Cath had a routine at home. First, breakfast. Then she would check up on her dad in the living room (he was doing really well; he was working on a new pitch for a toilet paper commercial, and this time fucking Kelly hadn't shot him down). After that, she'd work on Carry On. Even though Gemma T. Leslie had the final word (of course, Cath still loved the Eighth Dance), Cath still owed it to herself and her readers to finish the fic. Carry On was the biggest, longest and most read fic she'd ever written. In some ways, she felt that publishing the final chapter of Carry On was all the closure she needed. Then the world she'd created would really be over.

Cath had been back in Omaha for over a month now, and well into June, the weather was hot and sticky. She took refuge in their house typing furiously on her laptop. She would stay up into the early hours of the morning writing, then edit in the morning. Wren would still beta her chapters around lunchtime, usually between the time she would stumble in from staying the night at Jandro's, before leaving to see him again. Cath didn't mind. They would spend lunchtime together; it almost felt like being back at school again. Besides, Cath wanted her sister to be happy. And what made Wren happy was spending time with Jandro. Seeing them together just made Cath miss Levi even more.

She would finally see Levi again today. He was picking her up at noon for the drive to Arnold. His sister's wedding was in three days. The rehearsal dinner, the bachelorette party – Cath would be there for all that.

After breakfast, Cath sat in the living room, rereading the final chapter of Carry On while her dad puttered around and mumbled under his breath with a sketchbook in hand. Wren had read it yesterday ("Oh my god," was all she could say, tears in her eyes. They had a long crying session after that). It was good. It was more than good actually; it was everything. Cath just wasn't ready to post it yet.

Cath read it once. Then she read it again. Then she sat there staring at her computer screen.

Her phone chimed. Her heart fluttered in her stomach when she saw Levi's name.

almost there. made a pitstop at starbux :)

Cath almost squealed. She squealed internally. Her organs were doing happy dances.

She jumped off the couch and ran up to her room. She and Wren hadn't changed anything about it since they got back from college. If anything, there were even more Simon Snow paraphernalia, like the two life-size posters of Simon and Baz they'd gotten at the Gemma T. Leslie book signing in May.

Cath grabbed her backpack and the duffel bag that was waiting dutifully at the top of the stairs. She dumped them by the front door, peered outside to make sure no one was pulling into her driveway yet, and then jumped back on the couch. Now, the prospect of posting the finale of Carry On (her baby) didn't seem so daunting. With more excitement than she'd had five minutes ago, she copied and pasted the text into the text box, scrolled to check last-minute formatting, and pressed publish with no hesitation.

Done. Finally. Cath felt like a weight was lifted off her chest, but also that something heavy had landed on her toes. Is this what bittersweet feels like?

She didn't have much time to dwell. She checked the site on her phone to make sure the chapter was actually up and running, and then ran back to the front door. Her dad still had his nose buried in his sketchbook and didn't notice any of the back and forth.

Cath was on the front porch, taking in the warm breeze and the sun soaking her skin. She heard the engine rumbling, and Levi's truck came into view. Levi came into view, leaning almost his whole upper body out the window to wave at her as he pulled into the driveway.

Cath had said it before: she was not someone to go running into Levi's arms. But she skipped down the stairs and in two bounds she was there, propelling herself into Levi's arms as soon as he was out of the truck. She was pretty sure she actually made some squealing sound this time, but she didn't care. Levi spun her around, his arms wrapped tightly around her. He put her down, but she wasn't ready to let go yet. She nuzzled her face in his long neck, inhaling the strong scent of range. She felt Levi rest his chin on top of her head.

They stood like that for a minute, neither one saying a word. Just happy to hold the other. Happy to be held.

Finally, Cath pulled her nuzzling away from Levi and looked at him. She nearly had a heart attack: she forgot how much his eyes poured into her soul and how his smile made her melt like putty in his hands.

"Hi," Levi said, his smile at 100%.

"Hi," she whispered, her eyes roaming his face and taking in everything. He was tanned from all his work on the range, and his hair was lighter from the sun. God, his hair. She ran her fingers through the soft silkiness and held them there. He looks so good, she thought. He probably tastes like the range too. She pulled him down by his hair for a kiss.

Like he knew what she was thinking, Levi's lips pulled into a smile. She could feel a little laugh from his chest. She kissed the corners of his mouth.

