A/N: Me? Back posting this story?! It's a miracle! I'm so sorry for my absence. The last semester was crazy, and honestly, even though the story's been done for a year, I lost my muse to post. In an almost dead fandom, it can be hard to find the motivation to post and keep things going. This is no excuse, it's my own thing, but recent events have lead me to be reminded that even if it's not obvious, there are people reading this story who love it and who I want to be able to hear the end of it. And I had so much fun writing this, so no matter who sees it, I want it to have a life outside of my word document. So, now that I have a less crazy schedule, I will hopefully be posting this regularly, Thursdays and Sundays.

That being said, I'm so sorry for the events of this chapter. Brace for impact. From now until the end, we're putting the angst in angst fic friends.

Willa was lying face up on her bed, deep into a text conversation with Dell. Her face wore a giant grin, and butterflies filled her stomach. Talking to him had become her favorite part of every day.

Did you watch Jeopardy last night?

Yes.

Did you get the final question?

Did you?

What do you think?

Of course you did J

Willa clutched her phone to her chest and bit her lip with a smile. It's not that she was trying to flirt, but every time his name popped up on her phone her heart started beating out of his chest. Talking to him felt natural…but different than it did with anyone else, more special. She took a deep breath, hopped off of her bed and began pacing the room, tossing her phone onto the comforter.

This all seemed so crazy if she thought about it too much. She hadn't even completely admitted to herself that she liked him again, but yet here she was, giggling and blushing like a middle-schooler just because they were talking about watching Jeopardy. Since she'd gotten to college, and put him in her past, she'd forgotten what it felt like to have a crush. Now she did though, and it was wonderful and awful all at the same time.

Shen had an idea then, and she held her breath as she mustered up the courage to carry it out. Could she? Moving on an impulse, she picked up her phone and typed out a message.

Do you want to go to a movie tomorrow?

As soon as she'd said it, she threw her phone away from her again with a yelp, and her hands came to cover her mouth. Her cheeks blushed. Had she really just done that?

She shouldn't have been this nervous. They had been on a date before...sort of...and technically she'd been the one who'd initiated it. He had said yes then. Of course, that was before the dance and the texting and the flirting, and, really, it hadn't been anything more than a lunch between friends. Oh God; what was she thinking?! Of course he wasn't going to say yes!

Just then, her phone rang and she startled, practically jumping up into the air. She took a deep breath and walked towards her bed to pick up the phone.

It's okay Willa she told herself. You freaked him out and now he's calling to question you. It's okay. You can handle rejection. We got this.

She reached her bed and took another breath before grabbing her phone. She picked it up and, without even looking at the screen, closed her eyes and answered.

"Hello?" she said, wincing.

"Hi, is this Isabella Angelo?"

Willa startled again, realizing that it was not Dell speaking to her. It quickly dawned on her that maybe she should have checked the caller ID. She currently had no idea who she was speaking to.

"This is she," she said hesitantly.

"Hi Isabella," the voice replied. "This is Mia Brown calling from the Georgetown Study Abroad office."

"Oh!" Willa exclaimed, brightening as she jumped into professional mode. "Hi!"

"Well Isabella, I'm calling because I'm happy to tell you that there's been a cancellation for next semester's program in Florence and we'd like to offer it to you!"

Willa almost dropped the phone and she went silent. She couldn't believe it. She'd made her peace with this dream being crushed months ago. She never thought that she'd actually make it.

"Isabella?" the woman asked.

"Yes...I'm here...sorry," Willa stuttered. "Um….that's...amazing thank you so much!"

"Do you accept?"

"Um….can I talk to my parents and call you back?"

"Yes of course, but I need an answer in 24 hours okay?"

"Of course….Thank you so much….Bye."

Willa hung up the phone and thought she might cry. She was actually going to get to study in Florence, Italy! She couldn't hold back the tears, and they started to form in her eyes. Things were finally starting to work out.

