Chapter 19:

Only 2 reviews, but this is the final chapter, so have it on me.

Thanks to all the reviews, favs, alerts and the Author ones as well stemming from this story!

Michael's POV:

I cannot believe that she did that… no, actually, I can. This is Claire: she always tries to do the best thing for people; she always tries to sort out arguments and stuff. But this is just one place she cannot sort out – nobody can. I have wanted to for ages and he has as well, but we end up just arguing… or I end up asking him a stupid question. Like this time; everything was going just great and then I had to ask him if he loved me or Amelie more. It's as if I want to not have a relationship with the only relative I have in Morganville.

For some strange reason, as I walk through the portal, I emerge in Amelie's office and she looks up, confused and surprised. I suppose she thinks I am Sam for a second, not noticing the hair, and something about her expression makes me want to gag: it's like how a kid must feel about seeing their parent falling in love with someone other than their parent – makes them want to throw up. Sam's been like a Dad to me, especially for a short time between when my parents left and when we had the argument before I turned into a ghost.

"Michael, what on earth are you doing here?" Amelie asks me sharply, standing up to greet me, almost. Yet she doesn't even come up to my shoulders, which only makes it seem pitiful… or it would, if I didn't know that the petite woman in front of me could destroy me with one finger, probably.

I shut the portal behind me – it's still strange to me, to be able to use a portal – and shake my head, wondering why I am here. Then it hits me: Sam's answer to my question is the reason I am here, it's the only reason why I could be here. "I need to ask you something serious," I say slowly, moving closer to the desk.

Her eyebrow arches slightly but she motions for me to take a seat, she sitting down in her own chair once again. Here, her fingers press together and her eyes pierce my own, trying to ascertain why I am here. "What do you want, Michael?" she asks me tiredly, something about her seeming not entirely happy to see me.

"Do you love my Grandad?" I ask her bluntly, not caring about giving a spiel the way that she would have done if she were asking the questions. I get the reaction I thought I would: she leans back in shock and evidently seems as if she doesn't know how to answer – does she do so truthfully or continue the charade that she has had for half a century, barely lapsing when Claire was unconscious?

"What is the relevance of this question?" unsurprisingly, Amelie answers my question with another question in her attempts to evade answering.

"The relevance of this question is that when I asked my Grandfather if he loved me or you more, he couldn't answer," I snap at her, not caring about my tone. Normally, she would have bitten my head off (likely literally) for talking like this to her, but I suppose my response caught her off guard enough to stop her retaliating. She doesn't answer for a second, her expression entirely relaxed from her usual 'I will show no emotion because I want the world to think I am a robot' expression, to simply shock and love… it shows me that, no matter what she has ever said, she loves him. he isn't suffering from unreciprocated love: if he had been unable to answer me and she hadn't loved him back, I would be pissed right now.

Now, I just don't know how to continue.

Finally, she responds. "I can truly tell you now, Michael, that there hasn't been a day that has gone by that I have not loved your Grandfather – since I met him, that is. I cannot… I cannot ask him to answer either way, for the loves are entirely different, and I hope that you do not judge him for not answering, Michael, because… oh, I don't know how to say it," she trails off, a tear actually in her eye. This is the proof I have that she does love him… but how do I take this? Do I do as she was alluding to: that the loves are entirely different and asking him to compare the love he has for me and the love he has for Amelie is wrong?

I sit in silence, not knowing what to say, and she does the same, evidently not wanting to push me or… oh, I don't bloody know.

"Thanks," I mutter suddenly, standing up and moving to the portal. "See you around, Amelie," I give my departing 'message' thing and walk through the portal before she can respond, something which I'm not entirely sure was a good idea or not… but it's too late because I'm gone and wondering what to do now.

Claire's POV:

Where the hell could he be? He isn't anywhere in this house, his phone is in here somewhere as I can hear it ringing, and I doubt he's gone through the portal to Myrnin's or something to then return to Common Grounds.

