A/N: Hello all! Yes, a rather quick update, but I'm eager to get this story finished, because well…I've never really finished a story before. A GOOD story, anyway. Well in any event, this will not be done by Wednesday. I actually have no idea when, but I can guarantee it to be done by the end of March, at the very latest. Alright, just a few more things and then I will shut up so you can read.

Ok firstly: if I don't update regularly on both of my stories, it is because our Wizard of Oz play is at the end of March, and I'm Dorothy, so basically you can say that I am scared out of my wits, and I need to practice like there's no tomorrow. Secondly, I've got three more chapters to go after this one. Go figure. And this one is probably a lot shorter because there's like hidden meaning and romantic blah stuff in it.

Let's see what else….ah yes! I've recently read over this story and I've noticed a few unfinished plot holes during the first 9 or so chapters. Quite frankly, some of them aren't even important to the storyline anymore, and if you have questions about them, leave it to me in a review or a pm, and I'll reply. God, I'm making myself sound like a professional (not meaning to be!). BEWARE OF THIS CHAPTER, A FLUFFINESS OVERLOAD! Rambling is over. Here we go.

Chapter 20: Everything is in His Eyes

The police confirmed all suspicions about the murder of Catie Warshaw about a week after the crime: it had been, in fact, Ace Merrill. Traces of his DNA were found all over the crime scene, but then again…so had Gordie Lachance's. The police had no doubts in their minds that Gordie didn't and couldn't do anything like this, especially since he was Denny's brother, but they just couldn't simply rule him out. The one thing that guaranteed that it was Ace who had murdered Catie and not Gordie was the DNA tested from the knife that had been stabbed into Catie's neck. But where was Ace? Ace had been not surprisingly absent that entire week of investigation. Nobody knows where he took off to. The funny thing was that he took Eyeball with him. Was it possible that Ace had been in cahoots with Chris' older brother? At least nothing terrible had happened to Gordie. Although it would seem that Gordie would give a sigh of relief, he did the exact opposite.

Gordie thought he was responsible for the death of his ex-friend, since he gave the letter to Ace that must have driven him over the edge. It was like he murdered Catie himself. What would Denny have said? What if it had been Denny instead of Catie? Whenever thoughts or occurrences of death were near, so was Denny. His older brother would continue to haunt him for the rest of his younger life.

The rest of the gang found out about Catie's murder after Gordie had spoken to some doctors inside the hospital and had phoned the police from a pay phone outside the hospital. He had skidded into Chris' room first, his dark brown hair askew and his eyes looking so lost, just like a puppy. The fact was that Gordie was lost. After spilling the story to Chris, he made a wild dash to Emma's room and told the story so fast the gang thought he was going to hurt himself.

It had been two weeks since the murder, and the gang was more than ready to move on with their lives. Actually, Teddy, Emma, and Vern had already moved on from when they heard that it was Ace who had murdered their ex-friend and ex-foe. This could have been because they honestly didn't care about Catie and what happened to her, and it was Laura Rose Duchamp's first few weeks on Earth, and Teddy said, "Hey, why not make them memorable for her?" It's a shame that Teddy didn't even realize that Laura wouldn't remember them at all. It was also sad because Teddy didn't make the best father in the world. He would always put off things to do for Laura, and dump them all on Emma, so she held more responsibility than before. Emma's parents were absolutely livid about how Teddy was treating their daughter and their granddaughter, but Emma knew Teddy would loosen up soon. So she hoped.

Vern had gotten very, very lucky. His mother had refused for him to go to the hospital to see Emma, while she let her niece go see Chris. He hesitantly accepted this and went to the Blue Point Diner with his mother for dinner, and there he had met the most wonderful girl. Her name was Trisha Harvey, and she had to be the only girl in Castle Rock who shared some qualities that he had. So, the two had become good friends in a short two-week time period, and seemed to spend every waking moment together.

Of course Gordie hadn't gotten over Catie's death yet, not because he missed her, but because he thought that he was responsible. The only person he talked to besides the police was Chris. He knew that Chris was the only one that he would be able to confide all of his feelings in, and that Chris would try to give him the best advice he could muster. But Chris was having a difficult time himself.

Not only did Chris have to comfort Gordie, but again with Abbie he had to save the day. But that's what best friends and lovers are for, right? Abbie thought that she had some part in this as well, since she was the one who delivered the letter with Gordie. Plus, she never really hated Catie. She had always thought that Ace and Catie would have broken up and Catie would have said "Hey, look, I'm sorry for what I did." And they'd be friends again. But no. They had to drive Ace over the edge.

Chris and Abbie were taking a walk alone on a Sunday evening, the atmosphere quiet, and the sky dark. They stopped at the Castle Rock Bridge, watching the Castle Rock River flow beneath their feet with a steady yet calming sound, swishing gently against the rocks. Abbie hugged her jacket closer to herself, and Chris put an arm around her waist. They had barely spoken, but the ice had to be broken.

