Ships are launching from my chest

Some have names but most do not

If you find one, please let me know what piece I've lost

Heal the scars from off my back

I don't need them anymore

You can throw them out or keep them in your mason jars

I've come home

~Welcome Home, Radical Face

Grace had dawdled all the way home. This was because she was about to do something that she wasn't sure would work.

It was early evening and Grace was back at her front door, going over what she had to tell her father once she got inside. She knew everything from start to finish now and she wanted to do things right this time. Her father had never approved of their relationship and this might be one of the reasons her and Rich had had problems in the past… Well, yes it was the reason they had dealt with so many issues.

Her father wouldn't have made up stories about how Rich was growing obsessive over her and she was unhappy in the relationship, which seemed totally laughable now, if only he had approved. Also they wouldn't have broken up for a few hours that one time. Those few hours now seemed like nothing compared with how long they had been broken up now.

Yes, Grace was now seeking for her father's approval of her and Rich's relationship. She didn't want their love story affecting her relationship with her father anymore; it was the sensible thing to do. What if he said no? She had decided she wouldn't date Rich until he approved of it… This was the reason she was dreading this next conversation so much.

She realized it sounded as if she couldn't possibly care about Rich that much if she would wait for her father's approval before chasing after him. However she felt as if this proved her love for him in a more mature way than how she had previously loved him. Before she rebelled against her father and ran away with Rich, now she was going to try make her father understand her love for Rich and show that her relationship with Rich was never just a way to rebel against him; she had always genuinely loved him.

Of course it had killed her not going to visit Rich after her talk with Franky, or ring him or just even a simple text to tell him she loved him and she was trying to fix everything.

She opened her front door with a deep breath to calm her nerves. She could instantly hear the television in the living room, as she removed her dainty mary janes. She entered the living room while whispering a soothing mantra, 'You have to do this, Grace.' Her father's armchair faced away from her, so she could only see the back of his head, but she could see he watching the five o'clock news. She cleared her throat slightly.

"Oh, Gracie…" He said, turning around in his seat to see her face. Then he opened his mouth slightly and his eyebrows furrowed together in a mixture of concern and confusion. "So… feeling better after this morning?"

Grace just stared at him for a moment, but didn't respond in any way.

"Where's Mum?" She asked walking towards the television and switching it off manually.

"Uhmm… she's in the kitchen making dinner. Is everything alright?" He asked, making to stand up, but Grace gestured for him to stay sitting.

"I need to talk to you about something important." Grace started slowly. Her father then let out an irritated sigh.

"No, I will not have this." Grace widened her eyes in annoyance at David Blood's sharp tone.

"I haven't even told you what it's about yet!" He stood up and wagged a finger in Grace's face.

"I know exactly what this is about! It's about that low-life Richard Hardbeck." Grace considered running out of the room in that moment and forget about the whole thing completely, but she needed to stick it out.

"Yes, but Daddy… I remember everything now." Her dad seemed to stop in his tracks and he looked at her through narrowed eyes. "I know you were lying before."

"Yes, and I did that for your own good." She took a step closer to him and was on the verge of pleading. He remained still as a statue and Grace gathered that this might be a hopeless cause.

"I don't want to cause anymore trouble due to my relationship with Rich, so I have decided that I will only start dating him again with your approval." He seemed completely taken aback by her statement for a few seconds, but then composed himself once again.

"Of course I disapprove of this relationship. You are so much better than him; you need to be with someone like Liam Peters, not scum of the earth." Grace sniffed back tears.

"You are so wrong, dad. He's better than me in so many ways and I'm just sad that you will never be able to see how good and kind a person he actually is! He helped me try and remember, whereas you just told me lies!" She turned and ran out of the room before her tears came flooding out. She stomped up the stairs, ignoring the calls from her father, and locked herself in her room.

When she entered she collapsed onto her bed and just lay there for a long time. No tears came even though she expected them; she had become too numb to cry.

Now and again she would reach for her phone and contemplate ringing Rich, but a promise was a promise…

Screw that.

She picked up her phone and dialed for Rich and silently prayed he would pick up.

No answer.

