Okay, y'all kick serious ass! You guys are so amazing! I heart you all! I want to give a big shout out to everyone that has read the story so far. I want to send a special 'Thank You' to xMyHeartShine, Randy4rkocenahardy, lookitsria, rkocya, KimmieCena, angelshavetheirwickedschemes, AngelDestiny22, ElleEnein, professional-smiler, Xandman216, WWELover27, xDarlingNikki and my lovely psion53. You guys rock! \m/ (^.^) \m/ Here's chapter 13. Enjoy!

I felt like a stalker. I had been sitting in my rental, since 10am, across from the small bookstore. I watched Emery interact with the customers and pretend to smile. I knew it was fake. Her heart wasn't in it. When she really smiled, it lingered on her face even when the person walked away. Plus, her nose did this sexy little wrinkling thing…yeah, I walked by the front window of the store a couple of times, no wrinkle.

Now, it was about 6:30pm and the store's lights were out for the night and Emery and some guy were locking the front door. He patted her on the shoulder and watched her, like I did, walk the four blocks to the small bar near the middle of the college campus.

This must be where she worked a few nights a week. When I got into town and checked into the hotel downtown that we always stayed in when we came to Richmond, I called Mrs. Harper to let her know I was here. She told me about where Emery was working and what her schedule was. She also told me that she and Mr. Harper, the next night, were going out of town for a conference. When she informed me that there was a spare key under the ceramic frog on the front step, I formed my plan.

I moved my rental across the street from the bar. I watched Emery come out from behind some swinging doors. She was finishing putting her hair up in a ponytail. She had changed into a formfitting deep scoop neck t-shirt with the bar's name across her chest. The owner of this bar had to be a guy, making her wear a shirt like that. I watched as she made her rounds and I figured out what sections of the bar she was working.

I waited until nearly 11pm before I just couldn't take it anymore. I reached into the backseat to grab my carry-on. I dug through it till I found my baseball hat. It was the Braves hat that she had gotten me. I would easily blend in with the rest of the college guys filtering in and out. Quickly making my way across the street, I pulled my hat low as I stepped inside. One of the waitresses stopped in front of me.

"Take a seat anywhere. One of us will be with you in a minute." I just nodded and headed to a seat I hadn't seen Emery touch all night. The same waitress came over and took my order. When she brought back the bottle of beer, I scooted my seat around under the pretense that I wanted to see the television. But in reality, it was so I could see Emery. Every second I was in the same room with her was another second I had to seriously fight the urge to storm across the room and take her into my arms and beg her to come back to me. But I needed answers first. I needed to know why.

I nearly broke when she ended up waiting on the table beside mine. I closed my eyes at the sound of her voice. God, how I missed her voice.

At quarter to two in the morning, they yelled out for last call. The bar was closing in 15 minutes. I had paid my bill about a half an hour ago and was still nursing my second beer. I didn't want to leave. I hadn't seen my waitress since I paid. There was only me and two other people in the bar. Tiff, my waitress must have gone home.

I jumped when a hand touched my shoulder softly.

"Is there anything else I can get you tonight, dear? It's last call." I dropped my head so I didn't look up into Emery's face and give myself away.

"Nope." I mumbled.

"Okay then. Just let me know. You still have 15 minutes." I nodded. She seemed to hesitate. I sighed deeply when she finally walked away. I stood up quickly and dug into my wallet, pulling out the first bill I came to. I dropped the $50 on the table and headed for the door. "Have a good night." She called out. It was my turn to hesitate. I nearly turned around. I forced myself out the door and back across the street. God, I needed tomorrow afternoon to be here right now.

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I sighed in relief as I pulled up in front of the house. I wanted to take a shower and then take a nap, in that order. For some reason, I got lucky and Gary sent me home early. It wasn't that busy so he told me to head out. I didn't argue. He was also making me take off the next two days. I guess he thought I was going out of town with Mom and Dad. They were heading down to Charlotte for some conference that Dad went to every year. I would have the house to myself for a couple of days. I was thankful too. I was actually pretty tired.

I really hadn't slept too well the night before. I kept thinking about the last customer in the bar. I felt like I knew him from somewhere. The worst part was, from the little bit I could see, his profile reminded me of Cody. So much so, that I had dreamt of him, all night. Leading me to not get much sleep at all.

I gathered my bag and headed inside. The house was quiet. Mom and Dad must have already left. I realized I was right when I found the note on the table by the stairs. It was in Mom's handwriting telling me that she and Dad would miss me and if I needed it, she had cooked and frozen me a couple of dinners. She ended with how much she and Dad loved me and they would see me in a couple of days. I laid the note back down and headed upstairs.

I pushed open my door and flicked on the light. I set my bag down by my desk and turned my back to the room, kicking my shoes off in front of my closet. I pulled my t-shirt up and over my head and tossed it back behind me on the bed. I walked into the bathroom. I flipped on the light and pulled out my towel and washcloth. I realized that I hadn't brought a change of underwear in with me. I stepped back into my room and froze in my tracks.

