Wow, this is the last chapter! (There is an epilogue that I'm posting right after this one, so please make sure you read it!) I'm so grateful to all my readers/reviewers and I'd love to know what you guys think of the story now that it's all finished! Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone. Thanks for sticking it out till the end. (and yes, this chapter is named after the Beatles song from Abbey Road)

...

After a hearty breakfast, the Forman family seemed to continue their day to day activities as though nothing had happened. Steven and Eric went down to the basement, where Eric tried to stall his impending conversation with Donna. He watched an hour of TV, went up to his room, considered cleaning it (anything to avoid his actual obligations), and then showered and changed for the second time that morning. He even considered asking his parents if they needed help with anything, though he knew they didn't; Kitty cleaned the house the day before, and Red was at work. He went back down to the basement, but Hyde was not in the mood for his trepidation.

"Forman, just go talk to her if it's so important. You're making me paranoid with all your pacing."

"What do I say to her?" Eric stressed.

"I don't know, man, just grow a pair and do it."

Steven was right. There couldn't be any more delaying. But before Eric went to the Pinciotti house, he had to make a call.

Up in the kitchen, the teen dialed the number he needed. It only rang once before Valerie's voice could be heard.

"Hello?"

"Hi Valerie"

"Eric! Did you talk things over with Donna yet?"

She never missed a beat, did she?

"Well, actually that's why I called. I'm about to go over and talk to her."

"Great. One second, let me get Joy on the phone."

Eric's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "She's not at work?"

"She had the day off. We're watching the store while Ritch and Aaron make some new album deliveries- to that club we took you to that first night?"

"Oh," was all Eric could say before he heard Joy's voice on the line. "Hey, Joy."

"Hey yourself," she said, and the teen smiled into the phone. He had the two people he trusted most in the world (when it came to relationship advice) on the phone. With the girls in his corner, Eric would be prepared to face Donna.

"So, have you seen her at all since you got back?"

"A few times, but never alone, and we never really talked."

"What makes you feel you need to talk to her?" Valerie asked.

"You were the one who told me I needed closure!" he exclaimed.

"No, I know, I mean what in particular needs to be said to Donna. How did you two leave things last time you saw her?"

Eric huffed. They'd already heard the full story, why did he have to tell them again?

"It was awkward, you know that."

"Yes, but why was it awkward?"

"Because she wanted to get back together with me?"

"Good. And you didn't want that. Now, do you think she still wants to get back together with you?"

"I don't know."

"Let's assume she does," Joy advised. "Would you want to get back together with her?"

"No….?"

"Ok. Then if she asks, you have your first answer," Joy said matter-of-factly.

"That's right," Valerie agreed. "You know why you said no. We talked about this. Just be kind, but be honest with her. You told us Donna's smart, so she'll want the truth."

"Ok. What else do I say?"

"Your relationship ended badly, and you've been unresolved since," Joy reminded him. "You need to talk about why you two broke up, apologize to each other, and work through it. Don't yell…not that you're one to yell anyway, but if you get upset, you have got to keep your cool. Otherwise you'll just say something upsetting."

Recalling the previous days' outburst, Eric nodded to the empty room. "Good idea."

"Remember all those things you told us about not wanting to crawl back to her only to have her leave you for college? And how you understand her better now?" Valerie asked. "She needs to hear those things."

"But just because you understand her doesn't mean you should get back together," Joy counseled. "If anything, it's now a matter of her understanding you. You've been through so much, Eric, and you've done some pretty spectacular things. Donna might dream of going out into the world, but you did. And for reasons very different than hers."

Eric's pulse picked up a tad bit. This was the most inspirational advice he'd ever heard when it came to his and Donna's relationship. He was still terrified, yes, but now he had an idea of what to say. Donna wasn't his parents, she was his ex-girlfriend. And somehow, because of that, she needed the truth even more than Red and Kitty had.

"You're right."

Hearing the finality in his voice, Joy and Valerie looked up from the phone they were sharing and smiled at each other, knowing they got through to him.

"You ready to face the music?" Joy asked softly.

"No."

Valerie snorted. "Close enough. Go make nice with your ex. I know you still care about her, Eric. You might not be meant for each other, but you definitely are meant to be friends."

