A/N: Welcome to the last chapter of Apple Pie! ...Sorry, but if I didn't start out with that I'd probably never say that.

So... it's been a pretty bumpy ride, but I'm finally proud enough to say that this is my first ever completed story on the site that's not a one-shot. Now, with over thirty stories, you'd think that there'd be at least one completed, but NOPE THIS IS THE FIRST. In my entire writing career, actually! So even before I came here to FFnet, back when I was on silly little quizilla and had super crappy fiction stories there, none of those were completed, either.

Thanks for the feedback, whether it was criticism or just praise. It all helped me in some way!

Oh, and a huge thanks to Snazziest who actually PM'd me and made me get off my ass and finally write this, lol. I hope it doesn't feel too rushed here.

So now, I hope to see most of my reviewers at my other multichap with Raeger and Annie (I changed Minori's name), What the Selfish Heart Wants (selfish but shameless advertisement).

How do I end an author's note for the end of a story... hmm. Well, thanks for everything, guys!

"So basically, a crazy ex broke into your restaurant while you were away and broke the furniture and appliances?"

Raeger had finally told her the majority of what happened to make him start his womanizing career – because one relationship turned bad could definitely change everything, and Minori knew that well already.

He nodded and laughed. "Yeah, and that's why I don't go anywhere without locking it up first. I even had a security system installed."

"Paranoid much?" she teased.

"I don't think you have the room to talk," he told her briskly. "Who was it that had to save you at the clothing store?"

Minori's cheeks burned. "That's… that's different," she insisted.

Raeger shook his head. "I don't think so." He cleared his throat. "So you wanna tell me what exactly went on there?"

Their relationship had started right about a week ago now, but Minori was too embarrassed and nervous and Raeger was too busy to go to her house and bother her about it, so this was pretty much the first time they'd been together since the night Minori confessed.

Minori sat on his lap, embarrassed anyway, with his arms wrapped around her, pulling her close. At least they sat in the comfort of his room – on his bed, even – but still, it was too much for her.

Not that she minded. Being in a relationship wasn't so bad, she realized.

Then she frowned. With Raeger it wasn't bad, anyway, but with Johnny, it was just brutal.

She inhaled a deep breath. "Well… we started dating in high school, but it was right around the time we graduated so we were both super busy. After the ceremony he called me like every day to try and set up dates or whatever. I told him I couldn't yet because my parents were starting to set up my graduation party, right? Well, he accepted that at first, and it was fine, but the next time I canceled on him he kinda blew up."

She was glad Raeger stayed silent so she could remember the moments and relay them to him, but on the other hand she almost wished he would speak up so she didn't have to. It wasn't exactly a fun time, looking back on it.

"I don't wanna sound conceited or anything, but I had a lot of friends back then and was pretty popular."

Cue the snort from Raeger, and the glare from Minori even though he couldn't see it.

"Anyway," she continued, "they'd invite me out from time to time just to go to the mall or whatever, but Johnny didn't like that very much. He was… insanely possessive, I guess, to the point of scaring me off. That 'year' that we dated for, I'd say only about three months of it was actually real.

"I went out with him a couple of times, though, and while we were actually together he was fine. He held the doors open for me and sometimes would pay my half of the bill, and he'd always kiss me goodnight before we left."

Raeger pinched her side before she started back up again.

"Hey!"

He chuckled. "I didn't like that part."

Oh. She couldn't really blame him, then… After all, she and Raeger had only kissed the once, back in the shop, to try and get Johnny to go away and leave her alone.

She felt a blush creep up her cheeks. Did he… want to do it again? Did he ever maybe want to go… further than that?

"A-a-anyway, he was basically the perfect gentleman when we'd go out. But when we didn't go out, he'd make me feel really guilty about leaving him out of my fun, and he'd say stuff like I didn't really love him, I just wanted some eye candy. That wasn't true at all, but I didn't know what to tell him other than I was sorry. No matter how much I apologized, though, he just wouldn't take what he said back. He insulted me and put me down constantly and then when we met up he would just pretend like it never happened, like nothing bad ever happened and he couldn't do anything wrong and – "

"You were in an abusive relationship," Raeger finished.

That wasn't what she was going to say, but… "Yeah."

He squeezed her tighter, whispering little things into her ear and making her whimper. He laughed. "I hope your crazy ex and mine get together and go through hell."

