Author's note: This is the last chapter! Thanks to all who read and a even bigger thanks to those who reviewed: CharlesTheBold, krystalallizedapplegrahamcrackerfershizznit (awesome name by the way), oth rox, Lola12568, Hezziebob182, pixierock88, Elizabeth Theresa, bonny, JoA fan, and everyone else that reviewed!

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The few days that were left seem to go by so quickly that before they knew it, the group was getting ready to go home. Grace seemed much more snappy than normal, and only Luke knew why. Neither wanted to face the consequences of their running away, but they both knew that they wouldn't get away without punishment.

"Grace, what's wrong?" Joan asked, concerned.

"Nothing," Grace snapped.

"You can tell me, you know."

"There's nothing to tell."

"Worried about going home?" Joan asked, noticing she pushed a button.

"Yeah, I am. Happy now?"

"No. I still want to know why you don't want to go home. Are you worried about what your parents are going to do to you?"

"No," Grace said, thought truly she was a little worried. More about what they'll do to Luke, she thought.

"Why then?"

"Why do you want to know?" Grace was getting angry. Joan had no right in her business!

"'Cause you're my friend, I care about you, believe it or not." Joan pushed.

"Well, it's not really any of your business why I don't want to go home!"

"What's going on in here?" Luke asked, coming down the stairs. Both women glared at him. "Okay, okay. I can tell when I'm not wanted!"

"Geek, tell your sister to mind her own damn business."

"Luke, tell your girlfriend that I have the right to know since I'm her friend!"

"How about I don't get in the middle? And, anyways Grace, I wanted to talk to you," Luke said, motioning for them to take a walk.

"Fine," Grace mumbled, stalking out of the door with Luke right behind.

"I don't know how Luke deals with her sometimes," Joan sighed.

---

"What do you--" The rest of Grace's phrase was cut off by Luke's lips on hers. She melted into his embrace almost instantly without even realizing it. And it scared her.

"That's all," Luke said, a satisfied smirk on his face noticing the look on Grace's face.

Her mood suddenly changed from foul to playful. "Oh really?" Grace said, a grin on her face. She kissed him again, and they began walking backwards. Just as Grace pulled away, Luke stumbled backwards and fell into the water. Grace laughed at Luke as he broke the water and sputtered.

"Hey! You did that on purpose!" Luke said, coughing. He swam to the dock and started climbing the ladder. "Help me up?" he asked.

"Fine," Grace said, rolling her eyes. As she held out her hand to help him, Luke pulled her into the water. "You little--" she started, when she got to the surface, but Luke cut her off by jumping in, splashing his girlfriend.

Luke swam up to her, and started ticking her stomach. Above the water, Grace was laughing. "Luke! Stop it!" she cried out, laughing. The blonde boy was grinning when he popped his head out of the water.

Joan went outside and started laughing as she saw the couple in the water, fully clothed. "What happened?" Joan called out. The pair climbed the ladder hastily and tried to explain what happened, but neither could get a sentence out between their laughing and Joan's.

After they stopped laughing, Joan said, "Glad I'm not wet like you."

Grace and Luke glanced at each other, twin grins on their faces. When Joan turned to walk back to the house, the couple grabbed her arms and forcefully threw her into the water. As Joan spluttered and coughed to the surface, she saw the couple retreat into the house, laughing.

Joan groaned and grumbled as she made her way to the house, dripping wet.

----

After the trio changed and finished putting their bags into the car. They would stop by the hospital to say bye to Mrs. Spencer, George and Amy. Then, it was time for them to head home.

Mrs. Spencer was sad to see them go, but hoped that Grace and Luke didn't get into to much trouble.

"Come back to visit soon," she said, hugging each in turn.

"I don't think we could stay away, even if we tried," Luke said, smiling warmly.

-----

Their next stop was to Mrs. Spencer's house, where George was staying. They had promised they would stop by before they left. They got out of the car, Kevin staying in the passenger seat, and rang the doorbell. They heard a giggle and a laugh, plus two pairs of feet shuffling to the door.

"Hello?" George said, opening the door. "Oh, hey. It's you guys." He waved at Kevin. "I, uh, guess you're going?"

"Yeah... listen, I was wondering if you know where Amy lives. We all want to say bye to her," Joan said. She was a little curious to who was in the house with him.

"She lives down the street, three houses down. But, she's not there right now." Joan noticed how uncomfortable he looked.

"Why?" Joan inquired.

"'Cause I'm right here,"Amy said, popping out from behind the door.

"Amy!" Joan said, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"George invited me over. Y'all going home now?" she asked.

The three teenagers nodded. "We got to get home to get theses two runaways in trouble," Joan grinned.

"Joan!" Luke protested just as Grace growled.

The brunette laughed. "Fine, fine. Sorry. But, we really should get going now," Joan said. "Bye you two. Come visit us, okay?" She hugged the two and then walked backed to the car.

"See you George, Amy," Luke said.

"Yeah, bye," Grace echoed. The couple followed Joan's footsteps and sat in the back seat of the car.

George and Amy waved as Joan backed up and drove off.

