A/N: Well. This is it, guys.

The final chapter of Living with My Sonshine.

Now, I promise to you, guys - I have plans. I have plans for little one-shot spin-offs focused on anything and everything to do with this story... but this is the actual final chapter.

You have no idea how long I've been mentally preparing myself for this. It's a miracle I'm not crying now.

So... here it goes. I really, really hope you guys enjoy it. It'll be in 3rd person POV, so... yeah. Heh.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonny with a Chance. *sniff*

LWMS FINALE

"Abigail Cooper?"

The nine year-old girl lifted her head from her test paper to see the principal of West Hollywood Elementary School in the doorway of the large hall where her class were taking a few end-of-year tests. The blonde, under her sister-in-law's supervision and guidance, had prepared flawlessly for the exam she was taking at this present moment – Math – but her mind was on other matters. Family matters.

Her aforementioned sister-in-law was, at this present moment in time, in hospital. In labour. She had woken up this morning, groaning and screaming. Her husband, Abby's older brother, had yelled something about her "waters breaking" and called a doctor immediately. This had scared Abby – she hadn't been around for her first niece, Rebecca's, birth, and so she knew nothing about what was happening when Sonny's waters broke. She was almost terrified. But she could see, in her brother's eyes, a little twinkle of excitement. He wasn't afraid. Well, not completely.

Mostly, he was ecstatic.

While the other kids in the room were speedily (or perhaps not, for the less able or more careful amongst them) making their way through their tests, Abby's mind was on how her sister must be feeling at this point. She could imagine the woman writhing in pain on a hospital bed while her husband – Abby's older brother – waited anxiously outside, pacing the corridor impatiently and having to listen to his wife's agonised screams as she birthed their second child. Abby didn't know much about childbirth, apart from what she'd learned from her sister-in-law Sonny, which Sonny was reluctant to explain during her recent pregnancy. It sounded really scary to Abby.

"Your brother has called for you, Abigail." The principal, Mr Winters, explained, "Hesays that he's come pick you up and take you to, uh, the hospital…?"

Principal Winters gave the teacher who had set the test an apologetic smile as Abby hopped out of her seat and skipped excitedly towards the door. She knew what this meant – she was going to see her new niece or nephew!

"Chad's gonna be pretty miffed when he finds we've taken you from your tests, y'know."

Abby's older brother, now nineteen year-old Josh, led his little sister towards his blue Lexus, which was parked in the school's lot beside the playground where the kids had recess. Abby's oldest brother, Chad, had jumped at the chance to get Abby into the best school he could find in the city – being pretty much like a father to the girl, he had always strived to get her the very best. Ever since their mother passed and their father left them back when the little girl was only two years old, Abby had almost treated Chad like her father, and his girlfriend-turned-wife Sonny as her mother. Sonny Cooper (nee Munroe) was such a caring, nurturing young woman, it was hard to believe that Abby wasn't her very own child.

Josh, on the other hand, had pretty much ignored his little sister until Sonny came along. As positive an influence as Chad had tried to be, Josh had been what many would describe as a 'nightmare' from the moment he found his mother dead and his brother crying at her bedside. He had been a troubled tween and had had a rough one or two years, but, as Chad proudly tells it, the sunshine (or Sonshine) entered their lives at just the right time and brightened it, being the heroine to save the day for the family.

Abby smiled at her big brother, "He won't mind." She said, sounding pretty self-assured.

"Tests are pretty important, though, kiddo." Josh warned his little sister. Not that he really believed what he was saying. When Josh was a teen, he hardly even went to school. He was a smart guy, sure, but middle school hadn't been his favourite place. Luckily, he fixed things in high school, and managed to graduate the year before, on time with the other kids his age. His brother couldn't have been more grateful. Josh was actually planning to go to college – near his girlfriend. Zora Lancaster, being the excellently academic mind she was, had been accepted to Dartmouth and Harvard and Yale, and though Josh's grades weren't that good and he hadn't even considered sending an application to any the Ivy League colleges, his plan was to at least be in the same state as his girlfriend. Josh had forgotten his notion of true love being stupid and gross – his brother's wife's friend was his girlfriend; possibly his true love. Sonny would always coo at the thought – "We're all like a little family!" she would exclaim excitedly whenever she saw her friend arm in arm with her brother-in-law.

