Well everyone, this journey has been amazing & I'm so happy I was able to share this with everyone and hopefully pulled a few tears from some people. Yes, this is the final chapter. It is just a coincidence how Degrassi's finale is on tonight as well ;)

Last time we saw Eli and Clare, Clare had got a phone call from the hospital... someone actually almost got it right on! Thanks for all the reviews, I was so excited to hear you all enjoying it. I'm sorry I never got this on earlier, but I hope this will take off some of the stress from the previous chapter. Hope everyone enjoys!

To Save A Life

"Cece! Bullfrog!" I called, running up to them at the hospital. "What happened? Is he okay? Did something bad-"

"Clare!" Cece said, tears in her eyes. She held onto my shoulders and began weeping. I looked to Bullfrog who wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Eli's..." He hesitated then smiled. "He's awake, Clare."

I could feel the oxygen catching in my throat. I could feel myself standing as still as a statue. Eli was ... he was awake. He was okay. We were okay. I braced my arms around my waist and felt the tears bursting down my face. I fell against the wall and sank to a crouch.

Cece came to help me stand straight and embraced me in a hug. She kissed my cheek as we cried in each others arms.

After a few moments we pulled away and both started laughing at how foolish we were being.

"He asked for you." She whispered. I smiled and went to stand with my hand on the door handle. I looked through the window and saw him sitting up with his eyes closed. Had he fallen back to sleep?

I took a deep breath and slowly opened the door, closing it softly behind me. I went to the foot of Eli's bed. I watched as his chest went up and down, no machines needed to do it for him. A tear slid down my cheek as I went to the chair I had been sitting in for the past few weeks.

Slowly sitting down I watched his relaxed face. He looked peaceful. His head turned to me, his eyes slowly fluttering open. I smiled as more tears dripped off my cheeks. Eli returned a smile and moved his hand to pull up the blanket. He scooted over as I climbed under the covers next to him. He wrapped his arms around me as I sobbed into his chest.

He kissed my head and rubbed my back as I put my ear to his steady heartbeat.

XXX

I rolled over, still dazed in sleep. Something pulled on my hair, twirling it. I sat unsure for a moment, then felt myself jolt. Eli.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw him smiling down at me. His fingers were playing with my hair. I turned into his side and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Ouch!" He jumped. I pulled away quickly. "Sorry, I did get shot you know."

I started to cry again and crushed my lips to his. I had missed him so much. Everything I had to go through to get to this moment, the hell I needed to drag myself through. I pulled away as my lips trembled against his.

"Don't cry, Clare." He whispered, putting our foreheads together. I nodded and tried my best to keep my tears contained.

"I missed you." I cried, my voice cracking. "I missed you everyday, Eli."

He put his hand on my cheek and waited for me to open my eyes. When I did he stared into mine and smiled slightly. He put his lips to mine, very gently. They barely touched as he pulled his free arm around my waist. I pressed my body into his side as we broke apart.

"I'm not going anywhere." He said quietly. I nodded and felt myself clinch.

Oh no. Not now. Please, please, please not now. I jumped from Eli's arms. I didn't read his facial expression as I ran into the washroom. I knelt beside the toilet and felt last night's dinner come up. I held my hair away from my face and closed my eyes.

"Clare?" Eli called from his bed. I could hear him trying to stand up from the bed. "Clare." He struggled.

"Don't worry." I called, spitting into the gross toilet water. "Just stay in bed."

"Are you okay?" Eli asked. I fell onto my butt and leaned against the wall. Eli was standing in the washroom doorway. He wore his nightgown and was leaning against a machine which had wires connected to his arm. His face was worried as he struggled to keep himself up. "Clare?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but words was not what came out. I leaned back over the toilet. Eli had his hand replacing mine, holding my hair away from my mouth.

When it finally finished I flushed and went to the sink, rinsing out the awful taste. Eli came to stand next to me and watched me carefully.

"Since when do you throw up in the morning?" Eli asked, raising an eyebrow.

