Here it is. The last chapter. I feel like a proud mama watching her baby grow up haha. I've decided against an epilogue, because i like where this ends, and i feel like it's the perfect closing.

I guess i just wanted to take this time to explain a few things that i realize i hadn't even adressed. This fic required me to do a crapload of research about how the system works and about a whole bunch of issues, because i'm no doctor, and i don't know. And, while i have written a lot of facts that i researched heavily, i don't doubt that there are some things that i have gotten wrong, simply because i am not an expert.

also, i know that Dr. Valentine isn't exactly a very ethical doctor, but i think i need to make it clear that i never meant for him to be seen as a perfect person. he is just as flawed at his patients. He allows his paternal need to obsessivly protect his daughter from the world to cloud his judgement, and eventually his professional practice. he is not meant to be the perfect parent. that role i wanted to be played by Cat's mother. so i know that doctors are supposed to keep their personal lives out of their professional careers, but i took the poetic liberty of turning him into a real person, because real people have biases, even when they wish to be completely fair and not judgemental.

So, yeah. The last chapter.

Enjoy :)

Eighteen months. The final verdict. Jade didn't understand.

A week after Cat gave her the news, Jade's favorite redhead showed up at the foot of Jade's bed holding a garment bag and a box of shoes in her outstretched arms.

"Here," she said. "Get dressed. Your board meeting is in three hours."

The meeting was in a sense, a blur to Jade. She answered questions when she was asked, and she told them about herself. She pled her case. At one point, Jade shed a tear, which wasn't something she was too fond of doing in front of other people.

But, the doctors, a lawyer, and a judge of sorts heard her out and decided that she was clear of her insanity charge.

But she still had to pay for the crime she committed, and that would be the next eighteen months in this hospital.

It was a start. It was a definite date of her release.

Jade was torn about how she felt. She should be happy. She should be jumping up and down in the air, laughing with ecstatic joy (even though Jade would never do anything like that). But there was a part of her that felt like she was going to pee her pants in sheer terror.

The world was out there. And people. She was so disconnected from the outside world that the idea of being thrust back into it seemed unreal. It felt like an animal that was raised in captivity and was used to that for so long that when it was released into the wild, it didn't know how to take care of itself anymore. It was helpless.

Though Jade would never admit it, she felt helpless.

For the next few months, life flew by her, and Cat had put a calendar in Jade's room that had a running count of how many days were left.

Only 547.

Nurses treated her differently. She was granted more freedoms. She spent time with her friends. But, her friends were starting to get released, and their little group began to dwindle.

With 501 days left, Jade said goodbye to Andre. He had been in the hospital for close to six months, dealing with horrible anxiety and panic attacks, but he has been doing so much better over the last two months that the doctors decided he was ready to go home and return to his normal life.

Jade stood back and watched as everyone said goodbye. Being locked away for so long, she never grew as close to the group as everyone else had, even though she associated herself as being a part of them.

Tori had filled out more. She was still very thin, but she no longer looked sickly and frail. She had a permanent spot at their table in the cafeteria. And even though she doesn't eat that much, Jade can see that she is trying. When Andre pulls the Latina into his arms to say goodbye, Tori tears up.

"Thank you," she said. She pulled away and put her hands on Andre's shoulder. "For being a good friend. For listening when I talk. For being there for me."

Andre laughed lightly, but it sounded like he was holding back tears. "Woah there, chica. Don't make this sound like a goodbye. It's a 'see you later'. You can't get rid of me that easy."

Tori smiled. Trina came over and gave him a hug too. A few weeks ago, she shaved her head bald. Jade was surprised, but didn't say anything. The older Vega still wore her extravagant head scarves.

Today was different. When Jade saw Trina sitting in the cafeteria for breakfast, there was no scarf. Instead, there was a short fuzz of brown hair over her head.

Beck walked over and extended a bare arm to Andre, moving in to shake his hand. Jade's eyes trailed over Beck's forearm. It wasn't until recently that Beck shed the long sleeves and began to wear t-shirts again. Jade still saw the discomfort from time to time when he knew that other people saw the mean red lines across his skin, but all he did was clench his jaw and continue with what he was doing.

