I said, "I've got to be honest,
I've been waiting for you all of my life."
For so long I thought I was asylum bound,
But just seeing you makes me think twice.
And being with you here makes me sane.
I fear I'll go crazy if you leave my side…

I'll be true, I'll be useful, I'll be cavalier,
I'll be yours my dear
And I'll belong to you
If you just let me through…

-Dashboard Confessional, "As Lovers Go"

CHAPTER ELEVEN

What is it about a woman, crying and vulnerable, that brings out a man's need to protect her? It doesn't matter what the relationship is, who the man or woman is, how close they are… every single man I have known hates it when his significant other cries. It makes them feel powerless, because they couldn't stop whatever it was made her cry from happening, and now she's suffering and it might as well have been his fault.

It was no different with Frankie and Eddie. The moment came when she needed him, and he was there for her. And the most wonderful, magical, special part of the whole ordeal was that he needed her too. And now that he had finally admitted it to himself, he knew, and he let one simple truth dictate all his further actions.

He was in love with Francesca Darcy.

Frankie walked back into the house in a haze, analyzing and breaking down every aspect of the conversation she'd just had with Eddie, trying to figure out what was going through his head. A smile played on her lips when she realized that Eddie was able to read her so well, but she had the hardest time reading him. She followed her mother and grandparents into the house.

"Frankie, go let your puppy out, poor thing has been locked in the laundry room all day," Emily said. Frankie nodded and walked back to the laundry room.

"Lydia!" she called as she opened the door. Lydia hadn't run to the door as soon as she heard someone coming, which was odd. Frankie walked in a little further, looking in a corner of the room that Lydia liked to hide in, but she still didn't see her dog. "Lydia?" she called. Goosebumps came up on her arms, and she realized there was a significant draft in the room. She turned the corner and her mouth dropped open.

The back door, leading straight outside to the backyard, was wide open.

She ran out, forgetting that she didn't have any shoes on.

"LYDIA!" she yelled. She froze, her heart beating, straining to hear anything, but it was dead silent. She turned around and ran back into the house, calling frantically for her mom.

"Mom! Mom, Lydia's missing!" she said, running towards the front door to grab her shoes.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean that she's not in the laundry room and the back door was wide open."

Emily pressed a hand to her forehead. "Which means that Lydia ran off into the woods, of course."

Frankie grabbed her coat and started to run back outside, but had to duck around Aunt Cathy. "Who left the back door open? Who was the last one to leave to go to the Bells?"

"Oh, I suppose that was me," Cathy said. Frankie stopped in her tracks and stared at her great aunt, who was looking at her nonchalantly. Frankie was practically fuming. Lydia had been wandering around in the freezing cold for close to two hours, just because this old bat couldn't figure out how to close a door? She turned around and ran back outside before she said anything she might regret.

"LYDIA!" she yelled. "Lydia, here girl!" She started walking around the house, looking for dog tracks in the snow. She had just turned the corner when she saw someone walking towards her house.

"Frankie?" It was Eddie. Frankie waited for the butterflies, but she was too distracted by her missing dog. She couldn't see any hint of Lydia anywhere, and she was starting to get really scared. "Frankie, what's going on?" He was walking towards her, but she could only make out the outline of his form in the dark.

"My dog… Lydia. She's out here somewhere." Frankie could feel tears biting at the corners of her eyes, and she tried furiously to hold them back.

"Wait… what? What's the problem?" He was standing just a few feet away from her now.

"We came home and the back door was open, which means that Lydia got out and probably ran into the woods cuz she loves to chase squirrels but she doesn't know that squirrels hibernate and it's freezing and she's been out here for like two hours-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Eddie said, reaching out and touching Frankie's arms. She realized for the first time that she hadn't actually pulled her coat on, and it was still hanging from her hand. Eddie realized it too, reaching down and pulling it out of her hand. "It's okay, we'll find her," he said reassuringly as he wrapped her coat around her shoulders. Frankie pulled her arms through the holes. "She usually runs back here?" Eddie asked, gesturing to the woods behind them.

"Yeah," Frankie replied. She cleared her throat.

"C'mon, let's go look," he said, taking her hand and leading her into the trees.

