Author's Note: Hey guys, okay this is indeed my last chapter -- sadly -- but I fully intend to keep writing… I also have a few other stories on Fanfiction.net that I think you'd all love if you loved this story. One that just got updated, and that's not getting a lot of attention is One Always Wants What One Can't Have and I think you'd all adore The Trick Who Wouldn't Quit. Please check them out!!! I'm sure you'll absolutely love them. Oh, and I am going to write a sequel to this story, I just have to finish up a few other stories first… you know, clear up my schedule!

"Alright, I'm going to quote Shelby on this one," Daisy said slowly, getting the group's attention. Shelby raised her eyebrows.

"Oh no… what did I say?" she asked sarcastically. Daisy smirked.

"So?" Juliette urged.

Daisy cleared her throat, straightened her back, and looked about. "'They say things change. They say time heals all wounds. They say life goes on,'" she said, "For us though, I'd say, for once, they're right."

"Actually, you're misquoting," Shelby pointed out sarcastically. "I do believe I said something like 'but they're wrong.'"

"When did you say this?" Emma asked curiously.

"You know, you haven't been around for that long…" Scott said.

"Yeah, I know," she said, shrugging.

"In any case it was in a letter I sent Daisy," Shelby explained.

"Why were you writing to Daisy?" Kristen asked, looking between both girls who seemed to be telepathically discussing whether or not to explain it as it was a rather touchy subject for both girls, and if the wrong questions ensued, all those horrible memories would return.

"Oh… she had to go away for a while," Daisy explained finally.

"I had to go home last year. I didn't think I was coming back, but I kept in touch with Daisy."

"And Scott," Jess added. A look of embarrassment crossed Shelby's face.

"No, she didn't," Scott said, hanging his head.

"What? You didn't write to Scott?" Leonie asked, shocked. Shelby sighed deeply and shook her head.

"Why not?" Alex asked.

"Too much to say. Haven't you guys ever felt that? You just couldn't talk to someone because you simply didn't know where to start?" she asked, pressing it in upon their minds. There were some nods.

"Is that why you didn't say good-bye?" he whispered. She looked at the floor, then into his eyes and nodded. He closed his eyes and made an ever-so-slight inclination of the head.

"I'm so sorry," she said, hugging him.

"Anyway, my original point," Daisy said after a moment, "was that I do believe, that for at least half of us, those wounds have healed. Do you all agree?" The Cliffhangers nodded their affirmation.

"So, what about the rest of us?" Marc asked.

"I won't lie to you, meat, it's hard," Auggie said.

"But it sure pays off. You work past everything. Past the hits, the abuse, the drugs, the hurt…" Juliette added. The Rivergliders, plus Emma and Jess, nodded, despite the fact that their faces fell considerably.

"Look, guys. It is hard, but you have Peter and Sophie to help you out. They're so great at this, you wouldn't believe," Ezra said.

"Hey, they even melted me," Shelby said with a wink, which received a laugh from the group.

"You all have a long way to go, but it's worth it," Scott added.

"Well, aren't you all just so optimistic!" Daisy sighed.

"You're just lucky you don't have Shelby and Daisy types in your group," Juliette said.

"Tell me about it!" James sighed. Both Daisy and Shelby's eyebrows rose up in shock, but then they looked at each other and laughed.

"It's true!" Shelby said, through the laughter.

"David, what's on your mind? You haven't said a word yet," Daisy said, once she and Shelby had calmed down considerably.

He looked up from the ground. He looked up to meet everyone's eyes.

"Oh, I was just thinking," he said slowly.

"If I'm correct, that's possibly the scariest thing about the silence," Shelby added. He smirked at her.

"What were you thinking about?" Emma asked.

"Ha, ha, very funny," he said sarcastically. "It's weird, I've been here nearly as long as Jess, yet I'm leaving." He looked around before continuing. "I just… doesn't it seem weird?"

"Well, you have to wait till the courts let you go, because of why you got here. Since they're letting you go, I suppose they think you're no longer a threat to society," Daisy assured.

"Gee, thanks," he said sarcastically, yet draping his arm over her shoulder all the same.

