I was sitting in the Cooper's lounge-room, sipping my peppermint tea. When I had stormed in angrily, Alice had suggested the calming beverage as Caddy was still asleep.

I was angry at Ryder for not letting me explain to him what happened, but I was more angry at how everyone was lying to me to 'keep me safe'. I was a grown girl, I could take care of myself. Nobody had to hide stuff from me, I could deal with it. Still fuming, I took another sip of my tea, trying to calm down.

Just then, a knock sounded on the door. Sighing, I stood up and walked over to it. When I opened the door I barely noticed Ryder before he suddenly kissed me.

Forcing myself away - despite how good it felt - I sucked in a breath.

"Jellybean," he sighed softly, resting his forehead on mine. I pushed against his shoulders.

"Ryder," I said angrily. "You do not know how angry I am at you right now."

"Oh, trust me, I do." Ryder gently took my hand in his and led me out onto the porch.

"I'm guessing Jug told what I was trying to earlier?" I asked as we sat on the porch swing.

"Yeah," he sighed again, "and I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you."

"It was so cliche' you know," I laugh softly. "My kissing someone else and then you not letting me explain."

"Wait, hold up." Ryder turned in his seat to face me. "From my understanding

Sweet Pea kissed you, and then you punched him? Because if not, I punched Sweet Pea for no reason, other than me being jealous."

"You did not!," I exclaim. He just chuckled. "But yeah, that's what happened. And you didn't give me the chance to tell you that. Instead, you assumed that I had moved on no more than a month after you left. I don't think I could have ever moved on, Ry."

He smiled and lent in for another kiss. It felt even better than the earlier one, but I pulled back after a moment.

"I'm still angry with you," I said, trying to cover my satisfied smile with a mock angry face but failing miserably. Ryder returned my smile. "Will you please explain why you left?"

He sighed again. "Yeah, you deserve that," he said. "I'm sorry no one told you. Looking back, we probably should have, but anyway, the reason I left."

"Could you start with that guy that was at your house the night you told me goodbye?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, that was my brother, Flynn."

I was confused, but I couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"What?" Ryder questioned, wondering why I was laughing at a time like this.

"Sorry," I laughed harder. "It's just - your brother's name is Flynn?"

"Yeah…" Ryder was still confused.

"And you're Ryder," I laughed. "Flynn Rider is the name of the character from Tangled, the movie."

"Hey, in my mother's and father's defence, the movie wasn't out then." Ryder was smiling as well.

"So, anyway, why was your brother there?" I got back on topic.

Ryder turned sombre again. "Well, there's was gang called the Jaguars, they were kinda like the Serpents here, but back in Sudbury - my old town - but much worse. So anyway, they had this feud with my uncle, I'm not sure what it was about, but they murdered him. My Dad saw them kill his own brother, and he ran home and was telling my Mom. I overheard them talking, and I ran into Flynn's room to tell him what was happening, then we heard a gunshot, then another."

I placed an arm around Ryder's shoulders as his voice broke. He continued after taking a deep breath.

"They must have seen Dad run away or something, so they followed him and killed our mother and father, right there, in cold blood, in their own house."

Ryder took another breath. "Luckily - though it didn't seem like luck at the time - the Jaguares didn't see Flynn and I. The police found us a while later, and we went to stay with our aunty, on my mother's side. She took us away from the city, figuring it 'wasn't safe'," Ryder put those words in finger quotes, "for us to be there - the Jaguares might've found us. Then Flynn went to stay with our grandmother, they decided it was safer if we were apart. Grandma took Flynn to some town in the country, and my aunty and I moved here, to Riverdale.

"Flynn and I didn't see each other again until that day. I always thought that surely enough time had passed and Flynn and I could see each other, but apparently not. The Jaguares were dangerous, deadly. So, anyway, when my brother came to visit me that day you saw us, he had come to tell me that our Grandma had passed away. Unfortunately, Flynn ran into some Jaguares along the way. They were talking about a kid who lived in Riverdale, someone who they planned to murder, just like his parents. That's why Flynn took the risk of coming to my house. He had to warn me, he had to take me somewhere safe.

