A/N: I am honestly speechless right now—maybe because I've been working on this chapter too long today. Well, first—thank you Awians, for all that you do and did. You might not even realize it, but you pushed me through a lot of the tough times in writing—especially this final week. Homecoming will begin—well, I'm not sure and anyways—I might want it to be a secret. ;) Everyone enjoy—PCGirl.
"I'll get it," called Alison as she ran and picked up the cordless phone, trying to dodge Jamal who was working on the spaghetti sauce. "Hello?"
"Hey Alison."
"Livvie, hi," she said looking at Jamal. "How is everything going?"
"It's good—I was calling to see how motherhood was doing," said Livvie as she sat on the sofa in the Library.
"I'm still trying to get the hang of it," she said as she watched Jamal slip a bit of the sauce to Imani to taste so she grabbed a spoon and tried to get a taste but Jamal blocked her, "Hey, that's not fair," she said.
"What's going on over there?"
"We're having a party, and Jamal here won't let me have any of the sauce ahead of time," she said leaving the kitchen before calling back to him to watch the bread.
"Wait—are you at the house or the apartment?"
"The house," replied Alison as she saw the door begin to open.
"Hey, we're here. What is that wonderful smell?" said Lucy as she walked in with Christina and followed by Kevin.
"It's the sauce, but Jamal won't let you have any," laughed Alison. "Hey, your dad just got here—do you want to talk to him?"
"Sure, but not for long. I'll talk to you in a few days I guess," said Livvie as her dad came on the phone, "Hey daddy."
"Hey sweetie, I got your message. How is it there?"
"It's really nice," she said smiling as she saw Caleb come in and sit down next to her. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you in person about what we were doing, but it was last minute and if we didn't leave when we did we couldn't get another flight for a few days."
"I understand," he said going outside. "So are you human again?"
"Yeah, we went to the spring yesterday—are you happy for me, dad?" asked Livvie
"Of course—whatever you decide to do I'm always happy for you—and you aren't hurting anyone by doing this. You are my daughter Livvie, I will always love you—no matter what your actions are."
"Thanks, well I will let you go back to the party. I'll let you know when we decide to come on home to Port Charles. Oh, what is the reason for the party—I never asked."
Kevin sighed, "Lucy doesn't know this yet—but Ian and Danny leave for Ireland permanently tonight."
Livvie's eyes got big, "She doesn't know? Why not?"
"Well, I didn't feel like it was my point exactly to tell her. I mean I'm sure he's going to say something."
"Oh yeah, I mean he's not the type to send her a postcard in a few months saying 'Wish you were here'," she laughed. "Ok, now Caleb is giving me an odd look—let me let you go so I can explain everything to him."
Frank sighed as he looked around—the place was empty, and sadly Sara hadn't showed up. Why did he think she would—it wasn't like she had a reason to come back here. He had hoped the interns might come here to celebrate their first day, but he guessed they must have gone to Jake's instead. "I can still make it if I hurry," he said as he threw down his towel and grabbed the keys to lock the front door before anyone else came in. He heard the door open and called out, "Sorry, but we've got to close suddenly."
"I'm sorry to hear that, I could really use a Diet Coke," replied back and he looked up to see Sara walking in. "Frank, right?"
"Yeah, and its Sara, isn't it? Well, hey the least I can do is give one of the newest employees of the hospital a Diet Coke," he laughed. "How was the first day?"
"Tiring—Dr. Ramsey can be harsh, but it's so worth it. I knew when I was a kid I wanted to help others. What other field can you be there and hold a persons hand to tell them they are going to have a child, or cry with them as they take their last breaths—if I can help one person in my life, well then my job on earth has been completed."
"I hope that you can hold onto that feeling for the rest of your life—there are few doctors out there like that, and it's a blessing when one like that comes along," he smiled.
"Here's the phone Alison," said Kevin as he hung up the phone and handed it to her.
"Thanks," she said going back to the kitchen to put it up.
"So what all do we have here?" he said walking over to where they had set up the alcohol. "Lots of whiskey—let me guess, it was your job Ian to bring the alcohol?" he said turning to look at him.
"Well, it's not like he could take it on the plane with him," chuckled Chris.
"Plane? Who's going on a plane trip?" said Lucy as she walked down the stairs and saw everyone looking at Chris.
"What—doesn't she know?" said Chris as he looked around and got a glare from Ian.
"Lucy, I—uhm," said Ian as he rubbed the back of his neck and people finally began to make noise. "Let's go outside," he said motioning towards the door and she followed him—barely glancing at Kevin.
"What's going on?" she said as she saw him sitting on the steps looking at the sunset.
"This is the last sunset in Port Charles I will ever see Lucy."
"What?"
"Yeah, I'm leaving for Ireland at 10 tonight—Danny and I—we've got a new unknown life awaiting for us," he said as he tried to smile.
"When were you going to tell me?" she said as she sat down and saw his eyes watering up.
"I guess I thought it'd be better if I didn't have to say goodbye. I didn't realize it was going to be so hard to tell everyone goodbye—just felt like I could slip out of everyones lives as easy as I slipped in."
