Well folks, we're coming down to the end of the story. This is the final chapter before the epilogue, and then I'll be posting some author's notes after that. Again, no one get the idea that A.J. has resorted to violence, because she hasn't. But what she does in the chapter I felt was necessary, and also erases once and for all any lingering suspicions of Marysueness. May they all rot and burn in hell. Oh yeah: violence and language inside, just so you all are warned.

Disclaimer: Never have, never will. But A.J., the evil Orphan Train dudes, and the plot are all mine.

Silent as shadows, the boys dropped onto the roof of the warehouse. To the right, they could see the portable offices Donny had mentioned; to the left, a big empty lot. But this was no time for sight-seeing. They had work to do.

Swiftly, they crossed the roof and jumped off, landing in front of what they assumed was the entrance: two huge, wooden doors that were held together with a chain and a padlock. Leo turned to his brothers.

"Well, if anyone wants out, now's the time."

He said this more out of tradition than anything else, because there was no way any of them were turning back now. Raf and Mikey had already draw their respective weapons, and Donny was standing there with his Bo in one hand and a small explosive device in the other.

"And miss all the fun?" Mikey grinned. "No way, dude!"

"The rest of us love her as much as you do, Leo," said Donny evenly. "We're not backing out now."

"We're all in this together," said Raf, and he looked at Leo, who looked back, and smiled. "So let's fight together. As brothers."

"As brothers!" Mikey and Donny echoed, and Leo smiled.

"Looks like we're all in," he said, reaching behind his head and drawing his new swords. "So let's get 'em!"

"Yeah!"

"All right!"

"Out of the way, please!"

As his brothers moved back a couple of feet, Donny went up to the doors and stuck his explosive device to one of them. He pushed the buttons, then got out of the way, covering his face as it exploded to prevent splinters from stabbing him in the eyeballs. When it stopped raining wood, they took one last breath, tightened their grip on their weapons, and rushed into the warehouse.

It was empty. They could see all the way to the other side due to the large windows, and there was nothing inside.

"But…" Leo began.

"I don't understand," said Donny. "I thought…" he looked around at his brothers. "Didn't she say this was the place?"

Mikey just shrugged. Raf, on the other hand, was turning slowly around, looking at the view through the hole they had just blasted in the doors. Unknown to them, he was putting two and two together.

"Hey guys!" he said, stopping Leo from impaling one of the support beams with his swords in frustration. "This ain't where A.J.'s bein' held. It's the place next to us."

He pointed, and saw them all mentally kick themselves as they followed his blade. For once, he'd figured out something before Donny had.

"Of course!" Donny cried, kicking the floor with his heel. "The Orphan Train's HQ isn't an abandoned warehouse! It's the portables next to it! Raf, you're a genius!"

Coming from Donny, that was a huge compliment. Still, the red-banded turtle just shrugged and raised an eyeridge.

"You're the genius, bro. You just miss the details sometimes."

Leo and Mikey were a little slow on the uptake.

"What are you dudes talking about?"

"Yeah?"

"When A.J. said that she'd seen the drawing of a candle on the wall of a building, it wasn't the building she was being dragged out of, it was the one next to it. Because she had no idea where she was, and she was probably pretty weak and groggy at that that point, she didn't know any different. This explains why I could never find record of a purchase of this property, because there wasn't one! It also explains how they put the plumbing and stuff in without suspicion. No one would suspect renovation being done to a bunch of portable offices. It was right in front of me! I can't believe I didn't see it before!"

"Yeah, well you can remorse about it later," said Leo gently, but firmly. "But we've got a girl to save."

"Then what are we standin' around for? Let's go!" Raf yelled, and they sprang forward, heading for the dozen or so portables on the other lot.


A.J. literally felt her blood run cold as the face of the man who had nearly killed her came into view. She froze in her tracks, her breathlessness forgotten.

He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, and A.J.'s initial shock and fear began to turn to hatred. Here was the man who had made her afraid to have sex with Leo, something she was sure she would not have been afraid of if she hadn't been raped. It was this jerk-off in front of her that caused her to run from the only one she had ever loved, and was sure had ever loved her. The fear left her eyes, and was replaced with something she had never felt before.

Being a teenaged girl, she'd had her share of high school drama, betrayed friendships and hurt feelings, but she'd never felt such a desire for revenge as she did now. The will to make someone suffer as much as she had, to make him feel all the pain he had made her feel. She didn't care how she did it, she would get back at him.

