Author's Note: Well, here is the chapter that everyone (including me) has been dreading: the last chapter. Even though it's the last chapter, it (as I've mentioned before) contains one of my absolute favorite scenes in the entire movie: the goodbye/airport scene. Jesse and Elisabeth's action in that scene is absolutely brilliant and Jesse's acting/expressions nearly had me on the verge of tears. I sincerely hope I did the scene justice with my interpretation of Keith's thoughts. So, enjoy the chapter as much as you can and please review!

Chapter 16

The Goodbye Scene

Keith didn't see Natalie again until Chemistry on Monday. Well this wasn't entirely true. She had stopped by his house again, late Sunday afternoon but he hadn't answered her knocking.

His dad had gone into work for a few hours, leaving Keith home alone. Still feeling pretty bad about what he had said to Natalie the night before, he sat in his living room and hooked up his electric guitar to an amplifier and began to play as a way to just escape for awhile.

Apparently it wasn't loud enough as he heard Natalie knocking at the front door twenty minutes later.

"Keith," she called.

He stopped playing and then waited for a few minutes, wondering if maybe she would get the hint and leave him alone.

She didn't because the knocking started again and he immediately resumed his playing. He didn't want to talk to her. Why would she want to talk to him after all that he had said? Over his playing he could sense that she was yelling at him to come out and talk to him but he just ignored her. He would see her on Monday anyway.

And such was the case the next day in Chemistry although they did very little talking, in fact Natalie didn't even look up at him when he arrived a few minutes late yet again.

Since finals week was just around the corner, they were cleaning their lab station equipment and turning in their final reports. Walter called out instructions as they worked. Natalie had already cleaned all of their equipment and was filling out the paper that said that all of their materials. Keith leaned back on his stool and swept his gaze over the equipment lined up in front of him.

"Four test tubes, three beakers…and a Bunsen burner," he said with finality as he pulled the final tool out of his jacket pocket. He had swiped it, hoping that she would look up, see that it was missing and at least say that she acknowledged his presence. But she acted as if she hadn't heard him and continued filling out the sheet.

He couldn't say anything to her either because at that moment, Walter arrived at their table with his clipboard. "Okay, everything looks good here." He observed. "Keys."

Keith obediently handed him his key. Natalie continued to look down at her paper.

"Natalie, key?" Walter asked.

She glanced up at him and then handed him her key.

"The end of Chemistry as we know it," Keith remarked, looking up at the ceiling.

Natalie rounded on him. "You're such a goddamn glib little actor!" she yelled. "As far as I'm concerned this is a really chicken shit goodbye!" Then she grabbed her backpack and simultaneously caused some of their equipment to fall off of the desk. "Excuse me." She murmured apologetically to Walter and ran out of the room.

When she was gone, Keith looked up at the stunned teacher and said calmly. "Don't worry. Walter, she was addressing her remarks to me." Then he looked down at his desk and pressed his lips together in thought at her abrupt exit.

He didn't even see her in the parking lot after school. This was strange as she was usually one of the last people to leave. He wondered what could've possibly caused her to avoid him so much but deep down, he knew that he knew the truth.

She had found out his secret.

Or she had just figured it out by process of deduction. He knew she would eventually but he had hoped that he could've told her himself.

Now that she knew there was the question of what was he going to do about? He figured that she probably wanted an explanation as to why he had kept it a secret from her and he felt that she deserved at least that much after all that he had done to her.

Fifteen minutes later, he was ringing the doorbell at her house. Like he had done on his last visit, he shifted nervously from one foot to the other and wondered what he would say to her if she answered. Fortunately he was spared from thinking up anything at all because it was her brother who answered just like the last time.

"Oh, hi," he said. "You're the guy with the truck, right?"

"Yeah," said Keith. "Is Natalie home? We're supposed to go bowling."

"Yeah, hang on a sec---"

"Just tell her to come outside, I'll be by my truck," said Keith quickly.

