A/N Bad news: This update is late, my apologies! Good news: There's going to be one more part to this story. Well, hopefully you guys think that's good news :) I will respond to all reviews and PMs this week. Thanks for your patience and as always for reading!

Epilogue Part 2

Spencer decided that she should actually spend her afternoon doing her homework. She reasoned that now that her time with Ashley was limited, it was better to get boring stuff out of the way when they weren't together. Plus, the homework distracted her from the mixture of emotions she was feeling after talking with her dad. They were mostly good emotions, but things still felt a little raw.

She had considered messaging Ashley to pass the time and also because she missed her girlfriend. But explaining what had happened with her dad couldn't be properly conveyed via text messages. Not to mention, she really did want to prove to Ashley that she could be fine on her own.

"I'm not interrupting, am I?" Arthur asked as he hovered outside his daughter's room. She had left the door open but he didn't want to intrude.

Spencer looked up from her laptop, "No, I'm just about done.

"I wanted to let you know I'll be heading out in a few minutes. I have an A.A. meeting." It was going to make Arthur feel a lot better once he had his first meeting out of the way. He was nervous and it almost felt like he was headed for his first day of school. "I'm actually getting picked up by someone who also went to the same rehab as me."

"That's great," Spencer said. It made her feel good that her dad was taking his sobriety seriously. "I hope it goes well."

"Thanks." Arthur still couldn't believe what had happened with Spencer earlier. He felt lucky and hopeful, two things that he'd not felt a lot of in the darkness of his addiction. "I'm not sure if you and Ashley have plans later, but if you don't, I would love to cook dinner tonight for all of us. If you're busy, it's OK, we can always do it another time."

Spencer wasn't actually sure what she had going on with Ashley. She figured Ashley would come back for a bit to check in and then head to her house, but they hadn't discussed anything formally. Spencer was confident that when she told the other girl about what her dad wanted, she'd at least stay for dinner. "That sounds great. I'll double check with Ashley, but I'm sure she won't say no to that offer."

Arthur smiled widely. "Tell her I'm making my world famous lasagna. She always used to love that."

"I'm sure she still does," Spence replied. It was so weird to think that she was going to have a home-cooked meal with her dad and her girlfriend.

"I'll ask my ride to stop at the grocery store on the way home. I should be back in a few hours."

When Arthur said goodbye, Spencer came downstairs to grab a drink so she locked the door behind him. She was right in the middle of typing a message to Ashley to tell her to get back to her house, when that very same Ashley, burst through the front door.

"Oh my god, are you OK?" she asked in a panicked voice. Ashley grabbed Spencer by her forearms. "What's going on? Why did your dad leave? Did you have a fight? Did you kick him out? Where is he going?" When a very confused Spencer didn't respond to any of Ashley's questions, the brunette started to panic more. "Why aren't you answering me?"

"Whoa, slow down, Ash," Spencer replied. "Everything is fine. I was just about to send you a message when you came in here like some kind of lunatic." Before Ashley could interject, a thought occurred to Spencer. "Wait a second, how did you even know he left?"

"Uh, yeah, about that…" Ashley managed to go from looking concerned to sheepish in mere seconds. "Maybe I didn't exactly have any errands to run this afternoon and, uh, maybe I was parked just down the street from you, in, uh, case anything went bad."

"You did what?" Spencer was in shock.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to lie to you. I just wanted to be there in case-"

Spencer didn't let Ashley keep talking. Instead, she cut the brunette of with a kiss that was anything but innocent. "I can't believe you did that for me," she said when their kiss ended.

"Oh, uh, you know, it wasn't a big deal or anything." Ashley's idea to camp near Spencer's house had seemed like a good one at the time. She just wanted to be near her girlfriend just in case Spencer needed her. Apparently she had overreacted, which made Ashley feel stupid. Even with Spencer's reassuring kiss, she was embarrassed. "Clearly, I did not need to do that. So, yeah…"

Spencer did not think there was anything wrong with what Ashley had done, she actually found the gesture very sweet. That didn't mean she wasn't going to tease the other girl, this was too good an opportunity to pass up. "Seriously, it's OK. I mean, I wish I would have known about your stalker tendencies before, but what can you do?"

Ashley shot her girlfriend a dirty look, "You're lucky I'm too concerned about how things went with your dad to worry about you making fun of me. Be thankful for this pass." Spencer went to kiss Ashley again, but Ashley didn't allow her to. "Tell me what happened? How did things go?"

Spencer thought about sulking because she'd been denied but decided against it. She joked around a lot and clearly Ashley had been worried about her. "It went really well. It wasn't exactly sunshine and puppies, but it wasn't a disaster either."

