A/N So this is it huh? The last chapter. Heh heh. I didn't think this story would go so deep let alone be so long. I think I'll just shut up an let you guys read for once. So without any further hesitation, the last chapter of The Deceleration Of Lizzie's Independence.
"Roderich, I'm gonna miss you." Michelle said as she thew her arms around Roderich. "Even though I knew you for like 5 days, you were a really cool person."
"Oh Michelle I'm going to miss you too." He said hugging her back.
Michelle looked up at him and smiled. "You know, I didn't notice that adorable little curl in your hair. It is so cute."
Roderich gave a small smile. "At least you didn't pull it."
She giggled at that. "Bye Roderich." She said, and went off to assist more people.
"Hola Roderich." Antonio said from the counter.
"Hola Antonio." Roderich said back. He didn't know much Spanish, but at least he knew how to greet someone.
Antonio held out a hand, "It was very nice meeting you. I hope you have a safe trip home,and that we cross paths again someday."
Roderich politely shook his hand. "I'm almost sure we'll cross paths again, but until that time comes, take good care of Madeline for me." He said with a small smile.
Antonio gave that goofy grin of his. "Yes sir."
"So today is the day that my best friend is leaving me." Madeline said coming out of the kitchen with a tin container in her hand.
"I'm afraid that that day has come Madeline."
Madeline looked up at him and handed him the tin container.
"What's this?" He asked as he took of the lid. "Oh, chocolate chip cookies."
"I know that they're your favorite, so I made you some." She said with a small smile.
He put the lid back on and slipped the container in his pocket. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
There was a short silence.
"I'm gonna miss you, Roderich. You're not gonna forget me, are you?" She asked.
Roderich smiled softly. "Of course not."
Madeline wrapped her arms around Roderich tightly. "Oh Roderich, I love you."
He placed a hand on top of her head as if she was a little child. "I love you too, Madeline."
Madeline looked up at him with an aggravated face. "Now why is it easier to say it to me but not Lizzie?"
"Because the love I have for you is strictly platonic." He explained.
"But the type of love shouldn't matter Roderich."
Roderich chuckled quietly. Although she was very bright girl, Madeline still had much more learning to do.
"Would it be easier to say it to say it to Francis or Antonio?" He asked loud enough for her to hear.
"Francis." She said quietly after a while.
"Listen sweetheart, if I hit a nerve, I didn't mean to,and you know that. But I had to put it in terms where you had to understand."
Roderich had acted so fatherly toward Madeline, and that's something she was going to miss the most when he left.
"It's ok," she said with a small nod, "I understand."
"Good. I'm glad you do."
"You know, I don't see why your leaving so early. Boss told me—"
"Madeline, get out." Francis interrupted.
Madeline looked at her boss with wide worried eyes. "What did I do?" She whined.
"Just get out." He said pointing to the front door.
"B-but you can't just put me out of the entire café."
"Fine. Go and sit in my office until I tell you when you can come out." He said changing the direction of hand.
"But—"
"Go." He demanded.
Madeline sighed. "Fine. Hey Antonio, your gonna keep me company right?"
"Por supuesto." He said and followed her in the office.
"Sorry about that." Francis said to Roderich. "She tends to make up crazy lies in order to prolong someone's departure. I saw it getting ready to start and just put and end to it quickly." Francis was an amazing liar.
"I can understand that. Poor thing."
"Yeah." Francis said as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket. "Hello? Oh…oh you are?…Well alright,thank you."
"That was the cab driver, he's right outside." Francis said after hanging up his phone.
"Well I guess this is it." Roderich said grabbing his bags.
"It was a fun ride Roderich." Francis said leaning over the counter.
"'Twas Francis." Roderich said. He took a letter out of his pocket and gave it to Francis. "Give this to her." He said quietly.
Francis didn't even have to ask who 'her' was. He just smiled softly and took the letter from him. "I will."
"Sorry I couldn't keep my promise." Roderich said rubbing the back of his neck.
"It's alright. Trust me."
"Ok. Well, goodbye." Roderich said holding out his hand.
Francis shook his hand. "Take care Roderich."
With that being said, he collected his bags once more, and headed out the door.
"Hey, Boss?" Michelle called walking up to him.
"Yes, Michelle?"
"What time was Roderich's train really coming?"
"Two o'clock. Now, do me a favor and get Madeline and Antonio out of my office."
