Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues.

Oh, and I just wanted to mention Amy's name here. In the last chapter, Alice called her Amy Juliet Hermia Cahill. Points to those who got the Shakespearic reference; I thought it'd be kind of poetic if Amy's mother named her after two of Shakespeare's most famous female leads. And if you want to imagine, you could say Ian is named Ian Romeo Lysander Kabra :)

Once again, I found myself in my room at the Kabras' mansion.

Once again, I was reading.

Once again, I wasn't really thinking about what I was reading.

Once again, I was rudely interrupted by the door opening widely.

Once again, it was Natalie Kabra.

But this time, she closed the door shut and sat down next to me. She sighed after 2 seconds and looked at me sympathetically- well, as sympathetic as you can look for a Kabra.

"You've really got it bad for my brother, don't you?" she more or less stated.

I didn't even try to deny it or anything. "You could say that," I said.

Then she looked at me straight in the eye. I blinked. "Natalie, are you-

She had that evil look on her face, the one that you get when you're playing matchmaker for someone.

"Amy, did you hear about the ball that's coming up tonight? The after show ball from yesterday's concert?"

Yes, I had heard about it. And I wasn't planning on going. The theme was-

"Summer Nights. Oh, perfect, I know just what to do-

Summer freaking Nights. It was December. Who in their right mind would even think of suggesting a theme like that? It was like Christmas in July- it just didn't work.

"Natalie, what are you getting at?" I asked, exasperated.

"Ian's going," she said simply. I slowly put the facts together.

"Ian's- no. Don't you even dare. I'm not going. You can't make me!" I know I sounded like a 5 year old. But at that point, I didn't even care.

"Oh, yes you are, Amy Cahill. You're staying at my place and I haven't pranked your bedroom once, not even the feather prank; the least you can do is to go to the freaking ball!"

I glared at her. "So prank me. I don't care. Just leave me alone." That was better. I sounded like a hormonal teenager- what an upgrade.

Natalie glared back. "You're going to go. Consider it…repayment."

I scoffed. "For what? The time you held a gun to my brother's neck? Or the time you locked us in a cave in Korea? Face it, Natalie. Ian hasn't talked to me. Why would he chose a ball to pronounce his true love to me? Why are you even helping me? Because you're stupid brother told you to?"

Natalie went silent, then spoke quietly. "Amy, I'm not doing this because Ian told me to. I'm doing this because I think that you two have a chance together. If there's anything we need right now, its a little love. And I think both of you earned some."

I sat there, listening, trying to make sure I was really hearing every word she spoke, digesting it. Then she spoke again, with more force.

"So you can take this chance, and risk it, or you could sit at home and think about what a big mistake you've made for the rest of your life. And when you're future children ask you about love, you can just say you walking away from it and-

"Okay, okay, I'll go!"

Natalie smiled sweetly, but behind the façade of sweet evil hid something else. Hope? Happiness?

"Time to get ready then, Amy."

I think not.

"So make up first," she said. She opened a door and we entered a room bigger than the room I was staying at.

Natalie sat me down in a chair and brought over about 50 cases of whoknowswhat. Then she took out a brush and started attacking my face.

Imagine this:

"La de da de da…oh, no, don't touch that! La, la hero, bad guy, and me…no, no hands down! Hmm, hm, loves me or not, ohh, oh, oh- NO! WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT YOUR HANDS? AWAY FROM THE FACE! I WILL GET THIS RIGHT IF IT'S THE LAST THING I- DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

Now replay that about 800 times in your head for 3 hours.

After she finished my face, she started me hair- though she wouldn't let me see anything at all.

"Natalie, it's not like my wedding day or anything…Natalie, that- ouch! That's freaking painful! Who even taught you- is that a spoon?"

No, it was not a spoon, but I didn't like it either way.

Finally, she finished my hair and it was time to pick a dress. We walked into a room even bigger than the last, though it was completely filled with clothes.

She scourged the closet disdainfully. "No, nothing in here…I suppose…she's just a girl, but…oh, blast. Amy, follow me."