"What did you do?" Leonie asked.

"I beat a kid within an inch of his life last year," he replied with a shrug. "Don't worry, I'm apparently reformed."

"Yeah… right," Andrew said.

"Come on, man, at least he didn't do anything wrong here!" Auggie said, getting defensive. He still hated Andrew for what he'd done to Jules.

"Oh my god! Look, we're leaving on Monday, let it lie!" Jules sighed.

"Tomorrow evening actually," Daisy corrected.

"What?" Shelby cried.

"Yeah, our plane leaves tomorrow at 9 o'clock," David said.

"By the way, where are you guys getting the money for this?" Auggie asked curiously.

"After my dad died, I got most of the money," Daisy clarified.

"There was a lot," David said, grinning.

"Yeah, you should see her house!" Shelby said.

"Yeah, about that…we're selling it," Daisy began.

"What? Why?" Shelby asked, completely perplexed. "It's beautiful!"

"Well, first of all, it holds too many painful memories," Daisy said.

"Second, it's far away…" David said, hinting at something. Shelby looked at the couple, confused.

"From what?" she asked slowly.

"From you!" Daisy said, laughing. "When we get back from Europe, we're moving to where you guys are gonna be living!"

"Oh my god! That's so great! I can't believe it!" Shelby screamed, jumping off Scott's lap and going to hug her best friend.

"Yeah, that part was kinda hard for Daisy," David added.

"What part?" Ezra asked.

"The separation part. She wanted to be near Shelby. I can tell you, it took a lot of her convincing me to sell that place," he added. Shelby rolled her eyes and punched him playfully in the arm.

"What was our original point?" Emma asked suddenly.

"How we're all leaving on Monday," Scott cleared up.

"Yeah!" Jules said loudly, "that was my point! Okay, I wanted to say, it's gonna be a while till we all see each other again, so can't we all just get along?"

"That's really admirable, coming from you," Daisy said.

"What do you mean?" Jules asked.

"I'll speak bluntly," Daisy said.

"Do you ever not?" Shelby asked sarcastically. Daisy rolled her eyes and continued.

"As I was saying, I'll speak bluntly. What Andrew did was… quite harsh, to say the least. But--"

"Look, I thought we dealt with that," Ley said, getting defensive of her boyfriend.

"But," Daisy said, emphasizing the word, "if Juliette is past it, I think we should all do the both of them the courtesy of putting it past us," she said wisely.

"I agree," Juliette said. "Look, it wasn't easy, but I am past it. It took a lot of work, but I guess I grew."

"How deep," Shelby sighed sarcastically.

"Come on, Shel. Cut some slack," Auggie said. Shelby rolled her eyes, but nodded all the same.

"So, are we all good? No more animosity?" Juliette asked. Everyone nodded. "Auggie?" she asked, making sure. He nodded slowly but decisively. "Good."

"Thanks, guys. This means a lot," Andrew said.

"Hey, I'm sure there was something behind it," Daisy said sarcastically.

"There was," he said quickly. However, there was such truth and conviction in his voice, that the group was taken aback.

"I believe you," Juliette said sincerely.

"She would," Shelby muttered under her breath. Scott heard her and gave her a little nudge. When she looked at him innocently, he gave her a smirk.

"Come on, Shel."

"Whatever," she whispered, leaning into his chest. He chuckled and squeezed her tightly.

"By the way, you guys, what did happen to bring you two together?" Auggie asked.

"What do you mean?" Shelby asked, looking at him, completely confused.

"Well, remember at the wedding? I did a toast about how you two completely changed your relationship overnight," he explained.

"Oh, right…" Scott sighed. He looked at Shelby and they smiled at the memory. "Alright, I'll tell you guys… but you cannot tell anyone!"

"Scott… um…you do realize you're talking to a group, right?" David asked sarcastically.

"Thanks, David, that wasn't apparent to me," he said, rolling his eyes. "Well, Dais, remember that night of the thunderstorm, Jeff sent us for ice cream?" Daisy nodded. "Okay, and we went to ask Sophie, and she sent us back for marshmallows…" Daisy nodded again slowly. "Well, did you notice how you left alone?"

