Part 3—Too Little, Too Late

A/N: I haven't done a disclaimer for this whole thing, so…

I do not own anything associated with Lizzie McGuire. Not the characters, the setting, the theme song…I own zip. In this chapter, there are businesses and bands mentioned. THEY ARE NOT REAL. I'm not making money off this or anything. Yawn. Disclaimers are so boring.

Catluver9999: Thank you for pointing that out! I always have trouble with those two! I'll learn eventually…please let me know if you see anything like that in this chapter. :)

"Have you got everything?" Lizzie asked, dropping the last box into her van.

"Yeah," Taylor said, following her mother.

"Good. Come on, we're gonna go say goodbye to your father."

"Mom?" Taylor asked, buckling her seatbelt. "Do we really have to leave?"

"Yes. Honey, this is my dream. Sometimes you have to take a risk to follow your dreams, and by leaving, I'm teaching you that," Lizzie replied, confident in her words.

"Sure." Taylor rolled her eyes sarcastically.

"Watch that tone, Missy. Here we are. Let's go say goodbye." Gordo was sitting on the porch at his little duplex house, wringing his hands nervously. Taylor and Lizzie got out of the minivan and Taylor ran into her dad's open arms. Gordo hugged her tight and waved at Lizzie.

"I'm going to miss you so much, Daddy," Taylor said. Gordo's heart broke as he felt his little girl tremble with sobs.

"I'm going to miss you, too, Kiddo." He let go and knelt down to her eye level. "But I'm going to come visit you ever summer when you're out of school, and every Christmas, and every spring break. I promise."

"Promise," Taylor agreed, and they linked pinkies. There was an awkward silence among all three people, but then Gordo held his arms out and he and Lizzie embraced.

"Bye, Liz," Gordo said, pulling away quickly.

"Bye. Stay in touch?" Lizzie asked. He nodded as a response. "Come on, Taylor."

"Bye, Tay. I love you, sweetie." Gordo said, smiling sadly.

"Love you, Daddy." Taylor called as her mother pulled her to the car.

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Lizzie glanced over at her sleeping daughter. The drive had been long and boring, and Taylor had fallen asleep about an hour ago. "Sweetheart," Lizzie whispered, parking the car. "We're here." Taylor groaned and opened her eyes. "Come on, honey." Lizzie patted Taylor's knee and they got out of the car.

"Can I call Daddy to say goodnight?" Taylor asked, pulling her bags out of the car. Lizzie sighed.

"Sure, honey. But you should really get used to him not being around."

"Why?"

"Because we're far away from him now."

"But we'll go visit him…won't we?"

"Maybe over spring break or something." Taylor sighed and dragged her bags to the door, where Lizzie's friend helped her inside.

Days and days had gone by, and Gordo hadn't heard from them. Unless getting a card in the mail with their new phone number and address on it counted. He couldn't stand it anymore. He picked up the phone and dialed the number, waiting on bated breath for someone to answer.

"Hello?" Taylor asked. Gordo sighed with relief. At least he knew they were alive.

"Hey, honey. It's Dad."

"Dad, hi!"

"How are you, Tay?"

"Okay. How are you?"

"I was worried about you. You promised to call."

"Sorry…I forgot."

"It's okay. Can I talk to your mom for a minute?"

"She's not here." Gordo glanced at the clock. It was 9:00 Pacific time, so it would be 10:00 Mountain time. Where could Lizzie be at 10 PM?

"Where is she?"

"She's on tour. She's the opening act for the Fat Heads! That band totally rocks!"

"Oh, that's cool, honey! But…who's watching you?"

"No one."

"No one's watching you?"

"Nope."

"When is your mother going to be home?"

"New Year's Eve is her last concert."

"She won't even be home for Christmas?" Gordo asked, disbelieving. Lizzie wouldn't abandon her daughter. Especially not on Christmas. He looked at his calendar. Just as he thought; it was December 23.

"No." Taylor sounded disappointed. Gordo's heart broke for her. What the hell was going on with Lizzie?"

"Honey, how long has Mom been gone?"

"She left the day after we got here."

"Are you serious."

"I wouldn't lie to you, Daddy. What's wrong…is Mom doing something bad?"

"Tay, listen. I'm going to come get you."

"Can you do that?"

"I'm your father."

"But you can't just come and take me away from Mom, right?"

"We'll talk to Family Services."

"Okay…"

"This is what's best for you, Taylor. I love you. Don't answer the door for anyone."

"I won't. I love you, too." They hung up. Gordo grabbed a slip of paper with Lizzie's address on it, and got in the car. He drove for hours. Taylor sat by her living room window, looking for her father's pick-up truck. When it arrived, Taylor dashed outside and hugged her dad.