Even if he had a gun in his hand, she realized as he pulled it out of his belt. Hopefully, she would enact her revenge before she got shot. She really hoped that the boys were on their way.

He advanced on her, pointing the gun at a level somewhere between her eyes. She backed up, but continued glaring at him, letting him know that she was not afraid. She couldn't be. She wasn't going to let them bully her this time. There were three of them and one of her, and she knew she was going to get seriously banged up, but at least she wouldn't cry, and she wouldn't go down without a fight.

"You were so very rude to us last time, to escape after we tried to do you a favor by ending your pathetic life. We won't be so kind, now. By the time we get finished with you, you'll wish you had died the first time!"

A.J. swallowed. She didn't like their tone, and Leo hadn't taught her anything to fight off more than one person.

The leader tucked the gun back into his belt, and reached up to slap her and knock her sideways like he had the last time, but when he brought his hand down, she blocked the blow with her arm. It hurt, and would probably leave a bruise, but at least it wasn't her face. He stared at her in surprise as she spat, "You broke me once. You won't do it again."

Her left hand was the one blocking his, and she popped him in the mouth with her right. He reeled backwards, stunned. She held up her fists, imagining that she cut a pretty funny figure, tiny and soaked as she was. She couldn't fight them all at once, but if they came at her separately like this, she could go all day, or at least until she came up with a better idea.

Or they shot her.

Whichever came first.

When the leader told his cronies to get her, only Weasel-man stepped forward. The other didn't look too keen to put his hands on her again, not after what she had done to him. She stopped Weasel-Man in his tracks by jamming the heel of her shoe into his foot. He squawked, and while he was distracted by her foot, she gave him an uppercut to the chin. Being short, this was easy for her.

She sent Weasel-man back to his place with the others, then stood up and surveyed the damage. The one she had flipped had a bloody goose-egg on his forehead, and his nose jutted out at an angle that she was sure meant it was broken, the leader's lower lip was beginning to swell up and puff out, and Weasel-man was gingerly trying to put weight on his foot. She smirked, proud of herself for having caused all this herself. A tiny, eighteen-year-old girl had just made three grown men look really, really stupid, but in that moment, when she'd let her guard down, her legs were kicked out from under her and she fell to the ground on her hands and knees. The leader kicked her hard in the ribs, and she felt the breath rush out of her lungs, but nothing was broken. He pulled the gun from his belt and she flinched, waiting for the bang that would end her life.

There was a bang, but it wasn't from the gun. An explosion shook the fragile building and caused them all to wobble, even A.J., whose weight was distributed a little more evenly than the others.

"What the hell was that?" said the leader, glaring at his associates. They just shrugged cluelessly.

"Fuck!" he yelled. "The goddamn cops are here!" He turned back to A.J., and she heard the click of the safety as he pointed the gun at her. She flinched again, but he didn't shoot her this time either, because the door was kicked in and a familiar figure with brown eyes and a blue mask burst into the room, holding two katanas in his hands.

"Trick or treat!" he yelled.

"Leo!" A.J. cried from the floor.

"A.J.!" he cried back. "You're alive!"

"You found me!"

"I promised I'd protect you. And a ninja never goes back on a promise."

In his surprise and fear, the leader, who had whirled around when Leo had come through the door, pulled the trigger and the blast from the gun made them all jump. Fortunately, in his haste to fire, he hadn't taken very good aim, and he missed any critical areas by a long shot. She saw Leo flinch slightly, and a line of red appeared along his arm just beneath his shoulder. She started to ask if he was all right, but at that moment, the fire sprinklers came on, drenching them all in seconds. An arm encircled her neck, dragging her roughly to her feet, and the leader pressed his gun to her head.

"Don't come any closer!" he warned the advancing Leo. "Or I'll kill the girl!"


After Donny's explosive had blown the door off the portables, Raf had slipped off one way, while his brothers had gone the other. No, he wasn't deserting them. His plan was to see if he could find A.J. before the others did, and apologize…for everything. For hurting her, for dissing his brother in front of her, and for not being able to protect her. Did he hope to win her over? Well, he couldn't deny that it would be nice, but he wouldn't do that to Leo. Not now. He still liked her, of course, but it was no good trying to take what had never been his to begin with.

He followed his ears to the sound of someone screaming down the hall. Maybe it was A.J., maybe it wasn't. He had to start somewhere. He found the door, which was closed, confirmed that the screams were coming from inside, and kicked it down.