"Tests are boring." Abby moaned, poking the gap where her last baby tooth had recently fallen out with her tongue. This, of course, was reason to exclaim to her oldest brother, "See! I'm not a baby girl anymore!" to which he would reply, "You'll always be my baby girl, baby girl."

Josh chuckled at his little sister's remark, "Don't tell Chad that. He'll worry you're defecting to the dark side like I did. First, you hate tests; soon, you'll be refusing to go into school."

Abby raised a confused eyebrow, "But you can't not go to school! School is school!"

The child waved her arms around dramatically, clearly believing missing a day of school was like a crime. The worse someone could commit. Josh laughed and ruffled his little sister's hair.

"You sound just like Chad." He accused. Abby's jaw dropped open, before she gave him an impish smile.

"Thanks, Sonshine." He drawled, copying her oldest brother's nickname for his wife. Josh spluttered out a laugh.

"Okay, yeah, you got me; I admit." He said, holding his hands up in defeat, "I am Sonny… in disguise… don't tell Chad!"

Innocent little Abby giggled suddenly. "I'm Chaddy, you're Sonny."

Josh shuddered, "No. Please. Don't give me that image!"

Abby spluttered, giggling, as her brother picked her up and gave her a piggyback across the rest of the trail to his car.

"Where are we going now, Josh?" Abby asked her big brother, as, protectively, he buckled her seat belt for her, even though the girl had been taught years ago and knew precisely how to do her seat belt. Josh debated that maybe he was being protective because, being older now, he'd developed some of Chad's fatherly instincts. Or maybe it was because if they got into an accident and there was even a scratch on their little sister, Chad would bite his head off. As a young teen, he would've rolled his eyes at his brother's parental acts, but now he was almost twenty he almost… understood them. He shuddered. Being in love? Being overly caring? He was slowly turning into Chad…

"We're gonna go pick up Zora." Josh told his little sister (whose face lit up at the mention of one of her favourite 'Aunties', second to only Tawni Hart), shutting her door and opening his own. His little sister was sat right behind him, and so when he reached his hand backwards to pat her friendlily on the leg, she reached for his hand before he could and held onto a couple of his fingers, giggling. Josh smiled at his little sister's touch.

"C'mon, bab- Abby." He cut himself off before he could go on and adopt Chad's nickname for her. Not only did Abby have something against that nickname and had done ever since her fourth birthday, but Josh realised it was just another way he was becoming more like Chad. He groaned.

"Okay. I take back what I said. I'm more Chad than Sonny." He confessed to his little sister, who stared at the back of his head in confusion, before bursting into a fit of giggles.

"You're funny!" She told her brother, kicking her feet around in the air in excitement. She twiddled a length of her pretty blonde hair, which she had surely inherited from her mother, between her fingers. Josh looked at his little sister and smiled to himself. The long blonde hair, the light blue eyes, the bright happy smile…

Abby surely was their mother's daughter.

The little girl ran into the taller nineteen-year-old girl's arms, her fingertips not even touching each other. Zora Lancaster picked up her little 'niece', swinging her around, giggling as she did.

"Hey, Abster!" She cooed, putting the little one back down and patting her on the head, wrapping one of her hands around her smaller one.

"Hi, Zora!" She gave the older girl a huge, toothy grin, which Zora believed she had adopted from Sonny. Sonny used to smile like that a lot when they first met – now that she had grown up, her smiles were a lot more mature, adult-looking. However, when she was overly happy, sometimes, she'd crack one of those massive smiles that lit up the room like sunshine. Zora kind of missed the old days, when Sonny would always be the one to light up her day, because they used to spend so much time together and Sonny could just do that to a person all the time back in those days. But, then, to be honest, Sonny was happier now. She was happily married, with one – soon to be two – kids. She was super happy. And so was Zora.

And, call her childish, but she missed the So Random days.

Josh, who had hung back while Zora and Abby had exchanged their little hug, approached his two 'girls' and wrapped his arms around the both of them. Abby, overexcited, exclaimed to the two something about Sonny's giving birth, and rushed straight back to Josh's Lexus, leaving the two alone. Josh gave his girlfriend a charming smile, stroking her porcelain-white cheeks.