Michelle didn't retort because she knew what Madeline and Francis was bound to be in an argument as soon as she came out of the office.
Michelle softly knocked on the door. "Maddie, I was sent too get you and Antonio out of the office."
Michelle heard a moment of shuffling and then Madeline opened the door. Her face was completely flushed, her black button down shirt had more buttons unbuttoned than before, and her beret was off of her head. Madeline's eyes flickered to Francis and she stormed past Michelle. "Francis, why did you lock me in your office? Why did you lie to Roderich? What have you done?" She yelled at him.
"What I've done is the right thing. It was certainly a long shot, but it was the right thing nonetheless. Besides, its not like you didn't enjoy being locked up in my office." He said pointing to Antonio whose face was just as flushed and his hair was more messy than it usually was.
"And makes you think you've done the right thing by telling Roderich that his train was coming earlier than it's supposed to?"
"I know that was the right thing to do because it was one of those gut feelings that had to be done."
Francis may act like an idiot, and that's only because he is an idiot, but Madeline knew about his gut feelings. She knew that 99.5 percent of the time, they were never wrong, and maybe this feeling was right, just like the majority of them were.
Madeline simply nodded. "Ok, if its a gut feeling then we'll go with it, and hope that it's right."
Francis smiled at her. "Merci Madeline."
"De Rien."
Elizabeta didn't get up until noon. She still didn't want to get up, but that was only because the person that she's been with through everything from the beginning of August to almost the end of September was finally leaving today and she was rather upset over it. However, she knew she couldn't miss his departure.
She threw off the covers and swung her legs over the edge. She stretched and took a deep breath, but instantly coughed at the smell. It still smelled like burning paper in her room. She opened a window, but not the screen, and went to take a quick shower.
After her shower, Elizabeta slipped on some clean clothes and brushed her still wavy hair. She grabbed her keys, but didn't go out the door just yet.
Did she really want to walk? She wasn't really up for it, and she wondered why, she usually loved walking. But she just shrugged it off and turned on her heel to walk to the first door on the right. She clapped her hands twice and the lights flicked on. Elizabeta had to smile at that. She hopped in her car and started it up. "I just hope I can find a parking spot." She said to herself as she drove out of the garage.
Lucky for her, there was a spot open that was close to the alley. She parked there and went up to the café. The first thing she did was sit at the counter and put Francis' hair in a ponytail. Elizabeta patted the top of his head. "You look much more adorable with it."
Michelle giggled. "I said the same thing."
"So, where's Roderich? I thought he would be here by now." Elizabeta asked.
There was silence. A deadly silence. Michelle's foot stated to tick again. "Um, you guys? Why did things get so quiet all of a sudden?" She asked nervously.
More silence, faster ticking.
"Maddie, where is Roderich?" She quietly asked Madeline.
Madeline just sighed quietly and turned to Francis. "Well what are you waiting for? Give it to her."
Francis pulled out the letter Roderich had given him out the pocket inside his jacket. He slid it down the counter and it stopped directly in front of Elizabeta.
Elizabeta looked at the note for a good minute before she opened it up and started to quietly read to herself.
Elizabeta,
By the time you get this, I should be on my train back to Austria. I wrote this letter because it would be too much for me to say goodbye to you face-to-face, and to tell you that I'm in love with you. Very much in love with you. It seemed pretty hard not to fall in love with you despite your independence. Your a beautiful woman with the most amazing personality that anyone could fall in love with. Since I'm in love with you,I'm setting you free. I was always thought that if you truly love someone or something, you set it free. So that's what I'm doing Elizabeta. Setting you free. I'll never forget you Elizabeta, and I promise you that.
—Roderich
Tears fell and splattered onto the paper like bombs. What had she done? How could she have been so stupid to let her heart break yet again? Elizabeta didn't throw or kick, or hit anything. Instead she covered her eyes and let the tears flow. Maybe forfeiting her independence was a bad idea. Maybe if she was still independent, she would have just been flattered at the fact that someone liked her and not had given up on life like she did. Maybe she wouldn't have set herself up for another heart breaking like she just did. She hadn't felt this horrible since her break up with Gilbert, for Elizabeta just missed a perfect opportunity to love and be loved that may not ever come again. She couldn't handle this. She couldn't handle this one bit. Not by herself. Not alone. She needed comfort from others.
Michelle placed a hand on Elizabeta's back and softly patted her back as if she was a little baby.