"Nuh-uh," Andre said, and pulled Beck into a manly hug. Beck laughed and pulled away, giving Andre a playful punch in the shoulder.

"Really gonna miss you, man," he said. "When I get out of here, we're hanging out."

"Deal," Andre laughed. Robbie said his awkward goodbyes as well. Jade didn't like admitting that she was in the dark about something, but she never quite understood what exactly it was that Robbie was admitted for. She heard many things, from bipolar, to sex addict, to multiple personalities, but nothing that ever seemed plausible, and frankly, Jade didn't care enough to ask him.

After their goodbyes, Andre turned to her. "You'll be okay," he said. Jade furrowed her eyebrows and he continued.

"You're a bitch," he said. "A royal bitch who really needs to work on building a verbal filter. But you've got people. You feel like you don't but you do. Most importantly, you've got Cat. Don't let her go. Ever. Hold on to her tight and give her your everything, because you know that she was give you her everything in return."

For a moment, Jade didn't say anything. Her face was unreadable, but a grin slowly began to play at the corners of her lips. Rolling her eyes, she said, "You know, that was probably just repulsive enough to be the sweetest thing any of you have ever said to me."

Andre grinned and picked up the bag at his feet. "Guess this is goodbye," he said, and headed out the official hospital door to where the front office room was. Through the glass window on the door, she saw a woman with a resemblance to Andre stand up from her chair and hug him, eyes filled with tears.

Jade turned away and walked towards the music room.

With 430 days left, Cat and Jade were sitting in Jade's room on the bed, surrounded by piles and piles of papers.

"You need to think about what's going to happen next," Cat said, shaking her head as she flipped through a college booklet. "I mean, I've already applied to about 15 schools and I'm waiting to hear back from them, and you haven't done anything."

"I've taken my SAT," Jade argued, throwing another pointless booklet on the floor. Cat brought over stacks and stacks of everything she could find, and Jade was trying to sort things into "Maybe", "Definitely Not" and "Possibility" piles.

The "definitely not" pile stopped being a pile and grew into a mountain while there were only a handful of options in either of the other two.

"Yeah," Cat said. "And you did fantastic. You got a 1920, Jade. That's really good."

Jade shook her head. "But I don't have anything else. I missed high school, Cat. That part of my life never really had the chance to happen. My junior and senior year, the two most important years of high school, were spent in this room. I don't have extracurriculars or anything like that. All I have is an SAT score and a great essay."

Cat shrugged. "But you're awesome, Jadey. You'll be amazing."

Jade sighed and threw another packet on the floor. When she looked where it landed, a picture caught her eye. She dug through the pile and took out a packet with a city skyline on the front. Tall buildings towered over everything. The lights reflected in the water of the river below it.

"Come to New York with me," Jade said suddenly. Cat's head snapped up.

"What?" she asked. Jade grinned at the comical expression of confusion on Cat's face.

"New York, New York," Jade said. "The Big Apple. You applied to schools there, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Cat said. "Like three, but my parents don't know. They think it's too far for me to go by myself."

"So you won't' go by yourself. I'll come with you. I'll apply to NYU, or Columbia, or something."

Cat put down the booklet she was looking at and crawled across the bed so she could look at the papers in Jade's hands.

"What would you want to study?" She asked.

Jade thought for a minute. "I'd probably be an English major. Do something with creative writing. Maybe minor in theatre."

Cat shook her head. "You can do that in LA. You want to write scripts. What better place than Hollywood?"

"New York," Jade said simply. "You said it yourself. New York and LA are both cities, but they couldn't be more different. New York is the place where dreams come true."

Cat thought for a minute. "I don't want you going to New York just because it's my dream. I want you to follow your dreams."

"My dream is to be happy, and I'm happiest when I'm with you."

Cat grinned and looked at the NYU pamphlet and the picture of three happy students having their picture taken in Times Square.

"You'll apply to other schools around here though too, right?" Cat asked.

With 387 days left, Jade watched the group say goodbye to Robbie, and three days later to Trina. What was once just a short fluff of hair became a cute short look, mirroring that of Audrey Hepburn. Jade would never vocalize how well it suited Trina.

