Six months later..

Tori liked the smell of her own home. It was something that she only hoped she'd get used to. After a lengthy trial the compensation payout from Jade's family had been enormous, enough to make Tori a teenage millionaire. She now had two million dollars extra to her name and she wasn't going to waste it. She was going to use it for her family, for her baby. She'd bought a house just close enough to the city so she could still be close to her parents and Beck could still go to Hollywood Arts. They'd moved in together a week after Tori had been let out of hospital but had only bought and moved into this place last month. Beck had been going to give up his schooling to support Tori and the baby but now, because of Jade of all people, he didn't have to. Now they could live in peace together and Beck could still go after his dreams. Tori was happy that he was able to do what he loved instead of something that he was forced into that paid a good wage.

Tori, however, was perfectly fine where she was raising little Valerie Oliver. She and Beck had decided to name their baby Valerie because Valerie means 'strong and healthy' in Latin, where the name originated from, and if there was one thing their little girl was it was strong. She'd been though so much, had still surprised Tori's whirlwind of a pregnancy, even though all the doctors say she shouldn't have, and made it through the birth with no visible defects. Tori had also agreed to give Valerie 'Oliver' as a last name because it made more sense than having to change it around after Tori and Beck had their wedding. They're going to aim for a nice spring wedding. Tori wants to have the wedding outside among the plush nature and the soft natural light of the setting sun. It's probably a cheesy wish but Tori deemed she's aloud to be cheesy and romantic on her wedding day. Tori went to sit on the couch as the memory of Beck's proposal made its way into her head.

He'd proposed to her the night before the court hearing. He'd set up a romantic dinner for them on the school's outdoor stage. It had all of her favourite foods, from both before and during pregnancy, and a stereo hooked up to an iPod loaded with all the mushy love songs Beck knew Tori loved. She remembered the way the set up had taken her breath away. The way the table cloth was long and draped so the table looked like it was floating on air, the way the fairy lights were wrapped around the foundations leading up to the roof above them, looking every bit like the pillars of hope she'd clung to so many times in the past. She remembered the way Beck looked at her with nothing but love and the dazzling white of his smile. She remembered the way he spoke to her, every word etching into her soul like a tattoo she never wanted to get rid of.

"Tori," He said nervously drawing her attention, "I just wanted to tell you how much you mean to me."

"Beck -" She began with a smile but he cut her off.

"No, let me finish. Please." He added on the last part nervously and cleared his throat, "I know you've been put through Hell these past few months and I know that I haven't always been there for you, but for that I am sorry."

"You didn't know -" She began again and he laughed slightly before cutting her off again.

"Tori. Please? I'm trying to get this out here." He was smiling and she grinned at him sheepishly, blushing a little before waving him on to continue.

"I've seen you go through things these past few months that would've made anyone else crumble. But you've fought, you've always fought for our baby and those close to you. You've fought so hard, even when you thought you were going to lose, and you came out on top." He cleared his throat again, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're pretty incredible Tori Vega. You fight for what you love and what you believe in, you never give up and you do things to help people that don't always deserve it." He paused, seeming to grope for the right words. Eventually he sighed and Tori just looked on in wonder. Since when was Beck Oliver ever nervous?

"You know how your locker says make it shine?" He asked and Tori nodded silently. Her reluctance to speak made him smile at her slightly before continuing. "Well you make everything shine Tori. You light up each room you walk into and you seem to make every life you touch happier, even if it's only slightly. You're like pure gold. You're something that everyone searches for, but few can ever find, and I want to spend every moment I have cherishing you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, watching you shine."

She was crying by this point. Only slightly, but still. She was crying and she didn't even care, nor was she trying to blame it on her pregnancy hormones. Beck smiled at her before he picked up his guitar. "I love it when you sing to me, so I wanted to do this for you." He mumbled shyly and then he started to strum his guitar. He'd always been shy when it came to his music so Tori was blown away by the gesture.