With that, the girls said goodbye. Hanging up the phone, Eric paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, then strode out the door.

...

He rode this confident high right out the door and up the Pinciotti driveway. Eric was even able to knock on the front door without fear, but froze in terror when the handle turned and the door was pulled open to reveal his ex-girlfriend.

Donna was, for her part, genuinely surprised to see Eric. They hadn't talked much since he'd gotten back from Chicago, and the redhead had assumed that he was willing to continue their awkward encounters if it meant staying friends, as she was. However, Donna was desperate to get her many conflicting thoughts out in the open, knowing they'd have to eventually discuss the events of the past few months, and the past year. Even if they hadn't ever dated, and weren't struggling with resolving a broken relationship, Donna would want to talk things over with Eric. He was her closest friend and confidant, romance aside; he had been since they were children. Even if it meant hurt feelings and heartbreak, they couldn't just awkwardly fade out of each other's lives.

Plus, as she regarded the young man in front of her, Donna's heart fluttered. Eric looked so grown up, handsome even. But he also looked skinny, tired, and young, not to mention visibly terrified to find himself on her porch.

"Hey," he said awkwardly. God, was he going to blink?

"Hey," she responded. Would her freaking heart stop pounding?

"Can I…can I talk to you?" he asked, the words coming out stilted.

"Sure," she nodded, eyes open a little wider than usual, the way they were whenever she had to talk seriously with the young Forman.

The two of them had to find an appropriate place before anything could really be said; Bob was in the Pinciotti house, Hyde was in the Forman residence, and both driveways were a little too open for such a personal event. The teens ended up behind the Forman garage, safe from onlooker or passerby.

"What do you want to talk about?" Donna began, even though she had a pretty good idea of what was on his mind.

"I…" Eric said, but trailed off. Valerie and Joy hadn't told him how to get this conversation started, and he was lost. "You look great...I haven't really gotten to talk to you in a while..."

Why was it so hard to talk to her? What was it about her that was holding him back?

"Thanks. You look great too," she said. When he didn't respond right away, she decided to start them off, despite being equally nervous as he was. "Chicago looks good on you."

"Oh, thanks," he said, looking down at himself and absently running a hand through his hair. Unbeknownst to him, it was the most attractive thing he'd ever done. "It's not too much different. My hair's just a little longer…my clothes fit better."

"Were Red and Kitty pissed?"

"About the hair? You don't even want to know-"

"Actually, I meant about Chicago," Donna interrupted gently. "They were worried sick about you."

"Were you?" he asked curiously.

She was taken off guard, but decided to be completely honest with him. "Well, yeah. Of course I was." When he didn't respond again, she asked, "Why did you leave?"

Part of her wanted to know the truth, though she was terrified that the truth would be that he'd left because of her.

"I…there were a lot of reasons," he said. Since he wasn't being completely open, she asked the dreaded question.

"Was it because of what happened in your basement?"

Eric was glad that she'd brought that up. He didn't know how to, but they needed to talk it out.

"It was part of it," he said, watching Donna's face fall. "But not like you think. It just made me think about us, and about me, and I kinda realized what my problem was…And I just had to figure it all out."

He paused but Donna nodded slightly and he continued.

"That's the main reason why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to say…that I'm sorry."

Her eyes widened further in surprise.

"I was stupid and harsh when I turned you down. And proud. I really shouldn't have acted like that."

"No, no, you were right," Donna assured him. "I mean, I sorta jumped on you right after Casey dumped me. I would have done the same thing."

Eric nodded, grateful that she understood. "I didn't want to hurt you when I said it, I…I really care about you, Donna."

"So, what, does that mean we might get back together?" Donna asked. There was a glimmer of hope in her eyes, though she was intensely focused on keeping her demeanor casual.

"That's actually the other reason I wanted to talk to you," he said, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. "I kept thinking about why we broke up. I screwed it up that time too. But I still agree with my reasons. And I don't think we should get back together."

Donna eyes welled with tears, and she could see that this was hurting him too, but if he could be mature about this, so would she.

"Remember how you said that if we were meant to be together, then we'd be together?" he began, and she nodded.