Tears were shed as everyone said their goodbyes. Trina grew on the group. She was hard to get along with, but so was Jade. Trina was increidibly opinionated and liked to make her opinion heard. But, she was sweet, and behind her bitchiness, she cared.

Cat was there for this goodbye, and she probably cried more than anyone. Through random musings, she had told Jade about the conversation she had with Trina many months ago, and Jade knew that the two girls had grown close.

It tugged at Jade's heart to see Cat's lip quiver as tears fell down her tanned cheeks.

"You promise we can hang out?" Cat asked, clinging onto Trina once again.

Trina laughed and wiped at another stray tear, looking down at the shorter rehead. "I promise. Now stop crying. I'll see you soon."

Cat sniffled, but nodded, and moved to instead snuggle into Jade's side. Trina locked eyes with Jade and gave her a curt nod, which Jade returned.

It was a mutual understanding. They'd see each other soon. The nod was Trina's way of silently telling Jade that she better not do anything to hurt Cat. And, with a simple nod in return, Jade promised that she would never do such a thing.

The group watched as Tori smiled weakly at her older sister. "Doctors have been talking about me getting out of here soon, too," she said.

Trina nodded. "You've been looking good lil' sis. Really good. Healthier than I've seen you in years."

Tori smiled. "See you soon?" she asked.

Trina pulled her younger sister into a tight hug.

With 315 days left, Jade was surprised by an overly energetic redhead bouncing into her room, holding envelopes in her hand.

"The letters!" Cat squealed. "They came today!"

Jade felt her heartbeat quicken. After a few more conversations, Cat had convinced Jade to apply to a handful of schools. She had marked Cat's address as her own, and had been receiving acceptance letters over the past month. It was a relief to know that she had already gotten into some really good schools, but she hadn't heard from the school that mattered until now.

Cat handed Jade her envelope and her green eyes scanned the letters "NYU" printed in the top corner. She looked up at Cat, who was holding her own letter, and met her eyes.

"On three?" Jade asked. Cat nodded and counted down. When she reached three, both of them ripped at the envelopes and pulled out the letters. My eyes scanned the page, taking in the words. I looked up and met Cat's smiling brown eyes.

"You got in?" Jade asked. Cat nodded frantically.

"I got in!" Cat jumped up and down, smiling wide. Tears actually began to fall from her eyes in pure joy.

"Me too," Jade said. "I got in to NYU."

She giggled and launched herself at Jade, wrapping the taller girl tightly into her arms.

With 217 days to go, the ever dwindling group said goodbye to the other Vega. Where Cat had formed a bond with Trina, Jade and Tori shared their heart to hearts.

Jade was proud of her. She was glad to have been able to see the tiny skin-and-bones body that walked into the hospital change and become the smiling, healthy girl that was walking out. Clothes fit her better. Her eyes shined a little brighter. Her skin seemed a little tanner. Everything about her seemed to glow.

Jade surprised everyone when she walked over to Tori and pulled the girl into a tight hug. She felt Tori stiffen at first, and then melt into the embrace.

"You better call me when you get out of here," Tori whispered into Jade's ear. "We're all going to get together and throw you a huge party."

Jade smiled and pulled away. "Never thought I'd be getting out of this shit-hole, did you?"

Tori shrugged and mirrored Jade's grin. "I didn't think it was impossible," she admitted. "The only question was how long you'd be in here. But I never thought you were such a terrible person that you didn't deserve to live your life."

The door behind them opened and a smiling Trina walked in. Her hair now brushed gently against her shoulders, falling in loose waves.

"You ready little sis?"

Tori smiled at them one last time before disappearing through the door with Trina.

Jade turned around and looked at Beck. They were the only two left. "Looks like it's just you and me," Jade said with a bitter chuckle.

When there was only 158 days left, Dr. Valentine sighed Jade out of the hospital again. She and Cat spent the day in Cat's living room, watching TV and flipping through magazines. Cat had insisted that Jade find a way to "submerse herself in pop culture" so that she doesn't have too much of a culture shock when she's thrown into the world again.