Despite living in Los Angeles for most of her life, the sun had certainly had no effect on Zora's skin tone. Since she was not the girl to go to beaches and try to soak up a tan, even in her teenage years, her skin was definitely not that of a Californian. This, however, was no problem for her boyfriend. Despite any expectations from the boy's judgemental and cynical personality as a tween, he had never showed any sign of being more attractive to the more flashy, 'plastic' side of the female population. In fact, Zora had really been the only girl he'd ever been attracted to – unlike his brother, who had had probably thousands of girls before he found 'the one'. Even when he found 'the one', and let her slip out of his fingers that horrible time that led to them spending six months apart, he'd dated a couple of attractive girls to get his mind off of his break-up, but to no prevail.

Chad and Josh knew it far too well – their true loves were definitely their Random girls.

"You ready to go, babe?" Josh asked his girlfriend, to which she nodded excitedly.

"Baby number two; let's go!"

Across the city, and the same event was being anticipated by Sonny's mother and a trio of Sonny's friends. Tawni Hart, Sonny's closest Hollywood friend and tied-for-best friend along with Lucy Daniels (Sonny's childhood Wisconsin friend who she still kept in touch with and visited with her family whenever she got the chance), was on the phone to Chad, who kept her up-to-date with the latest news about the birth. So far, contractions were opening her uterus ready for the birth. Sonny's Wisconsin friend Lucy, the couple's old friend and Grady's girlfriend Mel, and of course, Sonny's mother, were listening eagerly to the updates. There was one more person in the room, too – Sonny and Chad's young daughter, Rebecca, was sat on her grandmother's lap, giggling and playing with her favourite stuffed toy – a giraffe that had been handed down to her from her Auntie Abby, who had adored that giraffe as a baby and had wanted her new niece to take care of it as best as she could, to which Rebecca responded with a spluttered giggle and a hug, before she squeezed the life out of her new favourite toy.

"You guys should come down here, you know." Chad's tired voice told the group over speaker phone. He hadn't slept in a few hours – you could tell by the tone in his voice. He was just hoping the birth would be over with soon – he wanted to join his wife in finally welcoming their second child to the world. "Zora and Josh are coming – they might bring Abby too. I'm sure Sonny would want you to be there for this." If she wasn't in so much pain, he added to himself. His wife was a sweetheart, sure – but labour was a painful experience. He didn't dare to go into her room and ask Sonny if she wanted her friends there – she'd be too busy screaming to answer. Plus, he knew his girl inside-out as it was – she loved her friends, and her mother, and wanted them there.

"Well be there, soon." Tawni promised, "We're waiting for Nico and Grady – they haven't showed up."

The group could almost hear Chad rolling his eyes, "I wonder what shenanigans the idiots have got themselves into this time." He pondered, but mockingly rather than in the condescending tone he would have used back when they were teens. Chad was much friendlier with the Randoms nowadays – now he'd had years experience getting used to them – he'd even started calling them friends a year or so after So Random and Mackenzie Falls ended.

"Hey," Mel said sternly, even though she was smirking, "Their girlfriends are here, you know."

"That's what you are?" Chad shot back sarcastically, "I thought they'd just finally found their Players Three and Four."

Mel laughed while Tawni shuddered at the thought. She loved her boyfriend – fiancé – but that didn't mean she shared the same love for his video games he still played from time to time. And she certainly didn't share it so much that she'd actually play herself.

Yuck.

As if scheduled, the two boys – men, though they still sometimes behaved like their juvenile teenage selves – burst through the door of Tawni and Nico's apartment, giving the company sheepish smiles.

"Oh, speak of the devil." Chad's voice was the only one to speak. Obviously he had heard their entrance and had assumed that only they could enter a room in such a lousy, noisy, bumbling way. Mel and Tawni were too busy smiling at their respective partners, while Sonny's mother Connie was staring into space, half-thinking about the traditional 'my-baby-girl' stuff that Sonny would probably complain at her about. The other half of her attention was still on Rebecca, who had fallen silent on her lap. Sleeping.

"Sorry." Nico was the first to speak, as he straightened his trilby, "Freeway's crazy busy. I suggest we take a different route to the hospital."

A distant screaming came from Tawni's phone, and Chad spoke again; this time his voice sounding much more awake and alert. One couldn't pick out whether it was excitement or nerves colouring his voice.

