The next few weeks went by in a blur of renovations, negotiations, and manual labor. After Serena had told us her master plan about joining La Bonne and Steve's Diner, we all immediately set out to work on the project ahead of us.

The first thing that Steve and Jeanette took care of was putting La Bonne up for sale. We closed down Steve's diner completely for renovations and one day, we all cleared out La Bonne of anything and everything useful: the coffee machines, the coffee, the tables, and the chairs. Luckily for us, there was a woman named Olivia who sold vintage clothing from her home. She had been looking for a vacancy in town so that she could start a clothing store. When she found out La Bonne was up for sale, she immediately jumped at the chance and gave us our first and only offer.

We relaxed a bit after La Bonne was sold. Steve and Jeanette had initially thought that due to La Bonne's somewhat hidden location, no one would want to buy the shop. It turned out that Olivia liked the fact that it was hidden. She said it would add to the vintage vibe she was going for. How a hidden shop was vintage, we still had no idea, but we were more than happy that she bought the shop.

Next thing that we had to do was renovate and fix up the new combined diner and cafe. We needed to put the coffee machines in and make space for all of Jeanette's necessities. Fortunately, Gavin was a pretty skilled handyman and he offered to install the necessary fixtures and machines. To save money, we all volunteered to do various tasks to fix up the diner instead of hiring others to do the job for us. We were all more than happy to help out in any way we could.

During this time, my classes started up again. I wasn't able to be around for much of the renovations because I was in class all day. After class, instead of going back to my apartment like I usually would, I went to the diner. It was always full of life, even moreso than before. People were always walking in and out. There were diagrams, notes, paint color tabs, computer generated models, and more scattered around inside the diner. It was extremely exciting and at the same time, really uplifting. We finally had something to look forward to. We finally had a goal in mind, a goal that was important to not only Steve and Jeanette, but all of us. And we came together as one to achieve this goal, as a family.

"I kind of like the wooden floors and walls, though," Reese said.

We were sitting in the main part of the diner on a Tuesday afternoon. One of my classes had been cancelled, so I was able to get to the diner earlier than usual. Among the people present were Reese, Steve, Jeanette, Jaime, Luke, Gavin and Tay. Randy and Serena had class, Caleb was with Liam, and Oliver was at work. Jaime had decided to bring Tay along because we weren't really working at the moment. And we all missed having Tay around.

"Me, too," I agreed.

"It gives it the more homely appeal that we were going for," Jaime added.

"Exactly. Almost like it's a cottage," Reese said.

"But I thought we wanted it to be a bit more modern," Luke argued.

"We do, but that doesn't mean we have to lose that comfortable feel," Reese replied.

"Well, if we changed the wood to tile, but painted the walls like an orange color, we could make it almost like one of those perfect kitchens you see on HGTV," Luke said.

"I see what you mean, but I really do like the wood," Reese said.

"I do, too. I think it gives more of a cozy feeling," Steve said.

"All right, then. Are we going to paint the walls then?" Jeanette asked.

"I don't think we should," I said. "It looks better as wood."

"Why don't you take some pictures of the ocean and beach, Nicole? Then we could frame them and put them up on the walls," Jaime said.

"Yes! That would be great!" Reese exclaimed.

"Oh! And you could make them look older or make them in black and white," Gavin said.

"And we could get like wooden frames to frame them," Steve added.

"Nah, I think that'd be too much wood," Luke said.

"That's true," we agreed.

"So we're keeping the wood floors and walls. We're having pictures as decor for the walls," Reese listed off. As she did so, we wrote notes down in her slanted cursive handwriting.

"I think it'd be cute to have seashells on the walls or something," Jaime said.

"We could find some by the beach and glue them onto a white background and then frame it," Jeanette suggested.

"Instead of a white background, we should stick sand on it. It would look so awesome," Jaime said.

Just like this, we threw ideas back and forth. We continued on into the night. Eventually, Randy, Caleb, Serena and Oliver joined us, as well. It was nearly midnight and we all sat around what was previously the bar in the diner, reading through the scribbles of notes we had all made.

"I liked the booths in La Bonne," Serena said.

"The ones next to the windows," I added. She smiled at me and nodded.

