Authors Note: Thanks to everyone for the reviews, it's great to see people are still reading this and all your feedback is greatly appreciated. But now comes the announcement that this will be the final chapter for this story, which will also be followed up by an epilogue. Hope you all enjoy the rest of it; I'd love to hear from you.

Lyrics: Tammin Sursok "World Without You"

Chapter 10

3 Days Later

"Please Grace? Can't I just come over so we can talk" Grace laughed shaking her head.

"Look Leah, like I said to you yesterday, I have nothing to say to you, end of story okay, stop calling me" ignoring the muffled protests coming from the other end of the phone she hung up on the girl who had become her best friend over the last few months.

Flinching slightly out of pain, she stood up from the couch where she had been sitting just as the phone rang again.

"I told you to stop calling me" Grace said angrily, answering the phone.

"Grace, sweetie, is that you?" he mother's worried voiced drifted over the phone.

"Mum!" Grace exclaimed nervously, "How are you"

"I'm fine honey, who were you talking to before?" she asked curiously.

"Just some guy that keeps pranking the house… nothing major" she lied, biting her lip hoping that Lily wouldn't push the issue.

"Okay, as long as you're sure everything is fine… But actually I was just calling to let you know that we're coming home in a couple of days."

"Okay" Oh god, what were they going to do? They had known that their parent's would be home soon… but having a time limit on it just made it so much more real.

Minutes later Eli walked into the room to find Grace, who had reclaimed her previous position, sitting on the couch staring blankly at the wall in front of her.

"Who was that?" he asked not noticing the expression on her face until she didn't answer. "Grace? Earth to Grace? What's wrong?"

"What?" Grace shook her head, her eyes slowly focusing on him. "Oh sorry" she shrugged, "that was mum; they're coming home in a couple of days".

"Oh" a dark cloud passed across Eli's face… "well I guess that's it then" he mumbled, running a hand through his hair.

"What do you mean?" Grace tried to keep the panic out of her voice.

"I just mean that with them home… you know, obviously they aren't going to be happy if they find out about all this" Grace bit her lip angrily, he doesn't even know half of it, she thought.

"So what are you saying Eli?" Grace asked, a tremble in her voice"

Eli looked at her, his expression softening he sat down beside her and took her hand. "Grace, these past couple of months has been great" he laughed, "and I'm not just talking about the sex either… although that was a bonus" he admitted with a smirk. "But I honestly can't see how it will work with our parent's home, they would completely freak out, you know that"

"They don't have to know" Grace said adamantly.

"I know" Eli nodded, "But do you really want to keep lying to them Grace? We live in the same house; do you really want to sneak around behind their backs, constantly looking over your shoulder to make sure you aren't caught? You mean a lot to me Grace… too much to make you live like that"

Days and nights and nights and days
and silent shades of lazy greys
I call your name
It's all the same

It was late afternoon that same day when Grace found herself lying back on her bed, thinking about everything that had happened the past summer. She never really had taken the time to sit down and reflect on what had happened, she had just accepted things as they came, kept moving, thinking that eventually things had to get better. And eventually they did, for awhile anyway, until something new happened to drag her back down.

Sitting staring at the ceiling
Dripping painted pictures peeling
From my wall
The time just crawls

The time when her and Eli didn't get along seemed so long ago, her friendship with Carla, the way in which it ended, she could remember it like tomorrow and yet she had never stopped to think about what it actually meant. She had lost her best friend, granted she had treated her like crap, but she had barely paused for a moment before jumping into things with Eli, and before allowing herself to get so close to Leah.

Was it yesterday I don't know
Was I dreaming or did I lose everything
I believed in
(If you could only see what I see)
Every time we meet

Now three months later, she had lost almost everyone that had ever meant anything to her, with Carla she had lost many of her friends; she was letting Leah go by choice, and Eli… where could she even begin? She was losing him too, but not by choice, he was letting her go and that of all things is what hurt the most.

Imagine a world with no sky
Imagine the ocean run dry
Imagine then you'll see the view
of a world without you

She knew he was only doing it because he cared, she knew that it was the right thing, there was no way that they could hide it from their parents, and yet part of her was willing to risk everything just to hold on to him.

Imagine no sun and no rain
Imagine that each day's the same
It doesn't matter what I do
in a world without you?

With a sigh she wiped the tears from her eyes and forced herself to sit up, her mother and Rick would be home in just a few days, now was the time for her and Eli to sort things out once and for all.

Imagine no sun and no rain
Imagine that each day's the same
It doesn't matter what I do
in a world without you?

My world without you

And so Eli and Grace's last few days together passed, if you would have asked Grace at the time she would have said they were the longest few days of her life, having nothing else to do but to just sit back and wait for her parent's to return and put an end to her relationship with Eli. But for Eli those three days seemed even longer, not only was it his last 3 days with Grace, but it would also be some of his last days at home.

After much consideration he had made the decision to move out of his home. Coop's parents were going away for the year so Coop had offered him a room while they were gone. He'd known about it for awhile but had only just decided that it would be the best thing for him to do… he knew that living with Grace, and having to pretend that noting had never happened would be just to hard, and near impossible. This way they would both have space, and she would be able to move on with her life without him always being there. His only problem now would be finding the words to tell Grace.

Things between them cooled down pretty quickly after they found out their parents would be home, things had to end, and they knew that it would be easier just to end things as soon as they could.

It hadn't been easy… Eli found the urge to just reach out and touch her almost overwhelming at times but in his heart he believed he was doing the right thing. The pregnancy scare had really made him sit back and think about the choices he was making. He cared about Grace greatly and believed that with time it could even grow into love, which is why things had to be ended now, because if he fell in love with her there would be no turning back and he was realistic enough to know that it could never work out between them.

"So this is it?" Eli said wistfully as they watched their parent's car pull into the driveway from where they sat side by side on the couch. Smiling sadly he reached out and took Graces hand. "I never meant to hurt you Grace, I need you to know that" he said softly, his other hand reaching out to tilt her chin so that her eyes met his.

Grace nodded as a tear crept out of the corner of her eye and slide slowly down her cheek "I'll miss you" she forced out, biting her lip.

"I'll miss you too" Eli replied, leaning over and kissing her gently before standing up.

Standing up they stood side by side and watched as their parent's got out of the car. Grace forced herself to smile as she walked over to the door, pausing for a moment to wipe another tear from her eye, she opened the door to be greeted by her mothers arms.

"So how was your summer sweetie?"

Grace laughed, if only she knew.