A/n: This story is the death of me… BUT ITS DONE! FINALLY! Wow.

After a LOOOONG debate over when this should take place… I finally decided… it takes place whenever the hell you want. Use your imagination… because I want everyone to be happy with the ending… and I wasn't happy with any of the endings I wrote, so I rewrote one epilogue in a way where it could take place in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 or even 2020 for all I know… I hope you like it..

Thank you to everyone who stuck with this story through my entire writer's block episode that lasted a year lmao.

:D

We're not together. We're not fighting. We're communicating. We're friends. We're… dating.

I know, that doesn't make complete sense… we're not together but we're dating… how do I explain this?

Ah.

Miley and I became very busy. But we don't want to lose touch. We want to be best friends. We want to be more than that. But how do you balance a relationship where you never see each other and keep it healthy?

After a few months of trying to be boyfriend and girlfriend we came to realize that there was no way we could do it. Not with our schedules.

We never saw each other.

We weren't close.

We texted and e-mailed… but that was so… impersonal.

We got jealous of people who we had no reason to be jealous of… it was a hard time.

So we had a mutual break up and decided it would be best to date. Whereas when we were both free, we went on dates.

It was great for a while.

We talk about whatever and it's just casual. We're not serious… but I think we're at a point in our relationship where we can become serious again.

We were always rushing into a relationship, but we finally took it slow… and that's why tonight I'm going to ask her to be my girlfriend. In a serious, exclusive relationship.

She's coming back from vacation with her mom and sisters today and I want to have her over for a nice dinner so we can talk.

Her flight lands around three this afternoon. She said she'd call as soon as she lands. The wait is killing me.

I tried to busy myself all day and it's now 2:45, so she should be calling soon. Just 15 more minutes.

My phone rang around 3:15 and I picked up quickly.

"Hey, how was your flight?" I answered and I could imagine her smiling brightly.

"Good, it was good… relaxing… almost relaxing as the trip itself!" She says and I smile at the sound of her voice.

I love the sound of her voice.

"Awesome… so I was thinking… maybe you wanna come over for dinner tonight… I wanna talk to you about something," I tell her and her response comes delayed.

"Okay, yeah… uhm, we're in the car right now, but when I get home I'll get ready and come by around seven?" She sounds nervous.

"Seven's good, Mi," I say and nod even though she can't see me.

"Great… uhm, Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Should I be worried?" She asks and I smiled and shook my head.

"Not at all, Miley. I'll see you at seven," I tell her, hearing her laugh lightly.

"Seven," she confirms and hangs up.

I smiled to myself, feeling accomplished.

It was 6:50 as I stepped out of the shower and got dressed. As I was getting ready I went over two scenarios of how our conversation could go.

She could either listen to me and agree that we were ready to be a couple again… or she could interrupt me before I threw myself out there completely and admit that she met someone while she was on vacation. I liked the first scenario better.

The doorbell rang and my heart jumped. I've been waiting to see her for so long.

"Hey!" She exclaims as I opened the door and she jumped into my arms.

"Hey," I said and sighed as soon as her body collided with mine. I missed that. She pulled back and smiled at me, walking in the house as I shut the door behind her.

"Wow," she said and I followed her into the kitchen. "this is… romantic… this must be a serious conversation." Something in her tone made me think she was joking, but at the same time, you could tell she was serious.

"Well, yeah. It's uh, it's kinda serious… but let's eat first," I told her and she smiled pleasantly and sat down at the table that had two candles and a red table cloth down. For me, I thought it looked pretty impressive…

"So how was your day?" She asked as I put a plate of her favorite Italian meal in front of her.

"Good, I-,"

She cut me off. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute... you made Carbonara!" She exclaimed, a smile breaking out across her face.

I smiled shyly and sat down across from her. "Yeah… it's not that hard, really."

She laughs and nods, impressed. "Well I can't wait to try it," she smiled at me and took a mouthful. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she smiled.

"Mmm!" She opened her eyes and looked at me, nodding. "This is good stuff," she giggles and I couldn't help but smile.

"So what'd you wanna talk about?" She asks after we eat. We were in the living room, sitting on the couch. My heart starts pounding ten times faster than normal.

