Jeffmads - An Island Away

Celebration

"Finally!" James beamed. Our house is back to normal. I come up behind him and wrap my hands around his waist.

"I love the new decoration. And you. Especially you." I cuddle James close, and he holds my arms.

"Aww thanks Thomas. I love you too." James gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before I hear someone knocking on the door. Or the tree stump, same thing. We walk on over and I lift the trapdoor. Rovan is down there, and looks tired as heck.

"Hey Rovan, what's up?" He looks up at us, and I notice his eyes are red and bloodshot.

"Jeffducks funeral. Tomorrow. 3pm. Be there." Rovan walks away. Yikes. He didn't even say 'Be there or be sqaure.' Rovan loves saying that. I see James glance at me. Wait, am I doing that troubled face look?

"I don't think Rovan is taking Jeffducks death that well." I comment. James rolls his eyes and kisses me quickly.

"Thanks Mr Obvious. Then again, we're all shaken by him." James sighs.

"Sooo...we going?" I ask. Time to mess with James.

"Oh no, we're totally not going to the funeral of one of our best friends, who has also saved our lives on multiple occasions." James remarks sarcastically. I give him a funny look. "Oh Thomas, I love you but-"

"Yeah yeah I'm joking." I chuckle, waving my hand around. James hugs me. I hug back. Cus why not? I play with James's short hair before lifting him up. James lets out a sqeal as I carry him. We land on the bed giggling. I ruffle his hair as we cuddle. This is nice, I decide.

Time skip

I hold James's hand nervously as we make our way through town. I dressed in a navy blue suit and decided on a magenta tie. James is wearing a lovely black suit, and according to him, he used to wear it when James worked as a lawyer. And boy, he looked amazing wearing it. We reached the town sqaure, and it seems like everyone is there. Our whole rescue group is there, and Rovan seems to have cleaned up his act. He's smiling and greeting people and taking flowers and stuff.

"Did you bring flowers?" James asked me. Wait, flowers. I gulp.

"Nope." I reply nervously. I glance at a leaf which is displayed on a big board. James does too.

Speeches

Adam Adams

Emily Walking

Matthew Blue

Jay Lifeboat

Thomas Jefferson and James Jefferson

Rovan Ceasar

I see James blush, before he grabs a stick and scratches off the Jefferson beside his name. James quickly writes Madison instead. I mean, sure, it's not Jefferson yet. Yet. I laugh. "You don't have to scratch that off James. We can mess with people." I waggle my eyebrows and James giggles. Ah, his laugh is like music to my ears.

"No way Thomas. Wait, we have a speech slot. Did you know?" I spin around to face him.

"Uhm...no?" I confess.

"Do we have a speech ready?"

"No."

"So we have to wing it."

"Yup."

James sighs as we sit down on the ground. We didn't bring our own seats, so we sit on the grass. It's actually quite nice. The cermony thing starts, this is the first time I've been to a funeral, so this is all new to me. I think about Jeffduck, and all the times he was seeing through our eyes. Kinda creepy, but he made up for it way before he started. Jeffduck led James and his friends to Greenal through that storm. Jeffduck also convinced me to wait for James a little longer before he came into view. Jeffduck has helped us so much, yet all he gets is some flowers and speeches. He deserves more. I turn to see James staring at the ground.

"Thinking about Jeffduck too?"

"Yeah."

"He sacrificed a lot." I look down.

"Y-yeah." James sniffles. I look up, and the speeches are starting. After listening a while, I come to the conclusion that Jeffduck has watched a lot of dates. That's pretty creepy, but I also came to the conclusion that Jeffduck has also allowed for lots of people to enter Greenal. That's quite cool.

"Alright, Thomas Jefferson and James...Madison, will you come up and give your speech?" Some guy says, and I gulp. I have no idea what to say. I help James up (he says it's unnecessary, but whatever), and we make our way to the stage. I face everyone in Greenal and clear my throat.

"I have no idea what to s-"

"He means, that Jeffduck, like for many others, was a huge help. Not only did he lead me to Greenal, he has saved our lives on many occasions." James cuts in. He looks at me like, 'That's all I got.' Okay, um...

"Yeah, and, Jeffduck was a really good work friend too." I turn to James and return the look. James sighs and slips his hand in mine.

"All in all, Jeffduck has done so many good things, yet...um..." He falters. I give James's hand a little sqeeze. "Um, although Jeffduck may be gone, we will always remember him. No matter how you know him, whether it's from work or he happened to watch your date, Jeffduck remains in our hearts. So yeah. Peace." James starts to walk off stage, but I stop him.

"One more thing, if Jeffduck didn't do what he did, you wouldn't see this." I grin, and pull James into a kiss. The crowd goes wild, clapping and cheering. James moves him arms around me, and we stay there, kissing. It's kinda what Jeffduck wanted. I overhear Alexander shouting in the crowd.

"Just marry each other already!" Ha. And to think we were such big enemies. I grin through the kiss. When we pull away, my face is completely red, and James has a cute, gigantic, goofy grin on his face. Great, now I want to kiss him again. I lean in, but then Rovan comes on stage and ushers us off, smiling.

"Alright lovebirds, off you go." He says. I hold James's hand while we sit back down. People are nudging us, and James is still smiling. I feel amazing! All of Greenal knows me and James are a thing, and they're absolutely fine with it. I start giggle and other shush me because it's time for Rovan's speech. I look over to the stage and move closer to James. He rests his head on my shoulder as Rovan clears his throat.

"So, as you all know Jeffduck was one of my closest friends. Heck, my closest friend. Losing him is the worst. But we all have to move on, together. Greenal will never be the same, but I promise that we'll get back into our stride. I will miss Jeffduck, but I can't afford to break apart. Because of Greenal. We have to keep going. That's all I want to say." Rovan voice cracks a little. Everyone claps. He was right. We have to keep going. At least I'll spend the rest of my days with James. I put an arm around him. Everyone is happy. I'm happy. Most importantly, James is happy. We're gonna be fine.

(A/N)

There we go. The last chapter in this book. It's been quite a ride. The epilogue will be out soon. :)