Ok, this is the last chapter of this story. I like how I ended it, but if it's not a suitable ending for someone out there, I can keep going =)

Harvest Moon (c) Natsume

Chapter 10

To say I was flabbergasted would be an understatement. It's not that I hadn't seen it coming; though I was expecting a fat diamond atop a gold band for some reason; but still. Vaughn wants me to be his girlfriend? What kind of qualities do I have that could possibly be better than say, his stalker?

Ok, don't bother answering that; I know I'm amazingly awesome.

But nonetheless, my voice had abandoned me; hitchhiked its way to Timbuktu or something like that. I sat there next to a very expectant looking Vaughn with no voice. This couldn't end well.

"Chels?" he asked. I hope he wasn't thinking that I was brain-dead.

I nodded with my jaw tightened; didn't need it falling open again. He chuckled a bit and put his forehead against mine.

"Ya know, you're so cute," he muttered, kissing my forehead gently.

Great; now my voice was never gonna come back. I blushed like crazy, sort of wishing I could hide my embarrassment with some witty comment. No such luck around Vaughn.

He leaned back and looked me straight in the eyes. "I honestly don't know how I managed life without you. Call it cheesy or corny or whatever, but you really are my other half. Better half, I'd say."

I rolled my eyes and found my lost voice. "Oh please," I said flatly, though my voice was dry and cracked. "You keep saying you're this horrible person, but have you once said mean things to me?"

He raised his eyebrows with a smirk on his face. I wanted to wipe it off in ways I cannot say.

"The past is the past, Vaughn. I'm not afraid of you and you know it," I said, flicking his nose gently.

He laughed and his amethyst eyes sparkled with happiness. I smiled back and pulled him towards me for a quick kiss. He laughed again, breaking the kiss. I was blushing again, but I managed a scowl.

"What are you laughing about?" I whined, a little upset that he was laughing at me.

"Nothing really. It's just nice to know that you like kissing me as much as I like kissing you," he said, his voice seductive as he leaned closer.

With a darkening blush on my face, I leaned away a little. He had a sexy smirk on his face and his eyes sparkled with mischief. He started leaning towards me faster than I could lean away and he eventually had his lips resting against mine. There was no pressure behind the light kiss and it sent shivers through my entire body.

"I want to hear you say it," he whispered, his lips moving gently against mine.

I swallowed hard as I tried to focus on what he said. "W-Want me to s-say wh-what?"

He chuckled slightly and pulled his lips away from my lips. Seconds later, his breath was at my ear. "I want you to tell me that you'll be my girlfriend."

Hearing him say girlfriend in my ear was like some sort of drug. I shuddered and grabbed onto his arm as I started to fall over. The jerk-face was toying with my sanity, let alone my hormones. Goddess, what an asshole he can't be. A very sexy and seductive asshole.

"Wh-why do you want me to s-say it?" I stammered.

He lowered me down onto the couch so that my back was against it. He was hovering over me with his left knee on the inside of the couch and his right foot resting on the floor. His hands were on either side of my head, which was on a pillow, and he had that sexy smirk on his face still. He leaned down next to my ear again, sending shivers up my spine.

"I'm waiting," he said in a low, sing-song voice.

I swallowed at least twice before I could even open my mouth to respond. "Y-Yes, Vaughn. I-I'll be your girlfriend."

He groaned slightly, leaned away from my ear and kissed me hard. I inhaled deeply through my nose, the kiss catching me off guard. It was the first kiss from him that didn't hold back. I could feel all of his passion and love for me, all in just a silly little kiss. Call it what you will, but it had to have been the most amazing feeling in the world.

His right hand was cupping my cheek and chin; his hands are a bit bigger than my face; and his left was lost in my hair somewhere. My bandana was gone, probably stuck in the couch cushions again. He pulled back from my lips briefly, took a deep breath and went back to kissing me. Every now and then, he would tilt my head back with his hand and tilt his head to one side.

After a few minutes of that, he pulled back slightly, still inches from me. His face was bright red, most likely mirroring my own, and his breathing was slightly labored. He closed his eyes and slowly leaned back down. The kiss turned loving instead of passionate. I started getting the hang of this kissing thing and I pushed back slightly. He inhaled sharply through his nose as I had and he lost control. The kissing became passionate again. I rolled my eyes slightly and smiled in the kiss. He pulled back and looked down at me sheepishly.

"Sorry, you uh...Surprised me," he said shyly.

I laughed slightly and shook my head. "Ya know," I said, trying to look mischievous, "you're really cute when you act shy like that."

His expression went blank, but a dark red blush crossed over his face. His eyes were wide and he didn't try to hide his face from me. I laughed again, a little lighter than before.

"You ok? You look like nobody's ever said that before," I said, brushing the hair away from his face.