"Yeah… I was wondering," she said slowly. "Scott, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, here's the confidential part. This is what I'm really ashamed of…I stayed behind and… sort of… kissed Sophie," he said.

"What?" the group reacted, mouths hanging open, and eyes as wide as watermelons.

"I suffered consequences and all that shit," he assured.

"You kissed Sophie?" Shelby asked amazed. "Scott… that's…oh my god! I don't know what to say!" She got up and started pacing, her dress flowing behind.

"Shel, see the thing is, she told me that was never to happen again…I slightly over-reacted, and that's when I crashed into you," he explained.

"You crashed into her?" Alex asked, starting to get confused.

"Yeah, and she said something--"

"I think it was 'where's the fire, cowboy?' or something to that effect," Shelby said, still standing up, but her face was no longer screwed up in that look of confusion and disgust.

"And then I pulled her back and kissed her."

"Wow, a lot of lip-locking there," Emma remarked sarcastically. Scott gave her a "don't go there" look.

"Why did you kiss Sophie?" Shelby asked.

"Because I had a crush on her… I didn't know what to do. I was really confused about it, and that's what happened. I guess it was a really good thing I ran into you," he told Shelby. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

"You know, it's really quite hard to stay mad at you," she said, sitting back down beside him.

"I dunno about that one," Daisy said earnestly.

"Yeah, I agree with Dais," Auggie added.

"Me too," Jules said.

"Woah! What is this? Gang-up-on-Scott time?" he asked, surprised and just a little hurt.

"No… not entirely," Juliette reassured.

"We're just… opposing Shel," Auggie added.

"Look, you've done quite a few stupid things. I know I've been mad at you a lot over the past two years," Daisy said. Shelby snorted.

"Understatement of the year!" she announced. The group rang with laughter.

"Okay… sure, but when have you really been very mad at me?" he asked.

"Okay, the worst I've gotten was when you visited Shelby at her solo site, making her run during that huge storm," she cleared up.

"Woah! What's this?" Andrew asked, getting really interested.

"Oh, yeah, when we went on our solos this enormous storm rolled in and we all had to stay in the solo cabin. And when Sophie went to find Shelby she'd left. Scott eventually left to find her and did, but it was pretty tense," Juliette explained.

"Yeah, Jules and I had to hold her back from jumping on Scott," Auggie said.

"Yeah…" she sighed, "I was pretty mad."

"You were ballistic!" Scott corrected. Shelby was looking back and forth amusedly.

"Oh, I feel so touched," she sighed.

"Okay, gang," Peter said, walking up to the gazebo, "it's way past lights out now. I extended the curfew for the Morp, but don't push it. So, off to bed with you all," he said.

**************************************************************************************

"So, you're really leaving," Shelby sighed, sitting on Daisy's bunk as her friend packed up all her stuff. Daisy stopped and looked at her.

"Yeah, but I'll be back eventually. And we'll live near each other. I bet we even have kids at the same time, and they'll grow up and fall in love… or some screwed up shit like that," she said, laughing. Shelby joined in the laughter.

"I guess so… I'll still miss you though. So, you're going just for the summer?"

"Yeah, I'll be back for the start of school," she sighed.

"School? Are you going to college?"

"Yeah, I'm going into psychology."

"Daisy, the psychiatrist… has a certain ring to it. And you're definitely bright and wise enough for it."

"Thanks. Yeah, I figured I might as well share my gift," she laughed. Shelby rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm going to the nearby college to take the courses needed to become a counselor. And Scott's gonna go study law," Shelby explained.

"Oh, Scott as a lawyer… quite a few possibilities there."

"What about David?"

"You know what, I don't think he has any idea what he wants to do. Maybe he'll be a stay-at-home dad."

"Dad? Thinking about having kids?" Shelby asked, eyebrows raised.

"For sure… the question is when."

"Have you guys had sex yet?" she asked bluntly.

"Nope. I assume that's what Paris is for," she said laughing. Shelby snorted into Daisy pillow.

"Oh my god, well, I doubt David'll oppose that idea."

"You don't think very highly of men in general, do you?"

