And here it is, the last chapter to Battle of Love. This was my very first fanfic, and I enjoyed the ride very much! Thank you to everyone who spent their time reading/reviewing/loving/hating my story! I wish I could give you all hugs for encouraging me, but that is sadly impossible. Thanks again! (THIS EPILOGUE TAKES PLACE 2 MONTHS AFTER CHAPTER 10)

Battle of Love

Chapter 11

ELI

I sat in the back of my Senior Advanced English class, trying my best to focus on what Mrs. Dawes was talking about. This task was easier said than done, considering the fact that my beautiful girlfriend was running her fingers through my hair and massaging my neck. I smirked and leaned back in my desk, allowing her more access and not really caring what Mrs. Dawes had to say anymore. Clare continued her ministrations for about five more minutes until I felt her tapping my shoulder. I snapped out of my trance enough to notice that the class had begun talking amongst each other. I spun around and grinned at her.

"Why hello there my little masseuse."

She laughed and said, "Hello my favorite customer slash English partner slash boyfriend. What does my English partner think about the assignment Dawes gave us?" I stared at her blankly when she said this and she laughed again. "Elijah Goldsworthy not paying attention in class. Color me surprised!" she proclaimed sarcastically.

"Hey! You can blame that on your pretty little self." I touched the tip of her nose with my pointer finger. She bowed her head, obviously trying to hide her now tinted cheeks. I smirked and coaxed her face up again. I lost myself in her blue eyes as she gazed at me flirtatiously.

Suddenly, something plopped onto Clare's desk, startling us both. I looked down at the newspaper that now resided on Clare's desk, and then up to where it came from.

"Mr. Goldsworthy, Ms. Edwards. I'm just going to assume that neither of you have telepathy, therefore you should actually discuss the essay I assigned." Mrs. Dawes commanded sternly, but she wore a small grin. "Choose a current event article, and then write a three page essay on how the event affects your lives. I expect only the best from you two." We muttered our assent, and she walked back up to her desk. Momentarily, I was reminded of how easy it was to convince her to make Clare and I partners again after the incident. I believed that the lack of difficulty was due to my bipolar disorder, but sometimes I'm inclined to think that she wants our relationship to happen more than Clare and I combined. It's nice in a creepy, inappropriate sort of way. Clare pulled me from my thoughts.

"You want to give me a hand here?" she asked, holding today's issue of The Core. I nodded and walked around to squeeze myself next to her in her desk so we could look at it together.

"Let's see here... 'Police Reports', 'Wildcats Win First Game Of The Year', 'Animal Of The Month'. Aw, that's cute; Jenna the pit bull." Clare snickered as she flipped through the pages.

"The resemblance is uncanny," I muttered, my attention drawn to a completely different article on the opposite side. Clare was about to turn the page when I put my hand on hers, stopping her. "Look." I pointed to the article I'd been perusing.

JUSTICE FOR THREE FAMILIES, FITZGERALD SENTENCED

by Eric Peters

Two months ago today, a minor by the name of Mark Fitzgerald was turned into the Toronto Police Department for the triple homicide of Fiona Coyne, Declan Coyne, and Imogen Moreno. There were a total of seventeen witnesses to the crime, including the two males who turned Fitzgerald in.

Mark Fitzgerald plead not-guilty on all three counts of first-degree murder, claiming that the murders were committed by his fellow classmates, Clare Edwards, Elijah Goldsworthy, and Adam Torres. The three of them and the rest of the witnesses were questioned, evidence was collected, and only one story added up in the end. Seventeen year old Mark Fitzgerald was the one who killed the three teens in the tunnels under The New Dot. The jury in his case was quick to come to their decision of putting Fitzgerald behind bars for life.

In the aftermath of the horrible ordeal, Degrassi Community School has dedicated a memorial to the deceased in the Zen Garden, where it sits alongside the J.T Yorke memorial. The school, everyone involved, and families are slowly returning to normal.

I scoffed as I read the last line, but tried not to let the impersonality of the article get to me. Some writers just, for the lack of a better word, suck.

"...I don't want us to use this." Clare said shakily after she finished reading the article. I nodded, understanding completely. We were still both haunted by the memories of the cave, and writing an essay about how it affects our lives would not exactly assist in the 'recovery process'. Clare had even started therapy to try and remedy the nightmares that kept her up at night. I already had a therapist, so my schedule wasn't really affected.

"Jenna the pit bull it is," I joked lightly and Clare smiled a little. At that moment, the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. I stood up and held out my hand to her, "Coffee date at the Dot, my lady?"

She took my hand and I pulled her up. "Why yes, thank you."

Clare and I walked hand in hand out the front doors of Degrassi. I led her to the thing I'd been hiding since this morning.

"Um, what are those?" she asked when I pulled out my new keys.

"Keys, Clare." I stated obviously, enjoying the different emotions flash across her face as she connected the dots. Annoyance, suspicion, surprise, and finally excitement.

"Oh my gosh! This is yours!" she exclaimed happily.

I nodded and grinned proudly at my new baby. It's a black 1969 Chevrolet Camaro with a red stripe on the hood. "Meet Morty II, paid for him all by myself." I announced.

She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me chastely. "It's perfect for you, Eli! Bullfrog's letting you drive again?" she asked.

I walked around to open the passenger door for her as I answered, "Yup." She got in and I rushed over to get in the driver's seat. "My parents still feel guilty for not noticing I was gone for two days during the incident."

"Oh." she mouthed and I instantly cursed myself for bringing it up again. Life these days just seemed to revolve around that one weekend. I started the car and began driving to the Dot. "Sorry, I didn't mean to mention it again." I told her honestly.

