Alright y'all! This is it, the final chapter! I hope you enjoyed the story, and yes, before you ask, there will be a sequel.

Disclaimer: I only on Caroline!

The day after we'd gotten back Ellen had come with fresh clothes for all of us. She gave Matt and I a ride to my house and when we got there I wordlessly went to the bathroom and drew a bath. As I lay there soaking in the bathtub there was a gentle knock on the door and Matt came in. He undressed and I moved forward so he could get in the tub behind me, stretching his legs out on either side of me I leaned back against his chest and he wrapped his arms around me. "I love you," he said as he held me and I smiled lightly.

"I love you too."

"You know I wasn't- it wasn't just talk on the boat." he told me and I turned to look at him.

"When?" I asked, trying to thing of what he could possibly be thinking about.

"When I said I wanted to marry you." he answered.

"So you- You'd want to-"

"I've wanted to since we were twelve," he smiled softly. "So will you? Marry me?" I looked at him for a long moment before nodding.

"Yeah," I replied. "Yeah I'll marry you."

The next day I woke up to Martin knocking on the door. I went downstairs, bleary eyed and not quite sure who could be there, but when I saw it was Martin I let him in instantly. "Coffee?" I asked and he nodded as he took a seat at the table.

"Please," he replied. I started the coffee pot and walked over to sit with him. He had a stack of papers in his hand, which I would soon discover to be the death certificate for my father, along with a copy of his will- if you could call a hand written scrawl of "Everything goes to Caroline" a will.

Matt came downstairs when he smelled the coffee and upon seeing Martin there he poured three cups and brought them to the table before kissing my cheek. He went and got the milk from the fridge and brought it and the sugar to the table before opening the milk and smelling it. He poured some into his cup before pouring some into mine and Martin's.

"The last thing I have for you," Martin pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to me.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Payment for killing the shark." he told me and I shook my head.

"Martin, you killed the shark, you deserve this." I told him quickly.

"If Quint had survived, he would have gotten the money anyways," Martin said. "And because it was his money, it falls under his assets, which means it's one of the things he left you."

"I don't want it." I replied and he shrugged.

"Do whatever you want with it." he replied. "I was also supposed to take him out to dinner..."

"Are you asking me out to dinner Martin?" I asked with a small smile and he smiled gently before shrugging semi-shyly.

"Ellen seems to think it would be a good idea, get us all out of the house." he replied and I sighed before nodding.

"Sure, okay."

"Great, she made us a reservation at eight o'clock tonight." he replied making me let out an astonished laugh.

"Oh did she?" I asked before looking at Matt who shrugged. "Alright, fine," I nodded. "We'll be ready."

"We'll pick you up." he told us before he stood up and gave a small nod to Matt who nodded back and then he let himself out of the house.

That night I put on a dress, I brushed my hair and I looked, for all intents and purposes, like just another woman going out to dinner. Matt had cleaned up, trimmed his beard, brushed his hair and looked nice as well, and as we both stood there I looked over at him and sighed. "I don't want to live here after the wedding." I told him and he looked at me before nodding slowly. "Not full time."

"We can rent the house out in the summer months," he suggested. "This close to the beach, you could get a lot for it."

"Okay," I agreed and he smiled gently.

"We'll find a place on the mainland. I'll find us a house, something cozy, and close to the institute, does that sound okay?"

"It sounds perfect."

"Do you know where you want to be married?" he asked and I thought for a moment before shaking my head.

"No, but... Just not on the beach, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed before there was a honk outside.

The restaurant we went to was on the North side of the island where some of the grander homes were, like where the Mayor lived. It was a place my dad had picked out called Bruce's Bistro why he wanted to go there, I had no idea, it wasn't his kind of place at all. But that was Quint really, he'd pick some place like this and he'd hide how insecure he was feeling by making everyone else feel uncomfortable. The very thought of that made me smile.

It had been a quiet car ride, no one had much to say these days, it was all too fresh in our minds, and the only one who seemed uncomfortable by this was Ellen. When we were seated at our table a waiter came over and handed us our menus.

"Can I start you all off with anything from the bar?"

"Yes." came four unanimous voices, startling the waiter at how quickly we'd replied. Food was ordered and served and picked at, several times Ellen attempted to start talking about something that had happened on the island while we were gone but when the three of us didn't reply she stopped trying. It was around the third or forth round of drinks when Larry Vaughn walked in, he stopped when he saw us and then walked over, pausing for a moment by our table as he waved his wife on. She was seated only three tables away.

