A/N: For all of you who begged me to finish, I'm so sorry it took so long. I hope you enjoy saying goodbye to some of my favorite characters. Please, please let me know what you guys think.

Chapter Twenty-One: Come Closer

…

You have always worn
Your flaws upon your sleeve
And I have always buried mine
Deep within the ground
Dig them up, let's finished what we started
Dig them up, til nothing's left unturned
-Bastille

…

"What are you doing here?" His mouth was in a strange, almost-line, but his gaze was bright and boring right through me.

I couldn't make myself breathe when he was looking at me like that.

"I wanted to see you." I opened my mouth to explain - to recite everything I'd been dying to say for the last two weeks, everything I'd planned. But all that came out was, "I miss you."

"Madison," he shook his head, looking down at oily hands and shaking his head. "That's not fair."

Madison. I felt the word like a slap, a sharp pain in my stomach. He never called me that.

"I know," I forced out. It wasn't fair. Our whole relationship wasn't fair. Here I was, taking advantage of his kindness, his generosity, his loving misdemeanor and willingness to help me. Taking the diner, taking The Rooftop, taking his bed, the memories of his sister. Just taking, taking, taking. "It's not fair."

The song playing in the background was the only sound for the next few moments.

"I got a tattoo," I blurted, and his eyebrows skyrocketed as he looked back up.

"What?"

"A tattoo."

"Wh–" his voice faltered, "Why?"

I took a step closer. "Wanna see?" I looked up at him, and he didn't speak, just nodded. So, I lifted the corner of my shirt and revealed it to him - the delicate, thin script.

"What's it say?" He made as if to touch it, but then pulled his hand back. As if were a hot flame that would burn him if he got any closer. He was still guarded. That made sense.

"Vive licenter vitam tuam. Roughly translated from Latin to English, it means live without restraint."

He almost laughed, but it was a sigh too.

"I'm not...Liam, I'm so sorry about everything. Really."

"Don't. Please."

"No. You deserve this." I took another step closer, intertwining my fingers in front of me. "I talked to my sister. She helped me…with a lot. And, she helped me tell my parents."

His shoulders sagged, and he was watching me so, very carefully. As if he were unsure of what was coming next. "We're not pressing charges. Can't really, anymore without it turning into a he said she said thing. But Pat and I are done, completely done."

He shifted, angling his body closer to me slightly.

"Liam, I've been driving myself crazy over this. Over all of it. And I – the only time, the only time through this whole nightmare that I felt okay was when I was with you." I felt my voice crack and tears begin forming but I swallowed them. He was still watching me so intensely I couldn't look directly at him. "You put me back together – you – you saved me. And you deserved better from me…as a friend, I should never have put you in that situation. You were just the only person who…who really saw me, I guess. And with your past – with everything you've been through…I should never have dragged you into this. It wasn't your battle to fight. I know that I must have ripped open a lot of scars and…and that was wrong of me. I'm sorry."

He didn't say anything for a moment. I wondered if there was anything left for him to say at all. I wondered if he had already written me off – a lost cause, a failed project. A car that had to be scrapped for parts because it was never going to run right.

And then, just as I was going to let go, give up, he spoke.

"You know, from the moment we first met, I was so…curious about you. On the outside you seemed like this goody-two shoes, straight laced ivy-leaguer. But when I got to know you…when I peeled back the layers, I started to notice this look in your eyes. Like you were desperate for something more. Like you wanted to escape." He was focused on his hands, hadn't looked up since he'd begun speaking. "And I just wanted – for some reason – I just had this deep inexplicable desire to help you."

My eyes were glazing over, my heart was a sledgehammer in my chest, my whole body was quaking.

"My whole life, I've been looking for a safe place. Growing up, in Chicago, I was always scared. Just – just waiting for something to go wrong, for Dad to get mad, for mom to break down. And then, after Vanessa died, that fear and that emptiness just took over. We moved here, and I met everyone at Dan's, and that helped. It really felt like, for once, I could let my guard down. Even if it was just for a little while on that rooftop."

Suddenly, his eyes crashed into mine. His voice was calm, and clear and self-assured.

"And then, I met you."

Tears sprang to my eyes again, far past my control. Everything was still, between us, the air, our bodies, our heartbeats.

