Amy's cell phone buzzed in her back pocket and she answered it quickly.

"Hello," she said.

"Amy." It was Ian. Amy grinned, biting her lip when her stomach flopped over. He really did have a great accent, and hearing him say her name sent shivers down her spine. She silently cursed herself for this ridiculous reaction and turned around.

It's Ian, she mouthed to Nellie. Nellie, still dancing, gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"OooOOoooh," said Dan, squeezing his carrot tight.

Amy turned back around. "All – all set to come over and visit? I've Dan-proofed the whole place," she said, smiling to herself as she thought of how Ian loathed Dan's pranks.

"Dan-proofed. Is that supposed to be clever?"

Amy's smile slipped off her face in a heartbeat. She shrunk back into her shell a little at the harshness of Ian's words. But Ian had been so keen to visit not so long ago…what had happened?

"Ian, is everything, uh, okay?" she asked.

"Of course," he said quickly. "I've decided to stay in London. Everything is perfect."

Amy's stomach dropped. "You're staying – you're…you're not coming anymore?" Of course Amy, that's what "staying in London" means! she thought, berating herself for sounding so pathetically forlorn. But she couldn't help it. She'd spent all day cleaning up the attic room for Ian because he had expressed an interest in it once (even though she'd never admit it to Dan) and the brisk, business-like tone devoid of any emotion in which Ian so quickly renounced his plans of visiting hurt her more than she thought was possible. Dread crept over her like a swarm of beetles. She was acutely aware of Nellie and Dan watching her from the other side of the kitchen.

"Is that disappointment I hear, Amy Cahill?"

Amy blushed bright red. Even when Ian was an ocean away, his cocky yet suave nature always managed to have this effect on her. She could just imagine the knowing smirk that would no doubt be adorning his face at that very moment. The smirk had always made it clear that he was well aware of her feelings for him and knew he was irresistible.

Amy turned and ran to the attic room she had just cleaned up, just to be away from Nellie's concerned looks and Dan's obscene gestures towards the phone in her hand. In the attic, Amy tried to calm down and form discernible words. Unfortunately, her brain had other plans.

"Wh-why are you saying–"

"What is that? I can't understand you."

"Ian, I–c-can you come some other time? Maybe?"

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she hated herself for it. She was practically groveling at his feet like a lovesick puppy, probably no different from his multitude of other admirers. The feeling of being just another girl in the Ian Kabra Infatuation Club depressed her and the desperation in her voice made her cringe.

Ian paused, and Amy bit her lip, mentally preparing herself for the variety of different ways by which Ian Kabra could break her heart.

Click.

Ian had hung up.

Amy slumped down on the sofa, buried her head in her arms, and proceeded to let out her tears. I should never have chosen him over the Janus serum, she thought savagely.

Unbidden, a memory came flooding back to her.

The floor was moving under her feet and the entrance of the cave was moving forward. Amy stood there, paralyzed, unable to move a single muscle and well aware of the fact that if she didn't she would soon be buried under the debris. Suddenly, she felt strong arms around her and felt herself falling to the ground. Looking up, her eyes met none other than the face of Ian, who had protectively thrown himself on top of her to make sure she wasn't hurt, uncaring for his own welfare. She blinked at the turmoil of emotions battling for dominance inside of her, and finally organized her thoughts into one shocking truth – Ian Kabra cares for me. Amy stared up at him, petrified. Ian looked down at her with a small smile.

"Lovely," Ian had said, and took her hand in his.

A rush of excitement coursed through Amy at the praise and the contact. He was talking about her; he had to be. But this was Ian Kabra! This must be part of some joke of his!

"Y-y-you don't have to do that," Amy whispered.

"Do what?" Ian asked.

"Be sarcastic. Say things like 'lovely.' You saved my life. Th-thank you." Amy stuttered, still shocked by Ian's actions.

"My duty," he replied. He lowered his head and allowed his lips to brush hers.

Amy's body was immediately filled with a tingling sensation that started at her lips and permeated through her entire being. Not only had Ian recently saved her from certain death by sheltering her with his own impeccable body, but now he had called her lovely and just touched her lips with his.

And then he tricked us all and left us to die in the cave! Amy thought back angrily, coming out of her memory. But some parts of that moment – the guilt in his eyes as they lingered over Amy before leaving, the longing with which he had looked at her when he protected her, and the tenderness with which he had gently brushed his lips against hers, treating her as if she were fragile and could break at a moment's notice – simply refused to fit in with Amy's theory that Ian harbored no feelings for her. This only served to strengthen her feelings for him tenfold.

Amy sat up, rubbed her eyes, and sniffed. If he did like her, why did he suddenly cancel his visit? Without realizing it, she whispered out loud, "Did I do something? Am I…unvisitable?"

"Of course not," said a silky smooth British accent.

Amy's head whipped up as she looked towards the source of the voice.

Ian Kabra stood there, leaning on the doorway with one foot casually resting on the wall, his hands in the pockets of his impeccable Prada suit. He was looking straight at her with laughing eyes and a trademark smirk.

"Missed me?" Ian asked, raising an eyebrow.

Amy's astonishment was greater than any other emotion, and she didn't even give the glowing blush in her cheeks much thought as she quickly stood up and took a few tentative steps towards him.

