Authors Note—

Fly Eagles Fly, On The Road To Victory.
Fight Eagles Fight, Score A Touchdown 1-2-3.

Hit 'Em Low.
Hit 'Em High.
And We'll Watch Our Eagles Fly.

Fly Eagles Fly, On The Road To Victory.

E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!!!

Here's the last chapter. It's a miracle I made it through the Eagles vs. Giants game. I was feeling a little sick in the seconds before Akers took the final field goal attempt. I'm never ever EVER taking his jersey off. He's AMAZING. So I dedicate my name change to the great man himself… DAVID AKERS!!!!

Steph

Disclaimer: everything recognizable belongs to Lauren Brooke.

The Peak

Chapter 20—Happily Ever After… Kinda

Sunday, April 16, 2006

"Let's go," Ty said impatiently.

Amy hurried after him but tripped over some rocks and had to grab his arm to keep from falling over. "Can't you slow down?" she complained as she completely righted herself. She pulled back on his arm so he was forced to slow down until Amy could walk by his side.

"Now tell me again where we're going," Amy said.

"I never told you," Ty grinned.

"Well can't you tell me now?" Amy complained. "I mean," she said as she side stepped a particularly nasty looking Teddy Bear Cactus, "tell me why you insisted on coming here today and why we left the trail."

Ty didn't say anything, just grinned again and kept walking.

Amy groaned. "Oh come on!"

"Patience," Ty said. "You'll find out soon."

"I don't have any patience," Amy retorted.

"Well then you can work on getting some until we get where I'm taking you."

Amy rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Ty. Ty laughed and shook his head before draping his arm across her shoulders. Amy couldn't help the small shiver of happiness that tingled down her spine.

"You're not cold, are you?" Ty asked incredulously, having felt the small shiver.

"No," Amy said with a big smile plastered across her face. She didn't elaborate at Ty's questioning gaze.

They were at Pinnacle Peak, off the trails and going up, that's all Amy knew. That and that Ty was just being downright annoying… for the most part.

"You know I only have a couple hours before my dad totally flips and I have to go home, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Okay."

Ty jumped up onto a large rock before turning around and offering his hand to Amy to help pull her up.

"Is this where we're going?" she asked hopefully, not used to the intense Arizona sun and the workout.

"Nope."

Amy groaned again and considered just sitting down and refusing to go any further. But a glance at Ty's arms convinced her others wise… well, that and the fact that she was kind of, sort of interested in where he was taking her.

"Well we're almost there, right?" she couldn't help but asking.

Ty looked at her and laughed. "Yes," he said. "We're almost there."

"Good."

Ty laughed once again and Amy narrowed her eyes.

Ty noticed the look that was directed at him. "What?"

"Why does everyone laugh at me?" Amy whined.

Ty laughed again but once again caught Amy's look and stopped. "I'm not laughing at you," he assured her.

"Well you're definitely not laughing with me since I'm not laughing."

"You see?" Ty said suddenly. "You're so different from every other girl I've met."

Amy was silent for a moment, trying to decide whether that comment was a compliment or an insult. Amy didn't know, but she was leaning more towards the insult part. It wasn't that she thought Ty was insulting her so much as the realization that she really wasn't like any other girl he'd been with.

"Um," she said unsurely, "thank you?" she guessed.

"No," Ty said. "That's not how I meant it."

"Uh, okay."

"I meant that you're just different from every other girl."

"Well I already got that that's what you think."

Ty was silent for a moment. He walked a little faster and, with a sigh, Amy lengthened her stride to catch up with him. She was so concentrated on the catching-up-with-Ty-thing that she hadn't been expecting him to just stop and she walked right into his back.

Ty took a step back and pulled Amy up to his side. "We're here," he said.

Amy looked out around them, a smart and witty comment on the tip of her tongue but it was completely lost to her as she actually saw where they were: somewhere on the back of Pinnacle Peak where there were no trails or other people in sight. They were close to the top of the mountain and they looked out on a spotless, perfectly green gold course and several homes on the back of the mountain. The best part, though, was that even though there were still homes and buildings visible in the distance the land just seemed to go on and on forever before more mountains took over again.

"Wow," Amy said as she sat down on a rock behind her. "It's really pretty."

Ty sat down next to her and rested his hands on his knees. "Yeah, it is, isn't it?" he said. "I come here a lot... when I don't want to be around anyone else… to just think and stuff."

Amy cocked her head to the side as she watched Ty. "You do?"

"Yeah." Then he laughed again but Amy knew that he wasn't laughing at her now. "No one would believe me; they'd think that I was up here doing something else so I've never brought anyone up here or anything."

"Really?" Amy smiled.

"Yeah…" Ty said, just staring at Amy. "Oh no," he held up his hands palm forward in front of his chest. "I don't do all that mushy stuff."

Amy's smile broadened as she leaned over and hugged Ty briefly.

"You do fine with 'all that mushy stuff'," she assured him.

Ty didn't bother with an answer and leaned back on his hands instead, his face tilted up towards the bright sun shinning in the cloudless sky.

Amy watched him thoughtfully for a couple seconds before leaning back as well. She scooted closer to Ty and leaned against his chest. Ty's arm snaked around her waist and held her closer to him.

Amy smiled as she leaned her head back against his shoulder. His arms were strong and muscled and gave you every right to be intimidated of him and his large, muscular build. But to Amy, they only felt safe and secure and she loved when she was in his arms.

She didn't know how she'd survive when she went home later in the day, no clear date of when she'd see him again. She didn't peg Ty as the long distance relationship kind of guy but she hoped he'd give it a try. It might be hard given Ty's history, but Amy trusted him to not hurt her. He'd already proven on more then one occasion his feelings for her. Amy would just have to see how strong they were.