"And you were like…" his eyes, for some reason I couldn't wrap my head around, were glassy. This time, his voice shook. "You were like home."

"Oh…Liam –"

He held up his hand to stop my interruption and took a step closer to me. "So really, I'm the one who needs to apologize. I'm sorry, Maddy. I'm so sorry. I thought that you needed my help, but I've needed you so much more. Without you here, in my life…without you, I've been…" he shook his head sadly, "I've been lost."

My head was shaking and so were my hands. I had never felt so absolutely vulnerable in my entire life. "I'm here," my voice was shaking, too, now. "I'm here, now, and I want to fix this. I'll do anything."

For the first time in weeks I saw the beginnings of a smile, a shining grin trying to stretch across his face. There was still a hint of sadness around his eyes, but it was softer, now, fading. In a tone that sent chills down my spine, he whispered, "Well, come closer, then."

I took one timid step forward and before I could take another, Liam impatiently closed the distance between us and pressed his lips firmly against mine. My eyes fluttered closed and I felt his hands on my neck, on my throat, down my shoulders, pressing me to him violently. As if he couldn't get close enough. As if he were afraid that if he let me go he might not catch me again.

It was only one short moment before I was kissing him back, my mind going blank as I wound my hands into his hair. I was liquid, melting into him. I wanted to inhale him, for him to engulf me and never let go.

He pulled away from me, his forehead resting against my own, his eyes still closed. I studied him, searching for a reaction. His brow was creased, but the edges of his lips were upturned into an almost smile. I ran my hands up his arms, not surprised that my fingertips felt small goosebumps all along his skin. Finally, he licked his lips and swallowed.

In a soft, raspy voice, he muttered, "God, I've been wanting to do that for so long."

"Liam…" I tugged his face down to mine again, the yearning to feel his lips against mine one that I hadn't expected to feel so strongly. He tumbled into me, his mouth searching mine, body flush against body. He tasted like spearmint, and when I stood on my tiptoes to deepen the kiss he moaned softly in the back of his throat. He spun me around to push me firmly against the driver's side door of the Mustang and cupped one hand behind my head, his fingers tangling into my hair, the other pressing, pressing, pressing me to him.

I had never felt a soaring, leaping feeling like the one overtaking my chest, the warm, tingling down my spine, the desire curling through my stomach. I had never felt anything this much.

Strangely, suddenly, he tugged me away from him. "Maddy," he whispered, and then, as if he couldn't stop himself, he bent to kiss me softly once more. His gaze was decided and firm and I felt a strange feeling of panic in my gut. This was going to be life changing. I knew it without a doubt. This moment, right here, I'd never forget. He continued with one, short inhale, "Maddy, I'm in love with you."

I froze, my eyes widening in disbelief, one hand coming up to my mouth in shock. He had one palm on each of my cheeks, his neck bent just enough to look at me straight on. I was lost in his eyes, my favorite eyes, looking for reassurance that this was honest. That this wasn't a dream I was going to wake up from. My entire body was numb.

He shook his head, his hair falling softly onto his forehead as he continued, "I didn't mean to, I tried not to, but I fell in love with you this summer. And I've been – I've been dying to get that out."

"Liam…" the words tumbled off of my tongue desperately, "you know – you have to know, I love you, too."

He drew me to him gently, softly, and wrapped his arms around me in the most precious display of affection. So softly, so delicately compared to the frantic way he'd pressed me to him just moments ago. I fell into him.

"This doesn't feel real," I finally managed, and he laughed a deep, rumbling laugh that resonated through his chest.

"It's real," He promised me, and his lips brushed my forehead lightly. "You and me, right here, this is real. I promise."

I buried my face into his chest and laughed until I started to cry.

…

The moon was bright and seemed outrageously close. As if I could reach out and grab it. It was warm out, and it was the first time all day that I'd gotten the chance to sit down. I was in my favorite chair – the worn green and white striped lawn chair with the small, ragged hole in the seat – and I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at the contrast of this grubby chair with my immaculate, pale-pink bridesmaids dress.