"Don't comfort her." Francis and Madeline spoke at the same time.
"That's the last thing she needs. She doesn't need a pillow, she needs a push." Francis spoke.
"She blaming herself for the 'missed' opportunity and now she wants comfort so she could have a false belief of satisfactory and security." Madeline said after.
"And if she's comforted, she will never leave to fix it."
Michelle backed off of her as Madeline walked around to the other side of the counter in front of Elizabeta.
"Elizabeta get up." She spoke to her.
"I-I can't." She said though a choked up voice.
"The last time I checked, Elizabeta Héderváry was the most strongest, smartest,resilient woman I've met in my life. The word 'can't' wasn't in her vocabulary, and she never showed anyone weakness even when her world started to crumble. I looked up to her. What happened to her?"
"She abandoned her independence."
"Screw that. Even if you were independent you would have still broke down because you still would have noticed you really were in love with Roderich this whole time."
"Well there really isn't anything I can do now Madeline, it's over." Elizabeta yelled still looking down at the counter.
"Lizzie, it's only 1:20. Roderich's train doesn't leave until 2:00. You still have plenty of time to fix this. It's not over yet."
"So just how many times did he lie to me?" She practically screamed.
Madeline slammed her hands on the counter ,making Elizabeta finally look up at her. "Dammit Lizzie, get it in your head. Francis lied to Roderich. Roderich lied to you. You lied to yourself about your feelings. Everyone lied. Are you happy now? Good. Now you can stop being a big baby, go down to the train station, confess your undying love, and have a big pretty wedding with the big ass wedding cake. And I swear, if that motivation didn't work, I'm gonna climb over this counter and calmly drag you to the train station. By. Your. Hair."
Elizabeta sat for a few more moments.
Madeline pointed towards the front door. "Go."
Elizabeta managed to pull herself off the stool and out the front door.
Madeline had to smile. "That's my girl. You go get you happiness, sweetheart." She whispered to herself. Madeline came from behind the counter and wrapped her arms around Antonio. "My work here, is done." Was the last thing she spoke before she quietly drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
"I haven't seen her that angry and worked since her parents tried to make her move back to France. Let her sleep, I know she practically drained from that and she needs to get that energy back. Michelle, if you need some extra help, call me." Francis spoke quietly and turned on his heal to his office.
Elizabeta drove like a bat out of hell, but she didn't care.
All she cared about was getting to Roderich before the train came. Truth be told, she nerve really said it out out loud, simply because she never thought it was true. Now that she knew it was true, and very true indeed, she wondered how true it was.
"I love Roderich." She said out loud. Elizabeta had a small smile on her face. To her, it sounded more true than she originally thought it would be.
She said it again. And again. And again.
But then, she had to mentally kick herself for being such an idiot. If she were to admit to herself that she really was in love with Roderich from the jump, she wouldn't be driving like some crazy person to a train station to admit the feelings that should have been told a good while back.
She arrived at the train station in 15 minutes tops. She parked the car and ran into the train depot. She searched high and low in the depot, only to find him not in there. She walked out on the platform and slid down the left side of the doorway and onto the platform floor. She looked up and down the platform. There weren't really many out here. Just a couple walking and holding hands, and a man leaning on the right side of the doorway with his face buried in a newspaper.
Elizabeta sighed, what was she to do if she can't find Roderich? She could sneak on the train and look for him there... or she could do it the legal way and actually buy a ticket. "Well, you always end up in less trouble when you do things the legal way Lizzie. You learned that the hard way." She spoke to herself. Elizabeta got up and dusted herself off. "Maybe it's best if I do get a tic—" Her sentence was replaced by a loud sneeze. That platform dust must have gotten to her.
"God Bless you."
"Thanks." Elizabeta looked to the side, that man still had his face buried in that newspaper. Was he the one that said God Bless You? She wasn't really sure, but she went out on the limb anyway. She walked over to the man with the newspaper.
"R-Roderich?" She spoke to the man. The man folded up the paper and Elizabeta knew exactly who it was with those violet eyes and stubborn curl. It really was Roderich. She thew herself in his arms. "Oh Roderich, I'm sorry. I am so, so, sorry." She whispered quietly. The tears threatened to spill out.
Roderich quickly wrapped his arms around her slender waist. He loved being in her arms. "Elizabeta, what are you apologizing?"
Elizabeta looked up at him with tears rolling down her cheeks. "For not realizing I was in love with you sooner."
