A/N: So it's the last chapter, wow.

Thank you so much. I'm feeling a tad disheartened by fanfiction right now due to a really really negative response to a story which I immediately deleted and a lack of response to the last chapter I posted of this and so I was planning on taking a break, but I figured I might aswell just post the last chapter anyway. To those of you who have faved, followed and reviewed – thank you. To those who have said lovely things on every chapter, it means so so much. Thanks ComfyChair, Sleepoversat3b, Lacorra, RL13436 & Gleefan13 for the consistently wonderful reviews. I'm terrible at responding to reviews just because I never know what to say, so I thought I'd just leave it till the end. Thank you thank you thank you.

To gleefan13, thank you so much for listening to my upset rambles, you're the best.

Hope you've all enjoyed the story, and I would love it if you left me some feedback after this chapter.

I've put speech in italic because it might be easier to follow that way.

Two years later.

You're not much of a speaker, especially not in front of crowds. And, so, it surprises you that you have even made it as far as this podium. You've tossed and turned all week, thinking of all the worst scenarios in your head, thinking that you might say the wrong thing – that you might not be able to say anything at all.

You're happy that you've been made valedictorian. It's a reminder of how far you've come since the first time you stepped through the doors of this school. It's a reminder of how far you've come full stop. You just aren't entirely sure how it is you're going to get through it.

You take a deep breath and smile out at the crowd of excited graduates and proud parents and you find the familiar faces that keep your feet firmly on the ground. They smile back at you.

"It's crazy to me that I'm standing up here today. Truth be told, a few years ago, I had no idea who or where I was going to be by the end of high school. I had no dreams or ambitions for my future, I focused entirely on where I was in that moment. Either that, or my mind was stuck in the past. My life wasn't about which college I'd go to, or which grades I would get, it was about making sure myself and my little brother were safe, that we had a home, and that the home would last longer than a couple of months."

You find Jude's eyes in the crowd and he smiles at you softly and reaches his hand up to touch his heart. You think about how far both of you have come in trusting each other, you think about how scared you are about leaving him, but how happy you are that you're leaving him with them. You take another deep breath and continue.

"When I sat down to write this speech, I ran through a million different ways of saying what it was I wanted to say. I honestly wasn't entirely sure what it was I wanted to say to begin with. Did I want to tell everyone to follow their dreams? Did I want to talk about how far we've come? How far we still have left to go? Who would I quote? Who inspires me? More importantly, who inspires all of us? I didn't have any cute little anecdotes that would make everyone laugh, would I have to make everyone laugh?"

Out in the crowd, Mariana is smiling at you proudly and she waves subtly when she notices that you're looking directly at her. You couldn't ask for a better sister. She's your rock, no doubt about it.

"Then, a couple of weeks ago, I found my mom in the kitchen in the middle of the night crying." You look directly at Stef with a sad smile and she nods her head to say that you should continue. "I went back to bed before she could notice that I had even been there, but I spent the rest of the night wondering what it was that upset her so much. Then, I started thinking about all of the times she's found me in the same position and all of the things she has done over the past couple of years to make me feel better."

Stef gives you one of her warm supportive mom smiles that always makes you feel better in any situation and, in that moment, all of the fear and worry over speaking in front of these people just falls away. It's just you and your family, just you talking to your family.

"I found out the next day that my mom was crying because I'd been accepted into a university in a different state and it made me realise something incredibly important: If I was going to stand here and talk to everyone in this audience about something inspiring or important, what better to talk about than our parents?"

Everyone in the crowd nods in agreement, and you watch as a few people turn around to find their parents in the crowd. It's confirmation that you've found the right topic, it's confirmation that they all get it.

"The thing is, it doesn't really matter who we were when we started out in high school. Me? Well, you all know who I was when I joined this school, a lot of you know who I was beforeI started here. I feel like it is important to say that, while school has shaped me socially and academically, my parents have shaped me in every other way. See, I used to think that I was one of the unlucky kids. In a lot of ways, I really was. The mother that held me in her belly and taught me how to swim was not the same mother that saw me struggle with bullies in middle school, or algebra in high school. She was not the same mother that stood by me when I was depressed, she was not the same mother that taught me to appreciate myself when I thought I wasn't good enough to deserve food."