She would never forget that song. Never forget the way he played for her and sang to her, the song she'd never realised she'd been missing until that moment. It was like Beck completed her in ways she had never even thought of, and in ways she never wanted to lose. He made her a better version of herself and she knew right then and there that she never wanted to give that up. When he finished the song and pulled out a small velvet box, she realised she would never have to.

"I love you Tori Vega and I always will. Will you marry me?"

She hadn't hesitated, she hadn't needed to. She knew even before Beck asked that she was going to spend the rest of her life with him. So she just said, "I thought you'd never ask." And that was that. They laughed and danced and ate until the world sank away around them. In that moment Tori hadn't been worried about her court hearing or her upcoming birth, she knew everything would be okay as long as she had Beck. As long as they were together, nothing could touch them; she would make sure of it.

Tori smiled at the memory and clutched little Valerie closer to herself. Valerie was sleeping, her long black eyelashes forming little crescents on her little cheeks. She was the perfect mixture of Tori and Beck. She had Tori's eyes and lips but she had Beck's olive skin tone and black hair. Something told Tori that as soon as it got past the thinned out baby stage it would be light and fluffy like his hair too. Tori smiled. She never thought she'd actually be imagining what her child would look like in the future while she held her in her arms. She'd always hoped, but some part of Tori was always in doubt. But not anymore. Her baby was healthy and that made Tori happier than she'd ever been before.

Tori knew that it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for everyone though. Cat was long out of the hospital psych ward and was now living in the Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino, California. Andre goes up to visit Cat most weekends, or at least the ones where he can leave his grandmother, and from what he's told her Cat is doing well. She's working through her issues and is on her way to being okay again. Tori hasn't been up to visit her yet but will make her way up when Valerie gets a little older.

Everyone, though not everyone is there yet, seems to be on their way to being happy. Trina found love in Robbie, though no one saw that coming, and he finally feels secure enough within himself to stop using Rex to speak for him. Cat and Andre seem to have something going on although when Tori asks about it Andre just tells her that they're friends, maybe one day they might be more, but for now friendship is suiting them both fine. Tori just hoped they were happy. After everything that had happened she just wanted them to reach some form of happiness, they deserved it.

When they'd first moved in here Tori and Beck had thrown a house-warming party and had invited everyone along. Beck's parents had been there (thrilled that they were going to become grandparents) and so were Tori's parents. They were bonding quite nicely and seemed to be perfectly okay with becoming related through the two of them. Robbie, Trina and Andre had been there as well. In fact Cat had only been the only person who didn't come, but that was only because she didn't have a visiting permit from her hospital yet. It was at that party that Beck and Tori had named Valerie's Godparents. They'd named Andre Valerie's Godfather, it only seemed right after everything that he'd been through to protect her, and he'd been thrilled. So thrilled that he spent the rest of the night quoting lines from 'The Godfather'. Trina had also been thrilled when they'd named her Valerie's Godmother, though not thrilled enough to start quoting movie references. Even though they'd been happy and honoured to receive their future duties as Godparents, Tori wasn't planning on them living up to those duties anytime soon. Not when she'd just got her family together, not when she'd started to feel happy again.

She knew deep down that it may not always stay that way, that she and her family may not always be happy, but that was just how life worked. Happiness was something you had to fight for most of the time, and it was the bad parts of life that made you appreciate the good. So yes this was going to be a work in progress, it would be until they died, but this time was theirs. It was their time to be happy, for however long it lasted.

Fin.

A/N: So that's it! The story is over. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I want to thank everyone who followed, favorited, reviewed and read this story, and those of you who continue to do so even after this story is finished. Especially livinthelife321 who sent me various PM's and helped me keep motivated to continue this story. :D

I was also thinking about doing a story from Cat's point of view focusing in on her time in the Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino, California. I would like to know if you guys would be interested in something like that ? ;)

Thanks again for reading this story, I hope this last chapter was satisfactory and that it concluded enough for you. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions :) .