She was about to run downstairs to tell her Mom when suddenly her phone buzzed again. She looked down at it and froze. In all the excitement of studying abroad, she'd completely forgotten. Dell had texted her back, and the message glared up at her from her lockscreen:

Sounds great! Pick you up at 7? ;)

A lump formed in her throat. She'd signed up for study abroad to get away from home, before she reconnected with Dell, before she met the others, before she had something to leave behind. How was she supposed to make this decision now?

Charlene walked hurriedly down the street towards Crazy Glaze, her phone held to her ear.

"Hey, it's me again," she said, slightly annoyed. "I just parked and I'm walking over to you now. Come downstairs to meet me if you get this."

She had plans tonight to go to Disney Springs with Terry, but she hadn't heard from him all day, despite trying to contact him numerous times. She wasn't too keen on being ignored, and, after the way their first interaction had gone, she was beginning to think that maybe he'd decided he really didn't want anything to do with her after all, and was now ghosting her instead of having an adult conversation. She frowned. If that was true he was certainly going to hear it from her. She didn't appreciate being treated like she was disposable.

She let out a huff as she approached the store. He wasn't waiting there for her. She was about to call him again when suddenly the door opened, and she saw Terry rushing out carrying a duffle bag. He seemed frenzied and dazed, and his face was flushed, like he'd been crying. Charlene, completely forgetting her anger from before, jogged towards him.

"Hey!" she called out. "What happened?!"

He looked up at her and immediately looked as if he was going to break down.

"The date," he cried. "I'm sorry I…."

"Hey hey hey," Charlene said, stepping closer to him. "Don't worry about it. What happened?"

"My aunt," he stammered, overtaken by tears. "I couldn't wake her up this morning so I let her sleep and then I went back when it got late and she wasn't….I had to call 911 they just took her in the ambulance but I had to stay and get her stuff and…"

His rambles turned into sobs and Charlene quickly put a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it up and down his arm. She was in shock, trying to keep it together herself. How could this have happened?

Terry pulled away from her, and wiped his nose with his sleeve.

"I have to go," he said. "I have to catch the bus so I can get the hospital and..."

"Don't be ridiculous," Charlene said, cutting him off. "I'll drive you."

"No I can't...I can't ask you to do that I…"

"Terry." She put her hands on his shoulders. "I want to do it, okay? I'm not letting you handle this alone."

Terry stared at her for a moment, as if he were deciding how he felt. Then, suddenly, he burst into sobs and fell onto her shoulder. Her arms wrapped around him and she stroked his back, trying not to cry herself. Something stirred in her in this moment, being with him in this way. She quickly decided to pay it no mind, chalking it up to the stress, and knowing she needed to place all of her focus on being his strength.

"Come on," she whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "I'm parked around the corner."

Casey skipped up to the front door of her house, but she really felt like she was floating. She don't know if she'd ever been this giddy in her entire life. Working with the Kingdom Keepers was a dream that she never thought could actually come true. She'd been working with them for a while now, she supposed, but for the past week, it was different. Now someone knew, and it was, for certain, real. Through all of this, even after Jess started having her dreams, there was a tiny part of her that still doubted it all, told her that she was insane. To know now that she was right, that she wasn't crazy, made her happier than she could explain.

It was most likely because of these thoughts that she wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings as she opened the door to her house.

"Hey Mom!" she said. "Sorry I'm a little late! Dad texted me last minute and asked if I wanted to go grab a slice of pizza."

When she reached the living room and finally looked up, she froze. Both her mother and her father, who she hadn't actually seen in two months, were standing in front of her, staring at her sternly with their arms crossed.

"Hi Dad," she muttered shyly.

It was her mother who replied rather than her father. She felt like she might throw up.

"Your father called me at work today, asking if I thought you'd like to go away together for a weekend," she said. "It didn't take long after that to figure out that the stories you've been telling us lately didn't match up."