I stood with my hands on either side of the sink and stared into the mirror at my reflection. I looked terrible. I was wearing one of Eli's concert shirts and still in my grey sweatpants. I sighed and closed my eyes. There was never going to be the perfect time to tell him. I sucked in air through my teeth then finally looked at Eli. He watched me carefully as he waited.

"Since I found out I was pregnant." I whispered.

I stood in front of Eli and waited for him. Waited for him to laugh thinking I was joking, or throw something out of anger. I had come to accept the fact I was going to be a mom, but after everything he had to go through... I wouldn't blame him. A child would be taking away most of our future. Our schooling would be harder to finish, not to mention all the extra costs.

"Say something." I finally spoke. Eli just stared at me.

"I-I'm... You're really pregnant?" I nodded slowly.

Eli moved himself and the small machine closer to me. He stared at my stomach and placed his hand overtop of it. I watched him carefully and felt my heart banging on my rib cage.

"I'm going to be a dad." Eli smiled, a tearing falling from his watering eye. "I'm going to be a dad!" He looked up into my eyes and smiled.

I felt my own tears of joy wash over me. Eli pulled me into a hug as he cried on my shoulder. I was overwhelmed with relief. Eli wanted this baby just as much as I did. When I first found out I thought I was mortified. There was so much more things I wanted to do before starting a family with Eli. I wasn't even sure at that time if Eli would be apart of that family.

"How long have ..." Eli asked, pulling away slowly. I felt myself laughing and held up my left hand, pointing to the ring. Eli smirked and nodded his head. "That long, huh?"

We both laughed as he kissed my lips softly.

XXX

8 Months Later

"Clare, are you sure you want brown? I don't want to have to drive all the way back up here because you don't like them anymore." I rolled my eyes and hit Eli gently in the stomach with my elbow.

"Shut up," I giggled. "I want brown so it goes well with the pink."

"Yes ma'am!" Eli tossed the drapes into the cart.

It was amazing how fast Eli had recovered from his coma. He stayed at the hospital for another week after he woke up and then finally was able to return to the apartment. Cece and Bullfrog stayed with him while I went back to Toronto and figured out ways to get my credits. All my assignments which my mom had emailed me were all handed in on time, but I still missed tests and important labs. I was coming home to finish exams, then flying back to Colorado.

Eli and I had rented out a different apartment which allowed us to move in at the end of June. Cece and Bullfrog stayed with him while I wrapped up exams. Although we had moved in half a year ago we didn't spend much time on fixing it up. We tried to save most of our money for our baby girl.

My first ultrasound was just before I left back to Toronto. Eli had wanted to be there for the first time and seeing as I would be going to the doctors while at home, we made an early appointment and went to see her. We weren't told we were having a girl until just a few months ago when we changed our mind about knowing the sex.

My vision of a beautiful baby Eli in my arms wasn't going to come true after all, but I knew that our little girl was going to be equally precious. We had bought all the furniture and painted the room a light pink, one wall a deep chocolate-brown. We were buying blankets and curtains to finish up her room. That was one thing we had the most troubles with, naming her.

"Eclare?" Eli suggested. I looked up from my book and raised my eyebrow.

"Naylia?" I repeated.

"Yeah, why not? My name and your name mixed together. I think it's unique."

"I think it's a way for her to get bullied." I joked. Eli smiled and placed his head on the pillow beside me.

"I like the name... Roseietta." I shot him a look as he started laughing. "I take that as a no."

"I want her to have something original, Eli, but the names your throwing out are just a little... just meh."

"Violet?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Roge? Temerha? Jenelle? Cha-"

"Alba." I cut. Eli cocked his head in my direction.

"What?" He asked. I put my book aside and laid on my back, drawing circles on my huge tummy.

"I like the name Alba." I said again.

Eli rolled on his side and put his head on my shoulder. His hands went up my stomach and found mine at the top. He placed his on mine and sat up on his elbow. He smiled at me and the leaned in to kiss my lips.