Ashley smiled warmly at the other girl. "I'm so happy to hear that."

"It was good." Spencer didn't want to get too hopeful, she was still cautious. But she couldn't deny that things with her dad had gotten off on the right foot. "He wants me to go visit Clay's grave with him." It wasn't the easiest thing to share with Ashley, but Spencer wanted her girlfriend to know exactly what had happened. "I told him I would."

Dealing with Clay's death was a big deal for Spencer and Ashley knew that. It was one of toughest subjects to broach with the blonde because she was still so haunted by the memories of her brother and his death. Ashley knew what a big step this would be for Spencer. She didn't have the words to show her support, so she hugged her girlfriend instead.

Spencer allowed herself to relax completely into Ashley's arms. The emotional rollercoaster of the day didn't seem so bad now that she was in her girlfriend's embrace. The seemingly insurmountable obstacles that Spencer's past often presented to the blonde always felt smaller when Ashley was around. It wasn't that Spencer didn't think she could handle things on her own. She knew she could, she was a survivor. But having Ashley by her side made her feel like she had someone she could really rely on in her corner. It felt wonderful to have someone in her life that Spencer felt knew her and knew what she needed like only Ashley did.

Eventually, Spencer pulled back so she was looking into the brown eyes of the girl she loved deeply. "I do want to tell you everything, Ash, but can wait for a bit? I'm not avoiding anything; I just need a break from the emotional upheaval that dealing with my dad brings. Is that OK?"

"Of course it's OK," Ashley replied immediately. She could sense when the other girl was running away, and this wasn't one of those occasions. She understood why Spencer would want a reprieve from the heaviness that dealing with emotional stuff brought on.

"By the way, my dad invited you stay for dinner tonight and I already pretty much said yes for you, so if you have, like, another girlfriend that you have plans with tonight, you probably should cancel them."

Ashley rolled her eyes playfully. "Yes, my side girlfriend will definitely need to be told about this." She tried to put on a serious face, but failed miserably. "Of course I'm going to stay for dinner."

"And to think, I got you to agree to that without even telling you the best part." Spencer stayed quiet for a little bit to build the suspense up. "He's making us lasagna."

"Mmmmmmmmm." Ashley's mouth was already watering. "That's the best news I've heard in a really long time."

"Is it?" Spencer asked, seemingly deep in thought. "Because I was thinking…"

Spencer went from pensive to mischievous faster than anyone that Ashley had ever met. "Yes?"

"I was thinking…" Spencer repeated with an almost wicked grin on her face. "That the best news you might have heard in really long time is that my dad will be gone for a few hours leaving us all alone until he gets back."

Ashley felt a tingle of excitement race through her body. She loved the sound of Spencer's voice when it got like this. "And what exactly did you want to do to with all this free time on our hands?" Spencer was already leading Ashley away from the entranceway towards the stairs. "Study perhaps?"

Spencer turned around so she was facing Ashley as she walked backwards up to her room. "Already got most of that done, I'm proactive like that."

Ashley tapped her freehand against her chin. "Hmm, do you want to watch a movie?"

Spencer shook her head vehemently. "Nope, not in the mood."

"What exactly are you in the mood for then?" Ashley asked coyly. She let out a little yelp as Spencer dragged her the rest of the way to her room. Not that she was exactly complaining about it.

Once Spencer had Ashley right by her bed – exactly where she wanted her to be – she pushed Ashley down and went right on top of her. "You," Spencer answered simply.

Ashley didn't get the chance to reply with a witty comment because she was silenced by Spencer's lips crashing down on hers. It was a move that Ashley welcomed wholeheartedly.

Spencer traced her fingers across Ashley's bare shoulders. She loved having her girlfriend cuddled into her – that was especially true when Ashley was naked – and now was no exception. For a day that had been filled with many ups and downs emotionally, Spencer felt content, and that had a lot to do with the girl in her bed.

Spencer closed her eyes, she wanted to revel in how good she felt right then. The quiet made her wonder if Ashley was sleeping. There were two ways that Ashley usually behaved after sex: hyper excited talking or falling immediately asleep like a guy. "You awake?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," Ashley replied just as quietly.

Spencer was surprised, she hadn't actually expected the other girl to answer. She took this as a bad sign. "Is something wrong?"

Ashley buried her head further into Spencer's neck. "Nothing's wrong."

"Ash," Spencer started while her fingers moved from Ashley's shoulder to her girlfriend's hair. It was possible that she was overreacting, but her gut told her she wasn't. "Talk to me, please."