Cat idly flipped through channels, not staying on one for longer than a few minutes before changing it to the next one.

Jade smiled. "I don't know how you expect me to absorb anything that's going on on television if you won't even let me watch a full TV show."

"Sorry," Cat said with a grin. She turned the TV off and climbed into Jade's lap, pulling the magazine from her hands.

"Hey!" Jade protested, but it was only halfheartedly as she instead placed her hands on Cat's thin waist.

"It's coming up so fast," Cat said, and Jade instantly knew that she was talking about the date of her release.

"I know."

"Are you excited?"

"I'm excited to be able to get to spend more time with you."

Cat bend backwards off the couch and towards the coffee table behind her as she trusted Jade's arms around her waist to keep her steady and secure as she did a full backbend, reaching for a notebook on the table.

Jade couldn't help but laugh. "What's that?" she asked.

Cat flipped through the pages before landing on the one she was looking for. "I made a list," Cat explained, showing the page to Jade.

There, in glittery pink gel-pens, was a list of at least 50 things to do in New York.

"Hide and Seek in the Toys R Us in Times Square," Jade read, "take the subway to a random spot and go exploring. Lunch in China Town." She looked back up at Cat. "What's with the list."

"This," Cat said, taking the notebook back in her hands, "is the complete list of all of the things I expect the two of us to do during our first month in New York. Like a bucket list, but without the dying."

Jade rolled her eyes and smiled. "So it's a definite then?" she asked. "We're going to New York."

Cat nodded.

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Your parents said yes?"

Cat took her bottom lip between her teeth. "I haven't really told them that I even got in," she admitted. "But I will. Soon. I just need to tell my mom, and she'll help me convince my dad. He's the real problem. You know how super protective he is over me."

Jade nodded. "Yeah. I know. But this is your life. No one knows what's best for you better than you do, and these are your decisions. Your dad needs to see that you've grown up. You get to make these choices, and live with the consequences. Both the good and the bad."

"Did you mention to him that you want to go to school in New York?"

Jade nodded. "In one of our sessions, we were talking about college, and I asked him if I went away to another state if he'd refer me to another psychologist or if he'd make me fly out to LA every week to see him. So, I told him I wanted to go to New York, and he said he'd start making phone calls to some of his psych friends on the east coast."

"Did he mention me?"

"No," Jade said. "But I could tell that he suspected. There was something in his eyes. He's just afraid of losing you, Kitty. He's your dad. He loves you. That's his job."

Jade was crossing off her reminder that she only had 98 days when she heard Dr. Valentine's voice outside her door.

"Sir," he said. "I'm going to need to ask you to stop right there or I'm going to call security. You don't have the authority to do this."

"Shut the fuck up and let me see her." The voice sent chills down Jade's spine. She wanted to think that she was imagining things, but then her door swung open and she was face to face with her father, and a very angry looking Dr. Valentine behind him.

"Dad," Jade whispered. Her father looked aged. His black hair had greyed and his blue eyes took on the color of a bad thunderstorm. His face looked worn and exhausted.

"Jadelyn." Jade internally cringed at the name. It just didn't quite sound the same as when Cat called her that.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "I haven't seen you since…" her voice trailed off.

"He shouldn't be here now either," Dr. Valentine reminded them. "Mr. West, you gave up custody of your daughter shortly after her trial, and now she is under state protection. You do not have guardianship of her anymore, and therefor do not have the visiting rights of a parent."

"It's fine," Jade said, never taking her eyes off her father. "Let him stay. He's here for a reason, and I want to hear what it is."

"Damn right you're going to listen to me," her father bellowed. Spit flew from his mouth as he angrily yelled and pointed his finger, but Jade didn't even flinch. "I heard that you're getting out of here you little bitch."

"How would you have heard that?" Dr. Valentine asked. "You're not her guardian, so you couldn't have-"

Jade's father turned to look at him. "Mind your own fucking business!" He turned back to look at Jade. Her eyes were stoic. "The point is, you're a filthy criminal." His voice rose with every word. "You're a dirty, disgusting human being. You're a killer, and a disappointment as a daughter."

Jade was just about to swallow her fear of her father when a head of bright red hair slowly peered around the door frame.