"I don't want to leave," she said softly, her voice breaking through the silence.

Ty looked down at her and rubbed her back to try and ease her distressed expression. "I'm out of school in a few months," he said. "It won't be that long."

"Do you really think that?" Amy asked dubiously.

"Well," Ty smiled down at her, his emerald eyes twinkling, "we'll make it work, right?"

"I hope," Amy mumbled.

"Come on," Ty said in an attempt to cheer her up. "It'll fly by… or not," he amended himself as he saw Amy's face.

Amy sighed, dropping the conversation. They'd had it before and it never ended up going anywhere. Maybe sometimes you just had to trust fate to work everything out right. But Amy wasn't so eager to put her life in the hands of something she wasn't even sure existed.

"Hey," Ty said suddenly. "Come on, there's something else I want to show you."

"What?" Amy's eyes widened as Ty pulled her to her feet. "We just got here! I do not want to repeat that walk," she whined.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," Ty laughed.

"Easy for you to say," Amy huffed. "You do this on a regular basis."

She followed him in the end though. There was never any thought in her mind that would have led her to act differently.

But to appease her, Ty held on to her hand the whole time, even though it made his own walk more difficult at times. Just as long as he didn't fall and take them both down the mountain then there was nothing to be worried.

Amy was sweating more then she would have liked once they made it to the top of a particularly steep incline and was thankful that she hadn't forgotten the deodorant that morning. The smell of BO was the way to turn a guy off.

Ty stepped over the low, stone wall that they'd reached at the top of the incline first before hauling Amy over. Amy, though she rode rigorously everyday for multiple hours, wasn't one for hiking and the trek across the unmarked and un-pathed mountain face was tiring in a new way for her.

"This better be good," Amy grumbled as she stumbled and righted herself by grabbing onto Ty's arm.

Ty's arm slipped around her waist to support her. He chuckled, having heard Amy's low words. "It will be," he assured her for at least the second time that afternoon. He'd past with flying colors the first time but Amy would just have to see about this time.

Amy looked up and took in her surroundings. They were in one of the rest areas right off the main trail. Amy recognized it from her first trip to Pinnacle Peak in the beginning of her stay—the same hike that led to her believing that this Ty was actually Ty Baldwin. She'd always like Pinnacle Peak from now on… though the hiking side of things was up in air.

The people in the rest area were staring at them. Ty ignored them all and led Amy forwards. Amy, on the other hand, wasn't used to a lot of attention focused on her at any given time and blushed, looking down that the dirt beneath her sneakers.

Ty stopped by a large boulder across the path and pointed down. Amy followed his finger to a large, sprawling, ranch style house with stone paved driveways, spotless green grass and a pool glistening with bright blue water. It looked clear, cool and inviting. Amy could have taken a swim then.

"That's my house," Ty said.

"Oh." Amy tried to figure out just why she was looking at in.

Ty laughed and rubbed her shoulder. "Do you see the pool?" Amy nodded. "And the mural in the bottom?"

"Oh!" Amy said, looking closer and clearly seeing the tile mural of running horse in the dusky and bright desert colors shimmering through the clear blue of the water. She hadn't noticed it before. It had been too dark that one time she'd been in the pool with Ty and, quite frankly, there had been other things on her mind then her surrounds at the time.

She waited for Ty to explain why he was showing her the galloping horses on the bottom of his pool silently, figuring that he would tell her when he was ready. And, truth be told, Amy was in no hurry. She enjoyed just being in Ty's company and she'd take every extra second with him she could get.

"Ever since we moved here, there's always been something about it that drew me to it," he said, his voice soft. "I can't explain it, though. But even before I remembered about… everything, I'd always just stare at it. My dad wanted to get it taken out but I wouldn't let him. It was like it was trying to tell me something but I just couldn't remember." He sounded mad at himself by the time he had finished.

"Hey," Amy said in alarm and stood in front of him, her hands firmly on his shoulders. "That's not your fault. Remember? You couldn't have controlled it."

"Yeah," Ty said, looking away from her intense eyes. "But whenever I looked at it, it was like there was something missing. Something that I was trying to find. Something that was just out of my grasp."

Amy smiled sadly. "You found it now, though, didn't you?" her voice was hopeful and her breath caught in her throat. This would be what it all came down to.

Ty slowly turned to look back down at her. His face was more serious then she'd ever seen it for five excruciatingly slow seconds. And then a slow smile lifted his lips in the corners and he reached up a hand to gently brush a strand of damp hair away from her eyes. Amy could have sworn her heart skipped a beat at the feel of his hands on her face.

"Yeah," he said in a soft voice and his face was suddenly closer to hers. "I think I really have." If Amy had had trouble breathing before then the feel of Ty's cool breath against her face stopped her breathing altogether, her heart going haywire in her chest.

And then he closed the distance in-between them and kissed her. His hand gently cupped the side of her face.

And it was just perfect.

It's was funny, the things that had happened in the short few weeks Amy had been in Scottsdale, Arizona. All Amy had thought when she had been coming was that she'd enjoy the sun with her friends and then celebrate her sisters wedding. Nowhere had she seen anything— anything— that had happened to her.

But it wasn't all bad… not at all. Not by a long shot.

Maybe her story wasn't exactly like they went in the fairy tails but it seemed that she'd really gotten her Happily Ever After… at least kind of.

a/n: not the greatest or the longest but I needed to get this finished already. REVIEW!! –Steph GO EAGLES!!!