An hour later they were still looking for Lydia. Frankie's mom had taken the car and was driving around the neighborhood looking for her, while Eddie, Frankie, and Grace were out on foot. Frankie pulled her coat tighter around her, feeling like it wasn't doing anything to protect her from the cold anymore. She sighed, frustration building up inside of her. Her voice was getting hoarse, and they still didn't see any sign of Lydia.

"Frankie?" a voice called. She recognized that it was Eddie's. The three of them looking on foot had split up earlier.

"Yeah, I'm over here," she called back. Eddie emerged from between a few trees a minute later.

"Hey… how are you holding up?"

Frankie just shook her head. "This is not how I wanted to be spending Christmas Eve," she replied. A tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away – but not quick enough. She knew that Eddie had seen it.

"Okay. Come on, time to go inside," Eddie said, pulling Frankie close to him. Frankie shook her head.

"No, I have to find Lydia."

"Don't worry about it, I'll keep looking. But you're freezing, and you're not wearing the right shoes to be stomping around in the woods… you need to go inside before you get frostbite or hurt yourself or something."

Frankie looked up at him, gathering from the determined look on his face that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Her shoulders slumped, and he wrapped an arm around her waist and led her inside. He called Grace in on the way, and when they entered, they saw that Emily had just arrived home as well, with no luck. Eddie helped Frankie take her coat off, and Frankie walked straight from Eddie's arms and into her mother's.

"C'mon, honey, let's get you warmed up," Emily said, rubbing Frankie's arms to warm her up. She turned to Eddie. "Eddie, do you want some hot chocolate or coffee or anything?"

"No, thank you, Mrs. Darcy, I'm actually going to go out there and keep looking."

"Oh Eddie, you don't need to do that. I'm sure Lydia will be fine until the morning. She might even wander home in the middle of the night."

"No, I want to," Eddie insisted. He shot Frankie a meaningful look before smiling back at Emily. "I'll let you know if I find anything," he said before turning around and heading back outside.

Another hour found Frankie alone in her room. She had gotten ready for bed, but knew that she couldn't sleep, so she was curled up under the covers, looking out the window at the snow gently falling. She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to force out the images of Lydia whimpering outside in the snow. Instead she thought of Eddie earlier that night, thought of how he'd looked at her and how he'd smiled at her. It was one of the few times that she'd allowed herself to think about that, just because she knew she needed something to make her forget about how worried she was.

She had actually started to doze when a knock at the door woke her up. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Come in," she called. The door swung open, and in walked Eddie, carrying a slightly damp and cold-looking dog in his arms. Frankie jumped out of her bed, and the dog was squirming in Eddie's arms, so he set her down.

"Lydia!" Frankie said happily. The dog jumped up on her and Frankie fell onto the floor giggling. "Where did you find her?"

"She was sleeping, underneath a pine tree where she was somewhat sheltered from the snow." Lydia jumped onto Frankie's chest, licking her face gleefully like only a dog can. Another tear slipped down Frankie's cheek as she buried her face in Lydia's fur. After a moment, Lydia had calmed down and settled herself into Frankie's lap, and Frankie looked up at Eddie.

"Thank you so much, Eddie," she said, her voice choked up. Eddie sank down onto the floor next to her, scratching Lydia behind her ears. "Did my family see her?" Eddie nodded, but didn't say anything. "Well… I'm sure they thank you too, we all love Lydia so much."

"No offense to your family, they're all great… and Lydia's a great dog too, and I'm glad she's okay… but that's not why I did this."

"What do you mean?"

Eddie looked down to where Frankie's fingers were buried in Lydia's fur, then slowly moved his hand over and wrapped his fingers around hers. Frankie looked up at him in surprise.

"I did it for you, Frankie." He paused, apparently waiting for Frankie to say something, but she couldn't. "Did you happen to notice that I was walking towards your house when you ran into me?"

"Yeah," Frankie breathed.

"Right, well… I was on my way over here to tell you something, and then I saw how upset you were, and I just wanted to make whatever it was that was hurting you stop," he said. Frankie's heart was pounding.

"What were you on your way to tell me?" she asked. His eyes were locked on hers, and Frankie found it hard to breathe, like a huge weight was pushing against her chest. He reached up with his free hand and touched her on the cheek. Lydia got up from Frankie's lap and sauntered away, as if she knew what was about to happen. In one swift movement Eddie moved up to his knees, pulling Frankie up and against him and bringing his mouth crashing down on hers. Frankie let out a moan as she wrapped her arms around Eddie's neck. She could feel his hands gripping her waist, crushing her body completely against his. When they pulled away from each other they were both gasping for breath. Frankie was seeing stars.

