SO IT'S GONNA BE FOREVER (OR IT'S GOING TO GO DOWN IN FLAMES)

I watched, barely daring to breathe at the apparition in front of me. You must understand that this was the first thing - the first person that I had seen in this blank space for the longest time.

Bell on the other hand, stepped through rather casually. Looking about the white space he remarked as if to himself, "What a pure prayer."

I looked around and saw nothing. If this was a prayer, it was a very empty prayer.

"Some say all life is a prayer." Bell told me.

If this was a life, it was a very blank life.

Bell stopped a few steps in front of me and regarded me as if I were a stranger.

"Do I…" I think he frowned under all that black fume, "Do I know you?"

Wait, what? HE FORGOT ME?

I gave him my wide smile, "Guess."

The Tyger regarded me and then the space around me, and then he hazarded, "Henri?"

"In what way do I look like Henry?" Now that was just insulting! How could he even have mistaken me for that guy? (Or for a guy for that matter!)

I didn't have a mirror but I looked down to check, I was very sure I was still a girl.

And then Bell's fumes faltered and uncovered his face. He raised his hand to cover his mouth and breathed the single word into his hand as if he couldn't quite believe it, "Baby?"

Eh? I blinked. I had forgotten that was what he called my wolf.

"How? Why?" It was like he couldn't figure out the right question to ask, and then he gave up, "Our Henri really looks like you."

In what way did Henry look like me?

"She really is a clone of your true wolf, baby." Bell informed me.

"Who?" I asked because I was truly confused.

"Henriette." Bell answered easily, "Our daughter, baby."

Wait, when… but now that Bell had let down his fumes and I could see his face, I realized this Bell was much older than when I last left him… Much, much, much older.

"You named her after Henry." Bell continued.

"I named my daughter after Henry?" The future had to be a truly crazy place.

"Our daughter. You asked him to be her godfather." Bell shrugged, "And made him promise to supply her with strawberries and cream for the rest of his life."

Unbelievable. But now that I knew what a foodie I was, I guess I could've done that.

"We're also 2 of 6 of his children's godparents." Bell informed me with a smirk, "It was high time he returned the favor."

"Henry has six pups?" Crazier and crazier.

"He said half a dozen was the bottom line to reach economies of scale." Bell said.

"How many…" I mean, I just thought it would be nice to have a heads up, "How many do we have?"

"Five." Bell smiled, "Three are ours, two adopted. All boys except Henri who's our youngest… she's all grown up now though…"

And then Bell's eyes had a faraway look, "I still remember her first shift like it was yesterday."

His eyes rested back on me, "She really took after you."

Bell's expression changed to one of wry amusement, "But never mind the pups... I wonder what trouble you have gotten into now, my love?"

My…my l…lo…love? That was new. But Bell didn't seem to notice, it slipped out like it was an everyday term of endearment.

"No, don't tell me." Bell shook his head, "You've lost all your blue wolf powers, my heart stone is missing, and our mating bond is non-existent."

If he knew all that, he was taking it pretty well.

"I have a feeling I would rather not know the whys and hows of it." Bell mused to himself.

Bell must have mellowed with age.

"So, why have you summoned me, my love?" Bell asked, "You know my appearance would come with a fee. What precious thing can you offer me?"

"How can you charge me?" I decided a little bargaining was in order, "Aren't you my mate?"

"Am I?" He lifted his brow at me.

I pressed my lips together, "It's complicated."

And then I looked down to the 112X on the ground, "I just wanted to see you again."

"Is that all?" Bell asked. He didn't sound like he believed me.

I nodded and said in a small voice, feeling very ashamed at having to once again reverted to a dumb pup in front of my all-grown-up mate, "I got lost and I just wanted to see you once more."

"Wouldn't you much rather go back?" Bell asked with a smirk.

Oh!

"Could I?" I looked at Bell suddenly feeling all the hope in the world rising like a brand new sun, "You mean like a wish? Can I wish myself back?"

