A/N: This is the last chapter of the story. Thanks so much for reading it, and hopefully enjoying it. It's been a ride, and a good experience writing a different couple. I hope you leave a review and tell me what you thought. Thanks, and enjoy. :)

The elevator ride was long and lonely. The music playing softly in the background didn't help either, a lilting, happy tune not exactly mirroring her current mood. She felt horrible for what she had just done to John. She felt like scum, but what she had said had been the truth. She wasn't over Christian and she felt like she wasn't ever going to get over Christian, and if that was the case, why would she purposefully keep herself away from him?

She had no explanation for that and she wasn't going to find one soon. Sometimes life was strange like that. You find yourself continuously going back to someone who you love without fault. You know there are flaws, and you know that maybe it won't ever work out, but you also know that it could be the best thing to ever happen in your life. That's why you hold onto hope, that's why you cling to it when it might not ever show up again. Because if it does show up, if it comes back, you'll be there to welcome it with open arms. Maybe it was a foolish notion, but sometimes you had to believe in the foolish or fall into an abyss.

She walked back into the ballroom, her eyes scanning the floor for Christian. She needed him right now. She needed to feel him and see him and know that he was going to be there for her, right now, tomorrow, forever. She spotted him sitting at the head table alone, his chin in his hand and waiting. He definitely had that waiting look on his face and she smiled a little as she took him in. He was definitely a sight for sore eyes, and one she could look at all night, and hoped she would. He had isolated himself from everyone and she wondered if that was by coincidence or by design.

Either way, she made her way over to him and as if sensing her presence, he looked over at her and smiled. "Hey."

"Hey back," she said as she came to sit next to him. "You're all alone."

"Just thinking."

"Already want to give me back?" she joked, setting the tone as lighter than it had been a moment before.

"I think I'll keep you for a while," he told her with a smile. He took her hand in his and gently caressed her knuckles with his thumb, something she had always loved. "So…how did it go?"

"It went," was all she said. She sighed and looked out at the dance floor briefly before turning back and locking her gaze with Christian. "It wasn't great, but it had to be done I guess. I didn't want to string him along anymore."

Christian nodded, not really having anything to say about that, but there was one thing that he needed to know, just to be reassured, that was all. "Did you love him?"

"No," she said almost immediately, which surprised both Christian and her. She looked down. "I don't think I could, and that's not to say that you have some sort of power over me, I just think that I kept myself in reserve when it came to love. I needed time."

"Oh, makes sense," he said as they went back to being silent. Trish squeezed his hand and let him know silently that she loved him. He knew and let go of her hand to pull her chair closer to his as they sat there. She leaned forward so she could rest her elbows on the table. Christian situated himself in a way that let him kind of sit behind her as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"I missed you," she whispered, just letting him know again that he was definitely who she wanted and needed.

"Not half as much as I missed you," he whispered back, letting his words fall into the noisy air as they were content to sit there and just watch everyone, feeling like they were where they should be.

Trish looked out at the dance floor as she and Christian sat at the head table, a little bit away from everyone, but still close enough that they could watch the crowd slightly below them partying away. She let her eyes float from couple to couple as she rested her hand on tope of Christian's, lacing their fingers together. Each one was different, each one unique in their own way and yet, somehow, they had all made it here to this moment.

Edge and Lita had had an affair. It wasn't the best start. Matt had gotten injured, and somehow, Lita had fallen into Edge's arms. They had kept their romance a secret, but it had gotten out. Lita had been scared that Edge would leave her once they were exposed, but it had never happened. He had stayed with her, telling her that he had loved her all along, and that he had been hoping she would leave Matt of her own accord. She had been surprised by the confession, but ecstatic about how he felt. She had wanted him too, but was just afraid it wasn't what he wanted.

They were laughing now, Edge holding a beer in his left hand as he had his right hand over her shoulder. Lita was looking up at him adoringly as he chattered away about something Trish couldn't hear. Lita nodded eagerly and then leaned her head against his chest, as he kissed the top of her head softly. Sometimes you found something through something that everyone else thought was wrong. Sometimes life just worked out that way.