I glanced over, and, like it did every once in a while, the fact that Liam was already staring straight at me took me by surprise. I wondered if I would ever get used to him looking at me like that, like I was the only person in the entire world that he cared about. I couldn't help the curve of my lips, the stirring in my chest that came automatically when we made eye contact, now. Like we shared a secret – my favorite secret. No one would ever know how much we meant to each other. No one.

He smiled – his beautiful, light up the room smile. Right at me. Only at me.

Would I ever get over the completely ludicrous reality that he was mine?

"So everything went well?" It was Devin who asked, and Liam took a drink of his beer and nodded, looking at me for reassurance.

"Yeah, the wedding was beautiful. Cass looked stunning, the weather was perfect…"

"Kim didn't cause a scene," Embry interjected jokingly and Liam and I enjoyed the joke more than everyone else. I wasn't sure if somehow word got out about Patrick and I. I'm not sure if Pat had confided in her or if she had heard about the threatening phone call that my dad had made. In all honesty, I could care less about any of it. Regardless, she had been exceptionally nice to me, even admitting via text message that she missed me after she'd left the reception a few hours earlier. I had toyed with the idea of ignoring her, but ultimately decided to live up to my new motto.

Live without restraint.

Liam, holding my hand, had leaned over when I flashed my phone at him. He read it, furrowed his brow, and then looked at me.

"I don't know what to say."

"Well, what do you want to say?" He asked simply. "Just do whatever's going to make you happy, babe."

So I bit my lip and replied.

"I miss you too, sometimes girl. But lets face it – people change and our relationship wasn't exactly healthy. I'm definitely going to need some time and some space. I'll always love you, and if you ever really need anything, you know I'll be there."

She hadn't texted me back, yet. Strangely, I wasn't perturbed. I was, instead, living in this moment, soaking it in, trying to memorize everything and capture it – to commit to memory the sounds of the music wafting in the background, the slight stickiness of a late August evening, the laughter and the stories, and, most importantly, the sight of Liam, my Liam, with his hand on my leg and his eyes never lingering from me for long.

He'd finally rolled up the sleeves of his button up, his suit jacket hanging behind him on the back of his chair. I could see my favorite tattoo twisting up his forearm and out of sight, which brought to mind the first time that he'd come over for family dinner. He'd tried to act calm and collected but was really a bundle of nerves (a tell, I'd come to discover, were his hands. If he were nervous, they wouldn't be still.) He was wearing a v-neck t-shirt, as it was a balmy, summer day, but just before we left his house, he paused, a look akin to terror on his face.

"What?" I asked, slinging my purse over my shoulder and pausing by the doorway. He scratched the back of his head and chuckled uneasily.

"My, um…you think I should put on a button up or something?"

I glanced outside, confused. "It's ridiculously hot out there. Why would you put on a long sleeved shirt?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, I don't know, cause I'm a tattooed ex-con going to meet his girlfriend's lawyer father for the first time."

I couldn't help but to laugh, mostly at the look of exasperation on his face. I crossed the room and pressed myself up to brush my lips against his.

"They already love you, Liam. Don't change. Your clothes, or anything else."

I hadn't been lying. My parent's were enamored with him. If they weren't grateful enough for him looking after me after my…incident with Patrick…after he pulled up in that Mustang on their anniversary, they were sold.

"So how many days do we have?" It was Tanya who asked, but a sad silence fell across the Rooftop. I didn't want to be the first to answer, so instead I just sighed heavily and slouched down a little more.

"I don't head out 'til next week," Devin said. He went to college in South Carolina, several hours away.

"I leave on Tuesday," Amanda said, her red hair in a high, messy bun on her head. She exhaled heavily. "Jeez, New York seems farther away than usual, somehow."

There was a soft, sad silence.

"I'm heading to school on Wednesday, so I've got three days." It was Sasha, and then Embry chimed in, "Me too."

Tanya, who was a senior this year, sighed. "I'm going to hate not having you guys around. I leave tomorrow. Have to get moved into my new place. Madison?"

I didn't want to say it out loud. I hated even thinking about it. "Three days."

I felt Liam's hand tighten on my knee.

I was pretty sure he hated thinking about it even more.

"So this is kind of it, then." Sasha said bluntly. "God, where did the summer go? I felt like we just got here."

