A/N: Ok, so I'll save the long stuff for the end, because I know you guys actually just want to read the story.

Stay as Long as Possible

Part 10: Maya

"Katie, can you get that?" Maya yells from her place on the couch.

She's spent much of her summer on the couch or in her bed. Katie has tried everything to get her out of her funk, but has yet to find something that works. Tori came by a few times, having forgiven her for the whole Zig incident during the school year, but she barely cracked a smile. Zig even dropped in once, to plead for another chance after he heard about the break up. She slammed the door in his face.

"Katie!" She yells again, turning her head toward the entrance.

The doorbell which sparked her calls for her sister sounds once more and, sighing loudly, Maya realizes she'll have to get it herself. Her parents are gone and Katie must have left without her noticing. She trudges to the entryway, trying to smooth her hair a bit before she has to face whoever is on the other side of the door. She hopes it's just the mailman.

Her stomach drops in surprise as she opens the door. This is not the mailman. "Cam?"

With his hands shoved in his pockets and his hair falling in his eyes, he looks exactly like he did before he left. What is he doing here? He's supposed to be home; it's why she broke up with him.

"Hey," he says, giving her a lopsided smile.

"What, uh, why, uh, you're here!" She stutters, trying to recover from her shock.

"I am. I- Well, I know that you probably don't want to hear from me, but I just wanted to let you know that I came back."

"Cam-" she starts. She can't bear him coming back here and putting himself through misery for her. She thought breaking up with him would keep him away.

He cuts her off, "It's not because of you. Well," he amends, "Not completely. I remember now. Why I love hockey. That's why I'm really here."

She stands, mouth open in shock.

"I just, um, wanted you to know that. And I wanted to thank you. For helping me remember."

"What do you mean?" She asks, finally regaining the use of her voice.

"You broke my heart, and hockey healed it," he explains, then blushes and laughs in embarrassment, "That did not sound as lame in my head…"

She laughs with him as he rocks back on his heels.

"But anyways, that's not all I came here for. My dad told me not to go all in prematurely, but he also told me to fight for what's important. I don't know what's happened since we last talked, but I think the fact that you haven't slammed the door in my face is a good sign. So, I'll see you around, Maya," he says, grinning.

He turns and starts to walk back down her porch before she fully registers what he's said.

She almost calls out to him, but stops herself. The small part of her wishing for him to show up on her doorstep can't believe it actually happened. Just because he's come back doesn't mean he'll stand by that decision, though. She retreats into her house and closes the door softly behind her.

He basically said he was going to fight for her, but what if she gives in and he decides he hates hockey again and leaves? She can't take anymore of last year's roller coaster, but she's also miserable without him. She figured it would get better once she had school to distract her, but his being in school with her will not help.

Sighing heavily, she flops down on her bed to think it through.

The first day of school brings more nerves than just the usual return-to-class jitters. Maya can't help glancing over her shoulder as she walks toward her locker, looking for Cam. She spent a long time thinking it over, and she knows what she wants now.

She can pick her locker out in the row from a fair distance, owing to the bag of ketchup chips and the flower taped to the front of it. She smiles as she reads the message in the folded paper accompanying them:

Maya,

Have a great first day. I'll be in the garden at lunch if you want to join me.

-Cam

P.S. Don't tell anyone, but I know those flowers are your favourite so I stole one from the garden… In fact, you should probably eat this after you read it, just in case.

Giggling to herself, she heads off to her first class, completely ignoring Zig as he waves at her on her way past.

Lunch can't come quickly enough, and Maya nearly runs from the English classroom when the bell finally sounds. Tori and Tristan look questioningly at her, but she doesn't have time to spare them the lengthy explanation this will take. She has better places to be right now.

"Hey," she says timidly as his back comes in to view.

He turns, smiling in a relieved yet apprehensive fashion as he takes in the sight of her. She realizes that he didn't know if she would actually come, and he still doesn't know what she's about to say.

"Hey back," he replies, the nerves more apparent in his voice than he probably wants them to be.

"Look, I thought a lot about what you said. I don't want to end up back where we were last year, with you unhappy and me trying to make the situation better but failing."

"You didn't-"

"Cam, there isn't a way for me to make you stop missing your parents, or make you like hockey, so there was really no way for me to fix the problem. But it sounds like you're in a better place with that now and hopefully it stays that way. I asked myself if it was worth the chance of it not working out and there was really only one answer. I love you, Cam, and I've been miserable without you, so yes."

"Yes?" He asks, clearly not expecting that answer.