----

After an hour of driving in silence, Joan decided to strike up a conversation. "So, Luke, Grace, was your trip fun?" she teased. But, when she looked into the review mirror, she saw that the couple was sleeping. Grace's head was resting on Luke's shoulder and his head drooped forward.

"Kevin, look at them," Joan said. "Aren't they cute?"

Her brother turned around as best as he could. He stifled a laugh. "I don't know about cute, but this could be good blackmail next time Grace threaten's to beat you up."

"I wish I had a camera!"

----

When Joan parked her car in the Girardi's driveway, Helen and Will rushed out to meet their kids. "Joan! Kevin! I'm so glad you're home! Where are Luke and Grace?" A look of worry passed over Helen's face.

"Don't worry Mom, they're sleeping in the back seat," Joan answered with a smirk, getting Kevin's wheelchair out of the trunk with her dad's help.

Kevin turned around in his seat. "Luke, Grace, we're HOME!" he shouted the last word and startled the sleeping pair.

"What?" Luke asked, rubbing his eyes. Grace groaned and rubbed her stiff neck.

As soon as they got out of the car, Helen hugged them both tightly. "Do either of you know how much trouble you'll be? Grace, I don't know much about how your parent's discipline you, but if it's anything like how we do it here, you'll be in big trouble."

"Mom," Luke said, "you're choking me!"

"Sorry, but I've missed you!"

"I missed you too," Luke replied as Helen let go of him.

----

Grace left not even half an hour later. "Gotta go do some damage control Geek," she told him. "I'll be on tonight around 11 after she" Grace made a movement of a person falling down with her hand. "Got it?"

Luke nodded. Since his family was watching them he smiled. "Bye."

Grace smiled. "See ya."

After Grace left, Luke turned to his family, ready to endure his punishment.

-----

Grace walked home thinking, like she always does. But, tonight, her thoughts weren't on how she would get out of trouble. They were on Luke and that beautiful cabin. She didn't care if she got in trouble. She didn't care if they forbade her to see her boyfriend. All she cared about is the wonderful month that she spend with him, and her memories were not things her parents could take away.

"Well, scientifically, they could alter my brain..." A smirk rose to her face. "Maybe I've spent too much time with Luke..."

She opened the door to her house and right away, the stench of alcohol met her nose. Grace cringed at the smell, having gotten use to the refreshing outdoor air. "Mom?" Grace called. "Dad? Are you guys home?"

"Gracie, is that you?" the drunken slur of her mother's tone was like a cold shower, killing Grace's good mood.

"Hi Mom," Grace said, facing her mother. A bottle was already in her mother's hand- it looked like vodka- and gave her a grim smile.

"Gracie! I haven't seen you in a while! Where have you been? No, wait, I remember," Sarah Polanski slurred. "You went to have a wild love affair with that blond friend of yours, Lucky, no Lucas..."

"Luke," Grace said, gritting her teeth. "And it wasn't a wild love affair."

"Oh, I bet it was! You two probably got it on, all alone in that place, probably all romantic and stuff," Sarah hugged her bottle dreamily. "I wonder if someone that scrawny is good in bed. I've never been with a scrawny guy, only big men like your dad..."

"Mom!" Grace cried out, appalled at being told who her mother's been with.

"Sorry Gracie, but you know me! I'm a curious person!"

"A little too curious in the booze department," Grace muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" her mother might be drunk, but her father, who had just came in the room, was not. "And when did you get home?"

"It's nice to see you too," Grace said sarcastically, folding her arms across her chest.

The Rabbi ignored his daughter's rude comment. "I hope that boy didn't do anything to... hurt you."

"Luke, hurt me? Are you kidding? I could take his scrawny ass anytime." The Rabbi coughed. "Look, we didn't do anything. And, even if we did, do you really believe that I would tell you? I might end up ruining our "perfect family" standard," Grace spat.

"You have defied me for the last time. You are grounded for a month and your mother and I," Sarah giggled at the seriousness of the discussion, making the Rabbi sigh, "forbid you too see the Girardi boy."

"Whatever," Grace said, going up the stairs two at a time.

-----

(AN: I think these are their IM names, but I'm not positive. If you know them, let me know and I'll change them right away)

Black-widow-4-u: Hey Geek. How bad is it?

GravityBoy: Not as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, the probability of me getting off not too hard is less than 10

Black-widow-4-u: Let me guess... your parents felt bad about pushing you to run, so they only grounded you for 2 weeks?

GravityBoy: 3 weeks, but yeah. From now on, they said they would "listen more to how I'm feeling" or something like that. I was still in shock about not being grounded for a year that I wasn't really listening. But I heard the part were they forbad me to see you for a month. They think you're too much of a bad influence. What about you?

Black-widow-4-u: A month, and I'm also "forbidden" to see you. Like they'd even notice if I left. But, think about it. It'll sorta be like when we first started "courting", as you put it. You know, sneaking around and such.

GravityBoy: I can't wait. Should be we meet by that café again? Hopefully, this time I'll be more co-operative on how to get behind the wall without being seen...

Black-widow-4-u: If you don't your 5 minutes will be cut short :)

The End

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Author's note: I'm writing an epilogue because I forgot to add something.