She snapped her head back towards him, almost regretting it when she realized she was just inches from his face. "What would that do?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "But I thought if I said that it might make you feel better."

Minori looked away briefly. He'd already changed so much in such a short time… She didn't think of him the same way she used to; he was very sweet and charming and kind, something she hadn't had in a long time, and he always seemed to know just what to say.

Then it hit her.

"You're still trying to use me for sex, aren't you?"

The question seemed to take him aback because he visibly flinched and his eyes widened.

"What? Why would you even suggest that?"

She bit her lip and glanced away again. "You're too nice to me, that's why," she explained. "Whenever someone's exceptionally nice, there's always a reason for it."

"And you don't think that reason could be simple?" Raeger turned her face towards his, making her look at him.

She had a hard time meeting his eye. "What… could that simple reason be?"

He smiled. "That's a secret."

She wriggled out of his grip and slapped his arm angrily. "Raeger!"

Raeger laughed loudly. "Sorry, love. You'll just have to guess."

She raised an eyebrow. "Love? Since when do you call me that? Are you foreign? Is there something I should know about?"

He laughed again, shaking his head. "Nope. But it's a hint."

It took her a few moments, but she thought she understood. She gulped. "You… love me?"

It sounded even more ridiculous when she voiced her thoughts aloud, and even though she'd thought herself that she might be developing the same feelings, it scared her.

When he nodded she slowly backed away, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Love is… a big word. You can't use it so easily."

Why did it scare her, though? She knew she was at least a little afraid of commitment, but she thought that being with Raeger would help her overcome it. Was this a bad choice after all?

She gulped. It'd only been a week, and this was their first time really together, right? So she still had time to get over it; hopefully she had a lot of time to do that.

"It's only a big word if you mean it," he said, shaking her from her overactive thoughts.

He sat up and looked at her, taking a hand and running it through her hair, pushing some behind her ear. "And I mean it."

Minori shook her head. She could feel tears running down her face. "Don't tell me that." She sniffled." I'm gonna want to believe you."

"So believe me," he told her. He grabbed her arms so that she couldn't hide her face anymore. "I don't want you to think of the bad memories and cry anymore. We can make more memories – good ones – that we'll always remember, and we'll look back on them and laugh and smile."

She just kept shaking her head, telling him no, not to tell her things like that.

"What's so scary about it? What's so bad about me loving you?"

Minori sniffled again. "Just… don't say it. Don't say you love me because you're just gonna leave me anyway."

Raeger sighed. "Y'know, it's a huge blow to my self-esteem when you say things like that."

She wiped her eyes and opened them, looking up at him. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Minori, do you honestly think I'm going to leave you?"

She bit her lip, glancing away at the wall, searching with her puffy, red eyes for something she could use as an excuse.

No, she couldn't use excuses anymore. This was real. It was a real relationship, with somebody she actually liked and trusted. If she was insecure now, it would never last.

Besides, when something's already broken, it can't be damaged any further, only fixed.

She slowly shook her head. "No… I-I don't really know," she admitted lamely.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, his lips lingering there for a few seconds. "I won't leave you. I'm not planning on ever leaving you."

"D-don't – "

"Don't tell me not to say that," he said, interrupting her. "I'll say whatever I want to, especially when it gets you all embarrassed like this."

She tried to move her hand to smack him but he had both under firm grasp. "Y-you're stupid…"

He smirked. "Yeah, but you love me anyway."

Her eyes widened and some of the fear came back. "I'm – I can't love you. Not yet."

"That's fine." He pulled her into him again, wrapping his arms around her back. "I'll wait forever if I have to."

Minori buried her face into his shoulder, trying to regain at least some of her composure. She leaned her head to the side so she could talk. "Raeger?"

"Hmm?"

The vibrations of his low tone made her shiver. "Why… why did you choose me?"

He sighed. "I think I did it subconsciously, the day I made the bet. I wanted you physically, obviously, but then it just… started to develop into something more, I guess. Like the day you went over to Eda's."

She nodded, telling him she understood and wanted to hear more.

"When you were talking with Fritz, I got immensely jealous. Don't laugh," he told her when she started to crack up. He cleared his throat. "I just kept asking myself, 'Are you okay with things the way they are now? Do you really want to let her go so she can fall for someone like that?'"

They shared a laugh, and then Minori felt a bit guilty.

"Y'know… he confessed to me that day."