"Jadey?" Cat asked softly. Her pale pink skirt flowed as she gently stepped into the room.

Jade's father turned to face her, and Cat's eyes quickly turned to fear.

"Who the fuck are you?" He yelled. Cat instantly ran past the two men into the room and right at Jade, who protectively held the petite girl close to her. Jade wasn't exactly very big or very strong, but she had the lethal presence of a lioness, and that alone counted as adequate protection in Cat's mind.

"This is Cat," Jade said firmly. "My girlfriend."

Jade watched as her father's angry expression changed to confusion, realization, and then pure disgust and rage.

"You filthy dyke," he spat. Again, Jade didn't move, but she felt the small girl shudder at the word. "I knew that you were screwed up in the head. It makes perfect sense, now. You 're an abomination. Sleeping with women, killing innocent people. You-"

"Okay," Dr. Valentine finally interjected. "It's time for you to leave, Sir. You are doing absolutely nothing other than antagonize your daughter."

Two large men walked into the room and grabbed Jade's father by an arm and turned him around to escort him out of the room as he threw his head back in a deep laugh.

"That piece of shit stopped being my daughter a long time ago."

With nothing more an a few loud footsteps that disappeared in the vastness of the hallway, Jade's father disappeared. Dr. Valentine gave the two girls a sympathetic look. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but then decided against it and shut the door.

Jade placed a gentle kiss to the top of Cat's head and detached herself from thin tanned arms and climbed up on the bed, crawling into the corner and resting her back against the cool wall. She patted the space beside her and Cat climbed onto the bed as well, cuddling deeply against Jade's side as the taller girl pulled the blanket over them and cradled Cat in her arms.

Cat felt the warm wetness of tears against her skin and soaking through her shirt and sat with Jade as a silent comfort.

The day Beck was released, Jade still had 36 more to go. All of their friends were already gone, and Cat was on a class field trip to an art museum, so it was just Jade and Beck sitting in the TV lounge. He had his one bag sitting at his feet and they both blindly stared at the moving animated pictures on the screen as they waited for it to be Beck's time. Every so often, Jade would find her eyes shifting downward to the scars on Beck's arms. Some of them began to fade to white against his natural tan, but the majority remained angry red lines.

"You know, we never really talked," she said suddenly. She looked up and met his warm brown eyes. "You and I were probably in here the longest out of everyone, and we never really had a real conversation."

After a moment, Beck nodded. "I guess you're right."

"Yeah, and now, you're leaving, and soon I'm leaving, and everyone else is already gone. It's sorta surreal."

He turned himself so that he was facing Jade completely and gave her all of his attention. "Okay," he said. "Let's talk."

Jade smirked and turned herself so that she mirrored him, and Beck laughed.

"What?" she asked.

"That smirk." Jade raised a brow, but her lip remained cocked in that perfect smirk.

"It defines you," he explained. "Everything that I ever learned about you can be defined by that smirk. I can never be sure with what you're up to when you have that smirk on your face."

"You know, I don't think my girlfriend would be too happy with you trying to woo me," Jade said. Her voice was frigid, but Beck saw the playful sparkle in her eyes.

"No," he laughed. "I'm not flirting. I'm just telling you the truth."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever. So, how are we doing this?"

Beck shrugged. "Ask me a question."

"Why'd you start cutting?" Jade didn't miss the indistinguishable emotions that flashed behind Beck's eyes before they returned to their stoic strength. Jade hadn't realized just how similar she and Beck were.

"Wow," he said, smiling. "Going straight for the personal stuff, are we."

Jade shrugged and never broke eye contact. "I'm not one to beat around the bush," she exclaimed.

"Okay," he said with a deep breath. "I guess I started when I was in the 6th grade. My father is a well-known neurosurgeon and my mother is a big shot lawyer. My father spends basically all of his days at his hospital or at seminars or traveling to other hospitals to give consultations and second opinions, while my mother basically lives in her office. So, I live in a big house and all, but it was never really a home."

Jade nodded, that feeling being all too familiar to her.