"There's nothing wrong," Ashley insisted. She wasn't trying to intentionally lie to her girlfriend; she just wanted to pretend that everything was OK. "It's fine, I'm fine."

"Ash," Spencer tried again. She wasn't mad, she was concerned. It was rare for Ashley to be the one avoiding things. That was Spencer's way of dealing with tough situations. "Please, just tell me what's going on."

Ashley wished she had been able to fall asleep. Her brain was busy with too many thoughts to allow that to happen. The pleading in Spencer's voice was hard for Ashley to hear. "Really, I'm OK. This will pass."

Spencer frowned, that wasn't the response she was looking for. "What will pass?"

Ashley wanted to stay wrapped up in Spencer's arms. But she could tell that Spencer wasn't going to let her ignore what had been swirling around in her head. The brunette shifted around so she was lying on her side. When Spencer turned on her side as well, Ashley sighed. "Really, it's nothing. Besides today is about you and having your dad home."

"You know that's not how it works, right?" Spencer reached out to caress Ashley's cheek. She wanted to pull Ashley back into her, she felt too far away. In the spirit of getting to the bottom of things, Spencer resisted that urge. "It's not about turns and having my needs be more important than what you're feeling." Ashley's eyes were sad and that increased Spencer's concern.

Even with Spencer's insisting that Ashley share what was bothering her, Ashley was reluctant to do so. She felt bad enough as it was, she didn't want to have to deal with the guilt of side tracking the focus away from Spencer and what having her dad home meant to the blonde. On the other hand, she couldn't look into Spencer's eyes and not tell her the truth. It wasn't possible. Ashley struggled with how to best phrase what was concerning her at that moment. "Lying here with you, I realized how happy I am. More than that, how happy you make me."

If Ashley expected Spencer to understand the problem, she was mistaken. "And being happy is a bad? That's why you're upset?"

Ashley shook her head, she knew that it would be hard to explain exactly what was making her emotional. "No, it's not that, it's just…" Ashley faltered once again to make sense of the storm raging inside of her. She usually was able to ignore these feelings, but right now she wasn't able to do that. "I guess I'm kind of waiting for you to realize that you've made a big mistake."

Spencer frowned. She was at a complete loss to understand what Ashley was getting at. "A mistake? What mistake do you think I've made?"

"Being with me," Ashley admitted with a lot of reluctance. She hated feeling this way and feeling so week. "Forgiving me," she added for clarification.

Spencer was completely confused. She didn't understand where all of this was coming from. "What are you talking about?"

Ashley closed her eyes briefly to gather her thoughts. "Everything is going so well and now, with your dad home, it's hopefully only going to get better. And I don't know, somehow I think that you're going to wake up one day and realize you can do so much better than me."

"What?" Spencer was floored by what Ashley had just said. Not because it had come out of left field. It had more to do with Ashley having those thoughts and how hard that must be for the other girl. "There is no one better for me. You're the one that I-"

"I know it doesn't make sense to you," Ashley cut it. She wasn't angry or being combative with Spencer. "But it does to me. I was awful to you for so long, I still don't understand why you ever forgave me for that." Ashley's voice cracked. "I ignored you and I-"

"I know what you did," Spencer said softly. She also wasn't looking to start a fight, but she didn't see the point in bringing up old wounds and old issues. "But that's in the past; we've moved past it."

"Maybe you shouldn't have, maybe it's not something you can move past," Ashley replied almost defiantly. She sat up in bed, bringing the covers up with her.

Spencer sat up as well, she wasn't going to let Ashley leave or do anything until they resolved this. "But I have. I don't want to look back at what was, I want to look forward and focus on what the future has in store for us."

"Then look at what happened with Madison," Ashley continued like she hadn't heard a word Spencer had just said. "What I did to you was unforgiveable. You never should have given me another chance."

"Good thing I'm not you."

"That's not funny." Ashley wasn't in the mood to be let off the hook.

"Hey." Spencer was starting to grow even more concerned about what was happening than she had been. "I'm not making a joke. I get that you're upset, but-"

"But nothing, Spence, you should be with someone better." Ashley wasn't looking for sympathy, she was simply stating the truth as she saw it.

"Do you even understand how ludicrous that is for you to say to me?" Spencer asked rhetorically. She had let Ashley explain why she was upset, now it was her turn to make her realize how wrong she was. Spencer hated when Ashley thought the worst about herself, it made the blonde's heart ache. "You are, without a doubt, the best thing that has ever come into my life."