Natalie strode over to a random section of the closet and yanked a shirt off of a hanger. It was sparkly and glittery and said "Hannah Montana". I gave Natalie a look, and she blushed.

"She…er, she wasn't half bad when I was younger, you know," she said awkwardly.

Anyways, after she yanked off the shirt, she pulled the hanger and out came a lock. She pressed her thumb against it and it clicked open. "Old technology," she said offhandedly, as though she were talking about her cat Amelia. "So ten years ago."

As soon as she said that, a great, tall door appeared out of nowhere (?) and swung open automatically.

The room we entered was small for Natalie standards, and completely filled with dresses.

"So tonight," Natalie said, "You don't want to look sweet and innocent. You want to look hot."

The first dress I tried on was black and made of leather. It fit so well I couldn't breathe.

The next dress I tried was purple and long and elegant. "Too…classic," said Natalie.

The third dress was a short, hot pink number. "Too informal."

A blue wraparound. "Too boring."

A gold lamé halter. "Too flashy."

Then I tried on a pure white, simple dress. It came just above my knee, and had a sweet heart neckline. Tank-top style. It looked like it was made of silk, or satin, or some soft fabric that looked and felt nice. The dress fit me perfectly. It hugged my curves and made me look like a model. I felt like a model. It was stunning.

This was the first time I had looked in the mirror since that morning when I brushed my teeth. Natalie had piled most of my hair loosely on my head, though she left my bangs and a few stray locks down. Whatever make up she had attacked me with before was working just right- my jade green eyes popped and my lips and cheeks were just the right pink. She had also placed a simple fine gold necklace around my neck, with a small jade green pendant hanging on it.

"Natalie…" I said, awed.

"You can thank me at the wedding," she said proudly. "Which I'll plan, of course."

"Wha- wedding? Who's? I have to go? When? Will I-

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Yours and Ian's. Who else?"

Then it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Hahaha, you're so funny. He's not even going out with me."

Natalie glared at no one in particular. "He'd better be after all the effort I've put in to make you look like this. Now, come on, we have to get you a pair of shoes."

"So I'm going to allow you to use the limo-

"No, thanks," I said politely to her. Natalie looked at me in shock.

"Then do tell, how are you going to get there?"

I smiled. "Taxi, of course," I said, as though it were obvious. Then I closed the door. This might be my "princess night" and all of that, but the last thing I was going to do was draw attention to myself like that. I walked as fast as I could in the slightly raised golden wedge heels Natalie had given me.

(They were like a miracle! Yes, wedge heels! I can't believe I've never heard of them before; they're like they were made for me. The heel was not small and pointy and all weird, but it attached from the heel of the shoe to the toe, meaning it was almost impossible for me to fall! Amazing!)

Of course I wasn't planning to take a taxi. And when I reached the end of the Kabra front lawn, I saw the plain, normal black Toyota waiting for me. I really had Dan to thank for shipping him all the way down from Boston to here.

(Yes, my car is a "him". I find it extremely sexist that cars and ships are often referred to as feminine! "Yes, dat's ma girl," said the pirate. "That be my lady!" said the captain. "A beauty, isn't she?" said the sailor. Why can't the ship be him? "Yes, dat's ma boy," said the pirate. "That be my lord!" said the captain. "A beauty, isn't he?" said the sailor. See, that wasn't so hard, was it?)

I got into the car, put on my seat belt, and smoothed out my dress. Then I got my keys out and turned on the car.

The doors of the Visciear Hotel were already open when I went inside. I showed my invitation to the man sitting at the front desk in the lobby, and he pointed to the hall on my right.

"Last door to your left," he said politely. I nodded in thanks and headed that way.

When I opened the door, I saw what looked like a castle room. A mansion room. It was a ball room. It was grand and big and beautiful, with tall white pillars on the outside, leading to balconies and terraces.

The room was filled with people milling about in fancy yet light wear, like me. There were random tables scattered around the dance floor, and waiters in black and white suits carried drinks and appetizers.