"B-but…you said you were staying in London!" Amy whispered, her voice still sore from crying.

Ian sighed. He motioned to the sofa Amy had just left, suggesting they sit down and talk.

Amy obliged wordlessly, taking quick sideways glances at Ian as if he would disappear if she didn't look at him enough.

"It was Natalie's idea," Ian said.

Amy knotted her eyebrows in question.

"Perhaps I should start over," Ian decided. "Amy...I came here to tell you something important."

Amy's heart beat faster. Is this really what I think it is? It can't be…

"But first, I have to apologize. Amy, I've hurt you more than anyone should ever hurt anyone, all for the sake of the 39 Clues. My mother…well, as you probably could guess, my mother wasn't exactly one to nurture good values into me. Secrecy, sabotage, lying…these are what Lucians are known for, and my parents raised Natalie and me to follow in their footsteps. It's hard going against the values you've been raised with. It's hard to accept that your parents are the ones who are wrong…" Ian trailed off, looking out the window with a pained expression on his face.

"But that is no excuse," Ian looked back to Amy. "Amy, I can't stress enough how sorry I am. For leaving you in the cave to die, for not doing anything when my mom tried to throw you to sharks, for not doing anything when you and Dan were almost cut by the propellers.." Ian shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of the memories.

"And yet…yet you chose to save me over the Janus serum. Even though you knew that my mom…" Ian swallowed before going on. "You saved me even though you knew my mom set that fire. Why, Amy?" Ian looked at her again, eyes filled with guilt, confusion, and was that…hope?

Amy paused. She looked up at Ian. "Not even the complete serum is worth dying over. And… I saved you because I knew you were different."

Ian smiled. An honest, non-smirking smile. "And that is why you Madrigals won. I'm so glad it's over."

"Me too," Amy replied, with a smile of her own. Suddenly she frowned. "But why did you tell me you would be staying in London?"

Ian fidgeted. "Natalie made me call you. I was so scared about coming here, and about how you would…react," Ian quickly glanced at Amy and continued on. "I was having second thoughts about coming the minute we got on to the limo to Attleboro, but Natalie was adamant that we couldn't turn back. She insisted that I call you during our limo ride here and tell you that I would be staying at London instead so I could see for myself that you wanted me to visit. So I did. I needed to know that you care, Amy. I needed to know that you…that you feel the same way about me as I feel about you."

Amy froze, paralyzed. She could feel her heart hammering wildly away in her chest, and briefly wondered whether Ian could hear it too.

Ian paused a little here, looking at Amy searchingly before going on. "Amy, I've told you I'm sorry for everything. But there's one thing I can't apologize for," he said quietly.

Amy looked at him questioningly.

"I can't apologize for pretending to like you."

Amy's chest felt heavy. Pretending. So that was it. He never did have real feelings for her. It was all just pretend. Amy felt tears start to prick her eyes and she tried blinking rapidly to make them go away.

However, this did not escape Ian's notice. He sat down next to her, slowly cupped her chin in one hand, and used the other to lightly brush them away. Amy froze, startled by the longing in his eyes as he looked into hers and the tenderness with which he cradled her face.

"I wasn't finished. I can't apologize for pretending to like you…because I was never pretending."

Suddenly, before Amy could even register what was happening, she felt Ian lean down and kiss her.

Plenty of emotions raged through Amy, and she found that she could only form one coherent thought. Ian Kabra is kissing me!

Quickly, Amy moved her arms so that they were wrapped around his neck and drew Ian closer to her, deepening the kiss that her heart had secretly been craving for ever since their lips had first brushed together in Korea. She could feel Ian smile against her, and she couldn't help but smile back. Ian moved his hands from cupping her face to encircling her waist.

They remained that way for a while, and finally Amy pulled back for air, still smiling.

Ian scratched the back of his head nervously and looked around the room shyly.

"Hey! This is the room I said I liked the last time I visited!" Ian exclaimed.

Amy suddenly became interested in her feet. "I know," she said quietly. "That's why I cleaned it – so that you could stay in it," she said.

Ian was staring at her with his mouth slightly open. He composed himself quickly and assumed his trademark smirk.

"Wow Amy, I never realized you were that taken with me."

Heat rushed to Amy's cheeks as she slowly raised her head to see Ian's expression. Instead of the cocky smirk and cold stare she was expecting, she saw a slight twinkle in his eyes and a dazzling smile that clearly told her that he was merely teasing her for the fun of it. Her lips quickly turned into a smile.

"Oh shut up!" she exclaimed, giving him a light shove.

Ian grabbed her hand before she had a chance to withdraw it, quickly bringing it up to his face and kissing it slowly as he looked at her face. Amy blushed profusely and tried desperately to hide her mounting grin by covering her face with her hair. The quaint mannerisms and perfect accents of Englishmen were so adorable.

"Don't worry, your love isn't unrequited," Ian said slowly, using his other hand to gently brush the hair out of Amy's face while still holding on to her hand tightly. Amy blushed an even deeper shade of red.

Ian quickly intertwined his fingers with hers and dropped their hands to their sides.

"So, shall we eat? I can never get used to the sorry excuse for dinner these airlines provide," Ian said, making a face.

Amy laughed. "Yes," she replied, leaning on him ever so slightly.

They made their way downstairs, still holding hands.