One of my reviewers has requested me to "get down and dirty" and not be so sweet. That's not my style, but I'm happy with what I have written here. I hope you will be too.

True, this story, which I am finishing up now, was not heavily plotted, and I hope my next one, where I return to my Gordo series, will be full of action and events and lots of teen angst. This will be the story that comes directly after Gordo's Girls, and immediately before Overcome, thus filling a big hole in the narrative. But in the meantime...please enjoy this last chapter of What's Stopping Us Now?

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Where did they go from here?

The question hung in the cool night air, encircling them, isolating them. For a moment, they felt frozen in time, and it seemed in that moment that all the years since the rooftop kiss had disappeared, and now they might have the chance to get it right at last. Both hoped for the best, but considering the history between them, were prepared for far less.

Liz's eyes were tearing up. David's heart was about to jump out of his chest. If she didn't say something soon, he would have to, despite the fact that he felt quite sure the moment he spoke, this magic would evaporate, and they would go back to being Lizzie and Gordo, two foolish kids who never quite found their way to each other.

Another moment more, and the magic was---if not broken, at least bent. Two teenage boys passed by, whispering and pointing. "Is it her? It's her! No! Is it?"

Lizzie sighed and turned her head. She was used to this. When she went out in ratty old clothes, without makeup, or with her long golden tresses bunched up under a cap, she could deflect a lot of attention, but on occasion some of her more diehard fans still recognized her. Now she hoped to be at least disguised by the darkness, but for a moment, her beauty shone through the darkness. It passed through David's mind that Lizzie was an angel, surrounded by a halo of light.

After a few awkward moments, the boys passed, fading into the night, and Liz at last said, "I'll tell you where we can't go from here. We can't go back to my hotel. There was some paparazzi buzz there earlier today. They might be waiting for me to come back. I just can't face them now, not now, not with you----oh, Gordo!" she interrupted herself, mortified. "I didn't mean---It's not that I'm ashamed---"

"It's okay, Lizzie," David said, gently. "I know what you meant. And frankly, I'm not much in the mood for other people right now either. I just want to be with you."

"Then….can we go somewhere? Together? Can we go… to your place, Gordo?"

David let out a deep breath. Could this really be happening? He felt himself begin to tingle all over. Was it true? Had Lizzie McGuire just asked if they could go to his place? "I---I---" he stumbled, overwhelmed.

"Of course if you'd rather not---"

"No!" David objected, squeezing her hands. "That's not what I meant. Not what I mean at all! It's just….oh my God, Lizzie…."

"I know," she agreed quietly, shyly.

"I….I…"

Liz giggled a little, nervously. "You said that already," she teased.

Now David smiled, feeling warm all over. "We should take a cab," he suggested. "It's kinda far."

Liz looked him straight in the eye, her gaze piercing straight through him. "Okay then. Let's get a cab."

Two minutes later they were seated in the back of a cab, holding hands in the dark, listening to the cab driver, a new arrival from some distant shore, share his impressions of New York in an accent so thick neither Liz not David could quite understand what he was saying.

Not that they much cared what he was saying. All they could think about now was that they were together, and soon, very soon, they would be alone. Alone together. They squeezed each other's hands between them, and periodically smiled politely to the cab driver, agreeing "Oh yes! Of course! You don't say!" even though they had no idea what he was saying or what they were agreeing to. At one point Liz nuzzled her head against David's neck and the scent of strawberries in her hair overpowered him. He lifted her hand and kissed it.

"Oh! Oh! This is it!" David called out at last. The cab driver came to a screeching halt, offering a few more unintelligible words. Lizzie pressed some bills into his hand, saying, "Thanks! It's been…educational!" as she and David sprang from the back seat.

Out on the curb again, they enjoyed a brief laugh, stumbling into each other, before turning towards the ramshackle brownstone building.

"Oh, yeah…" David began slowly, sobering. "I guess I should have told you. It's not…well, the scholarship is good, of course, but there hasn't been much money left for…you know… the niceties."

"I don't care," Liz said simply.

"I'm sure it's not what you're used to---"

"Gordo. I don't care. Honestly."

"But---"

"If you say another word about it, I'm going to….I'm going to have to…"

He looked at her, unable to keep a smile from expanding on his face. "Going to have to… what?" he asked, teasingly.

"Oh…I don't know," she said breezily. "I'll think of something. Can we go in now, Gordo? Please?"

He took her hand and led her up the tall steps, through a battered front door, and down a long dim hallway. A part of him was still embarrassed for Lizzie to see how pitiful his living conditions were, but she actually seemed fascinated, whispering, "Gordo, are you a starving student? A starving artist? Are you a…a…what's the word? A bo-something."

"A Bohemian," David supplied, as they reached his door and he inserted the key. "Yeah, I guess you might say that. I keep reminding myself: it builds character."

"Character," Liz said as she passed through the doorway into the tiny apartment, "is one thing you have always had, Mr. Gordon. In abundance."

"Did you just call me Mr. Gordon?"

"I know. That was silly, wasn't it? It's just that I…I feel so comfortable with you, Gordo. I feel like I can kid around with you. I feel like…"

She had completed her slow turn around the room, seeing everything from the movie posters over the sloppily made bed, to the collection of ceiling to floor books, to the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. Now, once again, she focused on her companion and said, "I feel like I know you."

