Title: Paradise Is Waiting
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Carl Hickman/Louis Daniel
Fandom: Crossing Lines
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 494
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Carl Hickman or Louis Daniel, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Carl cleared his throat nervously, tapping his foot.

He was waiting to walk down the aisle, to stand at the altar and start the ceremony. He was getting married. He and Louis would be wed within the next half hour.

It was still hard for him to believe that Louis had actually said yes. After years of being in love with this man, he was finally going to marry him. They would be a legal couple, and nothing would ever separate them again. It would be like paradise for both of them.

His paradise was waiting for him, just on the other side of that door; they would join hands and walk down the aisle together to begin the ceremony that would join them.

Everyone they knew was waiting for it all to start.

Their friends, their families, the people they worked with, everyone they cared for. They were all here, ready to share in the happiness that the two of them had.

It still seemed unbelievable to him that he should have found this kind of happiness. Before he and Louis had finally managed to reveal how the felt about each other, he hadn't known that he could be so happy. He'd thought happiness was only for other people, never for him.

Now he knew that wasn't true. All he needed to do was look into Louis' eyes, and see his smile, to feel pure, utter happiness taking over his soul.

He'd never thought that he could be in love like this, that paradise was waiting for him if he would only open his heart to it. He had never believed that paradise existed.

And now, through some miracle, he had found his paradise. The man he loved was his paradise; Louis was all that he had ever wanted or needed. He had tried to lose those feelings in other people, but he should have known that in the end, he would always come back to Louis.

This man was his present, and his future. Everything else was the past, a past that was over and done with. A past that had led him to where he was now.

He was exactly where he wanted to be. Where he should be.

Soon, he and Louis would be married; they would be walking the opposite way down the aisle, still hand in hand -- as they would be forever more.

And strangely, he wasn't nervous. Not at all. Carl smiled, knowing that he couldn't hold back his happiness any longer. He felt as though the sun was pouring over him, around him, through him. He was following his heart for what felt like the first time in his life -- and he had no regrets.

When the door opened and Louis looked into the room, Carl moved forward to take the other man's hand, smiling at his love. Yes, this was exactly where he belonged.

Paradise was right here, hand in hand with him.

***