"You said that we'd be together if we committed to it and then stayed together," she added, and he nodded back.

"Well it turns out that we were both right," Eric said, and the redhead could tell from his faint smile that he'd learned this from someone else. "And I wanted to say sorry for that, too."

This time his apology thoroughly confused her, so she waited for him to continue.

"I gave you that promise ring because we'd been fighting, and I was scared that we might break up, so I wanted to sorta set it in stone that we'd be together forever. And you didn't want that…which is why you wore the ring around your neck, right? Because you wanna go out and see the world, and be your own person….I didn't get that. I do now. I'm really sorry."

It was as if he'd hugged her: warmth spread throughout her body. Donna, despite the hurt this was bringing, felt oddly happy at this belated understanding.

"But…?" she prodded, seeing by his expression that there was more.

"But I still can't wait around if you might not come back. Because I know you're gonna go out in the world- and you're gonna love it Donna. Trust me. I did, and I almost didn't come back."

This small revelation actually came as a shock to the young woman, but there was still more, so she let him continue.

"After high school, we're both gonna go to school, and I can't wait for you, and you can't wait for me. I wouldn't want you to. I'll probably come back to Point Place one day, but who knows when that will be? We might do this all together, but…as a really wise person recently told me, we're really different, and we want different things."

Eric looked at the young woman he'd been so in love with for his entire life and suddenly realized exactly why he had been so afraid to talk to her. This was an enormous bridge to burn, and even if they one day rebuilt it, it wouldn't be exactly the same. Hell, even if they ended up married some time in the future, and things were better than they'd ever been, it would be different. There was no coming back from this- even Chicago he could come back home from.

Donna nodded, happy to finally be getting this out, but it was hard to ignore the annoyance building in her chest. After all of the jealousy and pain, Eric leaves for three months, comes back and preaches to her about why they didn't work?

"I saw some incredible relationships in Chicago…and all the good ones took work, and commitment, like I thought before. But they were so easy. Not like how we were."

"Well Eric, you're the one who was always getting jealous!" Donna said in exasperation. "Weeks of trying to sabotage my relationship with Casey, and then you're the one who leaves to start over? It doesn't matter what a jerk he was- you broke up with me, you broke me and Casey up, and now you're telling me why we're not gonna be together?"

The young Forman blanked. She was right, he was being sort of unfair. If this conversation was going to end smoothly, he had to regroup. Calling to mind his phone call with Joy and Val made Eric remember something he'd once said in the record store.

Uncharacteristically, he put his pride aside. He'd come to make peace with Donna, not to fight.

"You're right," he said. "I'm sorry."

Donna paused, once again surprised.

"I just want to keep being friends with you, Donna. I love you. Not the same way, but definitely as a friend. I don't want to lose that. I'm an idiot- I'm just trying to explain why I broke up with you and why I think we shouldn't get back together now. Before I kept thinking that our whole relationship was a waste if we weren't gonna end up together forever, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm just trying to find a way to move on from it but still keep us friends. You were right, if it's meant to be, we'll get back together one day. Just not now, because I know neither of us are ready- mostly because we both want to get out of here eventually."

Eric fell silent, satisfied after that spiel. At least today he seemed to be able to share his thoughts with others without hurting their feelings. He was still awkward about it, but the truth was, in this case, better than silence.

Donna was regarding him cautiously, and Eric worried that his big jumble of thoughts hadn't been as articulate as he'd thought. In reality, Donna was simply trying to put her own thoughts together while attempting to understand this uncharacteristic monologue Eric had laid at her feet. But she could tell that the "uncharacteristic-ness" of this little speech had made it especially painful for him to share.

Eric was beginning to panic at Donna's silence, so he stumbled on.

"Donna, if none of that made sense, or if you don't want to ever see me again, I'll understand. Just tell me and I'll leave you alone."

A tear escaped the corner of her eye, and the young woman laughed a little as she wiped it away. "No, I just…"

A couple more tears escaped, and Eric reached out for her, drawing her into a hug. This was much like what had happened with Kitty only a couple hours before, but it was more painful for the teens.