But Common Grounds is the last place that I haven't checked yet… it's the one place that Michael could go to that I haven't been yet – and I've been looking for over half an hour. As a stretch, I even went to Sam's apartment to see if he had gone there but he hadn't…

I walk through the portal back into Common Grounds and find Oliver in his office. "My, my, I think I'm going crazy: you and the Glass boy returning in the same day!" he says; well, that's just confirmed that Michael is here. But why? Is he looking for me or has he come back for Sam, to discuss the reason why he ran off… if Sam is still here?

"Is Michael still here then?" I try to make my tone seem as if I'm not bothered but, of course, Oliver sees through it. He raises an eyebrow in an extremely Amelie-esque way, before then attacking my statement.

"Something wrong in lover's corner?" he retorts, an evil grin on his face. Trust Oliver to only ever grin if something is up with people. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you're already finding that there are problems in the road… more so than just with the Collins boy."

The mention of Shane drives me to move forwards and slam a pencil point down into his desk. "Dare to mention his name again and I will stab you through the heart with a stake so hard that you die, understand?" I hiss, for the first time since I was turned feeling as if I'm a vampire. I feel as if I'm losing control, as if I can feel the raw power beneath my skin as though I could attack him: even though he is older than me and could destroy me, the strength is in me and I feel as if I'm able to decimate him.

"Why, little Claire has managed to grow a backbone," he comments lightly, before actually getting to telling me what I want. "Yes, he is still here. But you may not want to interrupt him because your little arrangement between him and Sam has restarted now… go have a coffee," he explains: yes! He has actually listened to me and come back to talk to Sam, which is what I wanted!

"See you later, little Ollypop!" I laugh, stepping out of the office quickly so that he can't murder me for calling him Ollypop… I may have called him it earlier but we were in the café so he couldn't exactly kill me, could he?

I rush out of the office and stop dead in the café, spotting Sam and Michael sitting and actually talking in the corner of the room. Michael doesn't look as if he's about to run off, like he did earlier, but actually as if he wants to talk to Sam.

Then my gaze stops on someone else. Someone standing just in front of me, right by the counter. Shane… he's here, and he is looking right at me.

"Hey," he says awkwardly, not sure what to say. I'm the same: after the time I kissed him only a week or so ago, I don't know how to address him, or what topics to broach. "You ok?" he takes the first step, asking how I am.

"I'm… good," I decide after a short pause, wondering what to answer to a rather hard question when it's coming from your ex-lover who cheated on you. "You?"

He nods, smiling slightly. "I'm good… Claire, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for everything and that I shouldn't…" he begins to apologise but I don't want to hear anything about it.

"I forgive you," I butt in, deciding not to let him continue and he smiles, evidently happy about not having to continue. "Look, I hope that you have a good life and that when we run into each other, we can be friendly," I continue, knowing that we are bound to bump into each other in Morganville and not wanting things to be really weird between us.

He smiles slightly and nods, looking me in the eyes. "Yeah, I'd like that as well… look, I need to go to work but see you sometime?" he says, beginning to move away.

"Yeah, see you," I respond, waving as he leaves, before refocusing back on Michael and Sam. Almost as if he realises I'm watching him, Michael's head turns and notices me in the corner. He motions for me to come over, which I do at a human speed, and both him and Sam smile at me.

"Hey, Claire," Sam says as Michael pulls a chair out for me. "I just want to say thanks for this," he murmurs as Michael pretends not to listen, I think. His lips brush against my cheek (Michael's that is) and I smile, nodding at Sam.

"It's nothing, really," I protest but Michael shakes his head (what is with all this nodding and shaking of heads?) at me and smiles.

"Thanks to you, something that should have been sorted years ago finally has," Michael contradicts me, causing me to smile. "And now, we're going to go and wrestle with Amelie until she confesses she loves Sam, right?" he looks over at Sam who nods and smiles.

"Yes, though I think the wording insinuates something slightly more violent than what we are actually going to do," he laughs, standing up and waiting for us to do the same. "As you used the other method of getting here, you can come in my car if you want to Amelie's? yes, I am the only one who knows how to get there besides for herself and her guards…" he trails off, looking at our agog expressions that he knows where Amelie lives… and by that, we don't mean using the portal.