"You do know me, Lizzie."

"I mean, I feel like no time has passed. Like I have always known you. Like high school never happened. Or the four years since. I feel like we're back where we're supposed to be. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes, I do," David agreed. "I feel it too. But there's one major difference."

Liz took a step closer. David had not turned on any lights, save a lava lamp on a table next to the front door, as was his custom upon arriving home, and the gentle glow of novelty lighting made Lizzie look more dreamy and ethereal than ever before.

"What's different?" Liz dared to wonder.

David took a step closer to her. "I don't feel afraid anymore," he said softly, reaching up to touch her hair. "I'm still bedazzled by your beauty, Lizzie, still intoxicated by your sweetness, but I'm not afraid to…be with you…or…touch you… like this. Or….like this…."

Here he pulled himself closer still, touching her lips with his own. He heard a gentle gasp escape her, surprised for a moment, but immediately after, he felt the tip of her tongue advancing towards his own.

Now he gasped, and Lizzie pulled back a moment, smiling at him playfully. "And I'm not afraid, either, Gordo. You don't intimidate me, with…with your books and your mighty brain, and all your Bohemian ways. You know who I am, I haven't tried to hide anything from you. I've been more honest with you tonight than…well, than I've been with anyone in a long time. You see me. And you still like me."

"I do," David confirmed.

"And I like you, " Lizzie said. "As I always have."

"As I always have," he echoed.

"So then….as the saying goes…" Liz whispered, leaning her forehead against his, "what's stopping us now?"

Assuming this was a rhetorical question, David did not answer. Unless his taking her face tenderly between his hands and once again finding her lips with his own could be considered an answer. And in reply, Liz once again teased him with her tongue, till after many, many delightful moments, it was far less teasing and far more out-and-out kissing.

Yes, they were kissing. Lizzie and Gordo, together at last, alone and lip-locked, immensely enjoying the sensations of each other, as they only had in fantasies, so many years ago. There was no light, save the glow of the lava lamp, there was no sound, save the gently moans that escaped each of them, now with greater and greater frequency and urgency.

As that urgency increased, soon, somehow, they found themselves seated on the bed, next to each other, kissing passionately, and now laying down on the bed, facing each other. Was this happening all too fast? They took a moment to catch their breath, gazing at each other across a shared pillow.

"Lizzie…" David began. "I don't want you to think…"

"No, Gordo! I…I don't want you to think…" Lizzie replied, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"We're not in middle school anymore," David reminded, stroking her shoulder. "We're not fourteen. We're adults." He ran his hand over her hair, hardly able to believe how beautiful she looked to him just now.

Liz also had her hands in his hair. Oh, how many times she had wanted to do this, to grab his gorgeous curly hair, to feel it against her skin, to use this grip to pull him closer into her, pull him in for a deeper kiss.

As she kissed him, and he kissed back, her boldness touch him, and he responded with some boldness of his own, spreading his hands around her tiny waist, reaching inside her shirt, traveling up towards her bra. He found himself uncontrollably drawn towards her breasts, everything within him intent upon unraveling the enduring mystery of what Lizzie McGuire's breasts must feel like. Hours of his life had been spent in deep contemplation on this very subject, and now….now….

Liz moaned as he pulled down her bra straps and grabbed her, fully, unflinchingly. "Oh, Gordo…" she breathed, as she melted under his touch.

"Lizzie," he whispered hoarsely in her ear before kissing it, then licking it, then letting his tongue work its way down her face, her neck, her shoulders.

She shivered. How was it possible this could feel this good? He was doing things to her no one else had been able to do, touching her in a way she had never before known she would respond to. She wanted to give him more and more.

David felt dizzy, unable to get enough. He supposed this was what happened when you wanted something too much and waited far too long. He was on overload, and the sensation of being about to explode was more than simply psychological.

The clothes had to go. He had enough sense left about him to realize this, but almost as soon as the thought occurred to him, Liz was unzipping him. It was as if she could read his mind.

Liz was, in fact, not exactly reading his mind, but of the same mind, working towards the same goal. And so together they undressed each other, and rubbed against each other, and clung to each other.

It had never felt like this before for either of them, this sense of being swept along on the same wave, enjoying the ride which took them higher and higher until the pinnacle was reached, and then, as their minds began to clear, they returned to a plane which felt so much more like reality. If there was one thought in both their minds as they lay back on Gordo's sloppy bed, naked and sweating and full of bliss, it was that something like this did not happen by accident.

They lay quietly for a moment, holding hands, till Liz propped herself up on her elbow to look down in her lover's face. "Gordo," she said with certainty. "I'm glad we're not fourteen anymore. I'm glad we're adults. I'm glad we're past all that silly nonsense that always stood in our way. I want to be with you."

David gathered Liz in his arms and said, "And I want to be with you, too, Lizzie."

She squeezed him tightly. "You know what, Gordo? I love you. I think I've always loved you."

David squeezed her back, tears coming into his eyes. "Worth waiting for," he whispered as he kissed her hair, intoxicated by the sweet scent of strawberries.