"You could also walk back." Bell nodded towards the previous X in the distance, "You've come out quite far from where you belong."

I looked back at 111X not understanding at all, "But there was nothing there."

"How can there be anything since you haven't lived it yet?" Older and wiser Bell asked me. He started walking, so I followed behind him.

Within the first few steps, I realized that we were going to follow the Xs back to the Starting X. This was going to be a very long walk, but what surprised me was how it wasn't unpleasant or tedious at all. As we walked, Bell would talk, and I would find myself enjoying his company very much.

While heading towards 111X, he started by saying, "This is nostalgic. I had forgotten how young you were when we first met… we were so young then!"

No we weren't. We were already in High School. YOU were the one who was so old now.

"Hn." Bell made a wry laugh, "I was still wet behind the ears."

No you weren't. You were 18! All grown up from the day we met! If anyone was the pup, it was me.

At X111 he said, "I fell so hard from the first time we met. It was love at first sight... and love at second sight, and third sight… I just kept falling."

Funny, why didn't I remember any such thing?

We continued the next lap in silence, both lost in our own thoughts until 110X:

"You know how it is..." Bell confessed, "How pride comes before a fall. You were my fall baby. You were my head over heels, over and over again, smash my pride on the rocks kind of fall. I was a mess."

Why did I only remember arguing with you all the time?

And also kissing you some of the times. But those didn't count. They were accidents.

At 109X, Bell seemed to remember something, "Do you remember our first grandchild?"

Do I look old enough to possess such a memory, dear?

"Yet it seems like every new pup is like the first time all over again." Bell smiled wryly to himself at the memory.

"Once upon a time, I was the last male alpha of our generation in the entire Green Packlands... And then there was you." Grandpa Bell went into history-mode, "2 generations later, we now have an overpopulation of alpha pups."

Well, given that there could be only one alpha in a pack, it wasn't all that hard to break the limit.

"It's a headache." Bell concluded, and then he flashed me his beautiful smile, "Mostly it's Henri's headache."

"Why?" I asked. We gave 108X a passing glance.

"Well, she's the Alpha now." Bell shrugged.

Our oldest, James Lorent IV had mated a Colored Mountain Princess and migrated to the Colored Mountains - specifically, to the Blood Lake Pack's territory.

"He wants to revive the Blade Wolf Pack all by himself." Bell acted like he thought it was a stupid endeavor, "Stubborn young fool wouldn't accept any help."

I couldn't comment because I had never met that young wolf. But he sounded gutsy.

"He didn't want help when he was learning to walk either." Bell seemed to be the kind of Dad who would hold a grudge against his 2 year old indefinitely.

Our second was really Ki's pup. On the day James Lorent IV was born, Ki and placed another baby pup, "Here's my gift and duty to the Young Alpha. May his power sustain your life and serve your purposes."

Like no one knew where baby Ki magicked the pup from, but he was a healer beta with a blue eye and a green eye. He didn't come with a name or a mother so I took him in and nursed him along with JL4. I named him Shiro, after the first wolf.

Sigh, it seemed like Ki was going to give me lots of reason to worry in the future too.

108X, but I barely noticed it.

Our third pup was named Silas Lorent after my late grandfather. He was a proper Lorent healer wolf, which meant he was everything to expect from a Lorent Prince. According to Bell, he gave us the most trouble of our lot, but he had been popular with the Lorent Pack because he was the living, breathing, replica of all the Lorent Alphas they had ever known.

Our fourth was fostered on us by Fluffy. He made some excuse about an instability in the Mountains and sent us his firstborn who took forever to go back home. Felix was very much like his father. He really dragged his feet at the prospect of returning to the Colored Mountains.

"All our pups were troublemakers." Bell warned me, "Each worse than the other."

Until Henri. Born Henriette Kingsley Lorent, she was our only daughter and I'm not sure if it were Bell's bias or the truth of the matter, but Henri could do no wrong.

Well she did do one wrong.

She mated a human.