"I was so wrong about you," Eddie said between his gasps for breath. Their foreheads were leaning against each other. "About everything. I've been so blind and so stupid."

Frankie slowly smiled. "I'm glad you finally came to your senses."

Eddie backed up enough to laugh loudly, then leaned in and kissed her again.

"So you did talk to my aunt," she said after they moved apart the second time. Eddie raised an eyebrow.

"How did you know about that?"

"Jane overheard you guys talking. She called me and told me that you refused to promise her that you wouldn't date me."

Eddie made an exaggerated pensive face. "Did I say that? Hmm. I don't recall that conversation." Frankie giggled.

"Oh, maybe you didn't. Okay then. Maybe you should, y'know, let go of my waist and stop sticking your tongue down my throat then." She squirmed, pretending to loosen herself from his grip, but he just held on even tighter.

"Oh no. You're not getting away that easily." He reached up and touched her cheek, his expression turning serious again. "The truth is, I called you cold-hearted because you listed all the reasons that you shouldn't be with me-"

"I was cold-hearted," Frankie insisted. Eddie shook his head.

"No, you weren't, you were just being honest. And the thing is, I was thinking the same thing. You're nothing like the girl that I thought I should be with… but since the day I met you, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. You've been such a challenge for me, and I love that about you."

Frankie smiled. "Now there's something every girl dreams of being called… a challenge."

Eddie laughed and kissed her. "You're my favorite challenge," he said, snuggling into her neck. Frankie sighed and looked at the ceiling, in disbelief that all of this was actually happening. She was in such bliss that the next words that came out of her mouth came out with no real thought of the consequences.

"Eddie, will you stay here tonight?"

Eddie pulled back and looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Not that that thought doesn't interest me… but don't you think it's a little early?… and isn't your mom like, down the hall?"

Frankie smiled. "No, not like that, that's not what I meant… I just meant… this night feels so special right now, and I just don't want it to end."

Eddie smiled back. "Me neither," he replied. "But we are going to have a lot more nights like this in the future, I can promise you that." Lydia chose that moment to bark, as if irritated that the two humans in the room seemed to have ignored her presence. Frankie laughed and pulled away from Eddie enough so that she could reach over and pat Lydia affectionately.

"Lydia says that it will never be this special again, seeing as how we won't be losing and then finding the best dog ever every night."

"Ahh, yes, that's what everyone will remember from this night… we found poor Lydia," Eddie said, leaning over and scratching Lydia's ears. He looked over at Frankie for a moment before kissing her again. After he released her, the two stood up, and Eddie kicked off his shoes and pulled off his jacket before pulling Frankie down onto the bed with him. Lydia hopped up as well, laying down near their feet.

"I can't believe this is happening," Frankie murmured, snuggling close to his shoulder. Eddie reached up and touched her hair, the silky auburn strands slipping through his fingers.

"Me neither," he replied. He kissed her forehead. "But now that it has… I don't think I ever want to be without you again." Frankie's heart fluttered.

"Wow," she said. She suppressed a giggle. "Now you're just getting cheesy." She looked up at Eddie, who was shaking his head and staring at the ceiling.

"I swear to god, you're going to drive me insane…" he muttered. Frankie giggled out loud this time and kissed his jawbone.

"You love it. I'm your favorite challenge, remember?" she reminded him.

"Damn you have a smart mouth. I see I'm going to have to teach you a thing or two." His eyes got a mischievous glint before he reached over and tickled her. Frankie shrieked and squirmed to get away from him, but he just held tighter. "Wow, the great Ms. Darcy has a weakness? She's TICKLISH?" Eddie teased as he tickled her mercilessly. Frankie was laughing so hard she was silent, tears streaming down her face. He finally stopped, giving her a moment to calm down, grinning at her idiotically.

"You suck," she said, taking deep breaths. He leaned over and kissed her lightly.

"I know."

