyo and you loved it. So I decided to buy this townhouse. If you truly hated it, I would have used it as a rental. You can move in whenever. I already have the keys. It'll stay in our name until you marry, Koa. Then you can decide what to do with it.”

“Th-thank you… but why do this for me?”

“Well. First and foremost, we're your parents. But we're proud. More than anything, we're immensely proud of how far you've come since the accident,” Caelan hugged me tightly and I buried my face into his neck, “you're also our baby. We have to help you take those first steps into adulthood along with your best friend. We knew Beau would want to go with you, so we ensured there was space for him too.”

“I have no words beyond thank you and I love you,” I laughed, cleaning my face with my shirt, “Beau? Can you see us living here?”

“As long as we come to your parents or mine a few times a week for dinner. Absolutely,” Beau laughed.

“Everything stays the same as we planned it originally,” Alexander rubbed my upper back, “neither of you are to work during university. We'll pay your bills and send you a bit every month for food and things you need. You focus on getting your medical degree, Beau you work hard to become the best medical office manager you can. We'll take care of you until you're adults and on your feet.”

“This means so much to me. Thank you,” I whispered.

“Always Koa. Always.”