Brian walked to the edge of the pool and dove in. He swam across the 8-shaped pool and got out. He dried off and went inside the house to get drinks for Lea and himself. When he returned to the patio, he saw Lea getting out of the pool. He said, "I brought you something to drink."

Lea walked over to the patio and picked up her drink. She said, "I was asleep on that float for an hour. The time really flew by. Look at me; I got a dark tan."

Brian nodded and said, "You sure did."

Then he grabbed Lea’s hand and walked with her to the balcony on the side of the house. They stood together facing the ocean. Both were rested and fully relaxed. Neither said a word; they just observed the beautiful scenery.

After a few minutes, Brian began to speak. He said, "Something’s on my mind Lea."

"Yeah, what is it?" Lea replied.

"I just had a dream that I was caught in a snowstorm back in New Jersey. In fact, I was driving through the snowstorm and was almost killed. But fortunately, I awoke to find myself here in paradise." Brian paused for a moment and then continued, "Now if you think about it, you can see how great I have it. I mean, my life is exactly the way I want it. I’ve got everything I’ve always wanted and more. Just look around and you can see that I’ve got a great business, wealth, material abundance, health, happiness, and you—my ideal woman." Brian said.

Lea smiled and thanked Brian for the compliment.

Brian continued, "While a lot of people are doing very well for themselves, most people still haven’t achieved my level of prosperity and happiness. Am I just lucky or what?"

Lea moved closer to Brian and held his hands. She said, "No Brian; you’re not lucky. You’ve got everything in your life for a reason."

"Please don’t say the reason is God or some other mystical explanation." Brian said.

They both broke into laughter and Lea shook her head. She said, "No Brian, it’s nothing mystical. You’ve got what you have because of your gift."

Brian thought for several moments, reviewing his life from his earliest recollections of being a child. He quickly scanned his childhood years, teenage years, early adulthood, and his present situation. Then he said, "Lea, I have to say that I don’t have any special gifts. I’ve just applied the skills and knowledge that I’ve acquired. But so have millions of other people who aren’t as prosperous as me."

"I’m talking about the gift you gave the world. You’ve got what you have now because you gave the gift of immortality to our world!" Lea asserted.

Brian remained quiet for a moment. Then he said, "I’m so focused on developing our communities that I forgot about our work on immortality."

Lea corrected Brian, "It’s not ‘our’ work; it’s your work. You developed the immortality pill and set up the business before I met you. You deserve the credit."

Brian Storm has always been modest and tried to downplay his achievement. He said, "Well, I had help from some brilliant people including Dr. Richard Masters and April Donovan. Without them none of this would have…"

Lea interrupted Brian by saying, "No! You would’ve found a way no matter what. I’ve known you for years; I know how you are. You’re the driving force behind physical immortality. And you’ve got everything you want because you gave humanity the most precious gift possible: the gift of immortality."

When Brian finally realized what Lea was saying, he broke into tears. He pulled Lea close to him and cried while holding her. He said, "I never want to lose you Lea. I knew you existed long before I ever met you. For the longest time you were just a fantasy girl in my imagination. But I never gave up looking for you. And since I developed the immortality pill, I’ll never have to lose you to the grotesque blight called death. That was a major motivating factor in my decision to develop physical immortality: I wanted to live forever with my dream girl when I found her. And I sure did find her."

"I love you Brian." Lea said.

"I love you Lea." Brian replied.

The two lovers held each other underneath the shade of a palm tree as they looked out to the ocean. One of Brian’s tears rolled off his cheek and landed on Lea’s shoulder. At that moment Lea realized Brian was truly grateful for everything he had. She said, "You know Brian, you gave the gift of immortality to the world. In return, the world gave you…me!"

Brian said, "That’s an even trade as far as I’m concerned. You’re priceless to me."

Lea responded by saying, "And you’re irreplaceable to me. I’m so glad you did what you did in life. Otherwise, I would’ve never met you."

They held each other in the exotic environment for what seemed like an eternity. It was just Brian, Lea, and the world. They experienced a profound bonding with each other and the world unlike anything they ever experienced before. Eventually the sun went down, but Brian and Lea’s souls continued burning bright with happiness and fulfillment.