Chapter 8:

Chapter 8: The End

3 years later, Charlie sat nervously on the floor in the main room of the apartment. He and Jody were playing Scrabble. Jody was sitting across the table from Charlie. She formed the word "Cooper" and Charlie looked up at her.

"Is that some kind of hint?" Charlie asked Jody.

"No. I just didn't have any other tiles." Jody said honestly. Charlie smiled and formed the word "Love" and looked up at Jody. Jody smiled and said, "Me too."

Charlie became even more nervous. He put his hand in his pocket and played with what he had put in it earlier that day. Jody formed the word "Umbrella" and looked at Charlie.

"Are you ok?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Charlie said.

He formed the word "Marriage" and took a point marker out of the box.

Jody laughed and looked at Charlie. When he didn't laugh, she looked at him confused. "Charlie?" she said, when he didn't respond.

Charlie swallowed the lump in throat and picked up the Scrabble board. He moved it on to the floor and sat down on the table. Jody got up and sat on the couch. She didn't actually think that Charlie was going to propose. She just figured it was going to be another of Charlie's sweet talks were he said he loved her more than life. She smiled as Charlie kissed her lightly on the check.

Charlie pushed the table back and got down on one knee. Jody gasped and smiled weakly.

Charlie took out a small black box from his pocket. He snapped it open, revealing a beautiful gold ring with a diamond on it. "Jody Sawyer, I love you." Charlie said, trying to fight his sudden urge to cry, "I only want to spend the rest of my life with one person, you. Jody, will you marry me?" Charlie was so nervous he thought he might faint.

Jody looked at the ring, and then at Charlie. She couldn't believe it. She was so excited she thought she was going to fall off the edge of the couch. She pressed her hand on the couch to steady herself. "Yes, Charles Sims, I will marry you and spend the rest of my life with you. I love you Charlie." She said.

Charlie took the ring out of the box and gently put it on Jody's finger. He smiled at her beautiful hand with her new beautiful ring. Jody admired her hand as well. Then they got up and hugged. They kissed Charlie took her out to dinner at the nicest restaurant in the city and they had a wonderful dinner.

When they got home, Charlie changed into his boxers and Jody changed into sleeping boxer shorts and a small sleep tube top.

Charlie crawled into bed. Jody crawled in after him and curled up next to him. Suddenly Charlie sat up.

" Are you ok?" Jody asked him.

"Yes. No. I don't know. It's just, what if something happens? I mean something like what happened with me. What if someone comes and breaks us up? It's not impossible, it's happened before, twice in the last 6 years. I know I'm not gonna break us up, but what if Cooper does? Or even Sergei?" Charlie said.

"Charlie, don't be silly. The only reason we all broke up was because it wasn't the real thing. But it is now. No one can break us up. Especially not Sergei, because he married Galina. Cooper isn't even a small problem anymore. No one, not even the disastrous Cooper Neilson, can break me up with my fiancée."

"Which fiancée?" Charlie asked.

"Charlie! What's your problem? You just proposed! Shouldn't you be happy?"

"I don't know. I just, it's so hard. I want to believe you, I really do, but past experiences have always gotten to me. You know that."

"I know. I understand completely." Jody said sweetly.

Charlie smiled at his beautiful fiancée and his heart melted. He hugged her, and then they fell asleep.

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Charlie turned and kissed his new wife. They smiled at each other and walked down the aisle.

After pictures with everyone (The Best Man- Erik, Groomsmen- Cooper and Sergei. The Maid of Honor- Eva, Bridesmaids- Maureen and Galina.), they went off to the reception.

Charlie and Jody Sims danced their first dance together after the dinner.

Jody danced one song with Sergei as Charlie danced with Galina. "If I Were The One", from the ABA workshop came on and before Charlie could get to Jody, Cooper asked her to dance. Jody looked over at Charlie, who nodded sadly. Jody danced with Cooper, but then danced all the other songs with Charlie, except two, when she danced with her dad, and Charlie's dad.

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When they got back from their honeymoon, they had a big party with Sergei, Galina, Maureen, Jim, Erik, Eva, and Cooper. They all went to the same club they had more than 10 years ago.

Jody danced with Charlie the whole night, just like last time. Erik danced with Eva the whole time again, but Sergei danced with Galina, and not some drunken older woman. Maureen danced with Jim, and Cooper went around and hit on younger girls.

They all left together in 2 cabs, except Cooper, and went to Charlie and Jody's apartment. They stood around talking for a while, and then Charlie ran into his room to get something.

He returned several minutes later, holding some photos. He came up and stood behind Jody, wrapping his arms around her waist. She took the pictures and looked at them.

There was the one of them in the park, and the one of all of them on the boat to the Statue of Liberty from Erik's birthday. There were some of the wedding pictures and a picture Jody hadn't seen in 10 years.

It was of Charlie, standing on the steps leading to ABA. Jody was standing, hidden behind Charlie. She had her arms under Charlie's, making it look like Charlie had 4 arms. Charlie was making "peace" signs with his hands, and so was Jody.

Eva had taken that picture the fourth day of ABA, when Charlie and Jody were, literally, still just friends.

Jody smiled and passed the pictures to Eva. She shuffled through them, and stopped at the one of Charlie on the steps.

"Oh my God!" she squeaked. She passed the pictures around, making sure everyone saw the one of the steps.

Sergei looked at the pictures and said, "You could even tell then that they would end up together. Just look at them!" Everyone laughed and went on talking.

At 4 in the morning, they all eventually said good-bye and left. About 10 minutes later Cooper walked into their apartment.

"I just wanted to say good-bye before I left to go back home tomorrow, because my flight leaves really early." he said.

Jody hugged him good-bye and he kissed her on the check. Jody could feel Charlie's eyes on her. She turned around and walked back to her husband. "Are you going to say good-bye?" she asked.

Charlie stiffly walked over to Cooper and shook his hand. "Bye."

"Are you ever going to get over that shit?" he asked as he hugged Charlie good-bye. Charlie smiled and hugged Cooper back. Jody smiled and finally knew that her life was perfect.

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If you don't think that this story is finished, e-mail me or say that on your review, and I'll try to add more. But I have to tell you, I wrote this whole story in 5 days, and thinking of this complicating stuff to torture Charlie isn't all that easy. I love Sascha Radetsky (Charlie Sims) and Ethan Stiefel (Cooper Neilson). C-Ya. Please read and review, and if you haven't seen "Center Stage", GO GET IT NOW!!!!!