"Well, that route had better be quick – it sounds like the baby's getting closer!"

And that one sentence sent the rest of them out of the door in a frenzy.

Chad Dylan Cooper had been impatiently pacing the corridors, speaking to his friends over the phone and trying to ease his nerves with their comforting. But now they'd gone and he was alone again and he was oh so nervous, and as he heard the strained screams coming from his wife, he shook his head and made a break for the door. He heard a low chuckling as he reached the door, and turned to see an older man, probably in his mid-thirties, sat on one of the plastic waiting chairs in the corridor. He had dark hair and blue eyes, and he gave Chad a sympathetic smile.

"First one?" He asked. Chad shook his head, shocked at the stranger's support.

"Second." He admitted. The man nodded.

"Never gets any easier, huh?"

Chad shook his head, speechless. After a few seconds, he managed to get words out. "H-how many for you?"

"Four." He said proudly. Chad let out a small gasp. He knew he'd never cope with such a large group of kids. One or two was good for him. Any more than that and Chad was sure his head would explode. He couldn't go through this childbirth process any more than that. Let alone the headaches and worrying it put him through – what about Sonny and her cravings and swellings and morning sickness and fatigue and that long labour process that she was going through at this very moment. He almost idolised his wife for being so strong. He could imagine her in their right now, trying hard to smile even though she needed so much energy right now and couldn't be using it up on stuff like talking and laughing and trying to keep the mood light and happy. He smiled at the thought. His wife, ever the sweetheart.

Giving the man one last kind smile, Chad said, "Good luck with the little one, then."

"You two." The man smiled as Chad twisted the doorknob and pushed open the door to see his wife laid on the bed, groaning and screaming. The doctors and midwives were all around, but all he could focus on was his beautiful wife. The doctors didn't seem to notice as Chad ran to his wife's bedside, squeezing her hand in his. Sonny twisted her head to see him, and for the first time, she realised he had entered and gave him a weak, but true smile. He understood the smile straight away, because he'd been in love with her for so long that he could understand every gesture, every laugh, every teardrop, every breath-taking smile.

And he knew what this smile meant. She was glad. She was glad he was there. She was in pain, of course, but that didn't matter, because he was there and she was pleased because of it. He was there for her, just like she was always there for him, through the good and the bad, because that's what you did when you were in love. That's where Chad had been right since the very first time he had told her that he loved her – right there. Right by her side.

Exactly where he belonged.

Exactly where he would stay.

Almost two hours passed before the company gathered outside the hospital room heard total silence fall, after those near-two hours of screaming and shouting and encouraging words. They listened, eager to hear some kind of movement. A child crying. Something. Anything. They each silently prayed that the child hadn't passed away. That would be Sonny and Chad's second time losing a child before it had even had a chance at life. They doubted the couple would be able to cope with that.

Sat silently, they anxiously waited to be told they could enter.

The small sound of crying escaped through the door. A few shoulders relaxed – the baby was alive. They tried to peek in through the small window in the door, but came up short, and instead, collectively, they all sat, impatient, but willing to let the couple have their first moments with their new child.

Meanwhile, inside the room, the baby was being cleaned off and wrapped in a towel. Sonny, gasping, trying to retain her natural breathing pace, turned her head to Chad, who was smiling proudly. She gave him a smile in return – tired, but triumphant.

"We're getting experts at this, huh?" Chad joked, earning a weak, but real, laugh from his wife.

"I'm exhausted." She admitted, relieved to have something coming out of her mouth that wasn't a scream.

"Well, you can sleep soon, m'lady." Chad promised, stroking his wife's precious head. Sonny's smile got wider – her energy was slowly coming back to her. The colour in her face was looking much more normal, and Chad realised she was still holding his hand, though not as tightly as she had while giving birth.

"Nah." Sonny shrugged, "I'm too excited!"

"Mr and Mrs Cooper?"

Synchronised, the two looked up to see the midwife, Maria, a blonde woman in her mid thirties, holding their second child, wrapped in a blue blanket with a small blue hat on to prevent heat loss. She handed the baby to Sonny, smiling kindly.

"Congratulations." She cooed, "It's a boy!"

Sonny's face lit up as the baby was placed in her arms. She cradled the little one, who had now finished crying and was quiet in his mother's arms. Sonny looked at the boy with awe-filled eyes before she realised something and bit her lip.