I was seriously losing it. I had started seeing things. My mind must be gone. I blinked my eyes a few times. I thought maybe he would disappear and my heart would break again. But he didn't.

Cody was sitting on the side of my bed, rubbing the fabric of the shirt that I had thrown on the bed between his fingers and his thumbs. I couldn't breathe. Was it really him?

"C…Cody?" He slowly looked up at me. He visibly swallowed hard.

"Emery." He said softly. The sound of his voice right there in the room with me hit me directly in the chest.

"What…how? How did you find me?" He looked back down.

"I got a phone call that told me where you were." Who knew…Mom. It had to be Mom. That's what all the questions had been about the other night. She knew. God knows how she found Cody's number though. In my head I knew, to get him to leave, I had to keep my walls up, no matter how badly I wanted him to stay. No matter how badly I want to run to him and throw myself into his arms.

"What are you doing here?" I asked again, trying to make my voice as icy as possible.

"I need to know. I need to know why." I wrapped my arms around my bare stomach, unconsciously hiding the couple of faded scars around my belly button.

"Why?" He looked back up at me. I could see the hurt lingering in his eyes.

"Why you did this?" The hurt morphed into something akin to anger. "Why you thought you should pack up and leave in the middle of the night? Leaving me with nothing but this," he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper, "this fuckin' letter. This letter that I've a thousand times, just trying to figure out what made you do it."

"Cody…I did it for you." He stood up.

"That's bullshit! You did this for you!"

"No…it was what you needed. I know you won't want me anymore."

"Are you psychic now? How the hell do you know what I want? What I need?"

"I know you. I know what you want from life and I promise you it's not me and my problems." He shook his head.

"How fuckin' self-center and selfish can you be?" I blinked in surprise and hurt. Cody had never spoken this harshly to me before. "You think this is all about you and your issues? It's not. It's about you and me." He patted his chest. "It's about me too, damn it! Do you know what I went through while you were gone?" I shook my head. "Hell. I went through pure hell. I didn't know where you were, if you were okay. I didn't know if it was something I did."

"It wasn't something you did." I said.

"Then what was it?" I looked down at the floor. "Damn it! What is so damn bad that you thought that it would be better to just pack up and destroy everything we built in our three years together?" I shook my head, fighting the tears.

"I can't tell you."

"Really? I thought you loved me like I love you. I thought you loved what we had together."

"I did. I still do." He ran his hand into his hair.

"Then why won't you tell me?" I hugged myself tighter.

"I don't want you to hate me." He threw his hands up in the air.

"Damn it! With this shit again? How do you know how I would react, huh? You didn't even give me a fucking chance." He walked back towards the bed, stopping his pacing. "I can't take this Emery. You're killing me. I can't do this anymore. Just…tell me so we can move on. So I can try and let you go."

"Cody…" Before I could work up another excuse he spun back around.

"No! No more bullshit excuses! Tell me! Just tell me damn it!" I lost my battle with the tears and gave in.

"Fine! You wanna know? Okay then. I lost it. I was going to have a baby before I went into the hospital. But I lost the baby. I lost our baby." I saw Cody stiffen as I told him. Every bit of anger drained out of his face. I could tell the information hit him hard. But what he said was true. He had the right to know everything. "I didn't know I was pregnant at the time. But now, I can't have children. I'll never be able to give you the family you want. The family we both wanted."

Cody sat back down on the side of my bed and dropped his head.

"Oh God…Emery." I couldn't resist not touching him anymore. I walked over the few steps to stand in front of him. I touched the back of his head, softly running my fingers through his hair.

He leaned into me, laying his forehead against my stomach. His hands came around to the back of my thighs, pulling me closer. His hands slipped up to my lower back, holding me as I stroked his hair. I was sure this was the last time I would ever get to be close to him again.

"Why didn't you say anything? You could have told me." He said softly.

"I didn't want to burden you with it." He looked up at me.

"It wouldn't have been. You could never be a burden to me."

"I didn't want you to feel like I felt. I truly thought I was saving you from pain."

"Just thinking of you going through the pain and sorrow of losing a baby…our baby alone…it breaks my heart. I would have been there for you, Emmy. I would have been there through all of it." I nodded as the tears crept down my cheeks. He pressed his face back against my stomach.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I did this to us. I never meant to hurt you."

"I know, princess. I know you didn't." He was quiet for a while before he looked back up again. "You know this doesn't change anything between us, right?" My heart broke into a thousand pieces again. The little hope I had when I had seen him sitting there just disappeared. The damage I had done was irreversible. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I could speak.

"I understand." I slowly took my hands away from his head and tried to step back, but he held me close, not letting me go. He pressed his forehead back against my skin.

