Jackson

"Jackson, I think we should really talk. About...us."

A few months after the wedding, Frankie had asked me to meet her at the Coffin Bean during my lunch break so she could talk to me about something. Kieran and I both wondered what she could possibly have wanted, but I wouldn't have guessed it was about this. "What about us?" I asked, keeping my voice at a somewhat quiet level, "As far as I'm concerned, we stopped being 'us' a pretty long time ago. And—and I'm married now, so—"

"I know, and you're right. You are married," Frankie interrupted me, "and...I'm sure I made my feelings about your husband quite clear at the time. But that's why I called, whatever issues there may be between us, I think we should clear them up as best we can. We've talked a bit about it before, but every time we have, one of us always walks away right in the middle of the conversation and nothing gets resolved. And...a lot of the time that's on me. That's why I'm here. Mainly to apologize."

"Alright then..." I was listening. I wanted everything resolved, too.

"I know you told me once before that you were fine with me and Neighthan being together, and that it was okay for me to have moved on. And we've talked about you and Clair. But I have a feeling you haven't said everything you needed to," Frankie continued.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I forgive you, Frankie. I'm not angry." It was true; I'd forgiven her for everything a long time ago. It all seemed insignificant now, in the grand scheme of things.

"Still, there's more that you wanted to tell me back then, but I never gave you the chance. And I'm sorry for that."

"I mean, honestly, it was so long ago. I'm over it all by now and besides, I think I should apologize, too. As much as I wished back then that you'd been more upfront when you broke things off, I know it wasn't exactly fair of me to, you know, not let it go even after we'd both already moved on. Besides, I realize you weren't trying to hurt me or Holt, you were just trying to...not hurt us."

"Thanks, Jackson," Frankie smiled, "I'm glad you're feeling okay about everything. And you don't have anything to apologize for. And even if you did, you know me – I don't hold grudges."

"Well, I mean...sometimes you do," I reminded her.

"Yeah, I wanted to apologize for that, too – the way I was about you and Kieran for so long. Even back then I knew he'd changed his ways, I just...I don't know, there was this part of me that was scared he'd revert and that feeling clouded my judgement a lot when it came to your relationship with him. Like...I was mostly scared for you and Holt."

I raised my eyebrows. "What about the night he showed up to that Fraidy Hawkins dance, after trying to help you all? You seemed perfectly able to see it then. What changed after that?"

Frankie shrugged. "Sort of the same thing, I guess. Even though I could see that he just genuinely wanted to help, that doubtful part of me felt maybe he was just trying to get on our good side so he could resume his old tricks. I...I feel terrible for thinking that way when he's clearly been working so hard not to have that happen. I mean, I usually pride myself on thinking the best of everyone, y'know?"

I nodded. "I do know. And I get it. I'm just glad we're both able to look back and realize where we both went wrong."

"Me, too. From now on, though, what do you say we just keep moving forward and try not to worry about the past so much?"

I chuckled. "I can get on board with that, yeah. On that note, I noticed you and Neighthan are back together."

They'd broken up for some reason and this time it was one I didn't know.

Frankie visibly brightened at my words. "Yeah, we are! We have been for a while now."

"Congratulations. I'm happy for you guys," I said with a smile.

"Thanks, Jackson. And I'm honestly happy for you, too." she smiled back.

"Thanks, Frankie." I then checked my watch. "I uh...I hate to cut this short, but I should probably get back to work. It was nice talking to you, though. And I'm glad we sorted everything out, finally."

"Me, too, Jackson. Thanks for that."

"No problem."

It was around 4:30 PM when I finally finished work and when I returned home I immediately changed into dark blue jeans and a black dress shirt. Kieran wasn't home yet, but he would most likely be on his way soon. I decided to do a bit of drawing to pass the time, and about a half hour into it my iCoffin buzzed.

'On my way home now.'

Kieran.

I texted him a quick 'okay, see you soon' and about ten minutes later the front door opened. As soon as I heard it I set my sketchpad down and got up to greet him with a kiss. "Hey," I said once the kiss was over. I then noticed his expression. "What's up? You look like something's on your mind."

"Well, yeah, there is something I wanted to talk to you about," admitted Kieran.

"Is everything okay?" I asked as the two of us made our way over to the couch.

"Yes, of course," said Kieran, "I got some pretty big news earlier today. I've been itching to tell you, but I felt it was too important to send in a text."

For a moment I feared it might be something bad, but from the way his eyes were lighting up I could tell that wasn't the case. Whatever he was about to tell me couldn't possibly be negative. "What is it?" I pressed further, "You can tell me, Kieran."

What he said next filled me with a level of happiness indescribable in words and from the way he spoke, the vampire's own joy was unmistakable. 

"Jackson...our application to adopt was approved. We're on the waiting list."

THE END.

A/N: That's it for this story, folks! And just as a fun fact, this story was finally completed on Valentine's Day of 2020, something I find to be rather fitting!  (I say 'finally' since it took me over a year and a half to actually write the story before posting it to Wattpad xD)

Be sure to check out the sequel to this story, too! It's called Both Sides Now, and you can find it posted near the top of my Works list. In the meantime, thank you all for reading Dark Valentine!

--ouatfan