I rewound violently to the beginning of the summer, when I'd first traipsed through that red door and walked into the rest of my life. I'd had no idea, then, that I would be here now. No idea how much that was going to change everything. "Yeah," I breathed, and my hand found Liam's, my fingers winding over and around his, relishing his grip, his resiliency, his steadfastness.

Leaving him was going to be unbearable.

"Yeah," Liam's voice echoed the others. There was another pause, this one heavy with melancholy. Finally, Liam broke it. "I, um…I need you guys to know how – how much you all mean to me. I know this is…" he laughed good naturedly, embarrassed at the sudden spotlight. "This has to be coming from all of the champagne, but…I've never felt so much like…I belonged as I did this summer. With you all." His eyes rested on mine and his mouth tugged up into a grin. "You became my family."

"Cheers to that," Embry said, lifting his red Solo cup. There was a chorus of cheers all around, though instead of raising my own cup, I leaned over precariously onto one leg of my chair and kissed the underside of Liam's jawline. Startled, he turned his face towards me, and though it was partially in shadow I could make out the lines – the slight bit of worry at the edges of his mouth that increased as our numbered days slipped by us, the beautiful grin that I'd fallen for showing up every time I kissed him, the permanent sadness that was tattooed just beyond his eyes. He had slowly, though surely, become the most familiar face in my world. My favorite subject.

The night passed too quickly. I had a strange, choking desperation at the base of my throat. A burning longing to slow time down, to press pause on this night and relive it over and over again. There was an underlying sadness, a melancholy that blanketed all of us.

It was after 1:00 in the morning when people began to peel off. There were lots of hugs – Sasha even got a little teary. When Embry left, he awkwardly patted me on the shoulder and made plans to see Liam tomorrow. Tanya was the last to go, and she hesitated a moment before she stood.

"You still coming to help me move that shit tomorrow?" She phrased the question to Liam, but I knew that invitation included me as well. That was one thing that I didn't mind with Liam – being grouped into one being instead of two separate ones. There was no one I could imagine being more proud to attach myself to.

"Of course we'll be there." Liam smiled up at her sweetly and I melted for the hundredth time around him. "See you in the morning."

"Don't stay out too late," she winked and then said, "By the way, Madison, my dad loves the pictures. They look great in the diner."

I smiled, thinking back to the prints that I'd shown him of the view from up here. My favorite – the one showcasing Liam and his golden smile, I'd kept for myself. As the door swung closed, I felt his hand curl around the back of my neck. I shut my eyes against the slight wind.

"You think that will ever be us?" His voice was soft, but self-assured enough to cause me to crack one eye open.

"What?"

"Cassidy and David. White dress, vows, cake, the whole thing?"

I turned my head and looked at him straight on. He wasn't looking at me, though, he was looking out at the building in front of us. My eyes followed the angle of his jawline, the shape of his nose. My fingers itched for my camera at that moment – I desperately wanted to capture his profile in the faded light.

"I don't know," I finally answered honestly, my heart leaping and pounding hardly in my chest, the prospect of the idea lighting a fire in my chest. "I hope so."

"Yeah," his fingers fastened onto my neck gently as he whispered, "me too."

"You think that far ahead?" I asked innocently, not fishing, just surprised.

He turned to me, then, and his eyes were so content and calm and bright. "Every time I look at you. Of course."

I exhaled heavily and stood, crossing the space between us quickly and sitting down in his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely.

"Oh," he murmured softly as I pressed into him as hard as I could.

"I just got you," I could feel the tears stinging my eyes. I hadn't cried, yet, at the thought of leaving him here. I'd been so blissfully happy enjoying every moment with him that I hadn't even allowed myself the opportunity. "I just finally got you and now I have leave you."

"Baby," his voice was so serene, so comforting, and his hand was running up and down my back with reassuring firmness. "We've had a lot more than a couple hundred miles between us. This will be nothing."

"You think we'll make it?" It was nothing but a pathetic whisper for reassurance.

"I do," his reply was quick and firm and self-assured. "I love you. I'll do whatever it takes."

"I love you," I echoed. I couldn't mean it enough.

We stayed there like that for a few minutes, and as always the pattern of his breathing, his scent, the feel of his body against mine melted the stress away. "Maddy?"

"Mmm?"

