a/n: sigh idk ? ? what this is ?

Thank you sooo so much for all your support with this story. You guys have been truly wonderful. I cannot thank you enough for sticking with me, and for the continued support. I am sad to say goodbye to this story, and I know some of you are sad to say goodbye too, but it's time for it to end. This is the last update I will ever give on this. And for that reason, I'm going to say thank you in advance too. I mean, who knows, maybe no one will even glance at this, and if they do they will comment on how horribly written it is. Who knows.

But honestly thanks so much for everything. I love you guys. PEACE OUT. btw you should check out "Missing Heart" if you haven't already because I love self promoting. i am sorry.

Also i apology for taking so long to update. I SUCK.

Epilogue

Three Years Later

Once again he is facing his old high school peers. The statement doesn't exactly stimulate him. He has never been a fan of a lot of them, and he is almost sure they feel the same way. They probably don't even remember him now. It's been about nine and half years since graduation and Toby can't imagine that he really left an engraving on any one of them.

But he's keeping his mouth shut. He stays pleasant and supportive, and pretends to care about the guest list because he knows she would go crazy if he acted any differently.

A couple of his old classmates have come up to him, awing at him and his music. Toby is appreciative and humble about it, and doesn't deny them from receiving an autograph. And even though this is not the first time he's been awed and drooled over by an assortment of people, he feels strange. He went to high school with these people. He sat by them in math, and worked with them in lab, and now they are fawning over him. It feels weird and somewhat uncomfortable, but then again, he has always sort of felt this way around them, so what's new?

"You have quite the fan base," Emily notes from behind him. He just got done signing Samara Cook's napkin. He is almost sure that people are just coming up to him now because they think he's famous, and having a famous person's signature is all the rave. He doubts this many of his old classmates have listened to his music. He's not that popular.

Toby just shrugs. "Monkey see, monkey do," he puts worth.

She gives him a peculiar look.

"I think people are just playing follow the leader. People are asking for autographs, so other people want them because… for whatever reason."

Emily just laughs. "All right, Tobes," she giggles. "Whatever you say."

He smiles at her. "So, are you enjoying the party?" he asks.

She nods. "It's nice," she offers kindly. "Are you?" she questions, raising an eyebrow.

He shrugs lazily. "It's nice."

"It feels like Hanna and Caleb's engagement party was yesterday," Emily reminisces. "I remember how much you dreaded it because of a certain girl you used to go to school with. What was her name?"

Toby rolls his eyes slightly, smiling in spite of himself whilst looking at his shoes.

"Started with an S, right?" Emily continues the mockery.

"Yeah, glad she's not here," he plays back, grinning widely at the brunette. "Makes this whole thing so much bearable," he continues.

Emily laughs a little. "Well, congratulations," she states, beaming at him. "I'm happy for you guys."

"Thanks, Em," he wraps his arms around the woman in a friendly hug.

He slips away from Emily, finding Spencer at the entrance. She is somewhat pacing with her arms crossed over her chest. He can practically feel her fretting.

"Spence…" he delivers somewhat cautiously.

Her eyes snap up to him in frenzy. "Oh, hi," she replies.

"You okay?"

She grinds her teeth together, looking down. "Fine. Why wouldn't I be?" she responds. "I mean, I didn't really expect her to actually show up. Why would she? I'm just her youngest daughter, and all."

Ever since Spencer quit law, her relationship with her mother has been deeply strained. She knew it would happen. She was prepared for the isolation and disapproval, but she had underestimated her mother's stubbornness. It's been nearly three years. Well, two years since she actually told her. Two years, and her mother is still refusing to bury the hatchet.

Things have gotten better over the course of two years of course. Her mother had refused to talk to her for months when she first delivered the news. All Spencer's attempts at communication were shot down by her parent. Finally, after three months of radio silence, her mother had invited her daughter over for dinner, and listened to what her she had to say.

But even after hearing her daughter's speech on happiness and dreams, and whatnot, her mother had been cold. Colder than usual.

They haven't moved much from that place. Their relationship is still very distant.

Veronica had told Spencer she would try to stop by for the engagement party, but has yet to show up. She probably isn't going to. Veronica did not approve of their relationship. He likes to think that things have gotten better with time, but most of the time he knows he is just fooling himself. Veronica blames him for Spencer's sudden change of heart in the career path. Which, he must say, is sort of his fault. He had pushed her to follow her dreams, and her dreams did not reside in law.

Toby takes another step towards her, untangling her arms at her chest, and linking one of his hands with hers. "I have to show you something."

"Um, okay," she offers.

"Okay, well, we are going to have to ditch. Just for a few minutes."

She tilts her head a little, her copper eyes burning with question. "What?"

"You heard me. We just need to leave for a few minutes. No one will even notice we are gone."

"This is our engagement party. What do you mean no one will notice that we are gone?"

"Come on, Spencer," he says. "It'll be fine."

"We can't just walk out on our engagement party!" she says, clearly baffled.

"Why not?"

"Because—because it's our engagement party. We are the hosts!"

"Caleb can handle it. Or Hanna."

She rolls her eyes.

"Come on," he drags her out the door, holding onto her hand like a parent would a child.

