A/N: This is it! The final chapter! Thank you to my always fantastic reviewers: angelicedg, rocknrollprincess131, mrsreedus69, WishfulThinker66, and lollipop2404. Hopefully, you all will be satisfied with this ending. Thanks again for your support! :)

Enjoy!

Rick watched the kiss play out before him. He happened to be passing by his living room window with a cup of coffee and caught sight of Amy and Steve wrapped up in a very intimate embrace. He hardly noticed that the hot mug was scalding his hand – the real burn was located in his chest. It looked like Steve was going somewhere, probably scouting or training new security for the Hilltop. Rick would be duped, imagining that he and Amy were an exclusive couple in a normal relationship, only to have Steve come back and fuck it up – more like fuck her.

Rick let out a quiet growl-like grunt and turned away. He loved Amy but he couldn't do this anymore. It hurt too much. He wanted her all for himself, but could see that her feelings for Steve ran deep, and the feeling was surely mutual, based on their behavior only moments before. This baby needed two parents – not three. He searched for an answer to that dilemma, but came up empty handed. For the sake of, well, all of them, this needed to end.

He had to let her go.

Amy returned home in a blur of tears. She'd taken her things from Steve's house. She supposed it wasn't even his anymore. Just the thought of him leaving made her sick to her stomach. It hadn't really sunken in yet. She was sad, though – that much was obvious. She tried to hide it as she crept into the house that she shared with her cousin. There was no sign of Lauren, and that brought her much relief, but it was short-lived.

"You're back early. Steve didn't want to feed you?" Lauren said from the bathroom doorway in a teasing manner that only family could get away with.

Amy didn't trust herself to talk. She merely shrugged and offered her cousin a shadow of a smile, trying to hide her tear-stained face. Unfortunately, Lauren was too observant.

"Woah, Cuz, are you okay?"

Whispering, Amy said, "Steve left. He moved to the Hilltop."

"He left? What about you? That man adores you! He seriously just up and left?" Lauren asked, her voice accusing and angry.

Amy nodded and shifted her defeated shoulders. She hated to make him look bad, but it was what he'd had asked of her, and her broken heart couldn't provide an alternate response.

Lauren crossed the hallway and they hugged. Amy sniffled, appreciating the act of comfort. Suddenly, a knock broke them apart.

"I'll get it," Lauren said. "Why don't you go and take a hot shower? Then we can figure out how to spend our day and cheer you up."

Amy attempted a smile and waited for moment to see who was at the door. Peeking around the corner, she saw that it was Rick. He looked incredibly handsome in his uniform, but upon closer inspection she noticed the dark circles under his eyes and lines of fatigue engraved into his face. She heard him ask for her, but Lauren told him to come back later.

Sighing, Amy stepped into the hallway and walked to the door. Rick began to smile when he saw her, but it faded when he took in her upset expression. Lauren made herself scarce as the couple stood a few feet apart from each other.

"We need to talk," Rick said, awkwardly resting his hands on his gun belt.

"Yeah, we do," she responded.

He rubbed his scratchy cheek and gestured with an upturned hand. "We've been through a lot together. You know how I feel about you, and I've loved every moment we've spent together…"

A sinking feeling gripped Amy's gut. Where the hell is he going with this?

"But what we're doing isn't natural." He glanced at her stomach. "This baby needs to be surrounded by a stable environment, and right now we don't have that. There's no way for us to prove who the actual father is…so I'm thinking that either one of us will have to be enough. I can see that Steve cares about you, and I know that you care about him."

"Rick, Steve's gone."

"Yeah, I saw you two this morning. When he gets back, I think you two need to carry on, and just forget about me. I can't do this anymore…"

Amy's head was spinning. Rick sounded like he was just spouting off whatever he needed to say to end their relationship, but his heart wasn't behind it – it couldn't be.

"Rick, please—"

"Amy, I have to do this. I've never been the type to concede, and it may not seem like it but I'm trying to do the right thing. Please, try to understand."

Amy shook her head and narrowed her eyes at him. "Rick, I—"

"Nothing you can say will change my mind. I've given this a lot of thought. It may sound ridiculous, but I'm doing this because—"

Before he could say anymore, Amy stepped over the threshold and grabbed his face between her hands. She slanted her mouth over his and kissed him with every ounce of love in her body. In that single kiss, she gave herself to him – body, mind and soul.

Pulling away, she whispered, "The baby's yours."

Rick pinned her with a glare. "Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying, Rick. Steve left. For good. He can't have children, which means…"

"You're carrying my child," he finished, sounding breathless, as if it just hit him.

Amy gave Rick an uplifting smile and then kissed him again. "I love you. I always have."

He released a shuddering gasp of air and she could feel him trembling beneath her hands. "I love you, too. I've wanted to say that for so long. Please forget about everything I just said. I was trying to do the honorable thing, and I couldn't stand not being the only man in your life."

"Well, you don't need to think about that anymore." Even though she was still saddened by Steve's absence, she said with confidence, "You're my man, Rick. You always will be. No matter what."

Later on, Rick held Amy as they lay in bed, his hand skimming over her low belly.

"I still can't believe it," he whispered into the darkness of his bedroom.

"I hope that's a good thing," she replied, and settled her hand over his, interlacing their fingers.

Rick let out a breath and smiled. "Absolutely. For the first time in a while, I'm excited about something. I wasn't sure about all of this at first – Alexandria – but now I have you and this baby. I'm a little afraid to say it, but I think we actually have a future here."

Amy mirrored his smile. "Me, too.

Hesitantly, he said, "I know you're still upset about Steve. I want you to know that I understand. You aren't going to move on from something like that overnight."

"It's hard to be sad when I have someone so wonderful that takes my breath away every single day," she replied, kissing his prickly cheek.

A playful gleam danced in Rick's baby blues as he studied her delicate features. Suddenly, he asked, "Does your cousin know you're here?"

Amy bit her lip. "She saw me kiss you on the porch. She said she had a hunch all along that we'd end up together."

Rick chuckled. "Are we that obvious?"

"Well, when you jump someone at work and barely have enough time to get dressed before someone else shows up, it tends to make people suspicious," she said, giggling.

"I'll have to keep you in my bed, then. How do you feel about handcuffs?" he asked with a wink.

And eight months later, when their son was born, Amy said to Rick, "Guess you're not the only man in my life anymore."

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'll be continuing to update deleted scenes for Solace, so watch for those! :)

~Ariel