A/N: Here we go, my last chapter. I hope the ending doesn't suck big time, I wasn't sure how to wrap it all up.

Chapter 12 - It's All Good

Fortunately, Eddy's worst nightmare was put to rest when Nick finally stepped out of the car, looking shaken, but uninjured. The older brother looked around and recognized the car he hit as belonging to his younger sibling. His eyes scanned the scene until they fell across the small group huddled together on the side walk. His gaze locked onto Eddy and his expression turned from shocked, to fuming mad.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" he shouted as he stomped toward the side walk, "Huh? What were you thinking?"

Eddy only stared up at him through wide, frightened eyes. His brother was towering over him now and looked freakishly like their father. Angry at being ignored, Nick grabbed his younger brother's wrist and roughly pulled him forward.

"Look what you did to my car!" he shouted, "Why would you do something like that, Eddy? Someone could have been killed!"

"Stop it!" Eddy pulled his arm away, the same arm that had just healed from when his dad broke his wrist, and the effort sent him tumbling to the ground. Nick stood over him again and saw the teen wince. This made him soften up a little bit and when he saw the tears threatening to fall from Eddy's eyes, his anger vanished completely. He knelt down beside his little brother and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Eddy, I'm sorry," he said, "I won't hurt you. I just want to know why you did this."

"I did it to save your life."

Nick looked confused, so Eddy explained, "I had this dream where you died in a car crash. Then after you left the house today I got his horrible feeling and the dream came back to me...I didn't want you to die like this."

"I'm not going to die, Eddy..."

"You would have! Why don't you believe me?"

"I didn't say I didn't," Nick's voice was soft and he seemed a little disturbed, but not angry, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"...I figured you wouldn't believe me anyway. You'd just say I was stupid or something..."

"Have I ever called you stupid before?"

"..." No Response.

"Have I?"

"...no."

Nick stood up and extended a hand to his little brother. Eddy accepted it and Nick helped him to his feet. The group silently looked out at the wreckage once more. Nick ran his fingers through his golden hair and sighed.

"Man," he said, "we wrecked that bitch good, huh?"

The group laughed lightly, except for Eddy. He still looked guilty as hell.

"I'm sorry about your car," he said, "I'll do whatever it takes to fix it. I'll work six jobs if I have to. Just don't be mad at me..."

"I'm not mad at you," Nick said, putting a reassuring hand on Eddy's shoulder, "You saved my life, right? And don't worry about the car. I think it's pretty much totalled. Besides, I wanted to get a new car."

Eddy smiled, but it quickly disappeared as he thought of something else.

"Oh shit! What about my car?"

"I'm sure if we play our cards right we can get insurance to cover it."

Eddy relaxed again and Dea came and linked arms with him. They resumed staring at the crumpled vehicles until Edd broke the silence.

"Um, someone really should call a tow truck and a clean up crew," he said.

"Here, use my phone," Dea offered and tossed him her cell phone.

It had finally stopped raining by then and the sun was starting to show through the clouds. The tow trucks and police arrived a few minutes later and the group of five got rides home with the police. After a very stressful five months, things finally returned to normal. Eachof the boys and Dea went back to work, with Nick working part time at the Candy Store with Eddy. They all still hung out together in the evenings, except when Eddy was working over time to save up for "a surprise that no one can know about until the end of summer."

At last the end of summer came and Dea was the first to see the surprise Eddy had promised. It was a sparkling engagement ring that he presented to her on a romantic evening spent together by the creek. The others were surprised when Dea showed it to them, yet they somehow saw it coming. Nick moved back to his apartment when the others started college, but not without swearing an oath to return to Peach Creek in one year for Eddy and Dea's wedding. Edd was still involved with Marty, but not to the extent that Eddy had been involved with Dea before becoming her fiance. Ed and Amy remained on a friendship basis, since they were both still quite childish. The future was looking up, but then again, up isn't very far after being drug through the Hell that Eddy endured his last few months of school. It was in the past, and Eddy gladly closed the book on his bitter childhood and looked forward to an exciting new future as an adult...

The End

A/N: Again, many thanks to all my readers and reviewers! Let me know what you thought of this last chapter :)