"I want to be friends too," Donna said, burying her face in his shoulder. It was true. She loved him too, and while the past year had slowly undone the bundle of feelings she had for him, there was a part of her that hoped they would eventually end up together. But in the meantime, she liked this new arrangement very much. There was no point in outlining her thoughts for him now, as he'd covered all of the bases with his speech.

They stood there for what felt like ages. Donna cried a little, though it never escalated to sobs, and Eric hugged her to him, wishing he could go back and smack his former self for causing them both so much trouble, even a year later.

Donna pulled away and smiled slightly through her red-rimmed eyes. "We're gonna have to set new ground rules."

"Then can we start over? Like really start over?" Eric asked hopefully.

"No jealousy, just friends, and we'll see where it goes from there?" she proposed.

"Deal."

With a final squeeze, Donna gave him a peck on the cheek, and he smiled.

"Fine, so if we're friends again, you have to tell me everything that happened in Chicago," she said eagerly, putting her feelings for him away.

Deciding she didn't have to hear some of the more…drug or sex-related details, Eric otherwise launched into his story, starting from the moment they parted in the basement.

...

That evening found Eric up on the hood of the Vista Cruiser, alone, staring up at the stars thoughtfully. That was one good thing about small towns: you can see the stars. In Chicago you couldn't see anything in the night sky, except for the tops of the tallest buildings. He wasn't paying attention to the stars, however. He was overturning the day's events in his head.

He and Donna had talked for hours, and while it was at times awkward, he was sure they would iron out the bumps in their reformed relationship. He had forgotten how much he liked being friends with Donna. Eric wasn't worried about how their relationship would play out- maybe one day they would get back together, when they had both changed and matured in complimenting ways. But the odds were, they would not. The teens were far too different to be romantically compatible for any length of time.

That idea didn't bother him too much, though at one time it might have torn him apart. He could still be friends with the redhead, which seemed to satisfy the fact that he did care about her. Eric could never stop caring about her- they'd grown up together! They were best friends. Donna was smart, funny, independent…she was a woman of her time.

Eric sighed. Even though he'd cleared the air with his parents and his friends, he was feeling tired and depressed. He missed Chicago, the record store, and most of all, he missed his friends. Aaron would immediately know how to make him feel better- Joy and Val would each give him a small hug and then tell him that he did the right thing. Ritch would produce a beer out of seemingly nowhere, and then let him talk it out until he felt better.

Even though he preferred the summer, Eric suddenly could not wait for the school year to start. His classes would give him something to do, and the sooner the year started, the sooner the year would end, and he could go back to his world outside of this place...The stars sure were nice, though...When he thought about it, Eric realized he wasn't too depressed at all. Eager for the things that awaited him in the future, but happy to be in Point Place. Now that he had his life and relationships somewhat figured out, this tiny little town was comforting, like coming home to your own bed after a long trip (which was, in this case, both figurative and literal).

Rolling off the hood of the car, Eric straightened and strode into the kitchen, where his mother was busy preparing dinner. She looked up when he entered, and was clearly about to say, "Hi, honey-" when he cut her off with a hug. Kitty took the embrace in surprise, but also delight, and she buried her face in his shoulder for a long minute before patting his cheek and returning to her cooking.

Eric kept moving up to his bedroom, where his little stack of polaroids sat waiting for him. The teen picked up the pictures and flipped through them fondly, studying each one and remembering the exact moment they were taken. He hadn't even known that Joy carried her camera with her so often- a lot of these snapshots were candids, which somehow made them better….They were so much more honest and true to life.

Yanking open a drawer and retrieving a roll of tape, the young Forman began to put his ten favorites on the wall behind his bed, where he could see them always.

Looking at the captured moments of his adventures made him smile. He felt a little better, but he still had one more thing to do that day.

Grabbing his cherished list of addresses and phone numbers, Eric jogged back downstairs and to the living room phone. He quickly put the call through to Chicago and prayed that someone would pick up.

"Hello?" a masculine voice answered.

"Hey, Ritch."

"Eric!" the older man called out. "Hey, man, what's up? You've got great timing, everyone's here."

Eric smiled, leaning against the wall, settling in for a long conversation with some of his favorite people in the world.

"Hey, before everyone gets on the line, can I talk to Valerie and Joy real quick? I have to thank them for some advice they gave me."

...

The End