"Wouldn't that look awkward next to the wooden walls, though?" Randy asked.

"You'll look awkward next to the wooden walls," Jaime replied. We all chuckled.

"Nah, Randy would look awkward anywhere," Gavin teased.

"Thanks, guys. I can feel the love," Randy said sarcastically. Caleb clapped him on the back while we laughed.

"No, but seriously, I think he's right. The booths wouldn't look good with the wood," Oliver said.

"I think we could make it work if we wanted," Reese said.

"What about changing the upholstery of the ones we already have?" Steve suggested.

"Right now they're bright orange," I said.

"I like the orange," Luke said.

"What is up with you and orange today?" Steve asked. Luke rolled his eyes.

"We could change them to tan suede," Reese suggested.

"Suede is expensive, though," Oliver pointed out.

"And it would be hard to maintain. It would be difficult to keep clean," Jeanette said. We all muttered in agreement.

"I feel like the only way we could make the booths work was if we made them look almost like couches," I said.

"Or why don't we just get couches?" Randy offered.

"That might not be a bad idea," Steve said thoughtfully.

"It'd be great for the cafe part. But it doesn't really fit in with the diner," Jaime said.

"Agreed. Why don't we just get leather upholstery?" I asked.

"Leather's expensive, too, though," Gavin said.

"Knock-off leather," Caleb offered.

"That won't last long," Luke said.

"The vinyl will not work at all, though. We need an alternative," Jaime said.

"I think the leather would be worth it in the long run. It's easy to maintain and it's long-lasting. It'll stand up to wear," I said.

"Let's go with the leather, then," Steve said. He looked at Jeanette and she nodded in agreement.

"Well, that's settled," Serena said. "Now what?"

"Tables. Do we want to trade in the ones we already have or keep them?" Reese said, scribbling down a note about leather upholstery.

"I like the wood," Caleb said.

"I think it'd be cool to make seashell table tops," I said.

"What do you mean?" Reese asked.

"Like, crush up some seashells and then glue them to a table top and then put a glass covering over it," I replied.

"That would look really awesome," Jaime said.

"It would go well with the theme, too," Oliver agreed.

"But won't that be a lot of work?" Steve asked.

"All of this is going to be a lot of work," Gavin pointed out.

"But it'll be worth it. We're trying to make the perfect diner and cafe. Every detail is important," Jeanette said.

"We can divide up the tasks," Serena said.

"Ok. Fine. I like the seashell tables idea," Steve said.

"Great," Reese said, writing down the idea.

After talking about a few more details and assigning tasks, we decided to call it a night. We were all exhausted from coming with ideas and we decided it was best to just go home and rest. The next day we would actually begin to do what we discussed.

Although we ended the meeting, we stood around talking for a bit. Serena pulled me, Steve, and Jeanette aside to talk to us about the fundraiser for Liam. We stood in a corner, away from everyone else.

Serena and I had already met with Steve and Jeanette privately to tell them about my idea. The past few days I had been working to solidify the plan.

"So I talked to the Children's Hospital and they said that they were willing to sponsor us," I said.

"Excellent. That's perfect," Steve said.

"Caleb already has quite a bit saved up from his various jobs. We only have a few thousand more dollars to raise. But after that, I told the hospital that we would donate the rest of the money to them to fund for research," I explained.

"How much is a few thousand dollars?" Jeanette asked.

"A little more than 2,000," I said. Steve let out a low whistle.

"That's still a lot of money," he said.

"I know, but I think we can do it," I said. I bit my lip and looked at Caleb, who was laughing at something Jaime said to Randy. "We have to do it," I added.

"How do we know we'll make extra?" Jeanette asked.

"It's not like we're only fundraising for one day. We'll be doing it for opening week. That's a lot of time," Serena said.

"Exactly. Fundraisers that are one day don't make as much. But ones that are on-going do," I said.

"Ok. So how are you going to go about doing this?" Steve asked.

"Well that's what I wanted to discuss with you. We need to figure out a percentage of the profits that will go to fundraiser. We'll be collecting individual donations, but we also need to be telling the customers where their money is going and how much of it is going there," I said.

"How much do businesses usually do?" Jeanette asked.

