Ch. 12 We Have To Remember That (Finale)

AN: I wanted to finish this fic for some reason before I update 6 Years. Weird. Anyway, onto the last chapter!

Daley walked up to the doorway of Nathan's house. They were going to see a movie at the theater, and she was pretty excited. They were seeing "Happy Feet" (AN: oh give me a break, I love penguins… xD) and then going back to her place. She knocked on the door and Kate answered.

"Hi Daley! Nathan's coming. He's a little irritated," she giggled.

"Why?" Daley smirked as she walked in.

"Melissa just called about an hour ago, and told him something that happened like a week ago. He's angry that she didn't tell him sooner, but I have no idea what it is," Kate shrugged.

"Okay," Daley laughed and went upstairs, and knocked on Nathan's door.

"Come in," said an annoyed voice. Daley came in, but immediately walked back out.

"Nathan, its Daley! I know you don't care if your parents see you pant less, however…" Daley giggled.

"Oh," Daley could practically hear him blush, "just a second, then." Daley suppressed her laughs as Nathan walked over and opened the door.

"Hey," he grinned sheepishly at her, now fully clothed.

"So, what did Melissa tell you?" Daley laughed while walking in.

"Did she tell you anything… surprising… recently?" Nathan asked immediately.

"No not lately, why?" Daley shrugged as he closed the door.

"Okay good. She didn't tell you first," he sighed.

"What is it?" Daley asked for the millionth time while sitting on his bed.

"Well, Melissa and Jackson were over at Jackson's house, his step dad wasn't going to be home until the next morning, and they sort of… celebrated… his name being cleared," Nathan scowled.

"You mean they had sex!" Daley gasped.

"Yes, but keep it down!" Nathan sighed, "she didn't really tell any details."

"Good God," Daley muttered.

"I know," Nathan laughed, pulling her closer to him, "now come on, we'd better go if we want to catch that movie!"

F29DWN

Melissa was walking to Jackson's house, nervous. She wasn't nervous about seeing Jackson, because she'd seen him millions of times since, you know, but his step dad. That's who she was worried about. He didn't know. Didn't even notice that a condom was missing.

She knocked nervously on his door. Jackson answered.

"Oh, hey," he said softly, and came outside, "what's up?"

"Nothing, I was just…" Melissa murmured.

"Me too," Jackson chuckled nervously.

They both laughed briefly before staring at their shoes for a second, then Melissa looked up.

"I, um, told Nathan," Melissa murmured after a while.

"Good. We should probably tell some of them," Jackson laughed.

They stood in silence for a second, before Melissa let out a sigh.

"Are we always going to be like this, now? Awkward around each other?" she sighed.

Jackson shrugged, "I hope not. I mean… we haven't really discussed…"

"I thought it was amazing," Melissa murmured softly.

Jackson smiled, "good, because I did too."

Melissa wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. He kissed back briefly before his step dad called him back inside.

"Do you want to come in? We're going to have dinner in a few," he laughed.

"Would your step dad mind?" Melissa laughed.

"Nah. He says the whole reason that I'm not in Juvie right now is because you scared the judge. I told him that wasn't the case, but he insists it," Jackson laughed.

"Cool," Melissa giggled. Jackson held out his hand, and she took it, going inside.

F29DWN

Taylor was on AIM (AN: don't own), bored as ever, when Eric logged on. She immediately opened a conversation with him.

(Taylor's blondchica, Eric's myhatiscool)

Blondchica: Eric! What's up?

Myhatiscool: Bored

Blondchica: Me 2

Myhatiscool: Want 2 come over?

Blondchica: Sure. Let me ask my mom, brb

Taylor walked upstairs to where her mom was reading the paper. Her sister was coming home from boarding school the next day. (She got a scholarship, there was at least one smart person in the family.)

"Hey Mom?" she asked.

"Yeah?" she looked up from her paper.

"Can I go over to Eric's?" Taylor asked hopefully.

"Sure. Wear your coat, it's chilly outside," she said absentmindedly.

Taylor nodded, "great," and went downstairs.

Blondchica: Coming over in a sec

Myhatiscool: Awesome

Blondchica has logged off at 6:15 PM

Taylor ran over to get her coat and shoes, ran out to her car, and drove to Eric's.

"Hey Eric," she said immediately when he opened the door.

"Hey Taylor," he kissed her softly, "come on in."

Taylor smirked and walked inside.

F29DWN

Lex was going to the local ice cream parlor with Anne. It was weird not going there Robert too, but it was a 'date.' Of course he was nervous.

Anne was laughing at something Lex had said, her brown hair pulled back slightly. Lex laughed a little too.