"That's cuz nobody ever has," he said softly, his eyes still wide.

My eyes widened slightly. "What? But, girls have to have chased you all the time in the city."

He nodded. "They do. But not one has ever called me cute."

I tilted my head and scowled at him in confusion. He sighed, but a smile was on his face.

"Usually girls call me hot," he said tilting his head, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

I blushed and looked away. "Well sorry I hurt your pride then."

He chuckled and leaned down again, his breath on my ear. Shivers invaded my body and I closed my eyes. "Hearing you call me cute is something special, Chel. I'd ask you to say it all the time, but then my pride really would be hurt."

I glanced at him. "Oh yeah? How so?"

His eyes had that glint of mischief in them again. "Think about it a sec. If you said it all the time, you'd be saying it around Julia and Elliot and my auntie."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't want people to see a little color in your cheeks?"

He smirked and gave my ear a swift lick. My body got all tingly and I shivered. He chuckled and did it twice more before getting up off of me. He grabbed his hat off of the table and slapped it on his head before crossing to the door. I sat up and looked at him curiously.

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked, rather surprised to hear my own childish sounding voice.

He chuckled and turned back, a sexy smirk on his lips again. "I have to go back to the city early this week. That way, I can be here longer next week."

I tilted my head to the side. "What's so special about next week?"

He sighed and chuckled, leaning over and grabbing my chin in his hand. "You're so cute, Chel."

He kissed me softly and then pulled back, hand on the door. I turned on the couch so I had my arms resting on the back and my knees on the cushions. "Seriously, what's next week, Vaughn?"

He turned back. "The day I watch my cousin get married and see my girlfriend in a dress."

"Julia, this is so not gonna work."

"Oh be quiet, Chelsea, you look beautiful."

"You really do, Chelsea."

"See? Even Mama agrees."

It was the big day for Julia and possibly my last day on Earth. She was in a gorgeous two piece wedding dress; a simple white gown underneath a white corset. It was strapless and had gems all over it in a beautiful floral pattern. Of course, the dang thing was expensive; I had to go with her to pick it out.

As for me? Well, being the maid of honor had its perks. I was the other special girl there. Sure, we had a color code type thing. But I don't really understand the wedding world, so I just do as I'm told. I was wearing a ruby dress that was a V-neck and had a white sash around the waist. The other girls were in off-white dresses; to not bring attention to them; that had a red sash around the waist.

As far as the bouquet, good god it was huge. It had to have every flower on the island in it. I believe Natalie made it for Julia with the help of her mother of course.

"Seriously, this may be the happiest day of your life, Jules. But I'm afraid this may be my last day on this planet," I said as I stepped down from the podium in front of a huge mirror. As I did, I tripped over my two feet and fell to the floor. "See what I mean? And I'm not even in the heels you expect me to wear."

Julia and Mirabelle laughed at me before helping me to my feet. "Oh, Chels. You're gonna be with Vaughn today. No need to be so worried; he won't let you fall down and make a total fool of yourself."

I shot a glare at Julia. "You don't have to worry cuz you won't be the one messing up the wedding. You're lucky Doc Trent is here today. It's like he's expecting a catastrophe."

She giggled, but said nothing. We were already at the church, in one of the back rooms for changing. Poor Elliot must be out there pacing up a storm. You could hear Taro shouting to him every now and then. He asked Pierre to be his best man. I think Natalie threatened him to do it, but Pierre is a great guy. Not that I'd ever want anything to do with him; he looks like he's eight.

There was a knock on the door and Julia ducked behind the curtain of the window. I rolled my eyes and crossed over, opening it just a sliver. "Yeah?"

"Is she ready yet?"

My heart skipped a beat and I almost opened the door further when I heard Vaughn's voice. "Not yet, just adding some finishing touches."

He sighed deeply. "Well hurry up," he muttered. "I wanna see you."

My heart skipped another beat. I hadn't gotten to see him since he left the week prior; Julia was getting hitched the day he arrived and had insisted that he stay as far away from me as possible. Vaughn and I still hadn't told anybody about our recent change in relationship.

"I can't make her move any quicker, so just be patient, ok?"

He sighed and I imagined him scratching his head under his hat. "I'm not good with patient and you know it."

I giggled and shut the door. Julia darted back out from the curtain. "Who was it?"

"Vaughn. He wants you to hurry up, but he knows that perfection takes time," I said with a smile.

She shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder about that boy. Well whatever. Mama, we got a lot of people waiting on me."

Mirabelle stepped towards Julia holding a necklace. "I wore this when I married your father; may he rest in peace. I was going to wait to give it to you afterwards, but I think it will look beautiful with that dress."