"Nope, not particularly. Scott's my exception to the rule."

"Right, then."

**************************************************************************************

That evening, at 8 o'clock, Sophie and Shelby drove David and Daisy to the airport once the couple had said their good-byes to everyone, which, despite their sarcastic natures, was quite emotional.

When they arrived at the airport, Shelby started to get scared. Once Sophie was finished with her farewells, she went back to the car to wait for Shelby.

"Dais, don't go," Shelby whispered, as she hugged her best friend, before she'd have to let her go for a whole summer.

"Shelby, you'll be fine," Daisy said, but holding onto her tightly. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"Me too… you have no idea! I won't have anyone to tell everything to," she replied, holding back tears.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll write regularly and phone home just to check on you."

"Okay," she said, letting go. "David, take good care of her, or I'll hunt you down and kick your ass."

"Alright," he said, though he didn't doubt Shelby's ability. "Bye Shel," he finally said, giving her a hug too.

"Okay, you two, be good, and come home quickly. Oh, and get me something from Paris!" she said finally.

"Bye, Shel!" Daisy said. Shelby started walking away, but after a few steps, she turned around, and saw that Daisy hadn't moved and was still looking in her direction. She ran back into her friend's arms.

"This shouldn't be this hard," Shelby choked through tears.

"I know," Daisy laughed through those same parting tears.

"You know you're really close when…" David sighed, sitting down on one of the chairs.

"Okay, I'll see you soon. Have fun. Bye!" Shelby sighed, sniffling. Then, as quickly as she could, Shelby turned around and left.

"Are you okay?" David asked as Daisy turned to him.

"I will be," she said. "Come on, let's get this show on the road."

Shelby made her way to Sophie's car.

"You alright?" Sophie asked her earnestly.

"Yeah… I'll be fine. It's just… really hard, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," she replied, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, you'll be so busy, you won't know what hit you, and you won't have time to miss her."

"I'll always have time. She's my best friend!"

**************************************************************************************

That last day together, the Cliffhangers hung around the lodge and talked. They did a final round of the grounds together to make sure they didn't forget anything important and reminisced as they went.

Despite their past differences, they were closer than ever, which was a great feeling.

Auggie and Juliette were going down to New York State. Ezra was going to Queens University. And Shelby, Scott, and later, Daisy and David were going to be living in the Toronto area. Kat was going to school in Boston, and Hank was in the police force there. Hannah and Jerry lived in Maine with their baby, Leah. So, relatively, they were all pretty close.

They had all exchanged phone numbers and email addresses. As Shelby and Scott were the ones who were set up the best, they were planning to all get together at the end of the summer, after everyone had had a chance to get settled in their own houses and apartments. Hannah wouldn't be able to make it, but they'd told her she'd have to come up eventually.

So, with final, parting words of good-luck and farewell, they left that Monday morning. They were all scared and nervous about going back into the real world. They knew, however, that they did have each other if anything ever happened. And, as an added bonus, they were all moving away from the demons that had haunted them their entire lives. They were free.

"It feels weird to be leaving, doesn't it?" Shelby asked Scott as they sat down in the plane that would take them to Toronto airport.

"Yeah, but in a way, we're never gonna be completely gone from that place. It'll always be a home away from home if we needed it. And we'll be seeing Peter and Sophie soon anyway."

"Well, in either case, I'm glad I've got you, Scott."

"And I'm so happy I've got you. No matter what, we'll pull through," he said, holding her hand as the plane took off. She looked him in the eyes and smiled warmly.

This really wasn't the end of the world. Life would hold curves, but in the end, it didn't matter, because they'd always have each other. They were ready.

"Bring it on," Shelby whispered as she looked out the window, seeing the beautiful tree-covered mountains of British Columbia speeding away from under her. She felt a squeeze in her hand and turned to look at Scott.

"You alright?" he asked, looking her in the eyes, and seeing the homesickness arising, but with it, the hopefulness to begin anew.

"Yeah, I am," she said sincerely. He leaned in and gave her a sweet passionate kiss. "I love you, Scott."

"I love you too, and that'll never change."