She seems unhappy about it, but she follows him anyway. He leads her to his truck, and opens the door for her. She looks over at him with annoyance. He just nods to the door, swinging their arms over to the direction of the seat.

She sighs and finally obliges, jumping in the passenger seat.

Spencer glares him down the whole time. Only when they arrive at their destination, does something flicker in her eyes besides annoyance. She is more confused than annoyed now. More intrigued than irritated.

"What are we doing here?" she asks. "What is this place?" she questions again.

"Well, let's go in, and you'll see."

"Toby, we can't just go inside…" she begins, but he doesn't listen. He hops out of the car, and shortly after, Spencer is joining him on the pavement. He walks up to the small building, Spencer rushing up to him in heals behind him.

"Toby!" she shouts. "This is trespassing."

He waves her off, ignoring her. He gets to doors and pulls out a set of keys, which keeps her quiet for a moment.

"What?" she stares wide eyed as the keys open the door. "Toby—what are you doing? Who owns this building?!" she demands, actually stomping her foot down.

He pushes the door open further, slipping the keys into his pocket before grabbing his fiancé's hand in his own, and walking into the entrance.

Her eyes go everywhere. She inspects the place carefully, her mocha eyes squinting and her eyebrows crinkling. She walks forward, pushing a door open. Inside is a dancing studio, mirrors holding as walls and ballet bars accompanying the sides of the room. She flicks on the light to get a better look.

She walks inside, inspecting it. It smells like fresh paint and wax. She turns around slowly after a few minutes, looking at him with furrowed eyebrows and hard lips.

"What is this?" she asks sternly.

"A dance studio," he responds. "The lobby still needs working on," he looks towards the other room. "I figured this was more important to do first, though."

"What? What are you talking about?" she demands, flustered. She takes slow steps over to him. "Toby… did you really do what I think you did?"

"That depends," he puts forth. "What do you think I did?"

She sucks in a breath, rolling back her shoulders and standing up straight. "Did you," she starts pointedly, "buy me a dance studio?"

"No, Spencer, that would be crazy."

She relaxes a little, but somewhat frowns too.

"I bought a building that was on foreclosure, and then I made it a dance studio. With the help of some people, and it's been inspected, don't worry," he states easily. "And anyway, I'm almost halfway through, and I think to myself…wait I hate dancing? Why am I doing this? So, you know, I thought I would finish and just… give it to you."

Her jaw drops slightly, her eyes huge as saucers. She is completely agape. He grins to himself at this.

She tries to say something, but only becomes flustered. "You can't—," she states, swallowing. "Why would you—this is insane!" she exclaims, completely astonished.

He just continues to bask in enjoyment.

"So, all this time," she begins, throwing her arms over her chest, "all this time that you've been working on a new project you meant this… God, your manager must hate you."

"I've been doing both. This…maybe a little bit more," he admits.

"Toby!" she exasperates. "How—this… why?"

He laughs. "You deserve your own dance studio," he explains, walking up to her. "You are talented enough. And I believe in you."

"I was talking about leasing a place. Not buying one. How much was this?"

"I told you, it was foreclosure. It wasn't so bad."

She cocks her head a little. "And what about all the repairs? All the… work you had to put into this? You said you had a few other guys."

"Yeah. Caleb. And Holden, and Emily helped too. Emily was basically the only true help though. Caleb and Holden suck," he shakes his head a little. "Anyways, I paid them in alcohol and food."

Spencer just gapes at him. "I can't—believe you."

"Spencer, it's not like a built it from scratch. And If you remember from high school, I have had my fair share of construction jobs. It wasn't that hard. I just had to replace some dry wall, and rip out some carpet, then replace it with wood and...it doesn't really matter. It wasn't hard."

She scoffs. "I—I—I can't believe you!" she exclaims. "What if I said no?"

"To what? You marrying me?" he responds.

She nods smugly, a challenge in her crazy eyes.

"As if you would ever say no…" he responds lightly. Truly he had been terrified. Not about the dance studio, but just about the prospect of her saying no. How could he not be? Her rejecting a life with him? He may as well get hit by a dozen lightning bolts.

"Toby… I don't even know what to say," she breathes, her eyes wondering around the place in awe and bafflement. "I—you're crazy," she meets his eyes. "This is crazy."

He laughs. "Yeah, that's what Caleb said too."

She shakes her head. "I—how do I ever top this? How do you ever top this? Nothing you can say or ever do will be able to reach this. You have reached your peak, and we aren't even married yet."

He gives her a look of bemusement. "Kind of not what I was hoping to hear…but I mean, at least you're getting there, in a way."

She laughs, "I'm sorry, I just," she shakes her head, looking down. "This is so…incredible," she breathes. She meets his eyes, "no one has ever done anything this incredible for me. No one's ever believed in me like you do," she admits softly.

"I love you," he murmurs quietly. "I know that you are going to be amazing."

She shakes her head, still in disbelief. Tears collect in the corner of her eyes. Tears of bliss.

Instead of telling him with words on just how much she adores him, she throws her arms around him, pressing her mouth against his in a rapture of joy and love. He kisses back with equal fiery, his hands encircling around her in sheer desperation.

