Notes

A/N: I am so, so sorry.

What was it that brought them together, to be united in this perfect love?

They had known each other since they were children. They had spent time together so often that, despite all differences, others often mistook them as siblings. However, it was not until recently that they had recognized their feelings for each other. From then on, they were inseparable. They shared every part of their life with each other. That was how it was to this very day.

Yes. She often reflected upon that day with fondness. It was a day that had changed her life, after all.

Gemma, a stubborn girl rapidly approaching womanhood, stood alone on the beach, gazing over the sapphire water with her daring azure windows to her soul. Her cocoa hair danced lightly in the ocean breeze, tickling against one cheek as she tried to keep still despite her impatient excitement, resting her cheek against one hand as she adjusted her lilac glasses.

She wore a cinerescent shirt that left her pale, tinted with tawny, arms bare and cobalt shorts that looked comfortable and easy to wear. Her strands flowed in a brunet torrent past her shoulders, complementing her resolute ivory, tinted with hazel, visage. For a moment, she absorbed herself in these thoughts, of her, and Alec.
"Gemma," Alec said simply with an admiring look-over and a beaming grin. His cobalt orbscomplimented his aureate mane, belying his unique heart. He was dressed in his usual everyday clothes. He had a toned but slender body covered with bloom-colored-flushed silvery skin.

"Alec. It's nice of you to show up on time," Gemma said, daring windows to her soul flashing.

"Last week was an accident!" he protested.

"I'm just messing with you." She kissed his flushed face. With that, they began to walk along the beach. "So. What's been up with you lately?" Gemma asked. She folded her hands behind her back absently as she looked expectantly at Alec.

"Nothing," he answered. He paused and, for a moment, stared back at her uncomfortably before looking up at the sapphire sky. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Looking at you like what?"

"Like... like that!" He gesticulated furiously, cobalt eyes bright with a mixture of excitement and befuddlement. "Was I supposed to do something?"

Gemma laughed. "No! Nothing special, I just wanted to know how you've been doing." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him toward her to catch a kiss. She murmured, "Oh, Alec... I love you."

Having calmed a bit, he grapsed one of her hands in his firm ones and muttered, "I love you too."
Gemma laid her head on his shoulder and breathed, "You're just right for me, you know? With you, I can... I can really be myself."

"Gemma... I feel the same way. I mean, sometimes I'm worried I'll forget your birthday. But what kind of man doesn't worry about that? Right?"

She looked at him with eyes narrowed in mock irritation. "You do remember when my birthday is, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" he protested. "I've kept it in mind all this time so I could prepare a surprise...." Embarrassment swept across his face as he realized that he had blown the surprise. "Uh... I mean...."

Gemma's lips curled in a little smile. "A surprise, for me? That's really sweet of you. I can't wait."

"It's still awhile before your birthday, though," Alec muttered.

"Shut up and kiss me."
While they walked down the beach, they spotted a natural alcove in the cliff bordering the beach.

"Oh! Is that..." Gemma began.

Alec pressed a finger to her's lips and said, "Yeah. Shh. Come on."

The natural alcove was covered in creeping vines with leaves and tiny flowers. The sound of the ocean echoed all around them, and tiny crabs burrowed into the sand at their approach.

"It's beautiful, Alec."

"I know," he murmured as he closed the distance between them. "So are you."

Alec's lips were firm against hers, and so too were his hands. Gemma was arrested by the smell of his soap, light and fragrant over his clean skin.

When Gemma surfaced for air, she whispered, "Oh, Alec..."

It was some time before they left the alcove.
"Look... it's the sunset."

Gemma lifted her head at Alec's words to behold the dying sun's tangerine radiance. "How beautiful."

After a moment of silence, he said quietly and seriously, "It's destiny, isn't it. Us, together."

She clasped his firm hand and murmured in response, "A love this true must be fated to be."

He brought their clasped hands to his lips. "As long as the world goes on, as long as time flows... we will be together."

Gemma sighed with contentment and brought him closer. She gazed at the beautiful sunny rays of the falling sun, thinking about everything that had transpired on this day and all that would pass between them.

"I love you, Alec."

"I love you too, Gemma."

Their lips met, and auburn strands met aurulent ones, aflame in the dying light. The sand was their witness and the rumbling ocean their approving audience, and Alec, her eternally faithful lover. Gemma thought to herself that nothing could be more perfect in the world.