I wander around for a while, not really knowing where to go with no money. Hoping that nobody would attract any attention towards me, just in case that meant I had to go back to that place. I wander around for days, endlessly looking for someone that could help me, something that could aid me in phoning my Dad.

Finally, luck is on my side and in that moment I really believe that Gemma is watching over me as I find a poster for a local runaway's help center. This was the answer, I could phone my Dad and tell him I was okay, I could ask for him to pick me up as I wasn't that far from home. I could beg for him to let me back home, inform him how ready I am and how much I wished I could forget about it all.

"Dad?" I whisper into the phone, clutching onto it like a lifeline, I hear a sigh of relief as he mutters something to someone behind him. I try not to think about that for a minute, focusing on the reason I called.

"Dad.. please don't make me go back to that place. I know I have done something wrong by running away but I am ready to come home. I promise you and I swear that if I do anything wrong, anything you deem to be suspicious or anything like that... you can hawk me back to that place and I won't complain. I promise Daddy, please.." Tears fall down my face and I hear him sniff on the other side,

"I heard about your friend, I am so sorry Rikki."

"Dad, I need you to believe me when I tell you I am ready, please you have to."

"I do, I can tell you're not faking this Rikki, I want you to come home." I smile a little,

"Really? You do? Can I come home now?" I look around at the other teenagers, all on the phone, most of them crying. They tell their parents they can't come home and here I am begging to be allowed back, I laugh and then think to myself for a moment.

"Of course you can, I miss you more than words can say and I don't think you need to be in that place any longer."

"How am I going to get home?"

"Zane will pick you up."

"Zane?"

"Yeah, he is here right now. He is really worried about you, he has been here every day since you left, he misses you so much and so do I."

"I miss you both too." I smile again and then look around,

"I am about a four hour drive away from our house." I hear him tell Zane and then he asks my exact location, I close my eyes, grinning as I tell him. I was going home and that's all that mattered.

----

"Rikki?" I look up from my seat and smile when I see the boy in front of me, I stand up quickly and shrug at him shyly.

"I missed you so much." He whispers, gathering me up in his arms and kissing me with more passion than I ever felt in my life. I gasp a little when he pulls back and I wrap my arms around his neck, this was what real happiness felt like.

"I am not going to let you hurt again." He says as he takes me outside, and puts me into his car. I nod and then watch as he gets into the driver's seat, I grab his hand and smile.

"I love you Zane."

"I love you too. Now let's get you come, your Dad is waiting to wrap his arms around you." I nod and then look out the window.

It was over, the worst part was finished, complete. I was going to be okay, my life was going to be back to normal. Happiness could be found, even though it seems like I fought so hard to obtain it. But in the end I achieved the one thing I had been looking for, and that was love. I finally found the one person I loved more than anything else in the world, I was late realizing who it was but I was always a bit slow. I laughed a little as I looked at the grin on Zane's face. I was home. This was my home and I was planning on staying here.

"Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous, love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offense, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes. Love does not come to an end."

The End.