He found a woman being raped, but it wasn't A.J. She was Oriental, not old, not young, not ugly, not pretty, but somewhere at a point between all four. He guessed she probably had a husband and two or three kids at home. She wasn't who he was looking for, but now that he was here, he couldn't just leave her. A woman was in trouble, and a ninja had to put the needs of others before his own.

"Hey! Scumbag!"

He raised his sai as the man on top of her yanked his pants up in a hurry and got to his feet, trembling.

"What in the hellfire?" he said, staring Raf up and down. Now that they were facing each other, Raf recognized him as one of the founders of the Orphan Train, one of the men A.J. had described.

At last, he thought. We meet.

"Get out," he said to the woman on the floor, who was frantically trying to squeeze back into her jeans. When she got up and headed for the door, Raf stopped her. "But don't go far. I wanna talk to you."

He was going to give her the same lecture they gave every time they had human witnesses: privacy is very important to us, please don't tell anyone we exist, especially the cops, etc. But right now, he had a score to settle.

The man was pulling a gun out of his pocket as the sprinklers came on to extinguish the fire Donny's bomb had caused. The water didn't bother Raf, though it might cause some vision problems for his human opponent. Which, in all fairness, was a good thing, because he was the one with the gun.

"You really think you scare me with that toy?" he mocked as the man held up the gun.

"Get away!"

"Too late for that, dude."

In that moment when he was imitating Mikey's way of speaking, he realized just how much his brothers meant to him. How could he have been so stupid before?"

He took a step forward, and the man took several steps backward, the hands clutching the gun shaking. His whole body was shaking. Raf smirked.

"Now you know how all your ladyfriends feel every time you walk up on 'em," he snarled, moving forward still. The man frowned and lowered the gun a little.

"What do you know about that?"

"Everythin'. And I'm here on account of one of 'em. A little redhead: you might remember her. She'd be about this high…" he held his hand just below his chest, "…green eyes, really pretty? Ring any bells?"

The man didn't answer him, but he didn't care. He was about done talking to this loser anyway.

"Yeah well, I ain't gonna ask ya why ya did it. I don't care. The point is that she's a real nice girl, and now she's got her whole life ahead of her. You messed her up, and that's a real shame. I just can't let a thing like that slide, so come on." He beckoned him with his blade, like he had done to Leo about an hour or so ago. "Let's see if you can beat me the way you beat her!"

In sheer panic, the man fired three shots in succession, all of which Raf dodged easily, because they all were within half an inch of each other. Coming out of a cartwheel, he sneered.

"Aww, come on. You think you're tough with that thing, don't 'cha?"

He fired again, and Raf dodged it again, this time striking back. Closing the distance between them in a single bound, he slashed the hand holding the gun to the bone with his sai, and as soon as the gun hit the ground, he kicked it out the door. With both blades at his throat, he drove the man across the room and slammed him into the opposite wall.

"You're gonna have to do better than that to get through me!"

He stepped back to give the man a chance to regroup. He wasn't just going to knock him out without a fight. That would just be too easy. Looking at him, he had to shake his head. This guy didn't look like the monsters who raped little girls on TV and in the movies. He looked old enough to probably have a good, steady career, a nice house somewhere, a wife. He didn't look old enough to have grown-up kids, yet old enough for a couple of kids nonetheless. Maybe he was a real family man, the kind of dad that his kids talked about to their classmates on People-You-Admire-Day. He shook his head again. Sure was hard, leading a double life.

The human pulled a long copper pipe from its place in the wall. Water spouted from where he tore it out and he faced Raf, holding it out in front of him with both hands like a sword. The turtle nodded.

"Good enough."

Again, out of panic, the man attacked him. This was fine for Raf; he could see what he knew, and how best to counteract. He was no Foot ninja, but it wouldn't do to overestimate.

But overestimating was out of the question. The man hardly knew what he was doing as he swung the pipe wildly left and right. Most of these immature attacks Raf just jumped out of the way for, but when he held up his own weapons to deflect one of the blows, the reverberations made from steel striking copper were too much, and he almost dropped the pipe. Raf, of course, was used to them, and they were no problem. He waited until the man had a firm grip on the pipe again, and this time, he went on the offense.