Think the Great Hall in Hogwarts during the Yule Ball. Or the backyard during Bill and Fleur's wedding. Or, just combine the two. It was truly magnificent.

Everywhere I went people smiled and waved and greeted me. Keira Knightley, Justin Timberlake, Chace Crawford, Carrie Underwood, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Momsen- but no Ian Kabra. What could I do?

Duh. I dance.

"You're not so bad at this," said Ian. I did a double-take.

I had danced with a lot of people, then taken a break. Soon I found myself back on the dance floor, and had just been dancing with a lot of random friends- Tom Felton, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint (they all live in Europe, so of course they come to all the big events in Europe). So it shouldn't really be a surprise that I found myself dancing with Ian Kabra- but, it was.

"That's what they all say, before I step on their feet," I said, trying to joke. He laughed. I laughed, too.

We danced around some more, talking. Somehow, knowing that I was in love with him made me more nervous being around him. I noticed all these little things about him that I never would've noticed before- the way his eyes were kind of goldish, the way his hair shined every time he moved, the movement of his feet, the slight sheen of sweat on his hands, as if it were there just to prove he was as human as me.

As I thought of all those small things, I heard the music change. It was slower- and made everything around us move slower. It was as if the whole room had been paused, everything except us. We kept dancing, and nothing but one other was in focus. I could feel the way his eyes burned into mine, and all at once, the emotion that I had seen so many times in his amber eyes were clear and raw.

It was love.

And I knew that my eyes reflected the same thing, because that's how I felt. I loved him. All the memories flooded back to me in one go, stronger than anytime before- him smiling at me after my dancing fit in Korea, the way his voice sounded in that phone call in Russia, when he saved me in Korea, the look on his face on Mt. Everest…how he locked me in a cave, the sharks in Australia…

Suddenly everything was spinning back to reality. The dancers in the room began dancing again. People were talking, laughing, smiling. I let go of his hands and pushed him away, then began pushing my way through the crowd as fast as possible. I was so confused. I loved him, and I think he loved me, so why couldn't I just tell him that and live happily ever after?

I needed to think. I needed fresh air.

"Letting go of the past, that's what."

The sun was just setting, and the sky was many shades of yellow, orange, red, violet, and pink. I didn't need to turn around to know who had spoken.

"What went on before doesn't last forever," he said, striding over to stand next to me. "We can't just keep playing this game of not doing what we want to really do."

"Yes," I said, my voice sounding foreign to my own ears. "That's true. But are we just going to pretend like Korea never happened, and live without that?"

"No," Ian said, looking out into the setting sun. "We can only forget or forgive."

To any other person, those words would sound like some metaphoric quote that someone important might've said a long time ago.

To me, it was an apology. An apology from Ian and an apology for everything.

I turned around to face him. His features gave away nothing, but his eyes waited for an answer to his question. "Then I guess I'll have to choose one." He unconsciously held his breath. "And I choose to forgive."

And then the raw emotion was visible in his eyes again, and when he kissed me it wasn't the typical fireworks you read about in books. It was fireworks and sparks and the whole show. And as I ran my hands through his hair, I found at that my theories were correct.

That boy had some amazingly silky locks.

"We have two options," he murmured to me as I rested my head on his shoulder. "We go back inside and face the media, or-

"We cheesily stare at the stars in the night sky, like they do in those corny romance novels?" I finished.

Ian blushed and ducked his head. "Well, I thought-

"Option B sounds just fine to me," I said, smiling. Ian smiled, too.

"I thought it might," he said, and we looked up at the stars twinkling down on us- they may be old light, but they still shined brightly.

Well, that's the penultimate chapter. Hope it satisfyed what you were expecting. I didn't want to like, write them to have a passionate make out session or something, after all that's happened. Something romantic, you know? Not to mention I'm pretty sure this is still rated K+, and I'm not planning on changing that. Sorry if you thought it was too long, but there was just so much for them to say, and I didn't want to split it up and have to deal with cliff hangers and transitions and all of that fun stuff. Just me being lazy :P

You know the drill...review :)