Even today it's still a little difficult to talk about. A long time ago, you were lost. So lost that you almost completely disappeared. So lost that you almost abandoned everyone that you love, everyone that loves you. And even though you're much better now, even though you eat now and smile now, you still have days which are unbearably hard. Days when you wake up and the first thought you have is whether or not you can face getting out of bed, days where you fight about food with your moms and fight about life with yourself.

But you are much better. You are still healing, but you are coping with healing and that will always be okay.

"But the thing is, my misfortune was the same thing that made me the luckiest girl alive. I got a second chance, a second home, a second family. I'm lucky enough to say that I have had three moms in my lifetime that have taught me all of the valuable life lessons that most people get from a mother and a father."

You look up at the sky and smile. You don't see your mom so much anymore when you sleep. Sometimes you wake up and, for a split second, imagine her sitting at the edge of your bed smiling. Sometimes you catch her scent when you are sleeping. Most of the time, she's just a memory.

"My mother was just a whisper on the tip of my tongue when I woke up in the middle of the night gasping for breath. She was the person who taught me right from wrong, left from right, and how to properly hold a knife and fork. Although she died long before I developed Anorexia, she was the one who taught me that the only way to get better was to depend on my new family."

You look out at the crowd and notice the supportive smiles on your classmates faces, they nod their head and the silently tell you that it's okay, that you're brave, that they get it. You look at Stef and you cover your heard with your hand.

"My mom, who's a cop, taught me how to rely on others. She taught me that pain is not weakness, but facing pain and overcoming challenges is fearless. My mom, the cop, taught me that I am in this life to help other people. She helped me pick the best college in which to study psychology, and she taught me that I have a unique gift for helping kids like me. Callie, she always says, you're so good at protecting people. You know that, right? And she is right, she's always right."

Stef chuckles and nods her head, and you laugh a little too, thinking of all the arguments you'd had in which you had stated that you were in the right, in which you'd said that you didn't understand why parents always seemed to think they're in the right.

"My mama, yes I did just call her mama in front of this incredibly large crowd, the teacher taught me to accept some protective arms when the world seems to be throwing everything wrong my way. She taught me to love myself, to accept myself, and she also taught me that no good mac and cheese should be lathered in ketchup."

Everyone in the crowd laughs and Lena, who is seated behind you, yells in agreement. You turn to face her and she winks, and you smile gratefully.

"I know there are people who are wondering why it is that I'm standing here telling you stories about my parents, about my life. But we've all been there.

Whether you've always had the same family, whether you have one mom or two or a mom and a dad or a mom or a dad, you've been in a position where you've had to learn from them. They teach us solitude, safety, warmth, math, discipline, respect. They teach us things that, sometimes, we think we might never need.

But then one day you're alone and you remember that you're mother told you that it's okay to be scared, or that your father told you to always find something to distract yourself when you're feeling down."

You'll never be able to explain fully how grateful you are to have become a part of the AdamsFoster family. You'll never find the right words or the right amount of words to explain just how much they've changed your life. Just how much they've bettered you. You never know how to say it, but you know that they know.

You see it in their eyes, in their smiles, in their hugs.

You look at Jesus and he throws a supportive fist in the air and whispers go callie so that only you can understand it, and you have to suppress a laugh.

Brandon smiles and you think about how happy you are to have your brother be, not only your sibling, but also your best friend.

"We are all responsible for ourselves, and we've all worked hard to get to where we are today, but let us not forget that none of us would be here if it weren't for our parents.

For the mothers that taught us to always tie our shoelaces.

For our fathers that taught us the right way to pitch a ball.

For our parents who taught us that violence is never the answer.

And for our parents that taught us to hit back twice as hard.

We are who we are because our parents taught us right from wrong, up from down, left from right.

And I think we should remember that as we move on to our next chapter."

You smile and look around at Lena. "Mama, thank you."

You find Stef's face in the crowd. "Mom, thank you."

You look up at the sky. "Momma, thank you."

And then you throw your hand up in the air. "To the parents!"

Everyone cheers.

You feel wonderful.

Hold me fast, hold me fast cause i'm a hopeless wanderer

and I will learn, I will learn to love the skies i'm under

the skies i'm under