"Where's my fucking phone?" Rich yelled at Alo, who was dancing around in the living room to some crap techno music. Alo stared at him with his mouth open and Rich raised his eyebrows in a way to say, 'Well?'

"Wasn't it in my room?" He asked, crinkling up his nose in confusion. Rich sighed and nodded simultaneously, then marched up the stairs.

His phone was lying on the bed and he snatched it up in one semi-smooth motion… Semi-smooth due to the fact that he tripped over one of Alo's shoes, but managed to keep himself steady.

"Ah… shit." He muttered when he saw his phone had just died. He was in the middle of nowhere without battery.

He sat there for a moment and took a cigarette out of his pocket. He was only staying here for another night, because Alo practically begged him to. Apparently he was feeling lonely staying at the farm by himself now. Honestly… His parents were going to be back the next morning.

He lit the cigarette and enjoyed the instant pain relief it gave him. Then he heard the downstairs door open and shut. He jumped up and ran down the stairs. For some ridiculous reason he thought it might be—

"What are you doing here?" He asked in a slightly disgusted tone as he saw the tall, blonde Mini McGuinness removing her too-high heels.

"Charming…" She said, looking up with a smirk. "Farmboy invited us."

"Us?" Great. Rich was going to have to deal with company then.

"Yeah… Liv, me, Nick and Franky. Problem?" She had finished taking off her shoes and started looking around the place with a sour expression. She stuck her arms by her side to avoid touching anything gross.

"No… Why would I have a problem with that?" Rich said in his most sarcastic voice possible. Mini looked ready to say something particularly harsh, but a loud voice stopped her.

"Minerva!" Alo shouted and came bounding out of the living room. He noticed Rich standing there with a frown and his arms loosely folded. "Oh… we're watching Kill Bill or something like that."

Rich rolled his eyes and Mini took a bottle of vodka out of her bag. Alo snatched it from her and ran away once more. Mini let out a small laugh, but then noticed Rich stomping down the stairs with his grumpy as fuck expression.

"What happened with you and Grace last night?" She asked, a little softer than Rich had expected her to talk. He exhaled and made his way to the living room.

Mini threw up an arm to stop him.
"No you don't. Tell me! I've already tried ringing Grace, so you're going to tell me right now. Okay?" She was staring at him with threatening eyes and just because Rich didn't have the energy to argue he told her as simply as he could.

"She was here. We kind of… kissed. Then she left the next morning." Mini wrinkled her forehead and sucked on the inside of her cheeks.

"So why do you look like you stepped in dog shit?" She said in a deadpan voice.

"Because she said she shouldn't have come in the first place… That we're over until she can remember everything." Mini raised her eyebrows.

"That might take a really fucking long time." She began to chew on one of her fingernails and Rich just nodded in agreement. "So that's it then, is it?"

"Uh… yeah. I'll just wait for her." Mini sighed a little and then gave a little smile.

"You know Grace would always annoy the hell out of me when she would go on about this one really romantic night…" She started off by saying and stood a little bit further away from Rich. "The night you proposed to her. She said it was just like in the fairytales."

"And?" Rich said, not seeing any relevance at all. Mini then began massaging her temples and sighed in an irritated manner.

"Were you just born stupid or -" She snapped out.

"I actually have better things to do, so…" Mini exhaled deeply and grabbed onto Rich's wrist.

"Go to her." When Rich was still shrugging at her with no clue what Mini was getting at, she continued once more.

"Be her Romeo. Be her knight in shining armor… Shit, do I really have to spell this out for you, Valhalla?" Rich half-smiled as he got what she was saying.

"Do you actually think that will work?" He breathed, forgetting for a second who he was talking to.

"Yeah… Yeah, I do." For a moment they shared an understanding and Rich started shoving his feet into a pair of Alo's shoes. He glanced around and wondered whether or not to tell Alo he was leaving when Mini replied. "I'll tell Farmboy you left."

"Uh… thanks." He ran out of the door, thankful that he had his wallet in his pocket.

9:30PM. Grace sighed heavily and continued to flick through her Rapunzel story. Her stomach growled angrily at her.

"Shhh…" She grumbled. She had not eaten the dinner that her mum had prepared for her in a way of private protest. Her dad had banged on the door angrily, but Grace said she wasn't hungry… This wasn't really the mature approach she had wanted to take, but she couldn't think of another way to get her father to listen to her.