He backed away, staring at her for a second or two. "What? Why didn't you tell me?"

She rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "You were kind of being a jerk. A jealous jerk."

Raeger coughed off to the side – she'd learned by now that it was a habit when he was embarrassed. She could see the red tint on his cheeks. "I just didn't want to let you go."

She shook her head. "I guess now you don't have to."

"You mean you're not leaving me for Fritz?"

She giggled. "I don't think you could ever do something that bad." She frowned once she realized what she just said. Something that bad… There was always the off chance that their relationship turned out like her and Johnny's, wasn't there? What would happen then? Would she have to leave the town?

"I'm at your mercy," he reminded her, "so if I do something dumb, punch me."

She smiled, feeling instantly better. She was already good at that.

Heat rushed up to her cheeks as she thought of something that she probably wasn't good at that she wanted to be. "H-hey, Raeger?"

"Yeah?"

She leaned closer to him shyly, glancing down. "Can I… can we… kiss?"

"Oh, so I can kiss you now?"

"Raeger!" she hissed. "Come on! It took a lot of courage for me to ask – "

Before she could even finish her angry sentence rant, he kissed her.

It already felt a lot different than the one they shared at the clothing store. Maybe it was because their feelings were mutual, and they both knew that now, or maybe because they weren't in public, it felt better.

Regardless of the reason, she pushed back against his lips with her own, deepening the kiss, entangling her fingers into his hair. One of his hands rested on the side of her face, the other on her shoulder, making sure she wouldn't pull away.

Like she'd do that. In fact, if it kept going like this –

She pulled back, gasping for air. Her thoughts ran wild as her cheeks showed it. "S-sorry," she told him sheepishly.

He sighed, but it didn't sound like sadness. "Y'know, now that you and I are together and there's no bet in sight, we'll have to entertain each other from here on out."

A heat wave coursed throughout her body and she turned her head away, embarrassingly astonished by his words. "Th-that's a little while away." Though, she admitted only to herself, with kisses like that, it might not take that long at all.

He smiled. "I don't mind waiting. But all those cute little noises you make really – "

"Raeger!"

"Yeah, I expect that to be louder, too."

She pursed her lips and pushed him away, almost feeling bad when she heard the thump, his back colliding with the headboard. He wasn't far away from it, so she knew he wasn't hurt. "It's a long ways away."

He fell back onto the mattress, head slightly propped up by his pillow. "Are you sure about that?"

She looked back towards him. "What do you m – ah!"

Raeger yanked her arm so she fell on top of him, their bodies pressing together.

"R-Raeger…"

"Yes, Minori?" he asked teasingly.

She shook her head, refusing to let him get the satisfaction of seeing her flustered. "N-nothing."

He crooked his head up to place another kiss on her forehead. "It won't be nothing when I'm through with you."

…

"Minori! You want this banner here, right?"

Minori turned her head to Agate and smiled, seeing it was in the exact position. "Yeah, that's great. Thanks."

Agate nodded and began tacking it up in the tiny restaurant.

Minori looked around the place, taking in all the decorations, still disbelieving that it was her party.

"Hey!"

She turned around towards the door, instantly smiling when she saw Raeger coming through it.

"I got those other things you asked for, Minori," he said, walking up to her and setting the box on the counter next to her. "Hope you like it; it wasn't cheap."

She laughed and started rifling through it. There were some items she could've done without, but for the most part all the party favors were great. "Thanks, you did well."

Raeger grinned. "Anything for the mother of my child."

Her cheeks heated up. "C-come on, don't say stuff like that here."

"It's just Agate! She knows how whipped I am."

As if right on cue, Agate turned around and laughed. "Yes, I do. Every time I come by the restaurant he asks me 'How's Minori? Is the baby okay?' Like I go to your house everyday."

Minori stifled a laugh. She didn't know she managed to do it in just one year, but she'd successfully gotten Raeger whipped. Maybe it was the kid.

Raeger stepped behind the counter and put away some of the ingredients he just got from the store. "I bet you're pretty hungry."

"I am!" Agate whined, though she knew no one was asking her.

Minori laughed anyway. "You can have some of my pie if you want." She'd do anything for her best friend; within the same year she'd managed to whip Raeger, she also became very close with her. She was teaching Minori how to get animals to like her.

Agate smiled in response, then went back to hanging up the same banner.

"You want cherry pie, right?" Raeger asked.

Minori groaned. "Don't make me puke."

