GoGo Tamago was never unsure of herself. She was the type of person who dove into the ocean head first, without checking if there were any sharp rocks at the bottom. She was confident in what she did, and couldn't care less what other people thought about her decisions. She lived, breathed, and got high on her own confidence and 'couldn't care less' attitude.

Until this moment.

GoGo Tamago was entirely sure that there was never any moment in life when she felt so scared. Even the first time she broke a bone wasn't compared to this. In fact, it was her breaking her right leg in a biking accident that made her come up with the term, 'Woman up', after seeing the almost entirely female medical team attending to her.

It was actually taking every fiber of her being to stop herself from u-turning and heading back to the lab to hunker down and avoid Tadashi. For the rest of her life.

Because you see, GoGo wasn't good with feelings. At all. GoGo hated her feelings. From the minute she met Tadashi, she knew he was trouble. Even though he was probably the happiest person she had ever met, she knew it in her bones that she would regret knowing this boy.

She still regretted it. Especially now. But there was no one else she'd ever imagine feeling these feelings for. Ever.

"Whoa!" she cried out as she nearly sped into a tree. She scowled at the offending plant, and righted herself. As she balanced on her bike, she could easily see the convention hall where Hiro was going to present his microbots to her left; the lab was somewhere to her right.

She could easily turn around and forget; just have Tadashi's blueprints to herself, so she could remember all the times he thought of her when she was at a blank. (Oh, how her heart soared, so unlike GoGo)

But even though this was the first time in her life that GoGo seriously doubted herself, she was sure of one thing.

She was not a coward.

With a newly found braveness, she sped for the convention hall.

(*)

Tadashi felt like his heart shattered into pieces when the group came to support Hiro; without a purple-haired biker chick in sight. "Hiro!" Honey Lemon cooed, and bent down to give 'her favorite young inventor' a hug.

"Where's GoGo?" Hiro asked, saving Tadashi the embarrassment (he saw the look on his brother's face).

Fred answered on behalf of the group. "I told her to meet up with us at the usual place, but she was a no-show." He shrugged, looking to the side. "I guess she was busy."

"Oh," Tadashi said in a strangled tone. Honey Lemon and Wasabi looked at him, confused. "What?" he said, holding up his hands in an 'I surrender' gesture.

"Nothing," Wasabi said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

Suddenly, Aunt Cass popped up, holding an entire handful of programs and brochures (that Tadashi and Hiro knew she'd read until Hiro's turn) and beamed. "Hey, kids!"

"Hi, Aunt Cass," the three chorused.

"Let's go and get a good spot. And some snacks!" she exclaimed.

"We can do that later, Aunt Cass. Why don't you go buy snacks with Fred and Hiro, while Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and I get the rest of Hiro's microbots from the car." Tadashi suggested.

"But we already-" Tadashi cut off his brother's sentence with a look. "Oh. I mean, yes, Aunt Cass. There are five more containers with Honey Lemon and Wasabi. How silly of me." Aunt Cass shrugged, and brought her arms around Hiro and Fred, leading them a way.

Tadashi swiftly turned Hiro, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi in the other direction. "Tadashi?" Wasabi looked, curiously, at his friend. "Is there any specific reason why we're not headed for the parking lot?"

Without a word, Tadashi yanked them into the nearest corner. "Eep!" Honey Lemon squeaked as the darkness surrounded them. "Tadashi? Is everything alright?"

"Where's GoGo?" he asked them, trying to sound nonchalant.

Wasabi and Honey Lemon's eyes lit up. "I get it now," Wasabi said "So it was-"

"Oh, Tadashi, you should have told us-"

"We can talk about that later!" Tadashi said, waving his arms around. "Where is she?"

"I don't know, Tadashi..." Honey Lemon said. "If it makes you feel any better, she was acting weird ever since you left."

"Weird good? Or weird bad?" Tadashi groaned.

"Is there supposed to be a difference?" Wasabi asked. Tadashi groaned loudly again.

Honey Lemon laid a tentative hand on his shoulder. "Oh, Tadashi..."

"Look, let's just get back to Hiro. If she's there, she's there. If earlier this afternoon is the last time I'll ever see her, then so be it." Tadashi put on a straight face. "Hiro's my priority tonight." Wasabi and Honey Lemon nodded, although they saw how much it was bugging him.