"I worked in a retail store briefly during a summer in high school. They had this charity for books or something and they said in a meeting that 30% of the profit goes towards the charity," Serena said.

"Should we bump it up to 35%?" I asked.

"Let's just do 40%," Steve said.

"All right. That's good," I said.

"So we'll be telling customers that we're collecting donations, but additionally, anything that they buy, 40% of the profit goes towards research for cancer at the Children's Hospital," Serena said.

"That sounds good to me," Jeanette said.

"All right, then. That's what we'll tell everyone to say," Steve said.

"Great," I said.

With that, we broke up. I walked with Steve over to Jaime, Randy, and Caleb.

"Why are you doing this, Nicole?" Steve asked as we made our way over.

"Because Liam deserves a chance," I replied.

"And Caleb?" Steve asked.

"Caleb deserves to be happy for once," I answered softly. Steve gave me a half-smile and squeezed my shoulder.

"You're a good kid, Nicole. That's for sure," Steve said. I smiled weakly at him. We reached the small group, which started laughing again. Randy's face was red as an apple.

"What's going on here?" Steve asked.

"Randy was telling us about a special friend he made," Jaime replied gleefully.

"No, he was telling us about his girlfriend," Tay said.

"What?!" Steve and I exclaimed at the same time.

"You ruined the surprise!" Jaime said. Randy was blushing harder than ever.

"Randy? You've already moved on from?" I asked, putting my hand over my heart. Randy sputtered.

"I--well--she--you--" Randy stammered. I chuckled.

"I'm kidding, Randy. Who is she?" I asked.

"Classmate," he mumbled.

"Do we get to meet her?" Steve asked.

"Absolutely not!" he exclaimed. We laughed. "You guys are just going to keep making fun of me," he said, pouting. Caleb clapped him on the arm, making him wince.

"Cheer up, kid. We're just messing around," Caleb said.

"Yeah, whatever," he grumbled. We laughed. Tay yawned and pulled on her mother's jeans.

"I want to go home, Mommy," she said. Jaime reached down and picked up the three year old.

"Yeah, it's getting late," Jaime said.

"I can drive you," Steve offered. She smiled gratefully at him. Caleb, Randy and I exchanged knowing glances. Jaime noted this and rolled her eyes.

"See you all tomorrow morning," Steve said.

"Bye," we chorused. After that, we decided that it was best to go home, as well.

"Do you need a ride home?" Caleb asked Serena as we walked out with the rest.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Serena said. We walked over to Caleb's car and got in.

"It's so cute how everyone's finally getting together," Serena said as Caleb pulled into the road.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, Oliver and Reese. Steve and Jaime. Randy and his unnamed girlfriend," Serena listed off. She muttered something else inaudibly.

"What was that last one?" I asked.

"Nothing!" she squeaked, a giddy smile on her face. I gave her a look from the rearview mirror and she smirked.  "I'm so excited about all of this work. I can already imagine the finished restaraunt. It's going to be amazing," Serena said.

"Yeah, it's going to be great. I can't wait to start working again," Caleb said, a hint of sadness in his voice. I touched his hand and he glanced at me, a sad smile on his lips.

"Well, this is me," Serena said as we pulled up in front of a giant mansion. I still couldn't get over how large her home was. I had only ever seen homes as big as hers on MTV Cribs or from afar when I was on my nightly adventures with Levi.

We waved goodbye to Serena as she hopped out.

"Home?" Caleb asked. I shook my head.

"The beach," I said. He nodded and we drove off. After discussing the pictures we wanted to frame and hang up in the new restaurant, I wanted to take some fresh ones of the beach and the ocean. I already had close to a hundred pictures of the ocean, since it was my favorite thing to photograph after people's faces, but I wanted to take new ones, since it would be a new restaurant. 

We reached the ocean front and got out of Caleb's car. I reached into the back and pulled my camera out. We stepped out into the slightly chilly late winter air. The weather was perfect and the night sky was clear. The vast, dark ocean expanded in front of us, still and serene with its dark waters. I kicked my shoes off by Caleb's car and stepped onto the cold sand. I relished the feel of my feet sinking in and remembered all the times I had come to the beach with Levi when the sun had warmed the sand and the grains felt good to the touch.