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Well, I just thought… you know… you broke up with me. I figured it might take some time for you to come around to the idea, or maybe you wouldn't at all. Maybe there was anoth-"

She cuts off his rambling, "There was no other guy."

"Then why-"

"I thought if I ended things, then there would be nothing tying you to Toronto, so you'd feel better about wanting to stay at home with your family. I just wanted you to be happy."

He blinks. "Wait, so you dumped me so that I could be happy?"

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds stupid. I know it doesn't really make sense, but I was just trying to think about what would make you happy. I told you I couldn't fix the problem no matter what I tried, but then I realized that there was one thing I could do, so I did it. I've been miserable all summer, and I told myself it would just take time, but time isn't going to help. I want to be with you, Cam."

"I, uh, I think I need a minute."

"What?" She asks, her heart dropping at the detached sound of his voice.

"I came back here determined to win you back, only to find out that the whole reason I need to win you back is not because your feelings changed for me, not because of some other guy, but because you decided to take a decision away from me. You can't just choose what's best for me like I don't exist!"

"I- I wasn't trying to! I was just trying to make it easier for you! I didn't want you forcing yourself to come back here just for me!" She yells back, unsure of how this took such a nasty turn.

"Well then you got what you wanted, didn't you? I came back to play hockey," he replies coldly.

"It wasn't just about you hating hockey, though," she snaps angrily, "It took a toll on me, all the back and forth. I wanted it to stop. I needed it to stop. I hated waiting for your decision as much as you hated making it, so yes, I took it away from you, but I had every right to. I did it for myself as much as I did it for you!" She hasn't realized until right this moment that the words are true. She told herself she was just doing it for Cam, but in reality the pressure of waiting for his decision was too much. It may have caused both of them pain, but it took away that pressure that was always in the back of their minds.

The bell rings, interrupting them.

"Look, maybe we should take a day and figure everything out," he says, and she nods silently.

Her legs are on autopilot as they carry her back down the stairs and into her Physics classroom. Tori and Tristan shoot her quizzical looks, but she ignores them. She doesn't know what just happened, but it definitely wasn't what she expected.

The next day she's even more nervous, if that's possible. This time only a piece of paper is taped to her locker, with 'Garden after school?' written inside. It's not just her decision anymore, and that scares her. Her mind hasn't changed, but he could very well say he doesn't want her, and she would have to live with that.

Lunchtime comes much too quickly today, and she takes her time heading up the stairs. He's in the same spot as yesterday and turns instinctively as she approaches.

"Hey," he greets her, hands in the pockets of his hockey jacket.

"Hey back," she replies nervously.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. It was just a lot to take in. You have every right to be mad at me."

"No, I think we both had valid points."

"I want you to know that I'm not in that same place this year. If I start going back there, you have my full permission to run for the hills," he says, cracking the smallest of smiles.

Relief fills her and she laughs. "So you still want to-"

"I told you I fight for what's important to me. You really think I'd give up that quickly?"

She smiles, shaking her head.

"Good."

She doesn't get a chance to say anything else before he closes the distance between them and covers her lips with his. It's even better than she remembers, and she melts into the kiss as her arms wrap around his neck.

He pulls back, keeping his arms around her waist as his expression turns thoughtful.

"What?"

"Just don't break up with me again to 'make me happy' ok?"

"You got it," she replies seriously, and then lightens the situation, adding, "But it worked, didn't it? You're happy?"

"Yeah, I guess so," he says slowly.

"And it's because I dumped you! So really, it did have the desired effect."

He rolls his eyes as she grins triumphantly, moving in for another kiss. They sit on the bench in the garden, talking and laughing and kissing, and the smile doesn't fall from her face for the entire time. She knows she has homework and a curfew, but she doesn't care at this moment. Sitting in the garden with Cam is too perfect to be ruined by thoughts like that. She pushes everything else from her mind as they sit, determined to stay as long as possible.

A/N: I'm not too sure how I feel about their little fight in there, but I felt like Cam was accepting it too easily if they didn't have a bit of a disagreement over it. I figured I would be mad if someone broke my heart because they 'thought it was best' so hopefully it wasn't too stupid.

That said, I would just like to thank you guys so much for continuing to read this story and reviewing every time! It's an awesome feeling to know that I wrote something that so many people enjoyed. This is probably the fastest I have ever finished a multi-chapter story, and this is one of only a few multi-chapter fics I've actually been proud of, so here's to growing and getting better! Now, for one last time, I will ask for you to type something in that beautiful little box and hit post!