Ashley shook her head, "No, I'm-"

"I'm not finished," Spencer said forcefully. "There is no one better out there for me." Spencer reached for Ashley's hand and was relieved when Ashley gave it to her. "No one. I forgave you long ago, Ashley. This isn't about me. This is about forgiving yourself for what happened."

"I don't know if I can do that," Ashley admitted.

"You really should," Spencer said. "You're not the same person who did those things."

"How do you know I'm not?" Ashley started to tear up. With each passing minute she only felt worse about herself. "Look what happened at the first test of our relationship. I did something awful. I could do something awful again."

Spencer didn't like that Ashley kept dredging up what she considered ancient history. She understood why she was doing that, but she didn't like. "No, you couldn't." Ashley went to offer a rebuttal but Spencer kept talking. "Every time we meet someone who doesn't know about relationship you take hold of my hand almost immediately and you have this expression on your face like you're daring them to judge us. When that happens, I fall even more in love with you, which is saying a lot because I already love you pretty damn much. You introduce me to everyone as your girlfriend—even people who probably already know that we are in a relationship. I love when you do that. When school started a Gay/Straight Alliance, who was the first person who signed up to be a part of that group, even when her girlfriend was grumpy about it because she doesn't like to join much of anything? That was you. Don't you understand how much you've changed?"

Ashley refused to take credit for things that she didn't think were a big deal. "That doesn't mean anything."

"It means everything," Spencer said. If Ashley wouldn't accept what she was saying, Spencer would have to keep trying until she did. "You've helped me so much while my dad's been away. I could never have gotten through all these months without you."

"Yes, you could have," Ashley countered. "You are the strongest person that I know."

"But with you I don't have to be that strong," Spencer explained. "I've had to be tough and pretend things don't bother with me for the longest time."

Ashley wanted to take the blame for Spencer having to act like nothing touched her, but she stayed quiet.

"I don't have to face things alone anymore. That's because of you, Ashley." Spencer squeezed her girlfriend's hand. "I wish you could see yourself through my eyes, Ash. Then you'd see what I see. And what I see is someone who always tells me and shows me that they love me every day. You cherish me, you take care of me, you support me, you want me and you make me feel like I'm the luckiest person in the world because you're mine. You think I can do better than you, but you couldn't be more wrong. You're amazing, Ash, truly and absolutely amazing."

Ashley wiped the few stray tears that had started to fall away. "I'm sorry that I-"

"Don't you dare apologize to me right now." Spencer ordered. "You're allowed to fall apart, you're allowed to feel down, you're allowed to have bad moments. We all have them. But you're not allowed to be sorry about them. "

"When did you get so wise?" Ashley smiled through her tears. Opening up had eased some of her feelings of self doubt. She knew they'd still linger there from time to time, but hopefully one day that wouldn't be the case.

"That's what hours of therapy will do for you," Spencer quipped. She felt relieved that the storm that had been brewing within Ashley had seemingly passed—at least for now. "In case you couldn't tell, I'm madly and deeply in love with you. And I don't love just anyone."

"I know," Ashley whispered. "I love you too."

But words didn't seem sufficient to Ashley. A surge of emotions and feelings came rushing at her all at once. Spencer might feel like the luckiest person in the world, but Ashley knew that she was the one who should be counting her lucky stars. Not just because she had fallen in love with someone so special, but also because she had been given more chances than some people ever got.

She practically leapt at Spencer as the need to kiss her girlfriend overwhelmed Ashley. Even with their activities from earlier in the morning and just an hour before, Ashley felt a hunger for Spencer right then that could not be ignored. She had to feel Spencer's lips on hers and Spencer's body beneath her. She ripped the covers away and pushed Spencer back on the bed.

Ashley kissed Spencer deeply and languidly. She pressed her naked body against the blonde's. Both girls moaned into the other's mouth as the temperature in Spencer's room shot way up. Ashley wasn't going to rush anything. She was going to take her time showing Spencer exactly how much she loved her.

She kissed her way up and down Spencer's body until the blonde was pleading for release. Ashley wasn't going to give into that pleading just yet. She moved against her girlfriend which only increased Spencer's need for her. She gazed into Spencer's eyes and got satisfaction in how dilated and unfocused they were. She leaned down to kiss Spencer again, their lips fused together like they were never going to stop.

Ashley was never going to stop.

What she had with Spencer was too important to ever stop fighting for, even when her own insecurities threatened to overwhelm Ashley.

When she was finally inside of the blonde, Ashley knew that Spencer felt the bond that they had just as strongly as Ashley felt it. Whatever happened in the future, whatever obstacles they had to face, the two of them would face them together.

Of that, Ashley had no doubts.