"When he showed up, he told me what he had overheard. The Jaguares hadn't seen him, and they didn't know exactly where I lived, so we had an advantage. Then you showed up, I was scared for your safety. If the Jaguars had somehow found me then, you could have been killed. After you left, your brother and father showed up. I told them everything, and then we made a plan.

"Flynn and I would disappear to Flynn's friend's place in Toledo, and when the Jaguars came looking for me in town, the Serpents would take care of them. We assumed they would come looking first at either the Serpents or the Ghoulies - fellow gangs - and they went to the Ghoulies. So, when the Ghoulies told the Jaguars that there was a Ryder fellow that was a Serpent, they all came ready to fight to the Wyrm. Fortunately, the Serpents were ready, and they caught them all. After they handed them over to the police, they found out that all of the Jaguars would be in prison for life - they had done some really bad things - which was very convenient for all of us.

"Me and Flynn had to stay hiding in Toledo for a while longer, though, in case there were still some Jaguars out there that were still looking to kill me. After the Serpents did some intense searching around everywhere, we got word that they were all gone. "

Ryder to face me from where he was staring out into the distance. "Flynn told me we could go home that day that I saw you in Toledo. We had to wait a week for some annoying reasons, but I was so excited to be able to see you again. Then I came home and was trying to find you, then I saw you in the diner, kissing Sweet Pea."

"You really have bad timing you know," I nudged him playfully.

"No, I think you are with kissing someone else right at that moment," he countered.

"Let's just both agree that it's Sweet Pea with the bad timing." We both laughed, and I resting my head on Ryder's shoulder. "I really missed you, you know?" I told him softly.

"I missed you too," he replied. I turned my head towards his. He smiled gently, before leaning down and kissing me. This time, I didn't pull away immediately.

After a while, Ryder took his lips from mine and peppered little kissed over my eyes, cheeks, forehead and ears. I giggled.

I actually giggled. Wow. What had gotten into me? Love, that's what.

As if Ryder could read my mind, he sighed softly. "I love you," he said quietly.

"And I love you," I replied, gazing into his eyes.

I snuggled into his side, and we watched the sunset together. It was perfect - until the ringing of my phone interrupted the moment. Reluctantly pulling away, I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

"Hello?" I asked the unknown caller.

The person said something on the other side of the phone and I gasped. "Oh my gosh," I breathed. "Okay, yes, please tell them I'll be there as soon as I can…. Ok, thank you."

Ryder looked at me curiosity. "What was that about?"

I stared down at the grief dispensing object in my hand. My life had just changed, like dramatically - again. I put the phone down, wiping away the tears pooling in my eyes.

"It's Tyler and Mercy," I told Ryder, still not believing what I had just heard. "They were murdered."

Author's note: So, that's it. The last chapter, the last update of my very first fanfiction. It was full of cliches, romance, jealousy that I plucked out of thin air because I love writing it even though I'm really bad at it, problems that my friend gave me ideas and without her, I probably would have made this a romance story with no complications, and heaps of my own characters. :) I would have never guessed that this story would go on to be 36 chapters long! My Google Doc that I was writing this on just reached 100 pages, so I believe that was a sign to finish writing it...

I'm so sad that I'm done :( Don't you worry though, there will be a sequel! Sorry about the cliffhanger, I just had to make sure at least some of you would read the sequel when I publish it :)

I have the main plot figured out for the next story, but if you have ANY ideas (characters that I could add or expand on, plot ideas, etc.) that I could use, please feel free to review or PM me. I need a name too, so if you guys think of any… Even though this story is finished, I will still read the reviews! I would really like to get over 50 reviews on this, I know I'm selfish, but anyone who writes on Fanfiction knows the amazing feeling we get when we see reviews in our inboxs!

Can anyone guess who Flynn's girlfriend will be in the sequel? It will be a canon character, and yes, I do know who it is :)

The next story will be full of adventure, murder mystery, against the rules detective work, romance, and yes, more Jyder! Oh, and heaps of over-used ' :) ' in the author's notes! So please check it out when I do eventually publish it. :)

One more thing, I recently updated and added A LOT of stuff to my profile, so please take a look at that if you have some spare time.

I just want to thank you guys so much for favouriting/following/reviewing, or just, in general, reading my story, it means a lot to me. :) And a special thanks to my friend Amber! Without her, this story would have been crap!

For the last time on this story,

Xx G