As Mirabelle slipped it around her neck, Julia touched it and turned to the mirror. Mirabelle was right; the necklace matched the dress beautifully. It was a silver chain with a locket on it. From where I was by the door, I could see that there was some kind of design on the front of it. Julia turned to her mother with tears in her eyes.

"Oh Mama, it's beautiful. Chels, come look."

I stepped towards her and she held out the locket to me. Touching it, I ran my finger over the design. The locket itself was in the shape of a heart and the design was raised vines wrapping all around it. I glanced up at her.

"Can I open it?"

Julia glanced at Mirabelle who nodded. Julia then nodded down at me and I opened it with my thumb. Inside was a picture of a young couple with their foreheads together. I looked up at Mirabelle.

"Is this you and your husband?"

She nodded sadly. "That was a birthday gift from Cyrus. The picture was at a café in the city that we went to all the time. He proposed to me there too. He was such a sweetheart."

Julia put her hand on her mother's arm. "If daddy was here, he'd be crying about having to give me up."

Both women laughed and I watched sadly. My folks died when I was a kid, so there wouldn't be anyone to give me away to Vaughn. I mean; my husband.

"C'mon. I think El has been waiting long enough," Julia said, checking herself in the mirror one last time.

I nodded and slipped into the dangerous stilettos. Mirabelle left the room to get everyone lined up and Julia turned to me taking a deep breath. "I'm so excited."

I touched her arm. "I'm happy for you, Jules. Now get out there and make that guy the happiest in the world."

She hugged me and we left the room.

Everyone clapped as Julia and Elliot tied the knot with a kiss. If I hadn't known better, I'd say Elliot was about to faint, but he had gotten a lot tougher in the past few weeks. I felt a tough hand slip into mine and I smiled before turning.

Vaughn was actually all decked out in a suit. His hat was abandoned and he looked like James Bond. Well, if James Bond had sexy white hair and gorgeous eyes. He pulled me closer to him and pressed his lips against my head.

"You look amazing, Chel," he muttered.

I blushed. "You don't look half bad yourself."

He leaned back and I caught his smirk. Julia announced that she was going to through the bouquet and the girls just lined up in front of Julia. Vaughn's smirk widened and he herded me closer. I raised my eyebrows at him, but he just shook his head. The girls counted down from three and Julia tossed it. Vaughn reached over all of the girl's outstretched hands and caught it, much to my surprise. The crowd gasped as he turned to me.

"Looks like we're the next to get hitched, huh?" he asked, smirking and handing it to me.

I don't know who was more surprised: me, Mirabelle, Julia, or Sabrina. The entire room was silent; a cricket could fart and everyone would hear it. My face was redder than a tomato as I played with the flowers.

"Y-Yeah, I guess so..."

Everyone gasped again. Vaughn grabbed my chin with his index finger and thumb, tilting it up towards him. "Don't be so shy, Chel. You know I love you and I'm not afraid to let everyone know."

He leaned down and kissed me gently, but sweetly and the room was filled with gasping and 'aww's'. He broke into a smile, but didn't break the kiss. He wrapped one of his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. He broke away only when someone tackled us. It was Julia.

"You didn't tell me?" she asked accusingly. "What kind of family are you?"

I was red and he was smirking. "Aw come on, Jules. I can't keep some secrets to myself?"

She punched him lightly and wrapped one arm around my neck. "So do I get to be your maid of honor?"

My face went bright red again. "Th-That won't be for a long time, Jules."

Vaughn hit Julia's arm off of me and hugged me close. "Don't touch my girlfriend," he growled playfully in my ear.

Julia scowled at him and tugged me out of his grip. "Believe it or not, cousin, she's my maid of honor. So get used to sharing. C'mon Chel. Let's dance."

"B-But first dance, Jules! El's waiting for you!" I protested.

"Fine, but you'd best save a dance for me," she said bounding off to Elliot.

I sighed deeply and was pulled back into Vaughn's arms. "She shouldn't tell me to share you. I really don't want to."

I shuddered slightly, but managed a scoff. "Julia should be the least of your worries, Vaughn. Mark is still out there and hunting."

His grip tightened when I mentioned the blonde and he growled in my ear. I chuckled and turned in his grip.

"You have nothing to worry about. If he tries anything, just give him a knuckle sandwich."

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. "A knuckle sandwich from my boot to his ass."

I punched him playfully. "C'mon, let's go dance."

I dragged him to the Dancefloor where El and Jules were dancing and actually earned a laugh from him. I blushed as he pulled me close and put his arms around me. I laid my head against his shoulder and sighed contently.

"My little firecracker," he muttered.

"Hm?" I asked, looking up at him.

He smiled down at me. "You're my little firecracker. Don't deny it; cuz it's true. Not many people can bring this childish, jealous side outta me."

I smiled back before laying my head back against his shoulder.

Life was finally perfect.

The End