Caleb's hand found mine and we walked forward. I scanned my surroundings, looking for a good vantage point to take my picture from. I stood a few feet away from the water and turned my camera on, lifting it up. I looked through the eyepiece and set the lens so that the only thing encompassing my field of vision was the ocean and the sky. Luckily for me, there was a full moon out and it loomed above the ocean's horizon line like an omnipresent orb. Steadying my hands, I pushed down on the button and captured the picture. I pulled back and looked at it.

"Let me see," Caleb said. I showed it to him and I saw his eyebrows shoot up. "You're good," he said. I shrugged and looked around me, looking for my next location. I spotted the boulders that I used to climb onto the cliff where I had first met Levi. I nodded my head in that direction and Caleb followed me there. I stood a few yards away from the actual boulders so that I could get the boulders and the ocean. It took me a few tries to get one that I was satisfied with. Caleb liked all of them.

The next location we went to was on the actual cliff. Caleb helped me up as I gripped my camera to keep it from getting damaged. We walked to the edge of the cliff and peered out at the vast horizon ahead of us. It was nearly two in the morning now and the night was blacker than ever. I focused my camera to capture the darkness of the ocean and the surrounding, vacant beach. I snapped the picture and looked at it, frowning.

"What?" Caleb asked.

"I don't know...it's just...it doesn't capture the feeling," I said.

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked. I shook my head.

"I don't know. I don't like this one at all," I said, turning my camera off. Caleb looked at me for a moment and then reached out, taking the camera from my hands. "What--" I started asking, feeling my muscles tense because I wasn't the one holding the camera.

"Trust me," he said. I held my breath, wanting to respond, but kept quiet instead.

"Ok," I said. He turned the camera on again and played around with a few buttons, focusing and reforcusing it. I watched him as he did this.

"Don't look at me," he said.

"What are--" I began.

"Look at the ocean," he instructed. I was going to object, but turned my head away like he said. "Now don't move," he said. I waited for a few moments, but didn't hear the sound of the camera go off. I wondered what he was doing. As the moments ticked by, I felt my muscles loosen up. The surrounding ocean engulfed me and I became distracted by its depth. After a few more minutes, I heard the camera go off. I turned to look at him.

"Perfect," he said, smiling at me in the darkness. I looked at the picture he had taken and held my breath. Caleb had taken a picture of me in profile so that only my eyelashes, nose, and some of my cheeks and chin could be seen. I appeared to be looking out at the ocean, which was captured beautifully all in front of me. No one would have ever known it was me that was looking so thoughtfully out at the waters in front of me. It was, indeed, perfect.

"You sure you're not a photographer at heart?" I asked Caleb, taking the camera from him and putting the strap around my neck.

"I just did what you did," he said, shrugging. We made our way to the edge of the cliff to climb off of it.

"Which is?" I asked.

"Finding the fleeting beauty and thought in everything and capturing it before it gets away," he answered, taking my hand and helping me down. I was rendered speechless at his answer because what he had said was exactly my strategy for taking pictures. It's why they were more meaningful than just mere pictures. They were moments. They were emotions. They were thoughts.

I glanced at Caleb when we got back into his car. He had a slight, thoughtful smile on his lips as he drove into the night. I wondered for a moment how exactly it was that this young man had read me so easily and how he had become an increasingly permanent part of my life.

                                                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, kid," I said, putting my bag down.

It was another normal afternoon. Instead of going to the diner to help with renovations, I decided to stop by the Children's Hospital to check on Liam, since I hadn't seen him in a few weeks. I was surprised and perplexed to see his condition. He actually looked sick now.

"Nicky!" he exclaimed.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing. I'm tired," he mumbled, slouching against his pillows. My heart went out to the kid. He was seven years old. He should have been out enjoying the fast approaching spring weather. He should have been out playing at a playground, running around, living life. But instead he was sitting in a hospital bed with nothing to do but pray that he gets better so that he could have his life back.

"I brought you a sandwich," I said, pulling out two sandwiches from my bag.

"No way!" he said, sitting up excitedly.

"Yeah, I thought you'd like to eat something other than hospital food for once," I said.

"Did you make your cookies, too?" he asked, taking the sandwich out of its ziploc bag eagerly.