"Right… uhm," I took a deep breath and put my fork down.

"Miley, we've been doing this dating thing for a while now… and it's going so great… but now I feel like it's time to take the next step. I know we've been there before… a few times, but we rushed it then. We're not rushing it now. We needed to start at the bottom and that's what we did… but I'm ready now, I think we're both ready now. I think we're in such a good place where we won't get jealous of each other's costars or whoever… I'm ready to commit to you fully because I love you. And I want to be with you. I want to have a commitment with you so our relationship can grow stronger. I don't want anyone else. I want you and I need you because you make me... so happy and I can't imagine my life without you again. I don't think I can lose you again- I know I can't lose you again…" Tears were forming in her eyes and I take a deep breath before speaking once more.

"So I wanna close this open relationship because I just want you. You're all I want… and you're all I need, Miley… I don't want anyone else in the picture. Just you and me. Us. So what I'm trying to say is… I want to be your boyfriend… I want you to be my girlfriend… again," I chuckle nervously and she smiles softly.

"Nick… this is why I love you," she started and looked down briefly before glancing back to me. "You have such a way with words… you know exactly what to say and how to say it." She smiled sadly then shook her head.

"I can't," she said and frowned. My stomach dropped and I suddenly felt like everything I just ate was going to come right back up.

"Why?" I choked out and she shrugged.

"I just…" She shakes her head and sighs then bites her lip. "It's too soon."

She's lying.

"Don't lie to me, Miley. I know when you're lying," I say slightly annoyed.

She sighs and studies my face, avoiding eye contact. "I'm afraid," she says softly and I bite my tongue.

"Of what?" I ask through my teeth, trying to keep myself together.

"Of you." My heart sinks. "Leaving me." My eyes meet hers in a second.

"I would never leave you," I reassure her and she scoffs.

"Yeah, I've heard that one before, Nick."

"It's different now."

"I'm sorry," she squeaks out and place my hand over hers.

"Miley please, listen to me," I plead and her sad eyes meet mine. "I won't leave you. I can't now. It's physically impossible for me."

She shakes her head. "But how do you know! I mean… you did it once, I'm sure you can do it again!"

"But I won't! It hurts too much," I tell her and she pulls her lips between her teeth. She looks like she's about to cry so I squeeze her hand. "You need to believe me when I tell you I'll never hurt you."

"I want to! Trust me, I do… it's just that you could change your mind again… I'm scared to death that if we do this you'll break my heart all over again." I wince at what she says, remembering the pained look on her face the first time we broke up.

"Listen Miley, I want you now. And next year and every month and week and day and hour.. and every minute after that."

She shakes her head slightly, looking away.

"Miley, look at me. Look at me," I demand softly, placing my hand on her cheek to tilt her head to face me. She looks into my eyes and I can tell she's holding back tears. "You just need to trust me, that's it," I say and she bites her lip.

"Just trust me. I won't ever leave you or forget you. I won't ever hurt you again…" I spoke truthfully. "Can you trust me?" I ask and she looks down, but I tilt her chin up so she's looking at me again.

"You just need to trust me… Do you trust me?" I ask again and she nods helplessly.

"Of course," she squeaks out and I nod slowly.

"Then we can do this. You and I can do this," I reassure her and she nods as a tear falls from her right eye. I wipe it with my thumb and she smiles up at me softly.

"So we're really gonna do this?" I ask and she nods, more enthused, a big smile taking over her face.

"Yeah, we're gonna do this," she says and my whole body ignites. My heart swells and I smile gratefully before pulling her closer to me and connecting our lips in a soft, passionate kiss.

She ran her hands through my hair and I could feel her smile into the kiss before pulling back.

"I love you so much." And she said it to me with a huge smile on her face.

It was all better in time.

And you know maybe we weren't getting married or anything crazy like that… but who knows if we will later on?

Who knows if we'll have a big wedding and have a family one day?

In time, you'll know.

"I love you, too," I say and kiss her again.

It just takes time…

Fin.

A/n: I'm pressing the complete option for the first time on something that's not a oneshot …... to people who have stuck with this story the day I posted the first chapter… God bless your soul hahaha.

Read my story Vamoosing Hearts.. xD