**Wow, it’s been awhile.  I think this may be the last chapter, which is why I was so reluctant to write it.  It’s a sad thing when something I’ve enjoyed so much is ending.  Here it is, for better or worse.  And NO, no one’s getting married.  This is your very, very last dose of my Master Plan Spice, so enjoy the cinnamony flavor and I hope that you do not all die painful deaths from withdrawal :D.  Of course, this is not Dune, and I am not the Muad Dib. **

            Rolling pink petals into fragrant, soft little balls, Rebecca sat in the grass and thought.  Matt was talking to Jimmy on the porch, while Puck buffed his TR with the tender attention that a lover gives to their partner’s skin.  She flopped onto her back, eyebrows conferring between her eyes.  She lay there for about five minutes of intense cloud staring before leaping up with resolution.

            Making her way over to Matt, she sat down next to him, steel in her spine and resolve etched in her face.  She took his hand with a gentleness that went totally against the rigidity in her posture.  For once in his life, Jimmy took a hint and went to kick the tires of the TR and get verbally abused by Puck.  Matt looked at Becca with coolness, waiting for her to say her piece.

            “Matt, I love you, I really do.  And I want you to come with me to Colorado.  I want you to camp out underneath a tarp with me and help me convince my father that short-term apartments are not the devil and not always inhabited by crack dealers.  I want to be with you.”  Underneath the layers and layers of steadfastness, determination, past the emotional calluses caused by loss and neglect, he saw an aching loneliness.  Slightly spooked that for once, he could see past her carefully maintained shield, he looked away from her penetrating gaze and at his scuffed sneakers.

            He sighed.  “I’m sorry Becca.  I can’t.”  His voice was full of defeat as he prepared to let her float away like a tumbleweed. She looked away, tears filling her eyes for the third time in her life.  “Aw, ashke, don’t cry, you know I hate it when girls cry . . . it’s just that the reason I love to travel is that I always know that I can come home again.  It makes it safer, tamer.  You have this raw urge to throw caution to the wind and run through the world like a hot knife through butter, leaving slight paths behind you.”  He squeezed her hand and wiped away her tears.  “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry.  You were too tough to shed tears when you busted your arm.”  He tipped her chin up, grinning lopsidedly, trying to get her to smile.

            She turned her head to the side as she wiped her eyes hurriedly.  “That’s because I told myself I wouldn’t.  If I started crying as a kid, I would never stop.”  She edged away, shoulders turning towards each other, head bowed.  “Do you know how it feels to be the only kid who doesn’t have a best friend to cling to in grade school?  Or to never know when you will be moving, first too afraid to make friends, then too cynical, then . . . then just forgetting how?  It’s like that song by the Goo Goo Dolls, Broadway.  ‘You see you'd love to run home but you know you ain't got one and you're livin' in a world that you're best forgotten around here.’  I was not only the kid without a mom, I was always the new kid.  I became an expert at camouflage, not makeup.  Maybe one day, I want to be able to stay in a city for a full year.  Just once.”  She jumped off the porch, arms around herself.  She finally shook her head.  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me . . .” Becca stalked off before Matt could stop her and draw her out of herself.  He instead sighed and went to go help patch up Jimmy’s nose.  He made the enormous mistake of teasing Puck, touching the TR and testing the so recently accepted apology.  He forgot that Puck had a lightening punch. 

            When Puck and Jimmy had called a truce and Matt was surreptitiously mixing the strawberry Kool-Aid into the lemonade, Rebecca walked slowly down the stairs with Linda, hugging her with a smile of simple happiness.  She sat on one of the stools at the counter as Matt sipped gingerly at his concoction, a grin spreading across his face. 

            Rebecca put her hands palm down on the table and looked at them. 

            “Alright, I have solved my problem for once and for all.”

            All motion stopped as the three guys turned to look at her.  Jimmy chewed on his pinky fingernail, Puck tugged at his safety pin, and Matt sat with perfect stillness. 

            “I’m staying here.  My dad is going to check out Colorado and come back in three months with a report.  I will be paying Linda a small rent and I’m staying here until graduation as a senior.”  She was interrupted in the middle of the word ‘senior’ by a sudden, heartfelt kiss.  Matt sat back, his eyes sparkling as Puck and Jimmy danced on the other side of the counter.  It sounded a bit like Puck was chanting: “Free mechanic services, free mechanic services!” and Jimmy was just dancing because he had drunk too much lemonade and was suffering from a severe sugar overdose. 

            Matt offered Rebecca a sip of his strawberry-lemonade with a grin that split his face in two, whispering, “I knew if you could put a dismantled engine back together, you could put your own life back together.  Cheers . . .” He kissed her, bumping noses as tangy sweetness mingled on their lips.

**And that’s the end.  Aww, sappy!  ‘ashke’ is a bitlet out of Mercedes Lackey’s books meaning beloved.  Last thank yous:

To anyone who ever reviewed this story, including my very first reviewers, who convinced me to even think of a second chapter: sarah, demonic_muses, and corvid queen. 

Demonic_muses: My beloved beta reader, thank you!  Amazing how wild a story line can spin off those strange conversations.  Even though you can’t use computers right now, here’s to you.

Emer: You were often one of the only driving forces that caused me to limp through the end.  Thank you for the summary, good critical advice, and encouragement.

Beggar Maid:  Ain't fate strange?  I update just after you review, and then wait over a month for the next chapter.  Thanks for everything.

The One and Only:  Thanks for many amusing reviews and echoing my sentiments :D Happy now?

Mispeled: You know that word tries to auto correct your name?  Bugs me.    Jimmy apologized for being an ass, as you see.  And he was one.

Master Haku: Trying to trick me with your multiple screen names, eh? Hehehe, thanks for everything.

Shadow Wolfstar: You wouldn’t believe some of the verbal abuse I received from friends when I didn’t update.  No worries, you came in on almost the last chapter.  Thanks for reviewing!