They pulled out of the dark corner. "If they're looking for snacks, then they should be just around this corner!" Wasabi said, as they approached a side full of snack vendors.

"Okay, so since Wasabi eats like a truckload, we should be buying seventeen packs of chips-"

"And I eat like a whale so Aunt Cass, please buy me twenty packs-"

"Oh of course, Fred dearie."

Tadashi had to laugh at the scene in front of him. Aunt Cass, dear Aunt Cass, was buying snacks that would probably last an entire year. Hiro's arms were so full of snacks that you couldn't see his face. Fred was eagerly waiting for Aunt Cass to dump another mountain of snacks into his arms. And GoGo was also holding a significant amount of snacks, but not enough to cover her face-

"GoGo!" Honey Lemon exclaimed, and went over to her. "You made it!"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," she replied dryly, and snuck a look at Tadashi. Tadashi was wearing a myriad of unconcealed feelings, which made GoGo blush, and look away. Hiro had an impish smile on him, which matched everyone else's smile, except for Tadashi, GoGo, and Aunt Cass's.

"Tadashi, help GoGo," Wasabi elbowed Tadashi towards GoGo's general direction. "Be a gentleman," he scolded.

"Oh. Uhm. Yeah. Let me just take a few of those," he muttered, and unloaded her arms. To take his mind off of GoGo, he blurted out the first thing that came into his mind. "Aunt Cass, you bought enough food to last us a year."

As Aunt Cass started to defend herself, GoGo tried to avoid Tadashi's questioning stare, and both individuals tried desperately to control the beating of their hearts.

(*)

"Wow. A lot of sweet tech here, today. How ya feeling?" Tadashi asked, looking around at all the different inventions.

Hiro shrugged, and tried to look tough. "You're talking to an ex-bot fighter. Takes a whole lot more than that to rattle me."

GoGo chuckled. "Yuuuup. He's nervous."

"You have nothing to fear, little fella," Wasabi assured Hiro.

"Oh, he's so tense," Honey Lemon cooed.

"No, I'm not!" Hiro insisted, hunching his shoulders

"Relax, Hiro," the blonde said reassuringly. "Your tech is amazing! Tell him, GoGo!"

"Stop whining. Woman up." As GoGo spoke those words, she realized how much it sounded like she was saying those two sentences to herself.

GoGo contemplated how the next few hours were going to go. They were obviously going to spend these hours in completely awkward silence, and then Tadashi was probably going to try and speak first, being a gentleman. She'd mess everything up because she was GoGo, and then they'd never speak to each other again.

Sighing, she tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Tadashi say, "Wow. That is both disgusting. And awesome."

"Don't encourage him," she drawled, crossing her arms over her chest.

It was the first time she had talked to him this evening, and both shared a look (that everyone tried not to see, as Fred started talking about recycling). "GoGo, I-"

"Tadashi-"

Next presenter: Hiro Hamada.

"Guess I'm up," Hiro said, sounding nervous.

"Okay, okay. Photo! Photo!" Honey Lemon squealed, and gathered everyone together.

GoGo could clearly feel Tadashi's presence behind her, and her breath quickened. His presence had never affected her in this way before. What had changed?

"Everyone say, Hiro!"

(*)

The air was chilly outside, and GoGo had to wrap her arms around herself to feel warm. Hiro had obviously knocked the presentation out of the park (She knew it the minute she knew what he was inventing), and had scored a scholarship to San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Now that everything was done, the moment was coming. She was sure of it. That defining moment.

"Dinner is on me!" Aunt Cass announced grandly, which earned a lot of happy yells.

Oh great, GoGo groaned. Another hour of awkwardly staring at Tadashi from across the table.

As Tadashi told Aunt Cass he was going to catch up, GoGo marched onwards with her friends. She could tell that they knew; exactly how they were going to say it, she didn't know. "GoGo..." Wasabi spoke up.

"What," she practically snarled, and regretted her tone.

"Look, we know what happened and we..." Honey Lemon fished for words. "We want you to know that you should at least talk to him."

"It would be so much easier to just ignore him," GoGo said, frowning.

"No, it wouldn't." Fred said, surprising everyone. "GoGo, you've gotta face this, because man, I have a feeling you are going to regret it."

"But what if I regret it even more?" she asked all three of them.

Wasabi sighed, and smiled sadly. "At least you'll know what happens."