"You are kind of hard to miss," laughed Lucy with tears coming down her face. "I can tell this is what you want—you miss Ireland, and I can hear the universe talking right now—it's tell me there is someone waiting for you in Ireland. When you find her—don't let her go, promise me that, ok?"
"I promise," he smiled.
"Ian—Lucy, dinner's ready," said Rafe as he stuck his head out the door to tell them.
"Last meal for me," laughed Ian as he went in.
"What was that all about?" asked Caleb as Livvie snuggled close to him.
"They are having a party without us," she sighed. "I was just thinking if they truly miss us there—or should we just stay here forever. I mean we have everything we need—why leave this shelter?"
"Because you'll miss your dad—and you'll miss Alison—as strange as that may sound," he said with a laugh as he played with her hair. "So what is this about sending postcards saying 'Wish you were here'?"
"Oh," she said turning to look at him. "Ian—he's leaving town—tonight."
"Going to Ireland?" he said as she nodded her head.
"Have you ever been there?" she asked him.
"Where? Ireland—oh yes, it's beautiful, rolling green hills, a mystical feel all around you—we have an eternity to go there, or wherever else you want to go," he smiled at her.
"Right now I only want to go to one place," she said as she got a look in her eyes and they began to kiss.
"I hope I'm not keeping you from anything important," said Sara as she played with the straw in her empty glass.
"No, it's can wait—my friends and I are saying goodbye to a friend tonight, and welcoming in two babies at the same time—I'm sure I won't miss anything."
"Sounds like you are a close group of friends."
"We've had our ups and downs, believe me—but lately I think things have been calming down. I just hope it's not the calm before the storm."
"Come on, what can really happen in a small little town like this?"
"You have no idea," he laughed.
"Sorry about earlier—but nobody decided to tell me Lucy didn't know," said Chris as he glared towards Jack.
"Hey—don't look at me," he said putting his hands up. "Frank, hey man," said Jack as he walked over to him, "Glad to see you finally decided to show up."
"Yeah, well I also had a nice conversation with a lovely brunette named Sara also."
"And--?"
"And what?"
"Is she Karen? I mean is she an angel?"
"Does it matter—I want to get to know Sara for who she is herself, if she turns out to be Karen that's fine—but I'm not going to leave her the first moment I find out it's not her."
"Glad to hear that."
"Hey everyone—I need to be going soon, but I'd like to make a quick toast," said Ian over everyone else's voices. I wanted to say thank you all—for everything you have done for me over the past years. You all have probably meant more to me than you realize. We've all had our downfalls on each other, and tried to kill each other, but in the end it's the good times to remember, not the bad. Thank you."
"Ian," spoke Rafe. "Chris and myself wanted to tell you something—we want you to remember that you will always have a bed to sleep in, and a job waiting for you here in Port Charles."
"And don't forget a bottle of Irish Whiskey at the Trinity," called Frank and everyone laughed.
"Thank you very much—I will always know I can come back to here and look forward to enjoying those things."
"Here's to Ireland and whatever you may find there—just remember that you can always come back home also," said Rafe.
"Here," said everyone as they all cheered
Shows Ian leaving Rafe and Alison's. Rafe and Alison are at his car and he gives Alison a big hug and a pat on the back to Rafe—Rafe gives a laugh at something he said and they turn to go in and see Lucy on the porch watching Ian drive away—he rolls down the window and waves to them one last time.
Jack, Jasmine, Imani, and Jamal are outside getting in their cars getting ready to leave. Jasmine and Imani are obviously joking about something and the guys just roll their eyes at them.
Shows Caleb and Livvie lying in their bed staring at each other, his fingers are tracing the edge of her jaw as she finally pulls his face towards hers for a kiss.
Ian and Danny are at the PC Airport getting their boarding passes ready to go. Danny is rubbing his eyes as if he's tired and Ian picks him up and begins to rub is back so Danny will go to sleep.
Jack, Chris, and Frank are at the Trinity—open again with business booming. They look over and see Sara walk in the door and smile at Frank. She talks to him a bit and when she goes off towards the ladies room Chris and Jack start hounding him about it.
Alison and Rafe are cleaning up from the party—the twins are in car seats—Eddie sleeping soundly and Katie babbling a mile a minute. Rafe picks up Eddie and takes him upstairs to put him to bed. Alison picks up Katie and begins to tell her a story until she finally falls asleep and she goes up the stairs also.
We see Caleb and Livvie again. She is now asleep, but he is curled behind her watching her soundly. He gives her a firm kiss on the temple and then pulls her in closer and closes his eyes
Lucy is walking in from putting Christina down and Kevin asks her something. She pauses before answering and then nods before coming and crawling in next to Kevin and he takes her in his arms and holds her tightly.
Ian and Danny are now on the plane—Danny asleep in his seat, and Ian looking out the window. Ian gives a big sigh and we hear him say, "Goodbye Port Charles," before we see a shot of a plane flying off into the night.