"Crud, we didn't prepare a name or anything." She mumbled. Chad gave her a curious look.

"Got any ideas?"

"Um…" She pulled a thoughtful face, "He's a boy…" She broke into a silly grin, inspiration coming like a blast from the past. "Mackenzie?"

Chad rolled his eyes, "Really, Sonny? Way to be original."

Sonny smirked, "Can that at least be his middle name? We might not get a boy again."

Chad shrugged in acceptance, "Any suggestions for a first name?"

Sonny took her first full look at the boy. She took in his smooth cheeks that seemed slightly like her own – she took in the eyes which were only squinting and the few hairs on his head and realised that, unlike Rebecca, who had taken most of her genes from Chad, baby number two had more of a mix; her eyes, his hair. Something snapped into her head, suddenly, and after it was there she couldn't get it out.

"Cameron." She suggested. But it didn't sound like a suggestion. When she said it she immediately felt that it was just meant to be. Chad smiled when he heard the name – and to their surprise, so did the boy. Noticing his new son's reaction, Chad gave his wife a warm smile.

"Cameron Mackenzie Cooper it is." He declared, giving first Sonny, and then the newborn, a kiss on the cheek. Cameron made a small, babbling noise, and his tiny arms reached up in the air. The midwife noticed and grinned.

"We've finished cutting the umbilical chord. Everything's set." She told the pair, before turning to Chad. "Would you like to hold him now?"

Knowing the score this time around, Chad held his new son gently, slightly upright, holding the head just right – just the way he had been taught when they'd got their first child. He felt the same tingle he'd felt every time he held Rebecca.

He felt love.

Because, he felt, that that was what love was – the proof of his love for Sonny was wrapped up in a little blanket and cradled in his arms right now. Cameron, and Rebecca, were both proof to Sonny that he loved her, and proof that she loved him, so much that they could have these two precious children together.

Yearning to have that feeling again, he forgot all about what he'd thought to himself outside the hospital room a couple of hours ago and decided he needed this again – he needed to have another child. He needed to be able to hold another piece of evidence of his love. Sure, he'd wait a little while, because he didn't want to plunge Sonny straight into another nine months of suffering, but he was willing to have another child, because it would be so worth it. All the screaming and shouting and crying and broken bones and snotty noses and fights and babysitting and tutoring and everything else that came with being a parent would be worth it in the end, because in the end he would be able to face the world and tell everyone that he was in love with Sonny Munroe, and that they had two, three; however many little children to prove it.

The peaceful tranquillity was soon broken as the door creaked open. Mrs Munroe, the couples' friends, and little Rebecca, who wandered into the room holding Tawni's hand, all approached the bedside where Chad stood with the newest addition to the family, all keen to get their first glimpse of the new baby Cooper.

While the company gathered around Chad, one at a time, getting to see the baby (even Chad's father Chris and step-mother Melanie, who had arrived late but were still dying to meet their new grandson), Tawni ran over to Sonny's left, away from everyone else. She gave Sonny a respectful look as she peered over Chad's shoulder to see the little one, with his eyes closed – probably into his first peaceful sleep.

"A boy?" Tawni asked. Sonny nodded.

"Cameron." She told her friend. Tawni gasped.

"Such a sweet name!" She praised one of her best friends, who grinned widely, too excited to be thinking about the sleep she had been craving in the first few seconds after Cameron had been born.

"Thanks." She said. Tawni sighed.

"I wish I could be that brave." She said, in awe and slight jealousy. "I'd love to have a kid, but…" Her shoulders slumped, "I dunno if I'd be any good."

Sonny's face fell, almost as if she was offended by Tawni's words. "Tawn, you'd be an awesome mother!" She vowed, "You did such a good job with Abby when we couldn't be around to watch her… and with Rebecca! You'd be amazing."

Tawni's eyes lit up, "You think so?"

The brunette nodded, "You'd be a natural." She assured her blonde friend, who smiled excitedly.

"Whoa…" An awe-filled coo escaped from Rebecca's mouth as her grandmother lifted her up and she caught sight of her little brother.

"This is Cameron, sweetie." Chad told his daughter, who's face lit up, "He's your little brother."

Rebecca grinned.