"I just wanted to say good work out there," he said to the three of us, Ellen looked proudly at Martin who looked up slowly and then shook Larry's outstretched hand. "The city is also planning a celebration, we'd like to present you all with an award, special services to the island, for killing the shark. Erm- one will of course be made posthumously to Quint." he looked at me and I gave him a small smile before he looked at Martin. "I'll get in touch with you about the details." he told Martin who nodded.

"Okay," Matt said suddenly and stood up. He walked over to the bar and returned with a bottle and four new glasses. "Apparently your dad sold his stuff all over town." he told me as he sat down and poured out four glasses and handed one to each of us. "He was a hard ass, he was a drunk, he was one of the saltiest old sea dogs I'd ever met," he said as he lifted his glass.

"He never listened to the rules," Martin said and I raised my glass.

"He was my father," I said and the three of us held our drinks up for a moment.

"To Quint," we said together and then drank. Ellen took a drink and made a face before coughing.

"Don't drink that." Martin said as he took the drink from his wife and poured it into his own glass.

"Matt, another one." I said to him and he smiled as he poured another round for me and him.

"Here's to swimming with bow legged women." I said as the corners of my mouth were tugged into a smile as I sat there repeating my dad's favorite thing to toast.

"Jesus H. Christ." Matt muttered and I grinned.

"Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies." Martin said suddenly and Matt and I both looked at him. "Farewell and adieu you ladies of Spain," he sang and we both grinned.

"Martin," Ellen hissed as a few people looked around at us.

"Show me the way to go home," I said, changing the tune to the one Matt had started singing in the Orca. "I'm tired and I want to go to bed."

"Um, Caroline," Ellen said almost pleadingly but it was too late. The guys had caught on.

"I had a little drink about an hour ago, and it's gone right to my head! Wherever I may roam, by land or sea or foam, you can always hear me singing this song, show me the way to go home home home..."

The ten thousand dollars went to having a memorial made for the victims of the shark. Every name, including my father's. It was put up near south beach, where we had gotten to the shore and where the first victim had been found.

At the award ceremony I was presented with not only my own award as a gesture of thanks for helping kill the shark, but the one that had been made for Quint as well. "Martin, why don't you tell them that you killed the shark?" I asked as I stood next to him.

"Because no one wants to hear I killed it," he told me. "They want to hear Quint killed it, they want to hear both Quints killed it," he looked at me and I looked back at him before I nodded.

"Thank you Martin," I said softly and he nodded before looking at Matt who took my hand and kissed my knuckles lightly.

After the ceremony I started the process of closing up the house. Closing all the windows, drawing the shades, cleaning out the refrigerator. Matt caught Gus and put him into his traveling cage while the old cat meowed indignantly. After we gt things together and packed up the car I drove us over to Martin and Ellen's and handed the keys off to Ellen who gave me a huge hug.

"I'm not leaving forever," I promised her. "I just want to be with Matt, and honestly I just want to get away from the island for a little while. But I'll be back soon, I promise."

"Okay," she smiled before hugging me again. I hugged her, Sean and Michael and then looked at Martin who gave me a small smile.

"Take care of her Matt." Martin said to Matt who chuckled softly.

"She's going to take care of me." he said with a smile. Martin chuckled and then nodded before looking back at me.

"See you around Deputy."

"Yeah," I nodded. "You will."

With that Matt and I left, we went to the dock and got out of the car. "You remember where my parents live," he said and I nodded. "Okay, so I'll meet you there tonight."

"I'll meet you there," I agreed before cupping his face and kissing him deeply.

"I love you so much," he sighed as he smiled at me.

"I love you too," I replied as I smiled at him before he looked over at his boat. "I'll see you tonight."

"I can't wait." he smiled before going to his boat.

I got back into my car and drove to the water ferry, after the ferry started to move I got out of the car and stood at the side, looking back at Amity as the ferry went across the water. It grew smaller as we drifted away from it, and for the first time since the Orca incident, as we were now calling it, I found myself smiling, really, truly smiling. I was leaving Amity, and I was going to marry Matt Hooper, and we were going to start a family. And despite us leaving, despite us taking some time to heal, I knew when we did have kids, I was going to make damn sure they were islanders.

Again I hope you liked it! Please don't forget to review!

And keep an eye out for the sequel, it'll be out soon!