This is the last chapter! It's been a while since I've updated this story, but I wasn't sure how I wanted this to end. I'm happy with the ending now and I hope you are, too. Thank you for reading this story.

When we stepped into the morgue, I expected to find Josef and Guillermo waiting there. To say I was surprised by who I saw was a complete understatement.

"Chloe?" I asked and I could tell my tone conveyed just how shocked I was.

My best friend gave me a small smile as she shrugged a little. "Hey, Vivian. Hey, Ms. Turner."

"Honey, what happened?" my mom questioned as she walked forward until she reached where Chloe was seated beside a woman I didn't recognize.

"Abby saved me," Chloe replied, smiling at the woman standing next to her who returned the beam.

"I'm sorry, Abby?"

"I just arrived earlier today," Abby offered as an explanation. "Josef picked me up from the airport and then we found out about Vivian. We were looking for her when I found Chloe."

"You were helping find my daughter? Thank you."

"No problem,...?"

"Beth," Mom stated. "Is Chloe okay?"

"She's tough," Abby said, placing her hand on Chloe's shoulder. "She'll be fine. Sore, though, for a little while. She's welcome to stay with me. Chloe?"

"Really? I can stay with you?"

"Of course. I wasn't going to leave you out in the streets. I'm not sure how far the hotel is from here."

"I can take you," Josef offered immediately. So he liked Abby...not a surprise at all.

"Can you stand up, Chloe?" Abby asked, offering her hand as support.

Chloe nodded and with Abby's assistance she rose to her feet. My best friend gave me a look that I could read perfectly as "finally I'm safe."

Josef was right behind Abby and Chloe as they walked out of the morgue.

"You okay, kid?" Guillermo asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I confirmed with a nod. Of course I was. I finally had what I wanted my whole life.

"Thank you, Guillermo," Dad said in an appreciative tone. "I don't even want to know the details."

"No problem," he replied.

That was just before I followed my parents out of the building. We were going home as a family.

A little less that two weeks later marked the day of the father-daughter dance. I thought I would never have the opportunity to go, but there I stood beside my dad as Mom took the pictures she insisted on taking.

Chloe was going, too, with Josef taking the role of her father. He and Abby, who had become Chloe's guardian, were together now.

I had tolerated Lindsay's bullying for the past two weeks at school, keeping my head held high as she fired cruel words at me about the dance.

"So I guess I won't see you at the dance tonight," she said with a smirk as she stood in front of me, blocking my way to my next class.

Don't hit her, I had to tell myself in an attempt to stay calm. "Good, because I don't want to see you," I said as I stepped around her, walking right by Lindsay's friends that made up her posse.

Chloe and Josef walked into the school first, leaving Dad and me outside. I wasn't ready to go in yet and I wasn't sure why.

"What's the matter?" Dad asked, looking down at me with concern.

I shrugged as I shook my head. "Nothing, it's just...I don't know what."

"Are you worried about Lindsay?" he guessed knowingly.

Sighing, I nodded. "I don't know why, though. I'm just worried that she'll still make fun of me."

"Vivian, sweetheart, please don't listen to whatever she tells you. You know she's wrong. Okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, knowing he was right. I took a deep breath to gain as much confidence as possible. Then Dad and I walked into the building.

The gymnasium was covered in the same tacky decorations used for all school functions. I recognized girls I had gone to school with for years. I used to be intimidated when I saw them, knowing I had no friends among my classmates. But I was gaining confidence and I was no longer the timid girl I used to be.

I heard the unmistakable, obnoxious laughter before I saw her. Whenever I heard that sound in the hallways, it only meant trouble. But this time I wasn't worried.

Then Lindsay turned around. A confused look appeared on her face when she spotted me standing beside my dad and her expression was soon taken over with shock. All I did was smile politely in her direction before Dad and I turned to look for Josef and Chloe.

Needless to say, she never made another comment about me.

"Hey, I need to talk to you," Chloe announced at lunch one day as she slid into the seat across from me.

"Okay."

"It's about Josef."

"Okay," I repeated with a bit of confusion tracing my tone.

"I don't think he likes me."

I sighed, knowing this would come up eventually. "He's just not the warmest person. Trust me. He doesn't have a problem with you."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Chloe, he went with you to the father-daughter dance. He wouldn't have done that if he didn't like you. He's a...softie at heart."

Chloe sighed with a shake of her head. "If you say so."

"Look, I get it. You're nervous because you're worried he's going to turn out to be like your father."

She bit her lip and shrugged. I could tell I had been right. "Well, don't worry, because he's not like that at all," I reassured her.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded, realizing how hard it was for her to understand that Josef was not the same person as her father. "I'm sure."

"Um...let's get out of here," Chloe suggested, rising from her seat at the table.

I gave her a puzzled look. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"Only if you do," she said with a smirk.

I sighed. Great, so now Chloe was in on this issue. "Come on, you know I hate human food."

"Yeah, and I also know you need to have it."

"Fine," I eventually agreed, sighing again. "But that means you have to eat, too. So this was your plan all along?"

Chloe nodded with a serious expression appearing on her face. "Your dad told me he was worried you don't eat enough."

"He worries too much," I stated, but I did eat the lunch in front of me.

"He also told me he was worried about a vampire named Kyle who you know and are apparently, in his words, 'too close.' Know anything about that?"

I felt my face go red. "Um, Kyle, you said?"

"Yeah. Does that name ring a bell?" Chloe asked in what she tried to have sound like an innocent tone.

"He's a vampire. He's seventeen."

"Wow, he's older than you. Hot," she commented with a laugh.

I glared at her. "It's not really anything."

Chloe gave me a pointed look. She knew me too well. "Really?"

"Really."

"When's the wedding?"

"Chloe!" I exclaimed, my face going a darker shade of red now. "Please! My parents are getting married, not me!"

"Okay. That's all your dad needed to know. I have to be sure to tell him later."

"You do that," I said as I continued to eat my lunch.

Mom and Dad's wedding was beautiful. Abby, Chloe and I served as bridesmaids in gorgeous dresses, but they didn't compare to Mom's white gown decorated with a hint of black. She wanted to get a little bit of a vampire element in her dress somehow, and the black design was perfect.

While they were on their honeymoon, I stayed with Abby, Josef, and Chloe. During those two weeks, Abby and Josef were engaged. Their wedding was also beautiful, with Abby's white gown decorated with silver.

Abby and Josef officially adopted Chloe a month after they were married. She had never been happier and Abby, who hated nothing more about being a vampire than not being able to have children, was ecstatic. Even Josef was happy when he first heard Chloe call him "Dad."

"It's a school night, Vivian, you need to go to sleep," Mom told me the first night she returned from her honeymoon as I stared at the television in the living room, my eyes threatening to close.

"Alright," I said rising to my feet.

"Goodnight, honey," she said as I started to walk towards my room.

"Goodnight, Mom," I replied, heaading down the hallway.

Dad was just stepping out of his office when I was about to go into my room. He stopped, putting his arms around me. "I'm sorry for the fifteen years I've missed, Vivian. I know you have plenty of reasons to hate me."

"What are you talking about? I understand why we weren't together as a family until now."

"I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you, too, Daddy."

He smiled before he said, "Alright, now you need to go to sleep."

I nodded, stepping into my room. I smiled as I thought about how we were finally a family.