It took her five minutes to make up her mind. "Alright. I'll catch up to you guys. I'll wait for Tadashi."

"Good." The three of them smiled encouragingly, and left her near a bench that was a few feet away from the hall.

She paced. And paced. And kicked some stones. And paced some more. "What's taking him so long?" she asked herself, nerves eating at her brain.

Suddenly, she heard the faint noise of a fire alarm. "Wha..." She turned around, and saw the flames. "Oh, no." She paled, and ran towards the flames.

She arrived just as people were starting to clear the area, and she scanned quickly for a sign, any sign, of the Hamada brothers. "Hiro? Tadashi!" she called out, almost getting run over by people. "Hiro!" She stood on her tiptoes, cursing god for making her so short. "Tadashi!"

GoGo finally spotted them near the doors, and it looked like they were arguing. "Thank you," she muttered, and charged towards them, just in time to hear him say, "Someone has to help."

"Tadashi..." Hiro said weakly.

And suddenly, GoGo knew. There was no way Tadashi was going to survive the flames. Even if he did magically save Professor Callaghan, it was going to be at his price.

She was not going to let that happen.

"Hamada!" she yelled, finally loud enough to be heard.

(*)

He turned around, feeling like everything was in slow motion.

And there she was. Looking at him. And seeing in her eyes that he had finally, finally, convinced her.

But he needed to save Professor Callaghan.

But there was no way he was going to survive the fire.

But Professor Callaghan was-

Think of her! Think of Hiro!

He had to do the right thing.

"It's too late," she said, approaching him slowly. "Tadashi, you're not going to help anyone by charging into that fire."

"He could still be in there!"

"He won't." GoGo stated these facts calmly, and finally reached Hiro. She clutched at the younger boy, wrapping an arm around him. "Don't do this to Hiro." She closed her eyes. "Don't do this to me."

Before he could reply, there was an intense wave of heat, and everything exploded.

(*)

The ground was softer than he imagined.

"Get. Off."

At GoGo's voice, he startled, and righted himself; there was no time to enjoy the brief moment of being so close to GoGo. Something bigger was in place. The explosion had thrown him straight into GoGo and Hiro's path, although he had landed more on GoGo than on Hiro. The latter was currently on the ground, breathing heavily. "Hiro!" he said, getting off GoGo and rushing for his brother. "Are you okay, little bro?"

"I'm... Fine," Hiro muttered, wiping his face. "Tadashi-"

Tadashi felt someone tap his back, and as he turned around, he heard the slap before he felt it.

Crack.

"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again." He winced, and rubbed his cheek.

"GoGo, I-"

"You're so selfish!"

"Let me explain-"

"Did you even think about the people you were leaving behind?"

"GoGo!"

"You could have died, you idiot!"

"But Professor Callaghan-"

"Don't scare me like that again!" she cried out, her feelings pouring out of her like a waterfall. She gasped, and covered her mouth with a hand, realizing how much those words would mean to Tadashi.

There was a silence, and she realized that Tadashi had turned to look at Hiro. The younger Hamada sighed, and shuffled away. "Bro, I am going to talk to you later."

They were silent as Hiro walked away, looking back at them every once in a while, as if to make sure Tadashi was still there.

Tadashi sighed.

GoGo sighed.

And then he finally closed the distance between the two of them; four long strides, and he was right in front of her. "GoGo Tomago."

"What."

"I was wrong, you know."

She rose an eyebrow, and looked up at him. She appreciated their differences in height; she had secretly always wanted to be standing in front of a boy like this. "About?"

"I don't think I like you."

Her breath quickened. "Uhm-"

"I know."

And then there was just him, just him in the middle of all the smoke and embers. He smelled like smoke, mixed with the barbecued chips that they had snacked on before and during Hiro's presentation, and was as warm as a fire, but not menacing.

Warm, strong, and comforting.

She felt his hands on her face, framing her cheeks with his huge hands, as she found herself staring into his dark eyes. He marvelled at how small she was, how perfect she was, and how incredibly strong she could still be, despite everything. He brought her face up to his.

And then, they kissed.

And it was like nothing else either of them had ever experienced.

(*)

Joshua, Ayin, and Alyssa.

Let's be realistic.

I could never finish the whole thing. Again. So there's going to be a part three.

I love you guys.

Next chapter shall be the epilogue.

Thanks for the reviews! You guys swamped me with them. Cookies for all of you!