Authors Note: Oh my goodness, guys, I am SO SORRY that this took so long! Honestly, it was just me being pretty reluctant to write this because it hits pretty close to home for me, and I just didn't feel like writing it just yet. But it's up now and, thanks to thebookhobbit, is grammatically correct! So, this is the last one! I have another "collection" of oneshots that aren't based off of pictures, but are all my headcanons, that I'll post in the future... but I want to write all of them first, so that y'all don't end up having to wait for me like y'all did with this one! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Thank you, Book, for being an awesome beta!

There are a few people that I haven't really explained, but get mentioned here. Along with Alex and Evelyn, there are three other friends of John's: Jonathan, Taylor, and Sam. All that really needs to be explained to understand this is that Jonathan and Taylor were friends of Alex's and they met John about the same time. Sam was a freshman in high school when John, Alex, and co. were juniors. I think that's it!

Series of pictures: John with Father Isaacs, Father Jacobs, and Sister Karla outside of the airport; John with Alex, Evelyn, Jonathan, Taylor, and Sam in the same place; and John with his family still in the same spot. John is eighteen, and a priest at this point, about to leave for Japan.

He'd been waiting for the day… and he'd been dreading it. They'd sent him to Japan, and while he was grateful for the opportunity to do the Lord's work in a country that had so few churches, he was still very nervous. He was grateful that he was leaving in the middle of winter (well, it would be summer in Japan) after Evelyn had graduated high school, so he'd gotten to see that, and had been able to spend time with her and Alex especially, but all his other friends as well. His friends, his family, all the animals at home, especially his dog Roxanne… he'd been to college away from all of them, but they'd been not more than an hour or two drive away, at most. His roommates had known Alex almost as well as they'd known John, since they'd seen each other every few weekends. But in Japan… they wouldn't exactly be easy to get a hold of.

They'd all come over to his house the day before, with Alex, Jonathan, Taylor, and Sam spending the night, and Evelyn hadn't left until late. His siblings, even Mark, who he still didn't get along with, had all driven in (if they weren't home already) to see him off. Rachel and Sarah had cried half the drive to the airport, and when he'd tried to calm them, it had only made it worse. His mother hadn't cried, exactly, but her eyes had been teary, he couldn't read Luke's expression, but the lack of a joking smile on his face made John feel like he was going to his own funeral, and even his dad was more solemn than usual… and that was hard to manage. He didn't know about Matthew, his wife Dallas, or Mark, since they were driving in Matthew's car, but when they got to the airport their faces had all been uncharacteristically grim.

They were all fine when they first got to the airport. Evelyn looked like she was holding back tears, but she hadn't noticeably been crying, and all the guys were fine, other than the fact that it didn't look like it had been a very fun drive. Sister Karla, Father Jacobs, and Father Isaacs all joined them as well, and John was glad: Father Isaacs had a way of calming the situation just by being there,

His mom, of course, had her camera, and they took pictures in front of the airport; first with Father Isaacs, Sister Karla, and Father Jacobs: Sister Karla hugged him tight, and he could feel Father Isaacs and Father Jacobs hands. No tears yet, in fact they started laughing when Sister Karla stepped on her hem and almost sent the four of them falling backwards. The next one was with Alex, Evelyn, Jonathan, Taylor, and Sam.

"Okay, hobbits in front!" John, Evelyn, and Sam were all short, and so were sometimes called "the hobbit trio" and with Jonathan, Alex, and Taylor dwarfing the three of them, it was especially appropriate. Everyone was hanging on him, but fortunately no one tripped.

Father Isaacs took the picture of John with his family, and it took a moment for all of them to figure out how to arrange themselves… they wanted John in the middle, but that wasn't the easiest arrangement to work around, at least without making Father Isaacs back up halfway into the parking garage, but they managed.

"Make sure nothing happens to this one, it's probably the best family picture we have," his dad joked, which made everyone laugh.

They were all fine, even after they got into the airport, got John's boarding pass and his bag checked, until they walked through the lobby to say goodbye before John went through airport security. Jonathan and Taylor hugged him, and looked like they were trying to keep from tearing up, Sam was trying, but failing. Promises to call, and they stepped away so that everyone else had room. Sister Karla kissed his cheek, and Father Jacobs hugged him tightly, and this time there were promises of letters, and assurances from them that he'd be fine. Sarah and Rachel were crying again, and their hugs lasted several minutes.