"Alba Goldsworthy." He smiled.

"Clare, are you listening?" Eli said, snapping me back to reality. "I have class on Thursday and your mom wanted to come down this weekend. Why don't you invite her on Thursday instead of Friday? I don't like leaving you alone all day."

"That's a good idea." I agreed. We made our way to the checkout line.

Eli returned to class not long after leaving the hospital. He spoke with his professor and the school dean. He was given an extra two weeks for his course to catch up on the month he had loss. He struggled those two weeks. He didn't even call me at home until he had finished all of his work. The only way I knew he was still breathing was from talking to Cece.

As for me, I had decided to put off school for a year. I didn't want to have Alba and then have to drop her off at a babysitters and then deal with all the school work. For her first year I was going to be there for her. Eli only had classes twice a week. For the following year we were going to work our way around the days one of us has school to watch her. For the other days we planned on finding a babysitter. Although the money was heavily needed, our schooling was important too. Our parents bought us a bunch of food every time they came to see us. It usually lasted a month.

With our money going towards school, the baby, and our home we decided it would be best to put off our wedding until we were steadily on our feet. Eli was going to finish school and then I would finish not long after. We didn't need a ring to symbolize the love we had for each other. Plus, it would allow us to have Alba involved.

When we got back to the apartment we went straight into Alba's future room. Everything was assembled; the crib, diaper table, and the rocking chair my mother had use to nurse my sister and I. I went to pull out the brown blanket and gently folded it over the side of the crib.

In only a month Alba would be here. My stomach will slim and I'll have her in my arms. Eli was going to be fine if he continued his weekly visits to the physio, we were anticipating on finishing school, and we were ready to start our lives. Officially.

"What are you thinking about?" Eli asked, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. He rubbed my stomach soothingly.

"Our future." I smiled. Eli kissed my neck and rested his chin on my shoulder.

"It's looking pretty bright, huh?"

"Well, we went through hell, it's about time we recover and come up from the gutters."

"When your going through hell, keep going."

I turned in his arms and placed my hands on his shoulders. My stomach didn't allow us to get very close. Eli put his nose against mine and kissed the tip of it.

"Eli." I started, feeling my voice cracking. "I never said thank you."

"For what?" Eli asked, taken back.

"You saved my life." I whispered. Eli placed a hand on my cheek and put our foreheads together.

"Clare," He smiled. "You were there for me through it all, even before I blacked out I tried telling you to run, but the dumb girl that you are stood there holding a man twice your size."

"I wasn't just going to leave you."

"Exactly what I'm getting at." Eli whispered. "If you would have left me there, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be standing in my daughter's room with the woman I love. We saved each other Clare. As silly as you were being, I'm glad you did. Don't ever be think for a minute that I was the only one saved that night, Clare. Ever. Your just as much the hero as I am."

I nodded slowly and kissed him slowly.

"I love you." I whispered on his lips.

"Thank you." Eli said.

"For what?"

Eli placed his hands on my stomach and stared into my eyes. He smiled and moved his face closer to mine.

"For saving my life in every way possible."

I hope everyone enjoyed this story! I hope to make more Eclare stories in the future, we have some time until we get to see them on-screen again.

Again, to all families and loved ones who had lost someone in the Colorado shooting last month, I am greatly sorry for your loss. No one deserves to have their life taken away from them, especially in a place and way like them. Forever & always in my prayers.

To everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed I want to say thank you SO much. It has been such a blast being able to read all your comments and hear all your ideas and suggestions. I'm so happy to hear that some people actually cried! (Not in a bad way I'm hoping;)) It really means a lot to know that you all can get so into the story. I have noticed some of the people who have followed me since the beginning and again, HUGE thanks. Your all so amazing & I'm so proud to have been able to write something you could enjoy. I hope everyone has a fantastic time watching tonight's episode. Hopefully lots of Eclare!

Farewell all you amazing people! ;)