As the heat of the battle wore on, he felt the familiar bloodlust rise up within him, the one that always appeared when he was in a fight. It had always been very strong, but tonight, up on the roof of that club with Leo, and now, defending the honor of a woman he loved, it had never gripped him so fiercely. Everything veiled in red again, and he was barely conscious of his movements, fighting on autopilot. With his brother, he had managed to catch himself before he did anything really stupid, but this time, by the time he came to his senses, it was already too late.


"Drop my A.J., dirtbag," Leo growled, not stopping as he stepped forward again, purposefully making his feet sound heavier than they were. For once, he was glad to see fear in a man's eyes. "This is between you, and me."

The panic and terror in the leader's voice was so alien to A.J., who had always heard him mocking and cruel. The muzzle of the gun hurt as he ground it harder into her temple and screamed, "What are you?"

"Your worst nightmare."

He gulped, and turned to his two cronies.

"G-Get him!" his shrieked, and she saw the muscles in Leo's forearms bulge as he tightened his grip on his swords.

Whack!

The first one, the one she'd flipped over her head, went down immediately as he was cracked over the head by the end of a wooden stick. A second later, Weasel-man fell over has he too was knocked out, and Mikey and Donny melted out of the shadows on either side of her.

"Hey babe!" said Mikey brightly. Donny smacked the hand that was holding the gun to her head, then kicked it away. Mikey took her hand, saying, "Sorry we took so long. It was murder findin' this place!"

They pulled her out of the leader's arms and the three of them got behind Leo, no one wanting to get in his way. Alone, with no weapons, hostages, or backup, and facing an angry turtle armed with swords, he lost his nerve. He fell to his knees, blubbering.

"Please! Please don't kill me!"

Leo narrowed his eyes, and wondered how many women had cried those same words before he pulled the trigger and silenced them forever.

"You deserve it. And I'm sorely tempted."

The throbbing pain in his arm was driving him nuts, and wearing on his already thin patience. If this guy did one thing: one more thing to piss him off, he was going to lose it. At least A.J. was out of danger. And the blood of too many stained this place. He didn't need to spill any more.

"Now listen," he said, the voice coming out of his throat one even he didn't recognize. "And you'd better do exactly what I tell you, because I can make you sorry you were ever born."

And he could. But any threats made were not put into effect, because someone snapped, and it wasn't Leo, or even the leader.

Call it childish, foolish or selfish, but it was clear in her mind what she had to do. She only had to think once; her heart did the rest.

Did she mean to do it? Maybe, if she had hesitated, she would have changed her mind. But yes, she meant to do it. Did she worry about the consequences of her actions? Not really. Maybe she thought she could hide the evidence. Maybe she didn't think at all. But she definitely acted.

And did she regret what she'd done? Absolutely not.

A.J. pulled her hand out of Mikey's, this being very easy because her skin was wet and slippery. Mikey only had time to say, "Hey babe, where you goin'?" before her hands were on the gun, she was picking it up, and running to stand in front of Leo. He saw what was happening, and yelled her name, but she didn't hear him. Every fiber of her being was focused only on the man in front of her, and nothing else mattered. She gave him one last cold glare, and she pulled the trigger.

The leader, who had been getting slowly to his feet in preparation for whatever Leo was going to ask him to do, jerked and a hole appeared in his stomach. She fired again, and he stumbled backwards into the wall. She fired again, and again, and again until the cartridge clicked empty. The leader slumped down onto the floor, eyes flickering before they closed and his last breath escaped his lungs, sending his vile soul to face the judgment that awaited it. A.J. lowered her arms and raised her face to the ceiling, letting the water from the sprinklers fall on her, washing the deed from her mind, heart, body and soul. At last: salvation. He was gone. He was dead. He would never harm her again.

A smile began to curl the corners of her mouth.

Meanwhile, the boys looked at each other in shock. It had all happened so fast they were still trying to grasp it. One moment, A.J. had been safely out of danger and Leo had been menacing the sniveling cad; the next, five shots rang out and that sniveling cad was choking on his own blood and A.J. was holding the gun. Now she stood there, quiet and calm after the storm, her hands still on the weapon though it was no longer dangerous.

"Okaayy," said Mikey after a nervous and very uncomfortable pause. "Now what?"

Leo sheathed his swords. He wouldn't be needing them anymore. He was just as shocked as his brothers, but making a big deal about it would probably only make it worse.

"Let's tie these guys up," he said, gesturing to the unconscious men. "Then we'll go look for the fourth one, if he's here."

"What about A.J.?"

