Author's Notes: All right, I compromised. So many of you begged me to keep Johnny and Dally alive, that I decided to let Dally live. He's not going to be in the next story, but he will be prominent in the third and fourth ones. I hope you all are happy with this choice and that it softens the blow of Johnny's death!

This chapter is a lot shorter than the others and, I thought, a real tear jerker. I cried (several times) while writing it, but I'm sappy like that. I hope you all enjoy it and thank you to everyone who reviewed this story and/or added it to your favorites!

And I go back to the loss

Of a real good friend

And the sixteen summers I shared with him

No only the good die young

And it stops me in my tracks

-Kenny Chesney

Four Days Later-

The morning of Johnny's funeral dawned a beautiful sunny and clear day. Too beautiful, AJ thought, to be burying their friend.

Dallas was fine. The cops hauled him back to hospital and then to jail. He'd had his sentence on Monday. Two years in the state pen for armed robbery.

He was supposed to be moved on Tuesday, but the judge had made an allowance for him to stay until Wednesday afternoon so he could attend Johnny's funeral. He stood there along with the rest, in his jail jumpsuit and handcuff's…they even had his legs shackled, which AJ thought was a bit much.

She had a large part to play in this funeral, one she wished now she hadn't agreed to do.

Sunday morning, Reesa had come to her front door.

"I'm so sorry." AJ had told her. Reesa smiled sadly and cupped her hugely pregnant stomach.

"Dwayne and I tried so many times to get him to come and live in Rainwater with us." She said. "I wanted to badly to get him out of this neighborhood and away from them." She wouldn't even say her parent's names. "But he wouldn't leave. He said he couldn't leave y'all, that you were his true family.

"I know Ms. Nora took him in a lot of nights." She continued. "And I know he thought the world of you, so I was wondering…would you sing at his funeral?"

"Sing?" AJ was taken aback. "Sing what?"

"Well, Dwayne's gonna play Amazing Grace on his fiddle and I was hoping you would accompany him. If I remember right, you've got a voice like Brenda Lee."

AJ shook her head, but she was flattered. "I don't know about that-." She started, but Reesa cut her off.

"Don't deny it, AJ. I've heard you sing." She said. "Please do this for us. For Johnny."

"All right." AJ relented. "I'll sing for y'all."

And that's how she found herself breaking away from her spot between Steve and Soda and going to stand next to Reesa's husband, Dwayne, as he pulled his fiddle from its case. As Johnny's casket was lowered into the ground, Dwayne began to play and AJ to sing.

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found

Was blind, but now I see"

Steve Randle wasn't a crier. He never had been, even when his own mother had died when he was eleven, he had barely cried…in front of anyone.

Now though, as his buddy was being lowered into the ground and AJ's voice, clear and sweet as a bell, rang out over the sounds of the mournful fiddle, he felt a prickling burn at the back of his throat. Beside him, Sodapop was crying silently and even Dallas was biting his lip awful hard. Steve shoved his hands deep in his suit pockets and rocked on his heels. Johnny's parents were standing side-by-side, Mrs. Cade crying loudly. Anyone who didn't know the family would see a grieving mother. Those who did saw nothing but a fake.

"Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fear relived

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed"

Steve glanced around again. There were a lot of people there. He could see Evie and Sylvia standing in the back, some of the teachers from school, and even a few soc's. Standing right in the front was the entire gang, Johnny's parents, and Reesa, holding little Shannon in her arms. Sherilyn and Tally Matthews were both there; Tally was gripping her older brother's hand tightly.

"Through many danger, toils, and snares

I have already come

Tis grace that brought me safe thus far

And grave will lead me home"

The entire Shepard outfit was there, Tim and Brandon standing side by side near the front of the crowd. Alice was with them, crying so hard that Brandon had to take Kimberly from her. Ms. Nora and Amy were on Steve's other side and Steve wasn't at all surprised to see Nora glaring daggers at the scene that Mrs. Cade was making. He laid his hand on her arm and she looked up at him. He could feel the waves of anger drifting off AJ's mother and wouldn't be surprised if she dove across the grave and attacked Johnny's mother herself.

"When we've been there ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we first begun."

AJ's voice rang out on the last note and then there was silence. Reesa stepped forward them and Steve realized she was going to give Johnny's eulogy. She opened a brown leather Bible and began to read a marked passage.

"Jesus said to his disciples: 'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?"

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.' Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

"How will I remember my little brother?" Reesa asked aloud, closing her Bible. "Well, that's easy. He was just that…my baby brother. Even though he was taken from us long before his time, I know everyone who knew Johnny was touched by him. He gave his life to save those of strangers, of children he didn't even know and I'd say that makes him pretty special. Looking at him from the outside, most people would have seen a hood. But to those of us who knew Johnny personally, we knew him to be a sweet, kind, and considerate kid, who gave far more than he received and deserved much better than what life handed him." Reesa paused.

"And I know that Johnny's is looking down on us today and begging us not to be sad. He couldn't stand to see people upset. So when you think of Jonathan James Cade, don't think of the sad eyed boy who's life gave him so little. Think of sweet Johnny, the young man who tried so hard to see the goodness in things everywhere he went."

Reesa closed her eyes. "Rest in peace, baby." She whispered. "We'll see you when we get there. But for now, we'll keep living our lives in your honor and wishing everyday you were here to partake with us."

And, Steve thought, as he gripped AJ's hand and looked up at the perfect blue sky, they would.

They definitely would.

Author's Notes: And there you have it, my sweets. The final chapter. I'll have the next story in this series, which I've decided to call Secrets in the Attic, up tomorrow sometime, so be sure and add me to your author watch list!