Ok, so this is it! The end of The Long Road. Thanks so much to everyone who stuck with this story for an entire year, I appreciate each and every review! Don't forget to leave me your final thoughts!

Who Says You Can't Go Home?

Burlington, Vermont

"So, this is it." As usual, Jay was the first to say what they were all thinking. "Our last night on the road."

"You'd think it'd be more eventful," Craig remarked.

"What, the whole trip didn't have enough drama for you?" Paige asked, capping her bottle of nail polish and sitting back to admire her newly painted toes.

At that, Emma looked up, her fingers stalling in Manny's hair with the braid half-done. "Hey, you guys," she said, waiting until all eyes were on her before continuing. "I just want to say thank you ... you know, for coming on this trip. And for everything else you've done for me. I just ... I couldn't have done it without you. All of you."

"Em." Manny raised a hand to touch her friend's wrist. "We came because we wanted to."

"I came because I needed to," Paige put in. She looked around at the rest of them. "Come on, fess up. Nobody's here entirely out of the goodness of their hearts. We all had our reasons for needing to get out of dodge."

"Paige may actually have a point," Jay spoke up. "We all needed out. And you, Em, you gave us a place to go."

"So we should probably be the ones thanking you," Craig chimed in.

Emma was shaking her head. "No, you guys, you don't understand. You saved me. You really did."

"Hey, I think we're all even. We saved each other." This time, it was Sean who spoke and, this time, Emma seemed to listen. "It was a good trip. That's all that matters, you know? It was a really good trip."

There wasn't really anything else they could say.

XXX

Hours later, Paige slipped into the hot tub beside Craig, who immediately reached up with one hand to smother her giggles. "Quiet," he hissed, though his shoulders shook with silent laughter. "You're gonna get us caught."

"By who?" She bit his palm, gently, but it was enough to gain release. "The one night manager who barely speaks English? I thought musicians lived for breaking rules at hotels."

Craig grinned and yanked her into a sitting position, his fingers moving underwater to tickle her bare midriff. "Did you want me to smash my guitar, too?"

Giggling helplessly, Paige writhed in his grip. "Stop, please, stop," she gasped out between fits of laughter. When he finally relented, she gave a long sigh of contentment, but made no move to separate herself from him.

A few minutes passed, then Craig hooked a finger under the strap of her bathing suit. "I remember this suit," he said casually. "You wore it when you were tanning at that rest stop in Oregon."

"You thought I was such a snob," she murmured.

"Who didn't?" He pressed a kiss to her temple. "I know better now."

Paige was quiet for another long moment. "Do you think things will be different when we get back?"

"Different?" He furrowed his brow. "Between us?"

She shrugged. "Between ... all of us. I mean, we weren't exactly best friends before this trip. Come on, haven't you ever seen The Breakfast Club? They all say that come Monday morning, it'll be like they never met."

"I think it'll be however we want it to be," he declared. "Besides, you're stuck with at least one of us. I can't afford Boston all by myself."

XXX

"Jay?"

He was almost asleep, sprawled out on his stomach and eyelids practically cemented shut, but he managed to grunt out a response. "Yeah?"

Manny tugged on the end of the braid Emma had given her. "What are you going to do when we get home?"

With a sigh, he forced himself to flop over. "What do you mean?"

"About your step-dad." She slid her gaze towards him, then away. "You can't live with him again. You have to go to the police or something."

Now he brought himself fully upright, cupping her chin so that she would meet his gaze. "It's not black and white like that, Manny," he said, surprisingly calm. "I may not get along with the guy, but he's never laid a finger on my mom and he makes her happy. Or as close to happy as I've ever seen her. I can't take that away from her."

Manny frowned, and she reached up to take hold of the hand that was pressed against her cheek. With her free hand, she swept a thumb across his brow, as if checking for worry lines that would reflect her own. "But where are you going to go?"

"I'll figure it out." With a small grin, he lay back down again, pulling her with him so that she was tucked into the nook of his shoulder. "It doesn't matter where I go to sleep or eat dinner. I've got a better idea of where I belong now."

She wasn't sure if that answer really satisfied her - after all, she knew Jay's short fuse, knew he would engage in fight rather than flight should it come down to that. But it the first time she'd ever seen him smile like he had nothing to hide and, thankful for that, she pressed her lips to his curved ones and settled down to sleep.

XXX

"You've been quiet."

Emma, leaning against the railing of the balcony, straightened up and turned to look at Sean, who was seated in the deck chair. "I was just thinking," she told him. "It's so strange that tomorrow, we'll be home. It feels like it's been a million years."

He nodded. "I know what you mean."

"So much has changed, you know? Look around." She pointed, first through the window to where Jay and Manny slept peacefully, then to the ground floor, where they could vaguely make out Craig and Paige splashing in the hot tub. "We're all so different now."

"Some things are the same," he said quietly, taking her wrist and tugging gently so that she fell into his lap.

"Yeah." She smiled at him, bending her head close so that he felt more than saw the curve of her lips. "I guess some things are."

Their lips met slowly, almost uncertainly, but it was like ... like trying on an old dress, Emma decided. When you're not sure if it's going to fit, so you hold your breath and tug the zipper slowly, but when you finally start to breathe again, you realize it still hugs your curves in all the right places.

"You still feel right," she whispered, pulling away just enough to speak.

Her arms were wound around his neck, every inch of her somehow melded to his body, and he had never felt more alive. "I'm just sorry it took us so long to get here."

"It was a good trip," she said, using the words he'd spoken earlier. "Well. Actually, it was a long, hard trip."

He chuckled. "I hope there's a 'but' coming."

Emma laughed, too, soft and warm, and pressed even closer, so that there was no space between them, no more distance to travel. "But ... it was worth it."

XXX

It was quiet the next morning as they packed their bags and piled them into the SUV for the last time. As Sean struggled to fit the various souvenirs they'd acquired into the already crowded trunk space, Jay came up behind him and peered in. "That's a lot of baggage."

With one last push, Sean stepped back and clapped his friend's shoulder. "Between all of us?" He shrugged, grinned. "It's not so bad."

Manny smiled gratefully at the boy, stepping up to wrap one arm around Jay's waist. "The man's got a point. We can probably handle it."

"Hey." Emma came to stand beside them, her hair pulled into a loose ponytail, her fingers curled into the too-long sleeves of Sean's sweatshirt. "Who's got the keys?"

"That would be me." Paige dangled them from her fingertips. "Why?"

"Mind if I drive?" Emma looked vaguely nervous, but she was determined. It was the final step for her, a fitting end to a journey that had always been about finding her own direction. "I haven't had a turn this whole trip."

"You sure you don't want to stick to riding shotgun?" Craig questioned, arching an eyebrow. "You're the best navigator I've ever had."

She smiled and snagged the keys. "I can do both," she promised confidently. "I know the way."