Caleb and I walked into the diner, our hands linked loosely.

When we walked in, we found Steve, Jaime, Gavin, Oliver and Reese. The rest of the place was barren. They all turned around hopefully when they heard the door chime go off, expecting to see customers. They frowned slightly in disappointment when they saw that it was just me and Caleb. Then, together, their eyes wandered down to our hands which were still linked. Then they looked back up at us, their expressions bordering on confusion and happiness.

Gavin was the first to break the silence.

"Yo two look like death," he said.

Which was probably true. After sitting on the roof and watching the sun rise, we finally decided to go back home. We took the elevator down to the lobby, which was now full of life with workers buzzing around and getting ready to start the day. They looked at us curiously as we walked by, because, well, because we looked like hell.

Caleb drove us to his apartment where we silently ate breakfast together. Then we sat on the couch and put a movie in. I don't even remember which one it was. We had sat on the couch together and I had my head resting on his shoulder. I didn't know when, but eventually, sleep fell over me.

We both woke up three hours later as Caleb's phone alarm went off signaling that he had to go to work. Since we were in a rush, neither of us had time to get ready or make ourselves look presentable. After briefly washing our faces, we walked out the door and here we were now, looking like two zombies that had just awoken from the dead, both literally and figuratively.

Caleb glanced at me.

"Yeah, we do," he said, a small smile on his lips. I felt the corners of my own lips tug up before looking back at everyone. Jaime was staring me down, clearly itching to know if Caleb and I were together or not. But I knew I couldn't answer her questions, because I honestly didn't know the answers myself.

"You two should go back home and rest. It's not like we're busy or anything. We'll manage," Steve said.

"It's all right. We can work," I said.

"No. I don't want you to. Both of you go home and sleep. You can come back here later on tonight for another staff meeting. Serena said she has something to tell us," Steve said.

I glanced at Caleb and he nodded.

"Fine. We'll see you later, then," he said. They all nodded and watched us walk out.

"You think she's going to unveil her master plan?" I asked as we went to his beat up SUV.

"I think so," he replied, letting go of my hand to get into the car.

He drove us back to my apartment, since it was closer to town. We went inside and I could feel my heart rate escalate slightly as I saw him look around and take in all of my memories. He looked at a picture that was sitting on one of my side tables.

It was of Levi and me on our engagement party. It had been after everything and we were just sitting and talking, grins on both of our faces. Someone, we didn't know who, snapped a picture of us and then mailed it to us, wishing us the best of luck and all the happiness in our lives. We loved it so much that we framed it. And now, Caleb was looking at it, a moment from my past that hurt to remember.

Without saying anything, he set the picture down. He turned to face me, his eyes uncertain. He came up to me and put his hands on my cheeks. He planted a kiss on my forehead, his lips lingering there for a few long moments. When he pulled away, he gave me a small, sad smile.

"Let's get some sleep," he said.

I nodded and we went to my room, climbing into my bed. Caleb wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to his body. I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes, concentrating on the beat of his heart before exhaustion finally won and sleep took over.

                                                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~

We didn't sleep for long. We woke up again after about two hours. Then we sat in my bed, our backs against the headboard. When we finally got up, Caleb told me he was going to go back to his apartment and freshen up. He said he would come back and we would go to the diner together.

After bidding him good-bye, I made a light dinner for myself. Then I took a shower and changed out of my clothes, which I had been wearing for two days now. I went downstairs to check my mail and found that some of my textbooks had come in. I brought them back up, realizing that school would start up again in a few days. Time had gone by so quickly, but at the same time, so much had happened.

I pulled my camera out and aimlessly took pictures. As I flipped through the old pictures, I lingered at the one I had taken of Caleb the night before. I blinked, looking at it, staring in awe at how I captured the emotion that had been on his face that night. I went through and looked at older pictures and found one of me that Levi had taken a while ago.

We had been on one of our nightly adventures and he had driven us out to see the Pacific Ocean, which looked beautiful at night. It had been evening when we got there, so there were several people on the beach just milling around and relaxing. We sat away from the water, waiting until everyone was gone to approach it. We had sat in silence then, just sitting and watching all the people around us.