"So what is going on with the Flight 29 Down gang?" she joked, one of the few friends that would hang out with one of them still. In fact, Lex was the only one who still had friends outside of the group.

"Oh, nothing. They're all being dumb teenagers, as usual," Lex laughed.

"I know the feeling. My older sister's a dumb teenager," Anne laughed. They ate their ice cream in silence for a while, when Lex looked up.

"Um, my parents found me a new school. It's a private one, and I only got in because I should practically be in a grade level above what I am. It's a Catholic School, though," Lex murmured sadly, "I begged them to find another one that you or Robert could go to, being Methodists."

"It's okay," Anne shrugged, "I'll just see you here, and Robert will too. And if I get really desperate, I could always ask my parents to convert," she laughed.

Lex laughed too when he saw Abby walk in.

"Hey Lex," she waved, got an ice cream cake, and left.

"That's… Abby, right?" Anne asked.

"Yup," Lex nodded.

Anne looked at her watch, "oh no, it's time for me to go home," she said sadly.

"Oh, okay," Lex murmured sadly, paid for the ice cream, and they walked back to her house.

"Well, I had fun," Anne smiled.

"Me too. Um… I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" Lex blushed furiously.

"Okay," Anne smiled shyly. Lex bit his lip briefly, before kissing her quickly. She blushed and smiled as Lex began to leave.

"Going sledding with Robert on the day after Christmas?" she called after him.

"When have we ever not?" Lex laughed.

"Last year, but you weren't here last year, so we were just at my house moping, so it doesn't count," Anne laughed.

"Don't worry, I'll be there!" Lex laughed and left.

F29DWN

Daley and Lex were sitting around in their living room, watching a Christmas movie. Everyone was coming over for a last movie night before New Year's Eve, when they'd all meet up again. The reason why they were doing their Christmas celebrations a week early was because Melissa left tomorrow to visit her Italian relatives, Taylor went on vacation the day after that, and then Eric and Abby were also leaving a few days later. So that meant, in short, that they wanted to have their party before everyone was gone.

Someone knocked on the door, so Daley ran to get it.

"Hey Melissa!" she laughed. Melissa grinned at her.

"Help me here," she grunted, heaving up her bag that was filled with 7 presents- one for each of them.

"Nice, Santa decided to give you some of his job this year. I just hope he's paying you," Daley smirked, taking some of the gifts out of the bag.

"Ha ha. No, these are for you people," Melissa laughed as she set them down on the table.

"Me and Lex have already made piles," Daley explained at the line of 8 stacks of presents, two of the stacks only having one gift and the others with two.

"Well I'll just put these there," Melissa nodded at the labels, set her gifts there, and sat on the couch.

Nathan came in soon after and did likewise, as did Jackson, Eric, Taylor, and Abby. Soon they were all sitting around on the couch, playing rock paper scissors to see who went first.

Everyone was having the same thing a million times in a row.

"Ah forget it," Daley laughed, "Lex, you go first, you're the youngest."

"Okay," Lex laughed. He had gotten mostly books, but a few computer things.

(I'd take the time to tell you what everyone got, but that's boring. So I'll skip ahead.)

Daley was sitting next to Nathan, her head on his shoulder, his arm around her waist. Melissa was curled up in Jackson's lap. Taylor and Eric were sitting back to back on the couch, Abby was sitting in the single chair and Lex was lying down on the floor.

"I can't believe all that's happened since we came home," Daley murmured softly.

"It is almost unreal," Melissa agreed, smirking at Jackson, who grinned back and rolled his eyes.

"I mean, sometimes you have to wonder what do you really have when your friends are ditching you and your family is falling apart?" Lex stared at the ceiling.

"I don't think we're ever going to fall apart or ditch each other. But the real question is: are we family or friends?" Abby asked.

"Both," all said at once, making everyone laugh.

"It's good that we'll always have each other," Jackson murmured, "I mean, you guys are part of the reason I'm here for Christmas and not in some dingy cell."

"You owe us, man," Nathan laughed.

"We have to remember, whatever we go through, we have to stick together," Eric sighed.

"We definitely have to remember that," Daley smiled.

They all grinned at each other, smiling. They were back, and things had changed, but at least one thing hadn't.

And never would.

(1, 639 Words) Aww! The sequel… hmm, the sequel. The sequel is very… um… interesting. Will post it soon. It takes place in May of their Senior year, so we all know what that means! Graduation! God, I've been to… 4 high school graduations. Granted, one of them I don't remember because I wasn't even a year old, but I have been to four. The next ones mine… perish the thought… xD The sequels really centered around Daley and Nathan, but the other characters are present. I'm going to finish 6 years before I start it, though.

This story had a total of:15, 396 Words. Yay!