"I, um…" his voice trailed off and he pushed me away from him gently. "I need to tell you something."

Confused, curious, I cocked an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I, uh…when you weren't around, I had a lot of time to think. And I realized that there was something that I needed to do for myself. Something that was holding me back from really, truly being happy. And I would remember what I told you – up here, that day. That you had to do what you wanted – what would really make you happy, and let the rest just come."

"Okay," I was terrified scared and intrigued all at once, "Liam –"

"After the accident, I pulled out of UIC," he kept going, and I closed my mouth, watching him with furrowed brows. "I mean, I couldn't justify going to college when my family was falling apart. When my mom was…how she was. And I let myself use that as an excuse for a long time."

His eyes came up to meet mine and he tightened his grip on me. "I want you to be proud of me. To be proud to be with me. I want to be the absolute best person I can be, because of you, Maddy. Because I want so badly to deserve you."

"Oh, Liam…" I took his face in my hands, shaking my head, "don't. Don't say that. I am so lucky to have you, a piece of paper doesn't matter to me, none of that matters to me."

"Well, it should," he pulled one hand away from my cheek and kissed my palm softly. "But I wanted to do it for me, too. For my mom. For Vanessa. So I applied to a local community college, and I, um, I got in."

The breath rushed out of my lungs and I couldn't help the excited squeal that came out of my throat. "Oh my God, Liam, that's so incredible!"

"Thank you," he was smiling, but there was still something wrong. Something there, right behind his eyes. "After you came back…after these last few weeks with you, Mad, I realized that I don't want to let you go. And that it was a long shot, it was really just shot in the dark, but I, um…I applied to the University of Miami."

Everything in my world froze. I opened my mouth to speak again but his fingers were on my lips in the slightest moment. His next words were a whisper.

"I got this in the mail yesterday. I've been too scared to open it." He reached behind him and tugged his jacket off of the chair and reached into the inside pocket. The letter in his hand moments later was one that I recognized all too well – the response to his application.

I'd received the same one.

"Will you?" Those eyes, that freaking smile. He was wrong. I would never deserve him. I would never deserve this man, this man who had been through so much heartache, but still determined to hold on to joy, the man who lived for taking care of everyone he loved in his life, who was humble but confident, who would work so hard with his hands but be tender with his words.

I took the sealed envelope from his hand shakily and held it, very still.

"Madison, no matter what, I'm yours. We'll make this work, if it's long distance and I'm here, if I come with you to Florida, we'll figure it out."

I nodded, forcing my lips into a smile even though I was choking on nerves. "I know."

I slid my finger underneath the corner of the seal. Before I could pull back and rip it open, Liam pulled my face down to his abruptly, his mouth warm and soft and reassuring and gentle.

And as he kissed me, I realized that it probably wasn't going to be a smooth ride with William Garrison. We both had demons in our past – in the form of lovers, fear, parents, people that had let us down or hurt us. But if I had to choose someone, anyone, to help me – anyone to help, it would be this boy with his disarmingly beautiful smile, road-map of tattoos, and huge heart. It was just that simple.

And maybe we wouldn't have a happy ending. Maybe it wasn't meant to be, and Liam was just the one who was supposed to show me that I was beautiful, and that I didn't have to do what I was told, that I could live life to be happy and not to make everyone else happy. And that, in itself, was a lesson I wouldn't trade for the world.

But something deep down in my gut told me that he was the one – that we would grow old together, and he would hold me every night before I felt asleep. And maybe he would give me a little girl with the same beautiful, golden, smile, and we would name her Vanessa Marie, and he would be the one to save me from myself each and every morning.

And maybe, if I was lucky, somehow I could do the same for him.

He pulled away, then, and grinned. "What are you waiting for? Open it!"

I paused for one more second, taking it all in. I realized that this moment, every moment with him was one that I wanted to slow down. Enjoy. Capture onto the photo reel of my memories. I didn't know where our paths would lead us, but I knew that they were intertwined. They always had been.

The wind picked up, my hair blew into my face messily, and he pressed it away.

Then, I finally smiled back at him, and ripped the letter open.

The End

A/N: I know I said we were saying goodbye, but I've kind of written quite a bit from Liam's point of view…anyone want to see it?! = P Let me know down below!