He chuckled. "I know, I know."

She watched as he prepared the pie crust. She'd probably never tell him (at least while she was still pregnant), but she really loved his homemade crust.

A feeling in her stomach told her that their unborn child also loved it already.

"He'll grow up to be a good chef just like his daddy," Minori mused, smiling playfully.

Raeger shook his head. "No. She'll be thick skulled just like her mother."

"So… you think it's a girl… and I think it's a boy?"

He nodded. "That's what it looks like."

Minori frowned. "Let's ask Agate for the tiebreaker."

"Girl!" she said almost immediately.

Minori laughed. "That's just what you want it to be so you can spoil her."

"You shouldn't ask me then," she said, sticking her tongue out teasingly. "Regardless of its gender, I'll love it to pieces, probably more than you two ever will."

Minori shook her head vigorously. "Not possible at all." She glanced over at Raeger who made pretty much the same expression.

They loved it so much already.

"All right," she said after a while, "so the party's gonna start around three. It's one right now, meaning we've still got a while. But we still have to put out the party favors and – "

"Make all the food," Raeger finished. "I know, I know. Don't rush me."

"I wonder who the real pregnant one here is," Agate mused, eliciting a laugh from both of them.

The three of them kept working – Agate on the decorations, Minori on the party favors, and Raeger on the pie – until Minori started getting a little impatient.

"Raeger, when's my pie gonna be done?"

He laughed. "It's almost done, calm down. Jeez."

She frowned. She knew it took a while to bake sometimes, but sheesh, she was hungry and wanted to eat already! "Just hurry up."

She sat back down at the bar, tracing the pattern in the countertop, bored.

"I was just messing with you," Raeger said, and suddenly she could smell apples and cinnamon. "It's done."

"Raeger!" she shouted. "I've been sitting here, starving!"

He laughed. "I just had to add something special. And you've been standing, not sitting, all this time, y'know."

Minori looked up at him threateningly and he backed away, knowing his place. He gave her a fork from the drawer and let her start digging in.

It was hot, she realized, meaning that it wasn't too long ago it came out of the oven; she was just surprised she didn't hear it ding. Was she that involved with the party favors?

The apple and cinnamon danced in her mouth and created the same savory flavor she loved so much since she was just a little girl. She made a satisfactory noise that told him it was good, and he smiled.

"Just be careful," he told her. "I don't think I made it the best this time, so there might be some chunks here and there."

Why was he so worried about the pie all of the sudden? He never did that. He'd never serve something he wasn't proud of – but even though he kept saying that weird junk, she couldn't stop eating it because she was hungry.

"What's gotten into – wait, what is this?"

She held up a fragment of the pie she cut with her fork to show it to him. "There really is something in here."

"What is it?"

"I don't know! That's why I'm asking you, you made… Is this what I think it is?"

When she looked up at him, he just smirked. Agate stayed quiet. "What do you think it is?"

She had a hard time finding words. "R-Raeger, what's – what are you doing?"

He came around the corner of the counter and stood in front of her, looking at her expectantly.

"Raeger, no, you can't be seriously – "

"Shh," he told her. He put a finger to her lips in that cheesy way. She gulped and stayed silent. Was this really happening?

"Minori."

She nodded. "Y-yeah?"

He smiled at her reassuringly. "You know I love you, and I would do anything to make you happy."

She nodded again. "I-I love you, too, Raeger, but – "

"And I would want nothing more than to stay by your side forever so we can raise this child together with nothing but love. So…"

He took her fork and quickly discarded the dry pie crust that hung around the ring. He wiped it off on his shirt before continuing. "Minori…" He took her hand and kissed it tenderly. "Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Minori felt tears stream all the way down her face but she couldn't stop them because they weren't from sadness. For the first time in a very long time, she wasn't crying because she felt insecure or scared or upset.

She was so ridiculously, incredibly happy.

She remembered Agate was here so she looked at her briefly and when she just kept nodding her head excitedly, Minori knew there wasn't even a question at all.

"Yes, of course."

She never thought she would ever get a happy ending like this, but she couldn't honestly say, without feeling guilty, that she deserved it.

She deserved Raeger, she deserved this child, she deserved to have such a great person like Agate be her best friend – and her maid of honor now, really.

And as she clung to Raeger's neck tightly as he swung her around in excitement and happiness, she realized she wouldn't have it any other way.

~CGA