"Leave her. She needs her moment."

"Needs her moment? Leo, she's just killed someone! In cold blood!"

"What do you suggest we do, Donny? Yell at her? Scold her? It would do no good; the man's dead."

"But…"

"I don't expect you to understand," said A.J., turning around. "Nor do I expect you to forgive me."

"A.J.," Leo began, but she held up her hand.

"I have my own reasons for killing him, and it was my choice to do this. You can't blame me for that."

"No one's blaming you for anything," said Leo. "You did a very brave thing, and you deserve nothing but respect. I just didn't think you had it in you to take someone's life."

She managed a weak smile.

"I don't. But I didn't want him to take another innocent life again. I've done what I needed to do. I won't get in the way anymore, I promise."

"Well, that's a good thing, I guess," said Mikey nervously. A.J. gave a shy giggle, which sounded eerily flat in the still-awkward atmosphere.

"Come on," said Leo. "Let's go find that last dude. And maybe Raf too, while we're at it."

A.J. giggled again.

"I'll stay here and make sure they don't wake up." She pointed the gun to the unmoving forms. "They don't know it's not loaded."

This time, everyone laughed, beginning to warm the air again, but Raf's voice suddenly stopped them cold.

"You guys?"

They turned around, and saw their final brother standing in the doorway.

"You all right, Raf?" asked Donny. "You look a little weird."

In response, Raf held up his sai. Though the water had washed most of it off, they could still see blood dripping from the blades. Leo's eyes widened.

"Raf, what have you done?"

"I'm sorry Leo," he said, his voice hoarse. "I just…I don't know what happened…I did it for you…"

He looked at A.J., and she held up the gun that was still in her right hand.

"Join the club," she said, smiling softly. "Thanks, Raf."

He smiled, then his face fell again.

"Master Splinter's gonna kill me."

"Master Splinter doesn't have to know," said Leo, and everyone's head turned to him.

"What?" four voices echoed as one.

"Master Splinter doesn't need to know," Leo repeated. "We won't tell him, Raf. You can, when you're ready, but that doesn't have to be now." He looked at Donny and Mikey, a look of mock sincerity on his face. "You hear that, guys? No tattling on Raf. This is his responsibility so…" by this time he was starting to laugh again. "So stay out of it!"

All five of them began to laugh uncontrollably, unsure as to why. They only knew that they couldn't stop themselves, and they laughed until they had tears in their eyes.

"This is horrible," said A.J., gasping for breath. "Two of us have committed murder in the first degree, and here we are laughing our heads off. We're sick, guys."

"Well actually," said Donny. "You committed murder in the second degree, because it was a 'spur of the moment' thing for both of you. Unless you came in here expecting to kill somebody."

He looked from A.J. to Raf, and the room suddenly went quiet. A.J. shrugged.

"Well, what does it matter? They're dead, and no one knows about it but us. And I'm not gonna tell."

"Neither are we," said Raf, putting his sai back into his belt. "Are we, Fearless Leader?"

Leo shook his head.

"Nope. Now, let's get these guys tied up so they don't get away. A.J., we're going to need you to stay here and answer any questions the cops may have, whatever they may be. They'll have seen the smoke; they'll probably be here soon. Whatever you do, don't mention us."

"Yeah, cause we kinda like our privacy," said Mikey.

"And we really don't want the city to get the wrong idea and try to blame us for the crime," said Donny.

"Ooh yeah, that would be really bad," said A.J. "Well, since I'm the only one who knows about you, that makes it a lot easier. I'll just tell them that a specialized group of warriors clothed all in black saved us, killed the two that are already dead, and vanished into the night."

The boys looked at each other.

"That doesn't sound like the Foot Clan to me," said Mikey, and the others laughed except for A.J., who had a very confused look on her face.

"The who?" she asked, but Leo shook his head.

"Never mind. Old enemies of ours. They're pretty much eradicated now. Okay, stop fooling around and help me out here."

As he, Mikey and Donny began to bind the men together with a length of chain, Raf hung back to talk to A.J.

"Hey," he said to get her attention. She looked up.

"Yeah?"

"You know what he said to me? Back there on the roof, when I almost killed him? He said, 'Take care of her.' Even with his last breath, he was thinkin' of you. He really loves ya, and you were right. He does think about others first, and I was the one who was wrong. I, uh…" this was going to very hard to say, but he had do it. He had to come clean with everyone: Master Splinter, his brothers, now her. "I hope you can forgive me."