"No, don't be sorry. I'm totally okay with talking about it now. We're never going to forget that it happened, so we shouldn't keep our thoughts about it bottled up. It's just, your parents are so great. My family didn't even blink an eye when I told them what happened."

God, I'm such an ass. "Ugh, I'm sorry Clare. It's their loss not giving such an amazing person the time of day. And just so you know, Cece and Bullfrog love you like their own child."

"Thanks Eli."

I smiled as I pulled into a parking spot by the Dot. The drive seemed much faster than usual, probably because I'd been without wheels for so long. "Of course. And you know I love you and will always listen to you." I assured her.

"As I love and will always listen to you." she replied, and we leaned in for a quick, but passionate kiss before hopping out of the car and racing to the Dot. I beat her there only so I could open the door for her. She grinned and I followed her to our usual table by the window.

"Be right back." I said and left her at the table to buy our drinks. By the time I got back, there was a group of kids standing around our table chatting animatedly with Clare. I snuck up behind one person in particular and was about to scare the hell out of him when he put up a hand and said, "Goldsworthy don't even think about it. Clare's expression just gave me all the warning I needed."

I rolled my eyes while the rest of them laughed. "One of these days, Torres." I took my seat across from Clare and greeted the other three kids standing around the table, "Hey niners."

"Sup dude."

"Hello Eli."

"Eli! Are you and Clare like on a date?"

I laughed. "Hey Zig, Maya, and Tori if you must know; yes. Clare and I are like on a date."

"And that is our cue to leave, unless you guys want to become fourth, fifth, and sixth wheels. I've already reserved the honorary roll as third." Adam joked.

"You can stay if you want." Clare said politely and I rolled my eyes.

"Girl code for 'Get the hell out of here'." I translated. Clare slapped my bicep as the three niners and Adam laughed.

"Okay, we can take a hint, Goldsworthy. I have to get Maya home anyways. Katie and Drew are expecting their vanilla lattes to arrive hot. See ya later."

We bid them farewell before turning our attention to our drinks and one another.

"It was nice seeing them again." Clare remarked. I nodded, taking a sip of my black coffee. The liquid singed my tongue, but it felt like a nice contrast to the cold weather outside.

"Clare, Eli?" another voice addressed us. I turned in my seat to see KC standing next our table. Geez did I pick the survivors cafe or what?

"Hey KC." we chorused.

"Hi. How are you two doing after...after everything?" he asked. I then realized that this was the first time Clare or I'd talked to him since finding out that his 'undying love for her' was more than just a ring tone. The cops were the ones who told us about this without him knowing when we went in for questioning. To say things were a bit weird between us all after that would be one hell of an understatement. I was appreciative for all KC did for us in the cave, but in reality I didn't want him anywhere near my girlfriend.

"Getting better," Clare admitted, "How about you?"

"Same here. Doc says I suffered enough shock to last a lifetime, but I'm slowly feeling more myself every day."

I threw in my two cents, "Glad to hear that, man."

He grinned and stood there awkwardly for a few seconds. "Uh yeah, so I'm going to go sit back down now..." he said and went over to sit at a booth with some football players.

Clare sighed. "Finally alone."

"Agreed." I leaned across the table at the same time she did and our lips connected. I could taste the vanilla frap on her mouth, and it was delicious. When we separated, I smirked at her and took a large swig of her drink. She narrowed her eyes and grabbed my coffee.

"Clare, careful it's-"

"OW!" she bellowed loudly after taking a large gulp. I didn't even care about the many stares we were getting, only that Clare was okay. "...hot. Are you alright? Here, drink this." I pushed her cold drink back at her. She sipped it tentatively and it seemed to soothe her pain because she smiled.

"Well, that was quite the outburst young miss." another person said. Somewhat annoyed, I turned to the voice. I raised an eyebrow at the stranger, "Uh do we know you?" The man had a thick mustache and hideous toupee and I resisted the urge to go stand protectively in front of Clare.

"I would think so, Elijahhh." he replied. I recognized the voice, but I just couldn't place it. Clare was the one to put it together. "Steve?" she whispered-shouted. I lit up, instantly knowing that it was him. After Adam and Sav turned Fitz in to the TPD, Steve Fitzgerald had had to move his home, and all of the 'eyewitnesses' pitched in to help him get back on his feet. He was a really cool guy, just with a bad reputation and drinking problem. Last I'd heard of him, he was sobering up for Tori and had a stable job.

"In the flesh, my dear. I see you and Elijah here haven't been wasting any time." he sniggered. Clare blushed and I answered for us.

"We certainly haven't. If there's one thing being in a life or death situation teaches you, it's that life is fragile and you should never sit around thinking 'what if'."

Steve looked impressed. "That's the spirit boy!"

"Yep. So what brings you to this fine establishment?" I asked. He shrugged, "This and that. The popo have been hot on my trail for awhile, and I needed some kind of normalcy. Figured a good ole cup of joe would do the trick. Oh yeah, speaking of the popo, have you guys heard anything on Mark's sentence?"

I looked at Clare and we both grimaced. How could we tell him that his nephew had been sentenced to life without parole? Steve chuckled at our speechlessness and said "I know that look...life without parole? What a bummer, the kid could have done great things."

Clare and I stayed silent, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with what he said. Sensing this, he added, "Neutral is a good color on you guys. Listen I gotta run, you kids stay in school. Maybe we'll meet again someday." With that said, Steve turned on his heel and fled The Dot.

"Okay then..." Clare said after awhile.

"Well I would say that we were alone again, but I'd probably jinx it and the power squad would come attack us."

She giggled and I smiled, relishing in the sound. "I'd fight them off for you." she assured.

"We'd just about fight off anyone, wouldn't we?" I laughed.

"Only because we're in love."

THE END

A link to Eli's car is on my profile. Bye now lovely readers!