Roderich wasn't sure if he herd her right. Did she just indirectly say he was in love with him? He could have sworn she just did.
"You love me?" He asked her quietly.
She nodded. "Yes, Roderich. I am. Totally and completely in love with you. When I forfeited my independence, I thought I was giving it so that maybe that I could have another chance at being in love, but little did I know, I was forfeiting it to be with you."
Her confession was cut short due to Roderich's lips meeting hers. He didn't care about the rest, that's all he needed to hear from her. Was that she loved him back.
Although she had much more to say, even she herself thought it was much better if she would just shut up before she started to sound like a babbling idiot.
This was the first time they've ever kissed without them falling on top of each other or being intoxicated, and it felt amazing. He pulled her closer by her waist, and she wrapped both of her arms around his neck, making the kiss deeper.
When they broke apart to breathe, Elizabeta rested her head on his. "So what do you suppose we do about this relationship?" She asked him quietly.
"We can only make it work if…"
"If?"
"You come to live with me in Austria."
Elizabeta instantly started to pale. "Oh sweetheart, I can't do that. Not right now. I mean your leaving in less that 15 minutes and I'm pretty sure it's going to take me more than 15 minutes just to get home, and—"
"Sweetheart, I didn't mean right now." Roderich said cupping her face. "I meant in maybe a week or two."
"A-A week or two?"
"As in I go back to Austria, so I can clean up my house because it's possibly filled with dust and cobwebs now." He cringed at that.
"Then come back in a week or two. And during that week, I'll get my house ready for you to move in, and you can start packing up your house, and when I come back, we can finish packing up together."
"Oh. Well that defiantly makes more since."
"So what do you think? Do you want to live together?"
"Well I have to seriously think about it for a minute. So let's see. Living with the one that I love in a house that I know for a fact that will always be filled with music, love, and happiness, and a fridge that would always be filled with pastries. I don't think that would be bad thing at all, so I would love to move in with you Roderich."
Elizabeta jumped in his arms and he spun her around.
Finally.
Something to be happy about. What more could ask for? There was truly nothing she could think of that would make her more happier. Well…
"Would you like a chocolate chip cookie?" Roderich asked her as he took the tin container out of his pocket.
Elizabeta grinned. Things just got better.
Elizabeta stayed at the train station with Roderich, eating chocolate chip cookies until the train came roaring down the railroad. People came pouring out from the depot to the platform. Roderich slipped the tin container and easily slid his hands in Elizabeta's.
"So, I guess this is it." She spoke.
"I guess it is." He said after.
"Until, like two weeks later. Then you'll be back to come and get me." She said with a small smile.
Roderich smiled back and softly kissed her. "I should get going. I don't want a seat in the back again, it's really cold back there."
Elizabeta nodded. "Alright, I don't want you to be cold, so I'm gonna let you go now."
Roderich hugged her tightly. "I'll see you in a couple of weeks, I promise. Okay?" He said quietly in her hair.
'He promised.' She thought.
"Ok." Was all she had to say.
They kissed one more time before Roderich grabbed his bags and boarded the train. Elizabeta watched the train start up, whistle, and go off down the railroad until it was out of site.
Elizabeta drove home, only having his thoughts on Roderich. His smile, his laugh,his curl, his promises, his amazing piano playing talent, the hard to miss things, the easy to miss things. Everything. Every thought had something to do with him, or had something that reminded her of him. One of the things he said to her started to continuously played back in her mind over and over again.
"When your happy Elizabeta. When you're content with your life, it will then be the end."
Elizabeta was happy. Elizabeta was content. So it was safe to assume that this was…
"The End."
A/N So its the end... I think I'm gonna cry now._. But! I promised myself that I wouldn't. Ok, Im sorry that it didn't end the way you wanted, but I was thinking of an typing up a quick Epilogue or maybe mini story. Yes? No? Maybe so? ^_^ but if I just don't think it will be much of a good idea, and I want to leave it the way it is, I just want you all to know…
Thank you. Thank you to all of the people that Read, Alerted, Faved, and of course, Reviewed. You guys are amazing and I love you all to death:* If you guys think this is my first and last attempt at APH, then you are sadly mistaken:3 Trust me, I've got plots up the wazoo, and the number of plots are still growing ;D
So I guess until the next APH story I write you guys.
~Love you guys a bunches,
Skipperr❤