She smiled warmly, the glow returning to her eyes.

"Oh Raf, I was so wrong about you. I thought you hated me, just like you hated everyone else, but now I see that you really love them all, you just didn't want to admit it."

"Yeah, I was stupid, and I blamed Leo for everythin', but it was really all my fault. I realize that now. I've made a huge mess out of all this, and now I gotta try and fix it. I gotta fess up, and admit what I done wrong, so I'm gonna apologize to you. For everythin'. I'm sorry. I see now why you love him, and not me."

She scoffed.

"Just because Leo's my boyfriend doesn't mean I don't love you. I may not love you the way you would like me to, but at least let's be friends about it. Try and think of me as a sister, because you guys are my friends, but you're more like family to me now. I love you all as though you really were my brothers, and I'll still be around even if this thing between me and Leo doesn't work out. After all, your friends you can choose, but not your family."

"Oh boy, ain't that true." He took the hand that wasn't holding the gun in both of his. "Thanks for bringin' us back together."

She scoffed again.

"I did no such thing. That was all you guys."

"But you made me realize what an idiot I was bein'."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Hey Raf, we need to go."

"Comin'."

As Raf followed Mikey and Donny out of the room, Leo took A.J.'s hand in his.

"Are you okay?"

She smiled, her green eyes beginning to shine. As the sounds of sirens wailing in the distance became audible, Leo's heart skipped. He had so longed to see her smile again.

"I'll be fine," she said. "Here."

She gave him the pistol.

"Take it. I don't want it."

His hand closed around the gun before he knew what he was doing.

"Okay. Look us up as soon as you can. As soon as the cops let you go."

"I will. So…we're still friends?"

In reply, he pulled her to him and kissed her. The sprinklers finally shut off, and the sirens grew louder, but he noticed none of this. To have his A.J. back in his arms again, safe and sound, to be wrapped up in her kiss and not have her backing away in fear was all that mattered right now, the world outside be damned. She pulled away for only a moment, then flung her arms around him and kissed him again, so fiercely that he caught and lifted her up off the ground, swinging her around in circles. She clutched him tighter, laughing as she curled her neck around his, heartbeat to heartbeat. He finally set her down when Mikey's head appeared in the doorway and he yelled, "Leo, dude! We gotta go!"

He released her at last. Even with tendrils of hair stuck to her face from the water, pale and a murderess, she was his, and he loved her more than ever.

"See you soon."

"I'll call you. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything," she said, and her hand slipped out of his as he bounded out to join his brothers outside.


Crouching up on top of an office building, well out of the sight of the police, fire department, paramedics and news reporters that were now swarming the scene below, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michaelangelo observed the activity. Excluding A.J., about a dozen women and girls were removed from the vicinity, wet and shivering, so weak they had to be carried out by the firemen, bundled up in blankets. Most of them were crying, probably from happiness due to their rescue. They saw A.J. come out, the only one walking on her feet, heels clicking, a blanket around her shoulders. She was being escorted by a police officer. For a moment, Leo panicked because he thought she was being arrested, but then she sat down on the bumper of an ambulance, and he remembered that he had the gun in his hand. The officer only appeared to be asking her questions anyway, jotting things down on a notepad as her lips moved. She looked badly shaken, but her condition was the best out of all the victims.

After a while, he felt Raf put his hand on his shoulder.

"Come on. We've done all we can do."

Looking down at his beloved for a moment longer, he pondered at how close he had come to losing her again, then took off, leading his family back home.

So the good guys win and the bad guys lose, but the story still isn't over yet. There's a few more loose ends we've still got to tie up, so don't run away. If you have any questions, comments, queries, quibbles or complaints that you would like me to address in my author's notes, now would be a good time to start thinking about them. I would advise you not to PM me, because I've disabled that feature for certain reasons, so please submit them in a review and I'll get to them.

Also, I don't know if anyone has looked at my Love Poems yet, but if you have, could you PLEEEEEZZ submit a review? I worked really hard on it, and I even got it to rhyme! I really want to know what you guys think, and it would be great if I could get some feedback! Thanks!

This has been a really great experience for me, both as a writer and as a person, and I'd like to thank everyone who read, and especially those who reviewed. Special thanks go to Gothchick101 and VAwitch, who were with me from the beginning! I'm glad you all stuck by my story, and made this journey with me, though it's only just beginning!

Thank you all so very, very much!