"Do you love him, sweetie?" Sonny asked. Rebecca nodded.

"He's cute!" She agreed. Abby, who was stood at her big brother Josh's heels, nodded in agreement.

"Yay Sonny and Chad!" She squealed, clapping. Soon after, everyone in the room was applauding the couple and their new baby. Cameron was safely passed around as Chad let him go to place a kiss on his wife's lips.

"Planning to ever do this again?" He asked Sonny, whose face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"You'd want another kid?"

Chad shrugged, "They're special little creatures. Of course I would."

Sonny grinned, leaning up and kissing her husband.

"I love you." She smiled. He lied on the bed next to her, embracing her in a large hug.

"Aw, Sonshine…" He beamed that same beam he'd accustomed to back in the beginning, when their whole relationship began. Not the beam of Chad Dylan Cooper – the arrogant superstar – but the beam of Chad – the loving husband and father, which he hoped to be for the rest of his days.

He placed a chaste kiss on his wife's lips, and, exhausted, but still ecstatic, he murmured into her ear, "I love you, too."

~L/W/M/S~

Time passed, life went on, and, while things changed, they stayed exactly the same.

The Cooper family ended up settling for three perfect children; Rebecca Claire Cooper, Cameron Mackenzie Cooper, and their final child, birthed four years after Cameron, was another girl – Jessica Connie Cooper. She was the exact opposite of Rebecca – rather than getting all of her father's genes, it was her mother who she ended up reflecting. Nonetheless, she was just as beautiful to the couple as the previous children, and the three were brought up with love and care by two people who adored them.

Sonny's friends also met happy endings. Tawni and Nico, getting married soon after Cameron's birth, had two children – Isabelle and Freddie Harris. Josh and Zora, and Grady and Mel, each also soon married. Josh followed Zora when she went to Yale, going to a good college just a few miles away. In the end even young Abby found up meeting the boy she would eventually marry when she was sixteen years old – the same age as Sonny and Chad had been when they had met all those years ago in Condor Studios. Not only that; Abby had once thought of the boy as a jerk, an archenemy almost – and two years later, they were dating. Sonny would always laugh at that, declaring that anyone could fall in love with their true enemy – and the Cooper family were breathing proof.

Chad and Sonny found their happily ever after, however cliché it seemed. And Chad still turned to that little star in the sky – his mother – in times of need, even at the simplest things, even when he was in his thirties. At the anniversary of her death Sonny and Chad and any other family member would go down to her gravestone and look up at the star Chad assumed to be her and remember her life. It wasn't a sad event, though.

It was a celebration.

Chad would thank his mother every year, because he believed that she had been watching over him and without her, he never would have got Sonny back all those years ago, and who knows what would have happened to him. He could've ended up alone forever. Cold. Afraid. Broke. Angry with the world. Maybe he'd have even committed suicide if it wasn't for his angel who had been sent down from heaven to save him from himself. His personal sunshine who had came into his life and brightened it.

His everything.

But, fortunately for Chad, his angel on earth ended up saving his life, and rather than being alone and sorrowful and maybe even dead, Chad Dylan Cooper was living with his Sonshine, his home, his everything, for the rest of his days.

Exactly where he belonged.

Exactly where he stayed.

...

"Love is not an equation, it is not a contract. Love is the slate under the chalk, the ground that buildings rise, and the oxygen in the air. It is the place you come back to, no matter where you're headed." ~ Jodi Picoult.

FIN

A/N: Ta daaa! And that's it! Living with My Sonshine is officially over! It hasn't hit me yet though. I bet I'll be in bed tonight and I'll start crying like a weirdo :P

Soo, guys! I've just gotta say; if there's anything you want me to explore in a one-shot, I'm up for it. Tell me if you have an idea for a one-shot spin-off, cos I'm planning to do many of them cos I just can't let go of these characters ;D

I really, really hope you all enjoyed this series! It's been so much fun to write (even though the last few months have been so bad updating-wise :P) and I have loved it myself. Gosh, I feel like a mother watching her child go off to college :')

Once more, thank you so much everybody. I really hope you've enjoyed this! I love you all so very much, and, just for old time's sake - PLEASE REVIEW!

Love, forever and always,

~Amy x

PS: I am hoping to upload my new story, Lost Soul, tomorrow... you have been warned ;D