Hunter and Ashley had been something of an oxymoron for people. They were opposites for sure, but somehow, they balanced each other out in ways that people hadn't expected. She had introduced him to heavy metal music, and he had introduced her to golfing, which she thought she would hate, but ended up having a fun time with. There's was a sweet story though, when Ashley had broken her leg, Hunter had carried her to the ambulance and rode with her to the hospital simply because he was the only one who could carry her when she came backstage. There weren't any other wrestlers around and so it had fallen to him.

In the ambulance they had gotten to talking, and he had ended up staying with her the entire time she went through the x-rays and the cast getting put on. By the time she got her discharge papers, they had already set up a date for the next evening. The next evening they had set a date for the evening after that, and pretty soon all their evenings were filled with seeing each other. It had been a pleasant shock to them both and for everyone else as well, but it fit, they fit.

Hunter and Ashley were dancing in the middle of the dance floor, the disco ball above their heads making it look like stars were twinkling around them. She was leaning her chin against his shoulder, which she could reach thanks to her stiletto heels. She was smiling dreamily as the music swayed around her. Hunter was playing with her hair and just curling it around his finger gently as she closed her eyes in happiness. They were happy tonight and had a whole future ahead of them.

Trish's eyes then fell on Chris and Stephanie. Those two were a trip and so was their entire history. They had been married for three years, and they were still going strong, still very much in love with each other, which had surprised a lot of people. Stephanie and Chris had gotten married one week to the day after they started dating. They had hopped on a plane to Italy and had gotten married in a villa overlooking the Italian Riviera in Portofino. Nobody had known about it until they had come back with matching wedding bands on their fingers. Even though they had only been dating a week, somehow, once people got over the shock, it had made a lot of sense.

Three months later and she was pregnant with Devin. They had thought it a happy coincidence and she remembered when Stephanie had announced it by buying all of her friends shirts that said, "She's not fat, she's pregnant," on them. Stephanie had a matching shirt that said, "I'm the pregnant one," and Chris had gotten a shirt saying, "I did the knocking up." It was just how they were, completely nuts about each other and pretty much about everything else. It kept their marriage fun and exciting. Devin was just like them too, loud, boisterous, cocky to a fault, but the nicest person you could ever hope to meet.

Chris was holding Devin in his arms right now, swaying back and forth to the music, letting the boy fall asleep. The noise didn't bother him; he just wanted to be around his parents so he could go to sleep. Stephanie had her hand in Chris's pocket for some reason, standing close to him as she laid her head on his shoulder, probably getting a little tired herself from all the planning and being pregnant. Chris told her something, and she looked around the room and smiled, nodding in agreement of whatever he had said. She leaned up to kiss him gently and then press a kiss to Devin's cheek. Sometimes things worked out quickly when you didn't exactly expect them to.

She looked back to her own boyfriend, her Christian and she smiled. Things were new again, but still had that old familiarity to it. Paths changed, destinies were mixed up, fate was nothing that was solid. She just had now, and she just had him and she would take what she could get, like all of her friends. There was no set way, maybe she needed to lose him to gain him back. Maybe losing him had given him to her in ways that she hadn't imagined, maybe it made her stronger, more resilient. She didn't know, she just knew that just like all her friends had ways to get to each other, she and Christian had found their way to each other, and if it meant having her heart broken so be it. If it meant that she would be right here, right now with him, she'd take it all.

She thought back to John. He would find someone; she knew that he would find someone who was a million times better than she was. They weren't right for each other and she was glad they found out now before things got really serious between them. She would never have been able to give him her heart, because her heart was taken. But John had a lot to give to some lucky woman and he would, and things would work out. It was when you think that nothing will go your way when, in fact, everything starts to turn in your favor. Just like tonight; she thought she would be miserable, but instead, she had found her spot again. No more watching TNA to get a glimpse of Christian, a brief moment of respite from the darkness of the rest of her day. He was here with her now, and she didn't need to worry anymore, not about whether her heart would heal, because she finally, finally had her heart back. It was such a refreshing feeling. She sighed happily and leaned back against Christian and sighed contentedly.

"What're you thinking?" he asked her.

"How nice it is to feel alive again."

THE END