He wishes he could go kick his past self in the face. Tell him that Spencer Hastings is the most wonderful woman on the planet, and one day he will be lucky enough to call her his. He regrets all the time he has wasted. All the time that he has spent complaining over her existence. That time could have been spent with her instead, with her amazing intelligence and wit, with her gleaming auburn eyes and soft chestnut hair, and everything in between. The time could have been spent better with her.

He picks her up in his arms, her legs entwining around his waist almost instantly after. They are supposed to be at their engagement party. He knows that. Spencer probably knows that too, but he doesn't really care. The only person he really needs to celebrate his engagement with is his fiancé herself.

He backs her up against the mirror/wall, kissing up and down her neck with avid lip strokes. She gently moans as he nibbles against her collar bone. She throws her head back against the mirror in bliss as he continues down her chest.

Her dress is not very low cut. It's a sweet heart neckline, so it's pretty modest. He pushes down one of the sleeves of the dress instead, brushing his lips against her shoulder. She embeds her fingers through his combed hair, messing it up surely.

"We are terrible hosts…" she lets out in a pant.

He picks his head up to look at her.

"But I don't care," she breathes before pushing her mouth to his in an absolute craving.

…

They come back to the party a little while later with messy hair and ruffled attire. No one seemed to notice their absence. Everything seems the same as they left it at first, but then Spencer spots her mother.

"Oh my God, she came," Spencer states in a hushed tone. In that moment, her mother locks eyes with her, trying on a smile. She begins to walk over towards them.

"Do we look okay? God, your hair…" she winces slightly. She begins to comb her fingers through it, trying her hardest to keep it down. But it had been gelled, and Spencer had messed with it. There's no way she can fix it now. It's ruined.

"I've been looking for you two," her mother states, a smile on her mouth. Strange.

"We just had to go run a party errand. The caterers are such idiots," Spencer says without missing a beat.

"Well, at least the food tastes good…" her mother answers with raised eyebrows.

Spencer nods, biting her lip.

"Well, I'm happy for you two," she delivers a moment later. It doesn't sound fake, but she's not exactly full of enthusiasm either. "I know I've been somewhat hard on you Toby, but I do think my you make my daughter happier. And that is truly important."

Spencer silently wonders if her mother is mocking her. Her mother believes in wealth. Not happiness. Then again, it's not like Toby's poor. He has gotten pretty popular these last couple years. Sometimes they'll be walking, and someone will come up to ask for a picture.

"Welcome to the family Toby," she smiles, resting a hand on his shoulder. "As long as I believe you put my daughter in a brighter state of mind, I will treat you as if you were my own son."

She looks over to Spencer, frowning slightly. "The truth is Spencer, I have come to realize that you are right. You should do what makes you happy," she supports. "I just haven't known what to say."

Spencer blinks. She was not expecting that.

"Can you ever manage to forgive me?" she sighs.

Spencer nods with a small smile before bringing her mother in for a hug.

…

"I've known these two a long time," Caleb begins his speech. "I met them both the first week of high school," he starts. "Spencer was in my computer class. They didn't have an AP class for that, so she was stuck with all of us peasants."

The crowd chuckles a little.

"I met Toby at my lunch table. I didn't even have a class with him until Sophomore year, but he still somehow managed to become one of my best friends," Caleb reminisces. "Anyways, enough about me. Let's get to them. I mean they are the ones getting married and all."

The crowd laughs a little at this too.

"Toby and Spencer hated each other. It was completely and blatantly obvious to anyone who had ever been in a room with them longer than five minutes."

More laughter.

"At first they were polite about it. They aren't mean people, Spencer and Toby. Like everyone has to be at some point in their lives, they were fake. They managed to swallow their disgust, just to throw it up later on me."

The crowd laughs again.

"Anyways, one day, I think Spencer said something to Toby about him being stupid, and from there, they kind of just voiced their opinions to each other freely. They were not nice opinions, either. Let me tell you that. These two fought about everything. And I don't say that lightly. I literally mean everything. Sometimes they would be so busy fighting each other that they would ignore their friends."

Caleb pauses, scrunching up his face. "Why are you getting married again?" he asks them.

The crowd bursts out laughing.

"You're a terrible best man," Toby tells him.

Caleb rolls his eyes and begins again. "Anyways," he starts. "When they told me three and half years ago that they were a couple, I literally thought they were joking. I was drunk, it was at my wedding, and they are just sitting there—saying they are a couple. At that time, they had been friends… I guess. I still have no clue how it all went down—I don't want to know, but still, I was in shock. We all were. I mean this was Spencer and Toby. Mortal enemies from the start, saying that they were dating."

"It was crazy. It was absolutely insane. But eventually… I got used to it. I began to accept them. They are both my best friends. I want them both to be happy. I want them to have what I have with my wife, Hanna," he glances at the blonde who stands over on the sidelines. She waves a little at him. "And I think they do. I think they are really good for each other. They really do something for each other. They truly care and love one another. I've seen it. I know it. And I know that this is the right decision for them."

"So, congratulations guys," Caleb ends the speech. "I'm truly happy for you. I know you will make it."