"Good." I stroked the back of his head down to his neck again. I just needed to touch him. "I'm glad you understand. Cause I don't think I could have taken another day without you." I stiffened in shock. Did he really say that? Did he really mean it? He must have felt me stop moving. Cody sat back a little bit with his hands resting on my hips. "I was a mess while you were gone. I started drinking and I was fighting with everyone." He gave me a half grin. "I just got suspended for 10 days for beating up Mike when he told me he was sorry. And, I'm pretty sure your sister hates me." I shook my head.

"No one could ever hate you." I said softly. "Why would you think that?"

"She thought it was something I did to make you leave." He smiled up at me. "How happy is Fallon gonna be when she finds out that I found you? And I'm bringing you home." I started to cry again as I realized what he was saying. I slowly sank down to my knees in front of him. Now we were nearly face to face.

"Home? You want me to come home?" He nodded. "You still want me? After everything?"

"It's more than want Emmy. I need you. I need you in my life, with me. You're my missing piece." He laid a hand on each cheek. "My other half."

"What about a family? I know you want a family."

"I would gladly spend a lifetime without children as long as I don't have to spend another day without you." He kissed me softly. "I love you, Emery. Not some illusion of a future family. You. Only you." I threw my arms around his neck, kissing him deeply, putting all the emotions I was feeling into it. "We can talk about having a family later. There's always adoption, princess." I kissed him again.

"I don't want to ever be without you, Cody." I kissed him repeatedly after every couple of words. "I really thought I was doing the right thing by letting you go. I wasn't prepared for how badly it was going to hurt us both." He pulled me close. "I love you so much." I crawled up in his lap. Cody buried a hand in my hair and wrapped his other arm around my waist. "I want to come home. Please let me come home. I need to be with you too. Only you, Cody."

"Yes, Emmy. Yes." He tucked me closer, my hips pulled tight against his. We both moaned softly at the feeling. "It's been so long, princess." He said against my lips before leaning back away from me so that he could give me that smile I loved so much. "We'll go home tomorrow."

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Later, hours later (we had lots of 'catching up' to do) we lay curled up in bed together. I was wearing the button-up shirt that Cody had shown up in and he was wearing his boxers. The only reason we were dressed is because we had ventured down to the kitchen for food.

I just hope Mom never found out what we did in her kitchen. Twice. Once against the sink and once on the breakfast table. Sorry Mom.

Cody smoothed the hair away from the back of my neck. He softly stroked my skin down my nape, down into the top of my borrowed shirt. I doodled imaginary images against his chest with my fingertip. We had been quiet for the last few minutes after filling each other in on everything we had missed from each other's lives.

"You know," Cody said, "that week that you…got sick, when we were home?" I nodded, my cheek sliding against his naked chest. "I had a whole romantic night planned out for us." I lifted my head to look at him. He tucked some of my hair behind my ear.

"You did? Why?" He grinned.

"Cause I had something I wanted to do." I grinned back at him, thinking we were in for another round of love making.

"Really?" He nodded. "And what might that have been?" He leaned up and kissed me. He pushed me back just enough so that he could slid out of the bed. I sat up, dropping my legs over the edge. I watched Cody dig into a pants pocket and come out with something in his fist. He walked back over to me. He smiled at me as he dropped to his knees in front of me. He reached out and took both of my hands in his. He took a deep breath and let it go slowly, like he was fighting nerves. Suddenly I had a thought, as he stroked the backs of my hands with thumbs. Was he about to do what I thought? He took a deep breath again. This time when he smiled at me, he was totally calm.

"I still remember the first day I met you. That day, I knew, it was you. It's always been and will always be you. I swear I never thought I would need someone as much as I need you."

I want to marry you because you're the first person I want to see when I wake up in the morning and the only one I want to kiss good night. Because the first time I saw these hands," he lifted them to his lips, kissing the back of each one, "I couldn't imagine not being able to hold them."

I'm sure it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard. We're going to have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, every day. Just you and me, every day."

I want you forever, forever and always. Through the good and the bad and the ugly." Cody picked up the little velvet box and popped it open, revealing the most beautiful barely purple engagement ring. I started to cry. "Marry me Emery Harper. Marry me. Be with me forever, princess."

"Cody…" He took the ring out of the box. He picked up my left hand again.

"Princess?" I smiled so big, I felt like my cheeks were going to split. I could careless. I nodded.

"Is there an answer bigger than yes?" He slipped the ring on my finger. It was a perfect fit. Just like us. Cody wrapped his arms around me.

"I love you, Emmy." He kissed me.

"I love you too, Cody." I pulled back. He smiled as he used the knuckle of his forefinger to wipe away my still falling tears. "I'm going to do my best to make you happy. I want to make you so happy." He cupped my cheeks, kissing me deeply.

"You already do, princess. More than I could ever imagine." He kissed me again. "You already do."

I would really appreciate if you keep the reviews coming. Please take a couple of seconds and let me know how I'm doing. Since you guys are awesome, as soon as I get my 10th review for this chapter, I'll post the next one. You all seem to like that so I'll keep it up for the last few chapters. Thanks! =^.^=