Chapter 23- "Another day, another confession"

Oliver's POV

I woke up to the sun stinging my eyes and burning my face, my neck turned in an awkward position and half of my body hanging off the bed, with the knowledge that my son had passed away. And yet, aside from the last mentioned setback, I knew my life was making a 180 degree turn in the right direction. I looked to my left and saw Miley's sleeping figure next to me, as beautiful as ever with the sun radiating off of her like an angel. I looked to my right and saw our beautiful baby girl being dressed by the nurse, perfectly healthy and ready to go home. I looked to the future and I saw our life together. I smiled, knowing that after getting through these past eight months, there's nothing stopping us. Miley and I have changed, becoming parents, sure, but we're the same two people in love and ready to open the doors of the world to our daughter, starting with the front door of my house, where we stood at this moment.

My parents insisted on Miley moving back in with us, which was only fair so that we could share the responsibilities that came with Mollie. Miley moved back into my room, and we agreed to share my big bed (our parents didn't care, since we already had a baby) so that there would be room for Mollie's bassinette with the cot gone. My parents offered to baby-sit at any time, if Miley and I want to go out and be teenagers for a day. And Mollie's new uncle, my little brother, is very excited having a baby in the house. When he gets older, we'll let him baby-sit too. For now, we just want to watch our baby grow, so proud of her for making it this far.

We walked upstairs to my room, which my parents had prepared for us while we were in the hospital- I never left Miley's side, and she never left Mollie. Miley put our sleeping baby girl into her bassinette and I wrapped my arms around her waist as we stood watching her sleep. It's so amazing to think that we created this tiny innocent person and we have all the power in the world to shape her into a wonderful adult some day.

Miley smiled and pulled me in for a kiss. When we broke apart, she spoke, "Thank you for giving me such a perfect gift, Ollie."

"Right back at you. I can't even begin to picture the memories we're sure to create with her in the future, but I know that they'll be even better with you by my side."

"Aww, what happened to my doughnut best friend?" She smirked.

"He's a father now." I smiled, "But, not to worry, I don't plan on fully growing up any time soon."

"Good. Because I'd miss you too much." She answered, kissing me again.

Lilly's POV

I couldn't sleep at all last night, and in fact I haven't been able to all week. I couldn't get Jackson out of my head, and this time I didn't want to. I like having him there, even though I can't have him for real. But then again, I think, why not? He's put out all the signals that he likes me too. He even practically offered to have a baby with me some day! That can't mean nothing.

In fact, I'm going to make a move! I run out into the hall and see Jackson coming out of his room at the same time.

"Hey Lilly! I was just about to head down to the beach. Want to come?"

"Sure! Let me just quickly change." I answered. The beach is the perfect place to tell him how I feel. But if he says no, I might hate the beach. Oh, who am I kidding? He's not going to say no, and even if he did, I could never hate the beach.

I quickly change into my bright blue bikini with a brown hibiscus flower print and got out a cover-up dress I had borrowed from Miley when it didn't fit her pregnant body plus a pair of flip flops. I brushed my hair really fast and applied a swipe of lip-gloss before running out the door to my room and grabbing Jackson's hand, yanking him to the closet where we got out towels and sunscreen, placing them in a bag. Then, I took his hand and ran for the door, collecting my cell and keys on the way out.

Laughing, we raced to the beach. I won, but that could partially be because I made him carry everything. We collapsed in the sand, exhausted from our twenty-block run to our favorite and secluded spot on the beach.

When we caught our breath, Jackson stood up unexpectedly, and lifted me bridal style, carrying me down to the ocean. I realized where this was going, so I somehow managed to take off my cover-up dress and throw it in the sand on the way down so it wouldn't get wet. As soon as it was out of my hands, Jackson took off sprinting to the water and threw me in.

I swam to the surface. "Jackson Stewart, you're going to get it, now!" I yelled, chasing him and shoving him into the ocean after he removed his shirt.

We played in the water, dunking each other, racing, and splashing for about an hour before we looked as shriveled up as grandmas' wrinkles and had to get out. We lay side by side on our towels, staring up into the sky and talking about the different shapes in the clouds.

"Whoa! Look at that one! It's so cool! It looks like it's shaped like a heart. There's nothing as beautiful down here as there is up in the sky, except maybe the beach."

"And you." Jackson whispered. I turned to him and smiled, which he returned.

Before we knew it, the sun was setting. We sat up and Jackson wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him.

"Let's count it down. My mom and I always used to do this." I told him.

"Five. Four. Three. Two…" He started, but I never let him get to one.

I wanted to tell him everything I've been feeling over the course of the past eight months. From the beginnings of our friendship, to him moving into my house, to sharing a bathroom, to our shower incident, to the accidental kiss on the beach, to all the times that we've comforted each other, to the fun times we've shared- everything that we've gone through together that have ensured me to believing that I love him. But, I didn't know how. So, I did the best thing I could think of. I kissed him. I tried to pour everything I was feeling from this moment and over the course of time that I've known him into the kiss. He lifted his arms to hold my waist, while mine went around his neck. I don't know how long we kissed for, but eventually it ended. I looked into his eyes, and as he gazed back, I knew he knew how I felt about him and I know he feels the same.

Jackson went back to holding his arm around my shoulders as we stared off over the water, admiring the beautiful colors in the sky and painting this moment into our memories to keep forever.

When it started getting dark, we collected our things, I put on my dress, Jackson put on his shirt, and we skipped hand-in-hand back to our house.

For the first time since Mr. Stewart passed, I felt that both of his kids were in the right place with the right people, about to embark on the happiest journeys of their lives- love.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­AN: Ahh! Everyone I know from online ditched me for school today!! I can hear you all gasping in shock and dismay. ;) So anyways, thanks to my loneliness as they're gone and I'm trying to do the summer homework I've been assigned and had all summer to do and saved to the last minute...I decided to let you all review this to make my day :D

Anyways, this is the end. Well, there'll be an epilogue, but it's the end of this story. No sequel. I'll post one-shots during the school year and write a new chapter story if I can, whenever...but, I'm going to write the whole thing before I post it so that I won't make the same mistake I did with this one. Hope you liked the ending, even if it's a bit cliche and happy. I kinda decided that I hate happy endings after watching a couple of movies this past year, so I'm going to write a story without a happy ending some time soon...

Hmm, I want to make the ending fun, so let's play a game. The first person to tell me who said this quote gets to have her (or maybe his...) name in the epilogue. "Drinking and driving is one thing, but drinking and shopping..." So go ahead- review. XD