"Okay, sure thing."

He shut the door then and Keith walked back to his truck and leaned against the door to wait.

She came out ten minutes later. As she came closer, Keith tried to determine the expression on her face. It wasn't easy as her face seemed to be mix: there was confusion, curiosity, sadness and a trace of anger. She looked him straight in the eye as she passed him as if to say: I know what's wrong with you. I know you're dying, before she walked around the front of his truck and got in. Keith stayed where he was, considering her mixed feelings before he himself got in and drove off.

There was a tense silence between them while Keith drove, to where he didn't know exactly. He didn't really feel like bowling, but he didn't really feel like sitting around talking about his situation either. He thought about asking her where she wanted to go when she asked suddenly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Everybody bites it sooner or later," said Keith nonchalantly. "I'm just in the AP class, ahead of the game."

"Always the joke," she said stiffly.

"Al says it's a phase, it'll stop soon," he assured her cheerfully. "But, hey! At least it wasn't all about sympathy for the sick kid."

"That's not fair."

He instantly slammed on the brakes. He stopped so fast that his tires squealed in protest but he barely noticed as he focused on his oh so ignorant companion. "Is Duke fair?" he questioned her angrily. "Is Europe fair? At this rate, I won't even make it to London, Ontario, is that fair?!" Do you honestly that I wasn't being fair with you because I didn't tell you I had cancer right from the beginning? How the hell is getting cancer fair in the first place?! He screamed at her in his head. To Natalie he said more softly. "Bowling. That's what I get. Bowling." And then he looked ahead of him and continued to drive.

A tense silence descended upon them again until Natalie said. "We're not going bowling."

"Why?"

"We're saving that. Turn left."

They ended up at the thrift store where they had bought the bowling balls. Except this time, Natalie did the buying and she bought an old green leather suitcase. Then she directed him to a small airport outside of town. But it was still early evening by the time they got there and Natalie led the way as they walked inside and didn't stop until they reached the security station. Then, she told him to wait there for her and walked briskly away, carrying the suitcase.

So Keith was forced to stand in the middle of an airport he had never been to in his life without luggage or even a ticket. He was glad that no one seemed to notice him as they hurried to get to their gates or go through security as he looked rather lost and confused…which he was.

Thankfully, Natalie returned five minutes later and when she reached with a small smile on her face. After she had handed him the green suitcase, Keith asked. "What are we doing here?"

"The sky's the limit," she replied brightly, handing him a slip of paper. "I haven't lied to you this far and I'm not gonna start now."

Smooth of you to throw my own words back at me, Keith thought as he took the paper and looked at it.

It was a makeshift airline ticket and it read:

Yellow Truck Airlines

Name of Passenger: KEITH

From: HERE

To: ANYWHERE

Utterly confused, Keith looked up at her and asked again. "What are we doing here? Really?"

"This is the goodbye scene," said Natalie.

"Let's not," said Keith quickly. "Okay."

"C'mon, Zetterstrom," she coaxed. "You can do it."

"Okay," said Keith and to himself he thought If you really wanna hear it partner, I'll give it to you. "Wake up, Natalie!" he said firmly. "Don't you see what happened here? You had a beautiful life and I had shit. I hated your guts. I wanted to take you down, I wanted to make you as miserable as I am and that is exactly what I did!" he practically yelled at her, ignoring the fact that they were in the middle of an airport. "Now," he finished in his normal tone, "how's that for a goodbye."

She blinked as if she was trying not to cry but managed to say in a light tone. "Pretty lame."

"Face it, Anderson, I screwed you! I screwed you big time." He finished in a slight whisper.

Again she blinked furiously but shrugged nonchalantly. "So you screwed me? So what? Me," and here she stepped forward, grabbed his face and whispered into his ear. "I made love to you."

Keith stood there, not believing what she was saying. Was she really saying that she didn't care that he had screwed up everything that she had worked so hard for? Was she saying that it was all worth it because she loved him?