"Anyway," he continued, "Grades started getting difficult for me and there was just so much pressure to be as wonderful and successful as my parents, but that's not something that I ever wanted to do. I wanted to be successful and important, but not in any way that my parents could understand. I felt like they ultimately were controlling my life and all my decisions, and I was grasping at anything I could to try to gain even a fraction of that control. So, what could I control? My body. And then the amount of alcohol I drank when I realized that myself harm wasn't giving me anymore control than what I started with."

Jade remained silent, not knowing what to say.

"My turn?" he asked, and Jade nodded once.

"What's your biggest fear?"

Jade paused and looked down at her lap in thought. "I'm afraid that I'll never be able to really fit into the world," she admitted, shocking herself that this was the secret she chose to reveal.

"When I was sentenced to being thrown into here," she continued, "I just kept doing the math. If they kept me here for five years, which honestly wouldn't be that long of a time for the crimes I committed, I'd be 24 by the time I got out. It's not a lifetime, but I just kept thinking about how much the world would change within those years, and how much I would change. But then, things started getting scarier because I realized that I wasn't going to change. The world was going to change around me and I was going to be stuck in this state."

Jade looked up and met his eyes, seeing the way he carefully watched her as she spoke, as if he was trying to piece together a puzzle without looking at the picture on the box.

A nurse walked in to the room. "Beck," she said with a smile, "Your car has arrived."

"My mother and father?" he asked. Jade heard the hint of hope in his words.

The nurse shook her head. "No, but the driver is in the lobby waiting for you."

"Thank you," he said. "I'll be there in a second." With a final smile, the nurse left the room.

Beck stood up and picked up his one bag, and Jade stood up too.

"You're going to be okay," he said.

"I think so," Jade whispered. "I hope so."

Beck grinned. "Those are two very different statements with two entirely different meanings."

"What are you, a fortune cookie?" Jade countered. "It doesn't matter what it means. It'd mean that I have hope, which is more than I could have said for myself two years ago."

Beck held his one arm out. It took Jade a moment to register that he was inviting her for a hug, and another moment to make up her mind about it. As she moved her feet closer and allowed him into her personal space, he smiled wider and placed a kiss on her raven-colored hair.

"And that," he explained, "is exactly why you're going to be okay."

Rather than cross off the last day off her calendar, she simply took the entire thing off the wall and threw it in the garbage can. She took a last look around her room. It was empty. Not that it had much in it before, but it had parts of Jade scattered around it.

It used to have sheet music on the walls, but now the white walls were bare. The sheets and the comforter were usually sprawled haphazardly on the cot that Jade called her bed, but now the bed was impeccably made. The closet was empty and every little thing that Jade ever claimed as her own now resided in the black and white pinstripe suitcase sitting in the doorway.

Every thing about this felt too final. The moment she stepped into the real world, the safety that this hospital gave her was gone.

"Knock knock," a gentle voice said behind her, and Jade turned around to see a smiling Cat.

"Hey," Jade greeted. She noticed the way Cat's eyes scanned the room. "It looks weird empty, doesn't it?"

"A little," Cat said. "But no worries. My mom spent all of yesterday preparing the guest room for you, and you can fill that room with all of your things."

"For the next four months," Jade corrected. "Because then we're going to New York."

Cat smiled and Jade found herself grinning at the redhead's adorable dimples. Cat extended an arm out to Jade, and Jade grabbed her suitcase before taking it and locking their fingers together.

As they walked through the hall, Jade caught the eye of a couple nurses, smiling at the unusual pair on their way out of the hospital. Jade filled out some paper work and the two stood in front of the main entrance. Jade found herself thinking about the finality of stepping outside those doors.

"You ready for this?" Cat whispered. She waited for Jade to nod before pushing the door open. Jade took two steps outside, feeling the warmth of the June sun on her skin.

She had been outside before. Cat's father had signed her out quite a few times, and Jade always loved sitting out on the roof with her notebook, but there was something about the sun now that Jade didn't feel before. Now, there was a level of liberation that made the sun just that much warmer in Jade's mind.

Cat gently squeezed her girlfriend's hand as she smiled and saw the way that the noonday sun reflected like liquid gold in those green eyes.