"How did you know?" I asked, pulling out a bag of cookies. He punched the air in victory.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. I chuckled.

"You have to finish your sandwich first, though. Then you can have these for dessert," I said. He nodded excitedly and took a big bite of his sandwich.

"'Ow aw renvashuns gong?" he asked, his mouth full of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Liam," I scolded. He chewed and swallowed.

"How are renovations going?" he asked.

"Good. Everyone's really busy," I said, taking a bite out of my own sandwich.

"Can you take pictures and show them to me?" he asked.

"Already did," I said, wiggling my eyebrows.

"Really?" he asked. I nodded and pulled my camera bag up.

"I'll show them to you after you eat," I said. He took this as a cue to stuff the rest of his sandwich in his mouth.

"Liam!" I exclaimed.

"Wha?" he asked, cocking his head to the side, his cheeks expanded because of the amount of food he had in his mouth. I laughed and pulled my camera out, taking a picture of him.

"Hey! You better delete that!" he said.

"Like hell I'm going to do that," I replied, looking at the picture and laughing.

"Loser," he pouted, swallowing.

"Monkey," I retorted. He stuck his tongue out at me and I mimicked him.

After finishing his sandwich and eating a few cookies, Liam showed me some games on the PSP the hospital let him have.

"It's such a small screen, though," I said.

"Well, I can't get out of bed, so it keeps me entertained," Liam replied. I bit my lip and reached out, brushing back Liam's long dark hair.

"Did Caleb come in today?" I asked.

"He did in the morning before his interview," he replied.

"Interview?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's applying to graduate school. It was for scholarship or something," he said.

"Oh. I didn't know that," I said.

"There's a lot of things you don't know, Nicky," he sighed.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" I asked, looking at him sternly. He shook his head.

"Nothing. If you still don't know, then you're hopeless," Liam said.

"Liam! Spit it out!" I exclaimed.

"Caleb, Nicky. Caleb," he said.

"What about him?" I asked.

"Like I said, you're hopeless," he said.

"Liam, tell me," I said.

"He loves you, Nicky! And everyone but you can see that," he said.

"You're mental," I said. "You sure your sickness hasn't gotten to your brain?" I asked. He rolled his eyes.

"You're just afraid," he said.

"I'm not," I said.

"Yes, you are," he argued.

"No, I'm not," I replied. "He cares about me, I'll give you that. But he doesn't love me," I said.

"You know, Nicky, I thought that since you were a photographer, you would be able to see things that most people can't. And this is something that everyone can see, and for some reason, you can't see it," Liam said.

I blinked at him, my jaw slightly open. Just then, Nurse Patty came in to take Liam to run some tests. Before walking out, Liam turned to me, a serious expression on his boyish and young face.

"You need to get your camera fixed. It's not letting you see properly," he said.

And with that, for the first time in my life, I was silenced by a seven year old.

________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Woo! This was a long chapter. Fun to write though. Lots happening.

A few things.

1) Sorry for updating late. I had work. And some of my friends were leaving town so I wanted to hang out with them. Also, don't watch Snow White and the Huntsman. It was a terrible movie.

2) By popular vote, I will be writing a Levi/Nicole story. However, this won't happen for a really long time. After this story finishes, I'm going to be finishing a story that I started earlier this year called Ticking Clocks. And then after Ticking Clocks, I will be writing a story called No Such Thing as Love. Then, maybe I'll write Levi and Nicole's story.

3) This story will end with the next chapter. Thank you all so much for voting and commenting and just sticking with this story. The success it has received would have been non-existent if it weren't for you all. I've had some people suggest that I put it in the running for the Watty Awards. Now, I can do this. However, I need people to vote consistently until the nominees are picked. Which means it's up to you guys to spread the word to your fans!

4) Don't be sad that this story is over. All good things come to an end, after all. If you liked this story, I suggest reading some of my other works. You'll find that I have a similar writing style with all of my stories. Also, for you fantasy lovers, I have a 3-part book that I'm writing called the Trinity series. It's a witch story, so if that's your fancy, go ahead and read it and let me know how you like it! I'm actually quite proud of it in terms of plot.

That is all I have. Randy is awesome. Liam is awesomer. I love you all.

XOXO