Casey felt three inches tall and dizzy as a wave of guilt washed over her. Her parents never talked to each other anymore. Now, they finally were, but only to reprimand her. They stared her down as if they expected her to say something, but all she could do was hyperventilate and try to hold back her tears.

"We want the truth," her father demanded. She'd never seen him look this serious. "Now."

There were a few seconds of silence before her mother spoke again.

"Well?!" she snapped.

"You…you wouldn't believe the truth," Casey sputtered.

"Try us."

Casey took a deep breath. She saw no point in lying now. It was a long shot, but she was no worse off telling them the truth.

"A couple of weeks ago I started hitting a lot of leads looking for the Kingdom Keepers…"

Her mother threw her hands up into the air and rolled her eyes while her father squinted hardly at her.

"For Lord's sakes Casey!" her mother yelled. "You really have to quit it with this nonsense."

"It's not nonsense Mom," Casey yelled. "Just listen to me, please!"

Her face was burning hot. The tears that had been threatening to fall from her eyes were starting to inch onto her face.

"You promised me," her father sneered.

Her stomach dropped. She'd forgotten. She was sunk now. There was no hope of rescue.

"What?!" her mother exclaimed.

Her father hesitated, and she pleaded him with her eyes not to say anything, but he continued on.

"I got a call from her last week asking if she could have some passes into Magic Kingdom for her friends who didn't have them," he explained. "Said they were going to film a video for a school project."

"You knew?" she sneered.

"What was I supposed to say?" he shot back. "I suspected it when I heard where she was going, but she promised me it was for school! I didn't want to turn her down if it really was."

"It's your job as the parent to know when to not believe her!"

"Please don't fight!" Casey yelled. "All you ever do is fight! Why do you think I formed my plan in the first place? I was trying to escape from….from this!"

"You have to learn to distinguish between fantasy and reality Casey; you're not eight years old anymore," her father snapped, ignoring her previous comment. "This is the real world, with real consequences. I can't fix it if you get caught sneaking around!"

"I wasn't sneaking around!"

Hearing the words from her father hurt more than anything. He was the only one who seemed to fully understand why she still loved Disney so much, the only one who understood what it meant to be a kid at heart. Her heart broke. It was like he'd betrayed her.

"Go to your room and calm down," her mother said. "We'll decide on your punishment after you're ready to talk about what exactly you've been doing all this time."

Casey stared at them for a moment before turning and running down the hallway towards her bedroom. Finally losing her fight for strength, she sobbed all the way, heavy streams of salty tears soaking her cheeks.

Finn was reading a book on his bed when his phone rang. He felt twenty pounds lighter as he saw Amanda's name on the screen. Things had been weird to say the least since he'd regained his memory, and right now she was the only one who knew the real him.

"Hello," he said, in his best teasingly charming voice.

"We missed it Finn," she said.

"What?"

"Mattie just called Jess…I can't believe we missed it."

"Amanda," he stuttered. "Slow down. What did we miss?"

He heard her sigh from the other end of the phone.

"There's been a limited time exhibit in the Main Street Cinema for the past two weeks" Her voice sounded scared and strained. He wasn't exactly feeling too hot anymore either. He wished he could be with her.

"It was on the history of Disney animation," she continued. "Finn…Walt's pen was at that exhibit."

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Well that's great then! Problem solved!"

"No," Amanda said. Her voice was too forceful for it to mean anything good.

"It was a two week run. Today was the last day it was open to the public. They're gonna start moving the stuff out tomorrow."

A lump grew in Finn's throat, and he was barely aware of his surroundings anymore. Even without her saying it, he now understood where the conversation was leading.

He was snapped back to reality for just a moment as he heard the news report coming from the TV in his family's den: a storm was approaching Orlando. Residents were warned to stay inside, and hurricane-like conditions were possible.

"This is it, Finn," Amanda said. "It has to be tonight."

A/N: Let me know in the comments what you think will happen next, or anything that you've enjoyed about the story! Please don't be shy; I'd love to hear from you! That being said, thanks for reading, see you Sunday, and stay magical!