She decided to finally listen to her stomach's constant nagging and silently crept towards her bedroom door. She turned the key in the lock and her mouth nearly watered as she thought of the food that was just downstairs waiting for her.

Just as she was leaving, she heard a distant voice calling her name. She stood stock-still for just a moment, but her eyes widened in excitement as she realized just who was calling her. She ran to her window and stumbled out onto her balcony. When she looked over the edge, she couldn't wipe the grin off her face.

"What are you doing, Rich?" She said loud enough so he could hear her, but still rather quiet incase her parents could hear.

"This is my last attempt at making you remember…. Shit, how did that line go again?" Grace leant over the balcony, as Rich attempted to climb up the drainpipe again.

"It is the east, and Juliet is the sun?" She asked and Rich smiled up at her, clearly confused.

"That's the one… How did-"

"I remember it all, Rich." She said and Rich almost fell off the drainpipe in shock.

"And how do you feel about that?" Rich asked. Grace smirked mischievously and coyly tucked her hair behind her ears.

"I probably love you." Rich scoffed at this, as he tried to move his foot further up the wall.

"Just probably?" Why was she only confessing her love for him now?

"A tiny bit more than probably… I tried to ring you…" Then she remembered why she was only now telling him she loved him. "You shouldn't actually be here, Rich."

"My phone was dead… Wait, why?"

Grace's door was flung open, as her Dad stood there. His eyes widened in shock as he saw Grace standing on the balcony. He huffed very loudly and left, presumably to go outside. This was confirmed by the sound of footsteps descending down the stairs.

"RUN RICH!" Grace shouted and she ran after her father. She heard the front door open, as she was halfway down the stairs, so she quickened up her pace.

She was panting when she eventually got to the front door and her father was standing over Rich's twisted body that was in a heap on the floor.

"Oh, Rich!" She yelped, and went to help him up. He wasn't hurt badly, but Grace was happy to have an excuse to physically be near him.

"Grace told me earlier that she wouldn't date you unless she received my approval."

Rich swore under his breath then turned to Grace with accusatory eyes.

"I thought it would be better for us if he said he approved…" She started to say, but her father hushed her.

"I said no." He said simply and Rich cleared his throat.

"Mr. Blood, Grace loves me and I…" Grace wanted to smile at the fact that Rich seemed to have a whole speech prepared for this. Her father gave a sigh and looked like he didn't want to say his next sentence.

"I know. That's the only reason why I am going to reluctantly approve this." Grace and Rich turned to each other with identical surprised faces.

"Really daddy?" She exclaimed and embraced her father in a hug before he shook her off him.

"Yes, well… I'm going to go inside now and you come as well, Gracie. Now." He said in his usual manner and turned to go back inside.

As soon as he was in the house, Grace stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips firmly against Rich's. They were both smiling so much that it made it difficult to kiss properly. She giggled and stepped back down for a moment and just held his hands in hers.

He brushed some of the hair out of her face and quietly said,

"Don't ever forget me again, alright?" Then he kissed her lightly on her forehead and she just seemed to melt on the spot. Yes, this was how it should be… He may not be your typical Prince Charming, but Grace thought he was exactly that.

"Alright."

Oh my God, so that's it! I can't believe it :(

Hopefully the ending is okay for you guys, I would hate to ruin the whole fic with this one last chapter.

So… I would like to dedicate this last chapter to all the faithful reviewers who have reviewed multiple chapters and even the people who haven't reviewed. It's great to have people so passionate about this story and I wouldn't have finished this story if it wasn't for your kind words of encouragement.

Also to the girls on the hardlet thread at fanforum, because you guys are all just awesome. And a special dedication to Megan (kerouacophy) who has been really into this story and you have her to thank for the update for this final chapter being so quick (or you probably would have had to wait for a week.)

Finally I really want to write another RG fic, but I want it to be a little more AU… I would love to hear if you guys have any ideas for one (you can tell me by PM if you want)! I probably won't start it for a little while, because I'm so busy right now with university, but when I find more time I'll definitely start it.

Thanks again,

TheCheeryCherry