"I just didn't want it to happen."

Chris turned his head slowly to her and nodded in understanding. "You couldn't have done anything about it," he persuaded, "How could you have known Ace would have done something like that?"

"It's in his character to do something like that, isn't it?" Abbie asked him.

"No," Chris answered after a moment's hesitation, "I've seen him do some bad stuff, but I've never even heard a rumor about him murdering someone."

"Don't lie," Abbie said, not missing a beat, "I know what happened to you during the summer when you were twelve. Ace was about to put the same pocket knife that was in Catie's neck in yours."

Chris opened his mouth, but then closed it. He sighed, and stared out as far as he could see the river flow.

"How did you-"

"Teddy told me. When I first met him."

Chris' grip around her waist tightened, and he pulled her closer.

"I don't want you to think that this is your fault. Or Gordie's. You two did nothing wrong. Ace probably would have murdered somebody sooner or later anyway. Not trying to be indiscreet or anything," he added, "But you didn't do anything. What I want you to do is…is look into my eyes."

Abbie raised her eyebrows in question, but obediently did so.

"What do you see?" he asked delicately.

What did she see? The real question was what didn't she see? She saw happiness, anger, sadness, jealously, passion, remorse, pain, ecstasy, desire, excitement, lust….and love. Every emotion that was possible to feel was summed up in Chris' ocean colored pools into one huge sensation. Chris had seen and felt it all. Everything was there. It seemed as if the whole world resided in Chris' eyes. Her whole world was in Chris' eyes. It was also in his arms, his legs, his hands, his torso, his hair, his head, his heart: that was her whole world. Chris was her whole world.

"I see everything," she answered truthfully.

Chris' face broke out into that sunny, sweet smile and he commented, "That's deep."

"You're deep. Your eyes are deep," she whispered. She had no idea what she was feeling. Maybe she was feeling that huge emotion that was made up of every feeling that resided in Chris' eyes. What she felt at that moment, she would never be able to place for the rest of her life.

Chris closed his eyes. "Now what do you see?"

"I see nothing," she replied breathlessly.

Chris opened his eyes and pulled Abbie into himself. He looked down upon her with every emotion he could have possibly been feeling. "Wow. Have you ever considered writing? I think you should team up with Gordie and see how things work."

"No way. Gordie and I have different styles," Abbie protested with a smile, but then thought about it. It wouldn't be so bad, being a writer…

"I love you Abbie," Chris told her suddenly, "I love everything about you. I love how you love my eyes. That…that was something you would do. That's what's different about you, Abbie, the way you put more meaning into things that seem so worthless and dirty and nothing. You make them seem like something important."

"Chris," Abbie started softly, "I know what you're talking about when you say that I put meaning into things that seem worthless and dirty and nothing, and that I make them seem important."

"What am I talking about?" Chris asked quietly, running his hands very slowly through her hair.

"Yourself," she answered gently, "But you never knew…the meaning inside of you was always there, and it'll never fade."

Chris leaned in closer towards her, beginning to make the move towards her lips. "You lit up my life, Abbie, there's nothing more to say than that."

"I love you Chris."

Their lips locked in a passionate, heated, and intense kiss. The emotions that had been swirling around inside Chris' eyes and inside Abbie were now being put into the kiss. Every feeling that Abbie and Chris had ever felt had been poured into that single kiss. It was the most powerful thing they both had produced, and Abbie could begin to feel herself tremble in Chris' arms. Chris could almost cry because of all of the pain, all of the anger, all of the hurt he had ever experienced was in that kiss, and he could taste it on both their lips. But she didn't stop, and neither did he. There was a connection they both felt when that kiss started, and it was greater than the both of them. They didn't dare stop until time severed them apart.

"Abbie, darling?"

Abbie could hear the voice right beside her, right in the car on the bridge, but she didn't want to break the connection.

"Abbie, it's your mother!"

She didn't break away, but Chris did reluctantly. She felt like screaming and cursing and kicking…she felt that someone needed their comeuppance for severing such a bond that she had felt at that moment in time. Yet, she turned her head, and there she saw her mother and her father in their 1951 plain blue Cadillac, grinning from ear to ear at the sight of their daughter. They both got out of the car and squeezed her tightly.

"How are you, my baby girl-"

"Oh Abbie Wabbie, we missed you so-"

"You have to tell us everything-"

"We have to tell you everything-"

"We will go to your aunt's house first and-"

"-visit with them as well since we haven't seen them in so long."

They beamed at their daughter, and then looked up at the tall, athletic, messy, dirty blonde, ocean-colored eyed boy next to her.

"Who is this?" they both asked in disgusted unison.