Apparently, she was but he couldn't let her.

"Try again," she whispered. "Try again!" but still he pulled away from her and turned his back on her.

This was getting more difficult than it had to be and all because they had fallen love with each other. Keith knew he had to stop it now and he had to hurt so badly that she would hate him and stop loving him and forget all about him before he succumbed to his disease. He couldn't love like she wanted him to, like he wanted to love her because it would all be over anyway and she would have nothing but a messed up life that he had created. But she had said that she didn't care that he had screwed up her life so badly, she just wanted to be with him. Well, since she had confessed so much to him already, the least he could do was confess a few things to her as well before things went too far.

He turned around then and walked up to her so that her face was just a few inches from his.

"I had it all figured out so I cut out early, who cares? It's probably a good thing. Life sucks, anyway. But then I met you and it got…weird and you were so…amazing," he ended in a sigh. "And I---" He stopped. He couldn't say what he was going to say, he just couldn't. It would be like he was going against everything that he had said in the beginning, he would be telling his deepest of secrets. It was something that he could never have, especially now that she was a part of his life and that made it all the more worse. He could feel his mouth moving uselessly as he struggled whether to tell what he really wanted to or not.

"What?" Natalie asked after a few seconds. "What?"

"I just wanted a little more time," he confessed. With you, he thought in his head. "So, all in all, I'd say you're the worst thing that's ever happened to me." His voice caught at the end and he nearly cried himself when he saw her face turn to one of stunned surprise and disbelief at his crushing words. He had to put an end to all of this pain so he said quickly. "Goodbye, partner." And then he promptly turned on his heel and began walking towards the security checkpoint to make it look as if he really was leaving her and to make seem more natural to the people around them.

He was wondering what he was going to do and say when he got up to the front when Natalie grabbed his arm and pulled him around to face her. "I'm staying with you until you leave," she told him fiercely. "I don't care how much time we have!" Then she pulled his head closer to hers so that they were nearly nose to nose. "You get that, you stupid jerk!" she cried in a whisper.

And she kissed him. It was a different kiss than the last one. This one seemed to be a stamp of finality of the promise that she had just made. It was passionate but still full of love and how much she needed him and wanted him.

At first, Keith stood there and didn't kiss her back. He felt that he didn't deserve to kiss her back after all that he had said and all that he had done to her. He was just going to let her kiss him until she realized that he really didn't love her like she loved him and was going to leave him to his misery.

But that would be a lie, a lie he couldn't ignore.

He faintly heard the suitcase hit the floor with a thud as he dropped it so he could wrap his arms around her and draw her closer to him. His kiss equaled hers in intensity and he felt the world melt around them. He didn't care that he was standing in the middle of an airport where people were watching them. He didn't care that what they were doing was like something out of a movie. He didn't care what the next day would bring or the next or the next.

He didn't even care that he was dying of cancer.

All Keith cared about was the girl that he held in his arms, the girl that he loved with all his heart and would love until his dying breath. The girl who had suffered so much because of him and who in the end, loved him more than he thought she could.

It was Natalie Anderson that Keith cared about the most now; in this moment that he wished could just freeze and last forever. What he also realized in those moments that were even more wonderful than kissing her was that he wasn't going to be alone anymore and that he had managed to cross to the other side where Natalie was. Where there was love and hope…and most important of all, life.

Author's Note: That's the end! Ah, I can't believe it! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially to accioradan89 who had such great enthusiasm for this story right from the beginning. I'm glad that so many people enjoyed this story and applauded how well I was able to get into Keith's head (I was very surprised myself as this story progressed) and I am very satisfied with the end result. I hope you all are too and I want to assure everyone that I have many more Keith stories in my head both oneshots and multi chaptered fics. So once again, thank you for reading my first fic for this brand new category and please review!

Happy Writing! And remember…the sky's the limit.