A little girl walked by, both her hands held by her mother and father on either side. They occasionally swung her up off the ground and her youthful laughter rang all around us. It saddened me because I rememebered my own parents doing that with me when I was younger. At the time the picture was taken, my mother had only just passed away and my father was newly married. Levi had noticed the sadness in my eyes and asked if I was all right. I had told him I didn't want to talk about it and he let the subject drop. Instead, he took my camera from me and captured the emotions flitting on my face.

It had been a beautiful picture, despite the very evident sadness that was in my face. He had managed to capture the beach in its nightly essence, with the twinkling lights of the stars in the background and the dancing shadows that the campfires tossed. And at the foreground of the picture was me with my face slightly in profile, a slight downward curve to my lips. He told me a few years later that it had been one of his favorite pictures of me because it captured me in my essence.

I sighed and continued to look through the pictures, stopping at another one that was taken of me. This one was taken by Oliver after Levi's death. It was at the funeral, to which Steve, Jaime, and Oliver attended. When the pastor was reading off the eulogy, I couldn't bare to listen. I had moved so that I was standing close enough to see what was happening, but far enough to not hear the words spoken to alleviate the effects of Levi's death.

I had had my camera with me, like always, but had left it with the others. Oliver picked it up during the eulogy and zoomed in on my face, taking a picture of it. It was a nice picture, but in it, it was clear as day that I was fighting tears. I had a distant look in my eyes, which looked navy and hollow in the picture. My blunt bangs covered my eyes slightly, casting a slight shadow over them. My lips were drawn in a straight line, but it was in my hands that the struggle against tears could be seen.

My hands were clenched together, twisting the fabric of the black dress I was wearing. They were clenched so hard that my bones stuck out and looked very prominent. They were held together as if I were praying, praying that I would wake up from the nightmare that would haunt my dreams for the next twelve months.

The picture reminded me of all the horrible things in my life and I turned the camera off, setting it aside. I pulled my phone out and without thinking, dialed someone's number.

"Hello?" the voice said when they picked up.

"Serena? It's me, Nicole," I replied.

"Oh. What's up?" she asked.

"I wanted to ask you something..." I said.

                                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~

 About an hour later, Caleb came back to pick me up. We drove in silence to the diner, wondering what surprise Serena had planned and if the diner was going to shut down or not.

The place was lively when we got there. Everyone was there, except Randy, who I assumed was running late. I was a little surprised to see Oliver and Reese present, too. They were sitting away from the crowd , leaning towards each other and talking in hushed tones. I nudged Caleb and nodded in their direction. I saw the corners of his lips pull up slightly and he looked down at me, his eyes bright.

Jaime marched up to us, putting her hands on her hips as she planted her feet on the ground firmly in front of us. We glanced at each other. We were about to be interrogated.

"Oh, well, look at what we have here," she sneered.

"Jaime..." I started, before she said something stupid, but she cut me off with a death glare.

"Am I always going to be the last to know?" she asked, feigning hurt. I rolled my eyes.

"It's not like that," I said.

"And who exactly are you trying to kid?" she asked.

"No one. We're just friends," Caleb interrupted.

"I'll believe that when pigs fly," she said.

"Then go to an amusement park and believe it," I replied, patting her cheek. She opened her mouth to retort, but at that moment, Randy walked it, his hair wind blown and his glasses askew.

"What the hell happened to you, Randy?" Gavin asked.

Randy blushed and fixed his glasses. He ran a hand through his hair and stood up straight, ignoring Gavin's query.

"Ok, then," Steve said, standing up and going to the middle of the floor. "Thanks again for making it out tonight. I know we've been waiting a while for this, so I'm just going to give the floor over to you, Serena," he said. Serena smiled at him and walked forward holding a manilla folder, looking flawless as ever in a simple navy blue sweater dress and tights.