"Cather," he breathed. "I've missed you."

They'd talked every day. It was usually on the phone at night, but sometimes just through text if Levi was too tired from the day's work, or if Cath was in the writing zone. They just Skyped each other yesterday to go over the details of her stay at his house. But Cath didn't say any of that because it didn't count. "I missed you too."

Cath led the way back inside to say goodbye to her dad. He was still pacing the living room with his sketchbook. "Dad," she called, going over and putting a hand on his arm. "Levi's here."

Her dad looked up, dazed. He had ink smeared on the tip of his nose. "Levi?"

Levi came into the room behind Cath. "Hi Mr. Avery," he said, sticking out his hand. "How are you?"

"Levi!" her dad brightened. He put the sketchbook down and wiped his hands on his pants. "It's good to see you! How's the range treating you?"

"It's great," Levi answered enthusiastically. And her dad was genuinely interested. They talked about Levi's work for a bit, and Levi asked about her dad's new projects. The whole time, Cath was like a kid at Disney World – a smile plastered on her face at seeing Levi there, falling into place with her family. She was smiling so much her face started to hurt. Levi caught her eye and his face brightened when he saw her smiling. I love you, she mouthed at him when her dad's back was turned and Levi had caught her eye over his shoulder. His eyes widened with wonder and his mouth opened, but her dad called back his attention again.

"You sure you have everything?" her dad asked as they headed out the door. Levi, of course, was carrying both her bags. He went to put them in the bed of his truck and bounded back up the porch stairs two at a time.

"Yeah, Dad," Cath said. She gave him a big hug. She'd already said goodbye to Wren this morning, with a whispered Take care of Dad in her ear. But that would probably be unnecessary, since their dad looked better than he had all year. And she'd only be away for three weeks, after all.

Levi, ever polite, stuck out his hand again, but her dad pulled him into a hug too. Cath didn't know who was more surprised – her dad, Levi, or herself. "Take care, you two," her dad said after the hug.

When Cath was buckled into the passenger seat and they were waving at her dad as they reversed out of the driveway, Cath spotted two Starbucks drinks in the cup holders. She picked one up. "What is it?" It was a cold drink with the consistency of a brown smoothie.

"Java Chip Frappuccino," Levi grinned, picking up his drink and tapping it against hers. "It's no gingerbread latte, but I figured you'd like anything sweet."

She eyed him over her straw. "I do," she said in what she thought was a seductive voice. That earned a laugh from him, and she felt like a feather.

As they pulled onto the highway, Cath said, "I published it today."

"When?" he gasped. He knew exactly what she meant.

"Just now. A few minutes before you arrived."

"So, probably five thousand people have read it already."

Cath snorted. "Probably."

"Do you think any of them have finished it yet?"

"It's a twenty-five minute read – and that was me doing it quickly this morning," Cath shook her head. "I don't think anyone was that fast."

"I'd want to savor it," Levi agreed. "Why rush?"

He grinned at her and focused back on the road. There was minimal traffic, and Cath knew he knew these roads like the back of his hand. He'd driven them at the last minute, at night in the dead of winter, from Arnold, just to see her at the hospital. In the current conditions, she knew Levi would have no trouble concentrating.

She pulled out her phone. "Why rush," she said slowly. "We've got three hours ahead of us.

Levi's smile overtook his face. "Cather," he said seriously. "What do I do to deserve you?" Cath nearly rolled her eyes. "The actual author of Carry On is going to read me the final chapter," he gushed. He started drumming his hands on the steering wheel. "Ladies and gentleman, hold on to your Magick hats, it's the one – the only – Magicath!"

Cath was laughing when she pulled up her chapter on her phone. She avoided looking at her notifications or checking the read count. It wasn't time for that now. Now, she wanted to read this story to her boyfriend.

Cath started reading, falling into Simon and Baz's voices easily. She paused dramatically after Simon says he heard the Humdrum's footsteps. At one point, Levi did a quick intake of breath. He would grab her hand when it got too intense and thought didn't want to know more. "Poor Penelope!" he cried at one point.

This was starting to become her favorite pass-time with Levi: spending hours alone in the truck, with the open road ahead. Reading to him and knowing he was there listening. Sometimes he would tear his eyes away from the road, and he looked at her as if every word she said was a precious gemstone.

This was everything she needed.