"You be careful," he told Rachel, hugging her tightly. She was his little sister, his only younger sibling: the one who never forgot to make him wear the crazy birthday hat, the one who wouldn't let him get away with studying all night, and the one who got him in trouble when they were trying to bathe the horses and they'd ended up throwing soap bubbles and soapy washrags at each other, and attacking each other with the hose. He was the one she came to when there were bullies at school, the first to hear about it when she finally had that cello solo down perfect, and she picked him to let her cry on his shoulder when she was having boyfriend troubles, even though she knew as well as anyone else did that it was definitely not his forte. Because she was his little sister, his only little sister, and suddenly he was scared to leave her. It was one sentence, but he knew she knew what he was thinking about.

Saying goodbye to Mark was weird. They loved each other because they were family… if they had to. They'd never gotten along, Mark usually had as little to do with him as possible, and John had been just fine with that, because while John wasn't the fighting type, there was certainly some grumbling going on if they were around each other. But now they were in the airport, and John was leaving and he didn't know when he'd be back, and they had to say something. Mark was clearly thinking the same thing, and for several seconds they just stood there staring at each other… Mark started to hold out his hand, and John moved to shake it, when Mark changed his mind and gave him a hug, and John hugged him back. It was a light, awkward, hug, but it counted.

"You be careful, kid," Matthew said as he ruffled John's hair and hugged him. His relationship with Matthew was weird; he'd graduated high school when John was two, and so had been out of the house for almost all of what he could remember, with John just seeing him on birthdays, Christmas, and the occasional random holidays or visits. But it wasn't a bad weird; it was just different because Matthew was so much older. John hugged him back, and then Luke was ruffling his hair and dragging him into a light headlock that had them laughing, because of his three brothers, Luke was the one that acted the most like an actual brother to him with a normal, always around, messing with each other, and Luke making John have a semblance of a social life so that his baby brother grew up "normal."

John got out of the headlock and Luke hugged him tightly, and John hugged him back.

"You better be careful," Luke said "because it'll be awfully hard to kill you if we're in different hemispheres."

"I will, I will!"

At first John wasn't sure if his dad was actually going to say anything. They hugged each other, his dad dwarfing him completely as always, and it was several moments before he hunched so that he could say something without everyone else hearing:

"I'm so proud of you, John."

John hugged him tighter: "Thank you, sir."

His dad had told him he was proud of him only once before… when he'd graduated high school. It wasn't that he was cold or anything, John had just always known that respect and praise was something to be earned from his dad; they all knew it.

His mom was hugging him as soon as his dad let go, her tears coming in full force, and their words crashed into each other, with John assuring her that he'd be fine, telling her that he missed her, that he loved her, and her telling him… pretty much the same thing, but with a lot of crying. She started to let go when her tears slowed down, and John clung tighter, the same feeling that he'd had with Rachel, the sudden terror of leaving his mom, because she was his mom, and he couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been there. She saw the look in his eyes, and kissed him, hugging him tight again. It was several moments more before he let go.

Evelyn was crying too, and John hugged her tightly, trying to calm her down and keep from crying himself. She was his first friend… for a while his only friend. There was so much he could tell her… but he was pretty sure she knew all of it. He didn't want to say anything, he didn't want to cry… he tried to speak anyway, but was too choked up to talk. What else could he do but cling to her? Suddenly he wanted to say everything that was racing through his head… but he knew that there was no way he could get all of it out, especially not in public.

Saying goodbye to Alex was just as hard, if not worse. Seeing Alex cry… because he was… was one of the few things that really made his stomach drop. Any time he'd seen Alex cry had been distinctly bad times, and he had to remind himself that going to Japan was a good thing. It was just as hard to talk now as it had been with Evelyn. His best friend… John thought he literally wouldn't have survived high school if he hadn't met Alex. Even through college, Alex hadn't been far… and now he'd be a whole ocean away. John forced himself not to cry… and to let go, because he couldn't miss his flight. But it took so much willpower to not grab his hand again as soon as he did.

And then there was Father Isaacs. He put his hand on John's shoulder, and it was suddenly easier to take a breath, to will away the tears that were threatening.

"I'll make sure they all stay safe," he told John, and John smiled.

"Thank you, father."

He looked down when he felt Father Isaacs press something into his hand. It was a rosary, a beautiful rosary.

"But this is-" it was also Father Isaacs' rosary, and one that was very, very, important to him.

"Which is why I'm giving it to you." Father Isaacs smiled, and John hugged him tight.

They urged him on, then, because they wanted him to have time to get through security and not have to rush before he had to board the plane. He watched them, and they watched him, through the line, though he had to look away when it was his turn to go through. As soon as he got out and put his shoes back on, he turned around, and waved goodbye to them, before heading into the terminal.