"Hello, everyone. I'm sure you're all anxious to know what I've come up with in regards to saving the diner and all of your jobs," Serena began, looking around at us with her big, blue eyes.

"A while ago, I developed a mild case of insomnia. I couldn't sleep at night and this was due to family issues at home. I wanted to be out of the house and so I went searching one night for a place that  I could go to. The only places I knew that were open late were clubs. But one night, I found this almost hidden little place. I walked in and had the most delicious cup of coffee I had ever tasted. It was in this place that I met Nicole and many others that suffered from the same insomnia that I did. This place was a cafe named La Bonne," Serena explained.

Realization dawned on me and I knew what Serena's plan was before she said it. She was going to join the two together.

"Over the course of the year, I became really good friends with the owner of La Bonne. She's a sweet old lady named Jeanette and like Steve's diner is important to him, La Bonne is very important to her. But unfortunately, the same calamity that has struck the diner has struck La Bonne. It's suffering because of The Bean Scene," she continued.

"The Bean Scene started out as a simple, yet chic cafe, much like La Bonne. Due to its location on the corner of the street and its proximity to the beach, The Bean Scene began attracting more customers mostly because it was more convenient to reach than La Bonne, which is located far within a street. Basically, only those that knew about La Bonne would go there. At first, the amount of customers at La Bonne was many. But the numbers began dwindling because of The Bean Scene," she said.

"As you all know, this same sort of situation is happening with this diner. Although the diner has a superb location, its losing out to The Bean Scene mainly because it's older. TBS is more hip and it attracts the younger people, which make up the majority of the population due to Berkeley being a college town. Because of TBS's increasing popularity, they were able to expand their services to include all of those that can be given in this diner. And so, like La Bonne, the diner is losing its customers. So you see the dilemma here," Serena said.

"What's the point of telling us about La Bonne?" Gavin asked.

Serena's eyes found mine and I nodded, understanding what she was doing.

"The point is that both of these older places are suffering because of this newer, cooler place. The obvious solution then, is to join the two together," she answered.

Whispers ran throughout the small crowd in the diner. I could see everyone's minds reeling with the proposition that Serena was offering. Was it a good idea? Would it work? How expensive would it be? Would it be worth it?

"If we bring La Bonne and Steve's diner together at least we'll be on the same level as The Bean Scene in terms of services that it provides. The Bean Scene is good for coffee and food services. If we put La Bonne's excellent coffee with Steve's amazing food, we're sure to attract more customers," Serena explained.

"But you said that TBS has the cool factor," Steve pointed out.

"So we can have the homely factor," she responded.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"Both places have this sense of homeliness to them. They're cozy and comfortable. While TBS is updated and more modern, the combined diner and cafe could be more comfortable and relaxing," she answered.

"I can definitely see it. Since Steve's location is better and it has this superb view of the ocean front, you could have an ocean theme with blues and greens. Those calm colors," Reese quipped. Serena nodded enthusiastically.

"Exactly!" she said.

"Does Jeanette agree with this?" Steve asked.

"Yes, I went over all of the details with her already and she loves the plan. She couldn't be here tonight because she's the only one that works at La Bonne and she had to be there. But she said that if you're on, then so is she," Serena replied.

"Excellent," Steve said, his eyes brightening and looking more lively.

"How would we advertise?" I asked.

"I'm glad you asked," she said, smiling at me. She pulled out a few pictures from the folder she was holding and held them up. I blinked when I saw that they were mine.

"Where did you--" I started, but she cut me off. Caleb shifted next to me and I eyed him curiously. Did he have something to do with this?

"Nicole, our expert photographer, has taken several beautiful shots of the diner. The thing about these pictures is that Nicole was able to not only capture what the diner looks like, but what it feels like. Each picture shows the fine detail of what makes the diner, the diner. They all show the homeliness that the diner provides. If we renovate, Nicole can take more pictures like these and we can put them up to advertise," she explained.

"I think that's a great idea," Steve said.

Oliver took the pictures and examined them.

"These are amazing, Nicole. Why didn't you ever show these to us?" Oliver asked.

