I'm so sorry for the uber long wait! It's my senior year, so this spring has been a bit more complicated than I had ever expected with college and scholarships and such, I will be at Appalachian State next fall, so if you're there or an alumni let me know!

This will be the last chapter, with an epilogue to follow! Sorry again for all the delays!

Love Remains the Same

Half the time the world is ending

Truth is I am done pretending

Too much time, too long defending

You and I are done pretending

Kim's POV

Life was categorized into two sections now. Life before Jared and life with Jared. Jared was all I had ever wanted and then some. My brothers idolized him, Brady especially after he joined the pack. I had even caught Jared having a tea party with my sister. He was so sweet and understanding. He was there for me when my dad's chemo started up again, and let me cry on his shoulder as often as I needed. Almost every night he would slip into my room, and his presence would always ensure that my sleep was blissful. He had even gotten Sam's approval and applied to Seattle University to be with me. As graduation grew closer the closer Jared and I grew. It was a week before graduation when Jared asked me to have dinner with his parents.

"Kim, they'll love you, I do." I blushed as we sat in his truck in his own driveway. He tucked a stray strand of my hair behind my ear and kissed my forehead. "There really is no reason to be worried." I tried to swallow the lump in my throat and smiled weakly. "If you say so." Jared beamed at me as he got out of the car and rushed to open my door. Chivalry is so not dead. "That's my girl!" his lips met mine briefly before leading me into the house.

"Mom? Dad?" Jared called. There was movement upstairs before his mom's voice called down. "Hi honey, dinner's in the oven." Jared's eyes darkened as his forehead creased. "Honey, have you seen my cufflinks?" a male voice said in the background. "There in my jewelry box where they've always been." Mrs. Reid replied to her husband as she appeared down stairs. I had never formally met Mrs. Reid, but I was pretty sure cocktail dresses were not her everyday apparel. "Oh!" She said glancing over me. I tugged self consciously at my sundress. "I didn't know you were having a friend over." Jared's eyes widened and then narrowed. "I asked you to leave tonight open, I wanted you to meet Kim, my girlfriend." His mother continued to bustle about, paying us little attention. "I'm sorry honey, but your father has a very important business dinner we have to go to tonight, we'll have to reschedule for another night." Jared was shaking as he closed his eyes fury etched into his every feature.

"This is important!" Jared yelled, the first time I had ever heard him raise his voice. His mother froze her spine stiff as she looked back over at me. "She's very pretty Jared, but really you'll be off to school at the end of the summer and you'll never think of her again." Jared was dangerously close to shifting, so I did the only thing I could think of, I grabbed his large hand with my own and gave it a small comforting squeeze. He looked down at me anger and shame swimming in his eyes. "It's OK…" I whispered. This was what I had expected after all. He shook his head furiously. "It's not OK!" he yelled again. His father strode down the stairs then looking almost as furious as Jared. "What the hell is going on?" He glared at Jared though Jared just returned the glare. His father sighed as he saw our locked hands. "Listen, Jared, I understand that you think you love this girl…" "No! You listen." Jared said suddenly dangerously calm. "I do love her. I love Kim, and someday I will marry her." My heart stopped. I missed the next few words he said as his words repeated in my head. Someday I will marry her. "I'm sorry that the two of you can't accept that." I was brought back to reality as Jared gently pulled me out of the house. He was silent as we drove away. I wasn't sure where we were going, but I could tell that it was helping Jared just to drive away. Eventually we pulled to a stop at the beach. "I'm so sorry." He whispered not looking at me. I placed a gentle hand on his cheek. "Want to go for a walk?" I asked softly hoping that it would distract him.

We walked along the beach for a long time just holding hands in silence. I had taken my shoes off to wade in the water, the weather being unusually warm. "I'm sorry." He said again after a while. "It's not your fault." He sighed and raised the back of my hand to his lips. "I'm sorry that my parents don't understand, that I told you they would, and mostly for raising my voice to you." He hung his head in shame. I stopped walking and pulled on his arm to make him top too. I stood in front of him, looking up into his brown eyes. "Do you really think that I hold that against you?" I asked smiling slightly. "I know that you were angry at your parents, not at me." "That's no excuse." I sighed in defeat as I sat in the sand, pulling Jared down with me. "Let's just forget about it alright? Tonight is just you and me. Nobody else, promise?" Finally Jared smiled. "Promise." He pulled me onto his lap and I laid my head in the crook between his neck and shoulder.

Silence lapsed over us again, this time comfortable and familiar. "I meant what I said." He whispered. My heart leapt. Did he mean…? He lifted me off of his lap and set me on my feet again. "Stay here." He ordered as he ran swiftly to the truck and back. I still can't describe the feeling I got as he reached me and knelt on the ground. Butterflies don't even come close. "I was going to wait until graduation, but after tonight I can't wait one more minute. Kim, I know we're young, and this is moving so fast, but I love you so much more than I could have ever imagined loving anyone. Kim Connweller, will you marry me? Fleas and all?" I laughed through my tears. " Yes!" I whispered. Jared smiled wider than I had ever seen as he pulled a box out of his pocket and slipped a ring onto my hand. My mind was racing a mile a minute as he stood up and captured my lips, wondering if we were moving to fast, but even louder than that my heart was rejoicing. I knew that Jared was the one; even as young as we were I knew that I would never find anyone like him. I would never find someone who would treat me as a queen like Jared did, who belonged in my family as much as I did, or who loved me as deeply and unconditionally as Jared does.

I realized as I studied my ring where we were. I laughed as I looked around the beach, finding a familiar bench. "What?" Jared asked, nervous. "This is where you brought me on our first date." He looked around and then laughed. "I thought that you would never speak to me again after that night, I was pretty sure I had screwed this all up by telling you so soon, then right after I fixed that I screwed it up again!" he groaned exasperated. I laughed again as I stood on tip-toe to kiss him again. "Well, I for one am glad that it all worked out in the end." I teased. Jared smirked and held me closer. "Yeah, me too."

Wow 2,370 hits!You guys are so freaking awesome! Once again sorry about the long wait. Working on the last chapter and maybe a new imprint story or two, but no promises! LOL 3 Sem