MY FINAL CHAPTER! I've also included an epilogue. I'm so sorry it's taken me YEARS to update (I know) but I've recently started going back on fanfiction and got the motivation to finish this off. I hope you've enjoyed it and thanks for all of your reviews!

Chapter Twenty and Epilogue

Lucy accepted it and tried to make it work, but her family saw with each passing day, that it wasn't her life. They had taken too long, and no matter how hard she'd try, she'd never feel comfortable.

A month passed. Two months. Three months. Eventually, Colette noticed it that no matter what anyone tried to do, Lucy wasn't happy. Late one night, she decided to talk to her husband.

"Vince, we can't keep her like this. She needs to go. I know she's been trying, but it hasn't been working. We've waited too long." A tear slid down her cheek.

Vince nodded. "I know, Colette. I don't want to lose her, but she can't…she's too unhappy here." Vincent wrapped his arms around his wife and the two sat in silence for a while. They knew that while it wasn't easy for them, they had to let her go.

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The next morning, Colette and Vince called Brian, who had been sleeping in a nearby hotel. "Brian? I hope it's not too early," she said when she heard his sleepy voice say hello. "We'd like for you to come down here as soon as possible, please."

Meanwhile, Vincent woke Lucy. "Mhm? Vince? It's only…" she glanced at the clock by her nightstand, "Six o' clock." She groaned and pulled her pillow over her head.

"Get up and get dressed. We need to talk to you."

Forty-five minutes later, Lucy had showered and dressed and was heading downstairs just as the doorbell rang. "Brian, thank you so much for coming," Colette said, smiling. Considering their last encounter, much had changed.

"Yes?" he said as they went into the living room.

Lucy followed them. Vincent, Colette, Alan and Brian were waiting for her. "What's going on here?"

"Luce…we need to tell you something. We know that you haven't quite fit in here. Some people fit in quickly, but it doesn't take quite so long. Lucy, we've given it time and then discussed it. You didn't fit in, we could tell, and we know you're unhappy. We're letting you return to Glen Oak…if Brian accepts responsibility for you."

"Of course I do," Brian said.

"Do you really mean it?" Lucy cried. "Will we have to move back to the old shack at Glutch Dayton?"

"Not unless you want to," Vince replied. "I know you did it to hide from us, but you can return back to California, and we won't come after you."

"Oh, thank you!" she cried and hugged them both—a first sign of affection towards them.

"On one condition, that is," her mother said.

"Which is?"

"That you keep us informed of how you are doing. Also, unfortunately, while we will do our best to keep you away, there may be a slight possibility that you may have to return to the Planet someday."

Lucy and Brian nodded. "That's absolutely fair."

"The marriage at sixteen? She'll be sixteen in two months," Brian said.

"We're going to try to persuade the government to let her marry on Earth; if we do that, then she can only get married in America. But again, no promises."

"We'll keep in touch," Brian said, shaking his hand. "Now, how do you get out of here?"

"Oh, just keep driving straight," Colette said. "Eventually, you will feel the wind pick up, and then you will be on your way home. It will lead you to where you need to go."

An hour later, Lucy and Brian packed up and said good-byes. "Lucy!" Just before she opened the car door, a hand pulled her back. "Lucy," Alan's voice was quiet, gentle. "Lucy…I love you."

She blushed. "I'm sorry, Alan, but I don't feel the same way."

"Can't we try to make it work?"

"I don't think I can ever love you," she replied. "I have forgiven you as well as my parents, and perhaps someday we can be friends, but love…love is something very different for me, and I've gotten to know you over the past month, and I don't feel the same. I'm sorry, Alan."

"Can we at least be friends?"

Lucy smiled. "It's possible that someday we will be. I want to get to know you first before I commit to a friendship. It's just…really painful for me about you and…everything."

"And call?"

"Let's not yet. Let's keep it through e-mail and letters for right now. We'll see where it takes us. It's too much with our past and everything…"

Alan nodded.

Once driving down a narrow road, Brian said, "I need to make a quick stop first."

He stopped by the hotel. When he came out, Lucy was surprised to see Kevin.

"Kevin!" she cried.

"Hey, Luce."

"Luce?" She gave him a questioning look, and then looked at her father. Brian nodded, and she knew that Kevin knew.

"Come on, Honey," Brian said. "Let's go home."

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"So everything worked out okay?" Eric asked the next day, once everyone was settled home.

"Yeah. Did you tell Annie?"

"No, she never knew."

"Now that Lucy is safe, I think it's okay for you to tell her."

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Life returned to normal for Lucy, although she herself was never quite the same. She turned sixteen and was granted permission to remain on Earth for the rest of her life, although she was allowed only minimal contact with her parents. While Lucy was only sixteen and Kevin was twenty-one, they remained friends until she turned eighteen. During that time, Kevin tried to date other people, but it didn't work out, and on Lucy's eighteenth birthday, they began to date. They dated for two years and they were married. Lucy did invite her biological parents to her wedding, and then later on to the birth of twins (two girls). Otherwise, she receives one birthday card from them a year – all other holidays go unnoticed, so not to upset the government for having too much contact with others from Earth. Kevin continued to work in the police force and Lucy works as a teacher.

Brian never remarried, but he has his hands full with work, traveling and watching his two grandchildren when they arrive home from school (and when he isn't traveling). He and the Camdens continue to be close.

Mary ended up marrying a guy named James, and they had one son.

While it took some time for Alan to get over his love for Lucy, he eventually did, and married a woman from the Planet, Camille. They had two sons and two daughters. And yes, while it took some time, Alan and Lucy were able to be friends.

And, as the saying goes, "They lived happily ever after".

Whew! FINALLY COMPLETE! I may finish "Chance", but then again, my sequels just don't seem to work. And now that 7th Heaven has been over for almost a couple of years now…we'll see. You never know when I might get inspired and write another 7th Heaven story or complete old ones. Thanks for all of your amazing reviews and sorry again it took me so long to get this up!