"I wasn't serious when I was taking those. They were just...memories," I replied softly. He looked at me with those knowing hazel eyes of his and smiled gently at me.

"You know, I could probably put a picture or two in the paper I write for. I can pull some strings to get you a discount price for advertising, too," Oliver said.

"That would be perfect!" Serena exclaimed. "And there is one other idea that would help us greatly for the initial opening of the new restaurant," she said.

"What is it?" Steve asked.

I felt my heart do a little flip because I knew what was coming next.

It was an idea that had hit me as I was looking through old photos. I had had so many thoughts running through my mind at the time, what with everything that Caleb had told me about his situation, and Serena with her problems and me with mine. Looking at the old photos I had taken of the grief on people's faces, an idea struck me.

Liam didn't have to die.

My idea had been this: to set up a fundraiser to raise money to cure Liam's cancer before it was too late. I hadn't known about Serena's diner and cafe plan at the time. My idea was that the way we would raise money would be to advertise. People loved donating money for cancer, especially for children. Setting up a fundraiser at Steve's diner would not only raise money to get Liam the treatment he needed, but it would also attract customers. We could promise to donate a certain percentage of our profit to saving Liam's life. It was a sure-fire plan. But I would need Serena's help to execute it.

"I'll tell you later in private," Serena said.

"Oh, come on!" Randy exclaimed.

"Sorry! It's not something I want everyone to know just yet," she said, her eyes finding mine. I smiled at her and then glanced at Caleb, who looked down at me curiously.

"So when do we start?" Gavin asked.

"As soon as possible. We'll have to figure out the costs for how expensive it'll be to renovate. We'll have to sell La Bonne. Advertise. It's going to be a long process," Steve said.

"But we can do it," Jaime said.

"And hopefully it'll be worth it," Steve added.

Soon, the room was buzzing with ideas on decorating, selling, advertising, and more. Everyone was full of energy and excitement. Our jobs were safe. Our home was safe.

"Did you give Serena those pictures?" I asked, turning to Caleb.

"I may have looked through your camera," Caleb replied.

"Invasion of privacy," I said. He shrugged, a small smile on his lips. I couldn't help but smile myself. Serena came up to us, grinning.

"I'm so glad everyone liked my idea!" she exclaimed.

"It's a good plan. And I'm sure it'll work," I said.

"It has to," she said. "I told my father what I wanted to do. I guilt-tripped him for making me go through that horrible divorce and he said he'll give us any money we need," she said.

"That's great! Does Steve know?" I asked. She nodded.

"I told him just now. He was ecstatic," she said. "I can't believe this is happening. Things are finally starting to look up," she added, looking around at everyone's excited faces. I glanced at Caleb, who found my hand and grasped it, gently squeezing it.

Oliver and Reese walked up to us, beaming.

"Do I have to ask?" I asked.

"I don't think so," Oliver replied, looking at Reese, whose eyes were shining brighter than the lights above our heads.

"I'm happy for you two," I said.

"And we're happy for you," Reese replied, nodding at Caleb and me. We both glanced at each other with questioning looks in our eyes.

It was impossible to think, especially after everything we had all been through, but maybe Serena was right. Things were finally starting to look up.

PLEASE READ THE NOTE AT THE BOTTOM!

____________________________________________________________________

A/N: I'm back! Sorry for the long wait. I was out of town and it was a hectic week. I barely touched my laptop. But I'm back now!

Everyone who guessed that she was merging the two restaraunts together was right! You clever, clever readers. =)

As you can tell from this chapter, things are going to start wrapping up now. The end is near, at least for this story. But I have a question for you all. I was thinking about this during the week and I had an idea. What if I wrote Nicole and Levi's story? Like a completely separate book. Almost like a prequel. What do you say to that? It won't be until later, but do you think that's a good idea? Would you read that? Just putting it out there. Answer below if you like the idea!

I want to thank each and every one of you that has voted and commented. It means a lot that you've stuck with me even though my updates are extremely irregular and slow.

Keep up the great work guys and comment and vote!

XOXO