We head out of the café, me suddenly worried because I can't go in the sunlight at all because I'd end up going redder than a lobster in less than a second. But it's ok because Sam has parked in the closest spot to the café which is entirely in the shade, meaning we, as the three youngest vampires, are just fine.

Michael and I slide into the back and he instantly wraps his arm around my waist, letting me fall into him. "Now, I don't want any funny business in my car, ok?" Sam says, mock severely and causes us both to laugh our heads off.

"Sure thing, Gramps," Michael says before pressing his lips to mine. I kiss him back and lose sight of everything on this earth, not even realising that we've been moving until Sam clears his throat extremely loudly.

"We're here… something that I don't think you've realised since you're a little absorbed!" he yells the last part, causing me to jump across to the other side of the backseat, clutching my ears: he did not need to yell.

"You just succeeded in deafening me, Sam, congratulations," I say bitterly, looking out of the window in interest. I was expecting that we would have to get through reams of guards and security but… we've just driven up into a driveway and parked in the shade (of course; nothing but practical vampires around here) and that is all.

"No problemo, Claire, not at all," he laughs again, getting out of the car. Michael has disappeared but suddenly reappears, opening the door for me. I get out with a smile and we all walk up to the front door together, Sam slightly in front, and I expect Sam to knock and wait but he simply strides straight into the house, as if he owns it.

"Sam!" I say, horrified. "You can't do this… seriously, its breaking and entering… but with Amelie!" I continue, but he blows me off, waving his hand behind him as if it's nothing what we're doing.

"I think we can do this, when we're going in to discuss what we are," he calls over his shoulder, running up the stairs. With an exchanged look with Michael, we set off after him, emerging in a corridor which is entirely unfamiliar to me: but we follow his scent into a room which I do recognise – it's Amelie's office.

"Sam, what are you doing here?" I hear Amelie asking in shock, wondering why the hell he is there – just she wouldn't use those words, would she? Michael and I slow to a walk and take hands before emerging on a scene where basically Sam confesses his love and waits for Amelie to do the same.

"Amelie, I love you and I want you to either tell me that you love me now, or I walk away and never bother you again," he takes a huge risk in basically telling her she either reciprocates her love openly (come on, we all know she loves him) or he will leave her alone.

She hesitates and locks eyes with Michael for some reason, before answering. "Today, I was greeted with a dilemma: should someone love family or a spouse more?" she begins, evidently going to launch into one of her nice, if not slightly irrelevant, stories that piss most people off. "That person made me realise that if something is there, I shouldn't hide it… I love you, Samuel, but to show that… I don't know how to say it."

Something about the way she is looking at him and the way he is reciprocating that look, suggests to me that we should leave. So, with a pointed look at Michael and an incoherent mumbling about leaving, Michael and I race out of the office and down the stairs, where I decide that I can make a portal to take us home.

Swiftly, I do so and we emerge in our Glass House, the home which is ours now and nobody else's. it seems so strange to think mere weeks ago, I thought I was happy with Shane and Michael with Eve… I guess pairings change and that couples can end up making entire U-turns.

Shane and I have sorted things out and I hope that Eve and I can do the same… it may be a stretch for Shane and Michael, since they were already on rocky ground, but I would like to hope that they would both try, if only for the past they shared.

"Come here, honey," I whisper, wrapping my arms around Michael's back and continuing the kiss from in the car. Somewhere in Morganville, Sam and Amelie are patching things up; somewhere, Shane and Eve are working in their respective workplaces; somewhere, someone is low and needs helping up from a dark place. It's part of life…

I just hope that they have someone like Michael to help them up.

~cop out, I know. Sorry about the ending, it just worked that way and anything else I added (and I tried various things) seemed cheesy~

So, what did you guys think?

Please review!

As I said before, there shall not be a sequel, but I've many different stories for ALL pairings, pretty much… even *shudders* die hard ShanexClaire fans have something to read.

I want to thank everyone who has read this story over the past three/four months (I can't remember) and I hope people in the future read this story and enjoy it!

Ending off one of my longest A/N's in this story, thanks and REVIEW! Lol!

Vicky xx