Closets~ an original phanfiction

Epilogue- Five Years Later

"Close your eyes, Winnie!" 

A giggle emerged from at the kitchen table. 

"Can I open them now?" a small girl's voice asked. 

"Not yet, little bear." Dan replied. 

Another giggle ensued. 

I reached on top of the fridge to find the cake and carefully balanced it on my clumsy hands while Dan removed the lid. He looked up at me, grinning from ear to ear. I was too. We took it in both of our hands and walked into the kitchen. 

"Happy birthday to you..." we sang, mostly off key.  Winnie removed her hands from over her eyes to see the cake. She squealed when she saw it. A lit candle in the shape of the number 4 sat in the white frosting. Underneath, piped pink icing read, "Happy Birthday Winnie". Quite cute, if you ask me. 

We continued to sing, and when we reached the final note, Winnie blew out the candle. And accidentally spit a little on the cake. But who cares? Dan and I cheered and clapped. Our daughter was four years old today! It was crazy how far we had come. 

Dan cut into the cake while I scooped Winnie out of her seat and put her on my shoulders. 

"Happy birthday, Winifred Liona Howell-Lester."  I said, tickling her feet. She leaned back and nearly fell off my shoulders. Dan couldn't help but laugh. I laughed too. 

"Alright, who wants some CAKE?!" Dan said. 

I took our little girl off my shoulders and placed her back in the chair. Her strawberry blond hair bounced around her shoulders as she yelled, "CAKE TIME!!", waving her hands in the air. 

Dan pushed the cake slice he had cut towards him and said, "Sorry, Winifred, this cake's for me!" 

"No, Daddy!" she pleaded, "it's MY birthday! Tell him, Papa!" 

(Papa was what she called me, by the way. Dan went by Daddy.) 

"You know the rules, Daddy," I teased, wagging a finger in his face. "Birthday person gets the cake first." I bopped his nose with my finger on the word "first".

He laughed. I loved his laugh so much. Always enough to make me join in with him. Dan pushed the plate back toward our little girl. "Here you go, sweetie," he said, handing her a fork. She did not hesitate. Digging right into the icing, Winnie got a bit messy while enjoying her birthday treat. Fortunately, I thought ahead and had a roll of paper towels next to me. I tore off one and used it to clean up the icing she couldn't lick off. It was amazing, how little kids could get so messy in a matter of seconds. 

I sat down next to Dan and clutched his hand in mine. He looked at me as of to say, Look at where we are. Look at where we started. Isn't this crazy? 

"This is the best kind of crazy," I said to him, even though he had said nothing aloud. He nodded and looked back at Winnie, halfway through her piece of cake. 

"Remember when we adopted her?" he whispered to me. 

"Couldn't forget it," I replied. 

"December 17. Four years ago. It was in the middle of a small blizzard. She was so young, she didn't even have a name yet." 

"You called her Winifred, so you could give her the nickname Winnie. Like Winnie the Pooh. Like you."

"You gave her the middle name Liona, after Lion. So she had a part of you." 

"We changed our surnames to Howell-Lester, so we could both be the most important things to her." 

Dan's brown eyes got all watery, so I wrapped him in a big hug. 

"Thank you for making my life so special." he said to me, loud enough for Winnie to hear. 

"Thank you for being my Daddy and Papa!" she said. We separated from our hug and stood up. 

"Let's take a selfie, what do you say?" I asked Dan. 

"Um, heck yeah!" he said with enthusiasm. About three years ago, Dan and I had sworn to give up all curse words. I was surprised to see we had made it this far with only four incidents. We ran into the living room- all three of us- and crouched down to get our daughter in the picture. 

"Say birthday!" I said, extending my arm out as far as I could. 

"BIRTHDAY!!" we all shouted in unison, big cheesy grins on our faces. Click! I snapped the photo. We looked at it. All of us were perfectly in the shot, smiling from ear to ear. 

"Perfect." Dan said with satisfaction. 

"Can I watch a movie? Pleeeeease?" Winnie begged us. 

I chuckled. Kids. 

"Sure." Dan started up Totoro (Winnie's favorite movie) while I gazed out the window. A nice view of London. All the little people walking about. And here we were. Under a strange set of circumstances, I was married to my best friend. How rare is it for us to meet, in the entirety of life? I could have lived somewhere different, I could have not gone to the same university as him, I could have hated him from the start-

"Phil? You okay?" Dan asked from behind me. 

I turned to him and said, "I think I'm having an existential crisis." 

"Oh dear friend, PLEASE STOP NOW." he said, shaking me by the shoulders, "YOU DON'T KNOW HOW HARD IT IS."

I snickered. "Oh, Daniel," I replied. 

He put an arm around my shoulders and gazed out at London with me. The stars had not come out yet. A beautiful sunset peeked through the buildings. 

"Do you remember when I first told you I loved you?" I asked him. 

"I think I went first, Phil," he responded. 

"Whatever." I said back to him. "I'm just glad I... came out. Admittted to you I liked you. I am so grateful we met." 

Dan said, "I'm glad I helped you out of the closet." 

I replied, "I'm glad I did the same for you."

And now, here we were, admiring our city, deep in love,  living a very happy life, with a child. 

Life could have never been better.