When Frankie woke up the next morning, it was to an experience that she'd never had before – waking up in the arms of a man. She had to admit, it was up there with the top experiences she'd had in her life. They were both on their sides facing each other, one of Eddie's arms tucked under her head, the other one around her waist and pressed protectively against her back. She almost gasped out loud when she realized that her hand was flat on his back, underneath his shirt. Her fingers twitched, and she gave in. She moved her hand around slowly on his back, trying not to wake him up. Her breathing quickened when she realized how muscular he was, letting her hand wander along the lines and crevasses of his back. He was so warm, she didn't want to move away from him, but she eventually forced herself to stop, and eased herself carefully out of his arms. He barely stirred in bed, and she knelt beside him, smiling when she saw how peaceful he looked. They had spent several hours talking before they fell asleep, and she recalled one particular part of the conversation when he told her just how much her gift had meant to him. She leaned back towards him, unable to resist, and pressed her cheek against his.

"I want to make your dreams come true, Eddie," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Because you've made mine come true… dreams that I didn't even know I had." She placed a feather light kiss on his temple before getting up out of the bed.

She crept downstairs, hearing voices in the living room. She knew that her family would be up when she'd caught a glimpse of the clock and seen that it was 8:30 in the morning. She walked in, and sure enough, there they were – her mom, grandparents and sister, not to mention the still ever-present Carl, still in their pajamas, drinking coffee and munching on the plate of donuts that was sitting on the coffee table. Except for Carl, who was fully dressed already in old-fashioned jeans and one of the ugliest sweaters she'd ever seen.

"Merry Christmas, honey," her mom said when she saw Frankie. Frankie smiled shyly, wrapping her arms around herself. Did they know?

"Merry Christmas," she replied. "Where's Aunt Cathy?"

"Right here," she heard from behind her, seeing Cathy enter. It was 8:30 in the morning and already Cathy's hair was pulled back into a tight bun, though she was wearing a thick robe. "Merry Christmas, Francesca. We've been waiting for you."

Frankie rolled her eyes. "Merry Christmas to you too, Aunt Cathy."

Emily cleared her throat, dipping her chunk of donut into her coffee. "Your aunt is right, Frankie, we have been waiting for you. Why don't you go wake up Eddie and we'll all open presents together?" Frankie's eyes widened. Her mother smiled at her mischievously. Aunt Cathy gaped.

"He is here? In this house? OVERNIGHT?" she hissed. "Why, I have never, ever been exposed to such impropriety-"

"Oh cut it out, you old windbag," Frankie interrupted. Aunt Cathy gaped even more, and Frankie could see Carl's jaw drop in her peripheral vision as well. "Eddie is here to stay, so either get used to it or get out." No one said anything for a moment, though a quick glance at her mom reassured Frankie that she wasn't angry at her – in fact, she looked kind of proud.

"Well aren't you just my knight in shining armor," a voice came from behind Frankie. She turned to see Eddie standing in the doorway, his hair mussed, his clothes wrinkled, and a big smile on his face. Frankie slowly smiled, unable to take her eyes off him.

"Good morning, Eddie! Merry Christmas! Would you like some coffee? I'm sure that your family will be over here soon," Frankie faintly heard her mother say.

"I would love some coffee, Mrs. Darcy, thank you," he replied, though he didn't take his eyes off Frankie. He stepped closer to her as Mrs. Darcy poured him a cup, and then handed it to him. He slipped an arm around Frankie's waist and looked out at her family, who were beaming proudly… except for Aunt Cathy, who looked slightly green, and Carl, who looked like he wanted to be swallowed up by his ugly sweater. "I'd like to make a toast," he said, holding up his mug. The rest of the family followed suit, and he smiled down at Frankie.

"To dreams coming true."

A/N: Wow, so sorry for the delay on this one! School caught up with me, midterms are a bitch! Anyway, in case anyone missed it, shortly after I posted the last chapter (like, a day) I added a scene thanks to some great feedback I got, so go ahead and check that out. :) I'm posting this chapter and the epilogue, and the story is officially done:) Thanks so so much to everyone has reviewed, I'm so glad all of you have enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! School is about to consume my life pretty much until the end of the semester, so I don't know if I'll do a whole lot of writing in the meantime... I do have a couple of stories I've started (completely unrelated to Jane Austen, lol) but I probably won't have a lot of time to work on those. In the meantime, please go over to fictionpress (same pen name) and read my other stuff! thanks again everybody!

estrellabella