"Get some of your stuff packed up. We'll get the rest later," he instructed, looking around the house. Dimly lit, shabby furniture. It looked like the typical house a single mom and her daughter would live in. Taylor went down the hallway and came back with a backpack stuffed full of clothes. "The roads are too icy to drive on, now. I had a hard time getting down here. We'll go stay in a hotel until the roads clear up a little. Okay, Kiddo?"

"Okay, Daddy." Taylor hugged Gordo again. "I really missed you, Daddy."

"I really missed you, too, Tay. Ready to go?" Taylor nodded. Gordo wrote a quick note to Lizzie and then they headed out the door.

"I'm home!" Lizzie called, stepping into her house on Christmas Eve. The tour had ended early, and she was so excited to be home for Christmas. Silence was the only thing that greeted her. "Taylor?" Lizzie wandered into the kitchen. It was when she set her purse down on the table that she noticed the note from Gordo.

LIZZIE,

I CALLED TO TALK TO TAYLOR AND SHE SAID THAT YOU HAD GONE ON TOUR. I RESPECT AND LOVE YOU, LIZ, BUT YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE OUR CHILD HOME ALONE FOR DAYS ON END. I WON'T ALLOW IT. I LOVE TAYLOR WAY TOO MUCH TO LET HER BE NEGLECTED. I TOOK HER WITH ME. IF YOU FIND IT NECESSARY, I'LL TAKE YOU TO COURT AFTER THE HOLIDAYS ARE OVER.

-GORDO

Lizzie stared at the paper, unsure if this was some evil kind of practical joke. She ran around the house looking for Taylor. She wasn't there. Gordo really had taken her. Lizzie felt the tears begin to fall. How could she have been so stupid? What was she thinking, going and leaving Taylor alone like that? And for what? Oh yeah…to follow her "dream."

"I really screwed up," Lizzie whispered, shaking her head.

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She had gotten in the car, and soon found herself driving to the grand cathedral she had seen on Main Street. Lizzie had been born and raised Christian, but since she had moved out of her parents' house, she hadn't really been religious. Now was a damn good time to start, though, Lizzie figured. The church was empty. Lizzie wandered up to the front of it where candles were set on a long table. Several had already been lit. Lizzie lit five of them (Taylor's favorite number) and dropped to her knees. She watched the flames dance, but soon her vision became blurred with tears, forcing her to close her eyes and cry. She sobbed and trembled. Lizzie regained control of herself and clasped her hands together. "God," she whispered, but choked on her words. She took a deep breath and started again.

"God, I know I haven't prayed in a long, long time, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for a lot of things. I'm sorry that I prayed for stupid things when I was little, I'm sorry that I broke Gordo's heart, and…I'm especially sorry that I left Taylor all alone. She didn't deserve that. I was so stupid. God, I was so stupid. I know I sin a lot, and that you probably aren't listening to me right now. Why would you have time for some girl in a church in the middle of Wyoming? You have better things to do, like getting volunteers to feed starving children, and saving the Polar Bears. 'Cause, really, they need help, too. But, please, please, just keep my daughter safe. That's all I'll ever ask you for. Her name is Taylor Gordon, and is your biggest follower. All these years when I didn't go to church, she went. She went and prayed and sang the hymns, and whatever else people do at church. So why did you punish her and give her such a moronic mother? I'm not asking you to bring Taylor back to me, I just want you to look down on her and Gordo and keep them safe. They're good people. Gordo's a good man, and he loves Taylor. He'll take better care of her than I ever will be able to. Thank you, God. Amen." Applause rang out from the back pew of the church. Lizzie wiped her eyes and turned around. Gordo was getting up and walking toward her. Lizzie laughed sadly. "How did I do? I'm not exactly an expert at this."

"Not too shabby, McGuire," Gordo responded. "Taylor's okay. She's with your friend. I was doing some last minute Christmas shopping, and I saw your car in the parking lot here. You know…she misses you a lot, Lizzie."

"I bet she doesn't." Gordo knelt down next to Lizzie and took her hand into his.

"Yes, she does. More than you'll ever know."

"Gordo…why am I so stupid?"

"No, you're not stupid."

"Yes, I am. I let the best thing in my life get away from me. And…I'm not too proud of breaking your heart, either."

"Yeah, well, I've gotten over it." Lizzie looked at him. He hadn't gotten over it. She could tell just by looking at his eyes; they were filled with hurt. "Liz, you can come home with us. You can go back to school, get a normal job, whatever. I know you messed up, but Taylor and I need you in our lives."

"I don't know…we already tried living together, remember? It didn't work so well."

"Well, I think that was because you were trying to have a relationship with me when you didn't really love me. If we live together as a parental force, not romantically, things will work out a lot better." Gordo said, nodding confidently.

"Okay," Lizzie said, smiling. They hugged each other and turned to leave the church.

"Merry Christmas, Lizzie."

"And a very Merry Christmas to you, too, Gordo."

A/N: okay, so this is the last piece of this little 3 parter. Tomorrow we will go back to the general "chapters do not relate to each other in any way" rule. Enjoy!