______________________________________

The final dance was about to start and everyone noticed that Jeremiah was missing. Liz watched Belly walk around frantically in search of him.

"Where's Jeremiah?" Susannah asks, "Connie. Connie, have you seen your brother?"

"He was just here a second ago." He shrugged. She then looked to Liz who shook her head.

Belly looked around nervously as she kept asking around for Jeremiah. Liz sighed softly before turning to Conrad, "You should go dance with her." He quickly turns to her, "You know all of the dances and she can't be embarrassed at her first deb because Jere is awol."

He turned to Belly who was still looking around, "Go, Connie, please." Liz begs.

He turned to her as he nods, "Okay." He says softly as he stands. Belly notices him standing and furrows her brows. She looked at Liz who nodded quickly as she smiled. Conrad walked up to her and took her hand as he pulled her into place just as the dance was going to start.

Liz smiles and sighs in relief as the dance started and everything was okay.

"Look at them. She's luminous." Susannah smiles. She looks over at Liz, "I really wish you were out there sweetie."

"This is Belly's time. It's about her." She says

"I meant with Conrad."

Liz frowns. Laurel turns to her with a knowing look, "For you, Conrad is the sun, and when the sun comes out, the stars disappear."

Liz's face softens as Laurel turns back to the dance. She looks over at Susannah who winks before she does the same as Laurel. Liz was lost in her thoughts and had hardly realized that Jeremiah had come back.

"Jeremiah, honey, where were you?" Susannah says

"I-I ate something. I think maybe the shrimp was bad."

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry. You know, the caterer is gonna be hearing from me."

"Okay, Karen." Laurel says sarcastically

"I'll get you some ginger ale. Excuse me." She says as she calls out to a worker. Liz looked up at the sound of applause and realized the dance was over. Belly gave Conrad a side hug as she smiled.

"I'll be right back." Jeremiah says

"Oh, no, honey, are you gonna be sick again? Where is that ginger ale?" Susannah frowns looking around, "I'm gonna get you one from the bar." She says as she walks over. Liz looked at Jeremiah's face and could tell something was wrong.

"Jere." She called out as he walked out to Conrad and Belly. She stood up and walked over.

"Hey." Jeremiah says quietly

"Hey, Jeremiah, where were you?" Belly asks

He ignores her, "Conrad, we need to talk, all right? It's important. It's about Mom. I found something out."

"Um... Yeah..." He says as he looks at Liz, "We'll-we'll talk about this later, okay?"

"No, it's important." Jeremiah says as he tears up

"It's okay." Conrad says putting a hand to Jeremiah's chest.

Jeremiah stops as his face falls, "You already know, don't you?"

"Know what?" Liz asks

"You've known this whole fucking time and didn't tell me?" He spits

"Jere..." He trails off. The girls look to each other in confusion. They watch as Jeremiah punches him in his face. The girls, as well as everyone else, gasp in shock.

"Jeremiah!" Liz exclaims. He then tackles Conrad as they start fighting.

"Oh, my God!"

Dakota looks over and his face drops as he sees the boys on the ground, "Shit."

"Stop it. Both of you, stop it." Susannah says as the boys separate, "What is going on?"

"Mom..." Jeremiah says choked up

"We know, Mom. We both know." Conrad says

"Know what?" Belly says

"What does everyone know?" Liz says as she looks around. She looks up to Conrad who looks back at her with a sad expression.

______________________________________

Liz sat on her bed in complete shock. She just found out that Susannah had cancer. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she sat there unaware of what to do. She barely looks up as someone knocks on her door. Dakota stands there with red eyes as he sniffles.

"You okay?" He says softly. Liz looks down as more tears escaped. She shakes her head as Dakota takes a seat beside her as they sat in silence.

"This whole time she's had this and we didn't even know." She says as she looks up to her wall, "The whole time."

Dakota nods softly, "We sit here and fight over the dumbest shit sometimes and meanwhile Susannah has been in pain this whole time."

They look at each other as Liz's face scrunches. A sob escapes her lips as she curls into herself. Dakota quickly wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her into him. His eyes shut with his own tears falling as his sister sobbed in his arms.

•••

Everyone sat at the table with happier expressions, still very sad, but no tears. Susannah agreed to go through with the trials to maybe get rid of the cancer which was some sort of a relief. Liz say there quietly as she watches everyone move around her. She smiles very softly as she looked down at her food.

______________________________________

Liz sat out by ocean. Her mind was all over and all she wanted right now was to be alone. She wanted time to think, but at the same time, didn't want to think about any of it. She's startled as someone sat beside. She looks and sees Conrad sat beside her. She looks his face over before she turned back to the water.

"I can't believe she said yes." He chuckles

Liz smiles, "You did it. You changed her mind."

"Oh, it wasn't me. It was Jere. He did it." He says. He looks at her as she keeps her eyes on the water, "Liz, I'm sorry for being so shitty all summer."

"I mean, you were going through all this alone." She nods as she finally looks over at him, "I wish you had told me so you didn't have to."

"I wanted to. I almost did a couple of times." He nods with a slight smile

She looks him in the eye as he stares back at her. She searches his face before she looks away, "Um, we should go in."

"There's so many things I want to say to you." He says

"Don't. Not now." She says as she stands up

"Why?" He says following her

"Cause you really, really, really need somebody right now, and..." She trails off, "I don't want to be the kind of person who takes advantage of that."

"I don't just need somebody." He says quickly, "I need you."

"I don't want you to need me. I want you to want me." She says softly. Almost as if she spoke any louder it would ruin everything.

"I do want you." He says just as softly. He steps closer as he pushes a strand of hair behind her ear. He cups her cheek as he leans in and closes the gap as they finally kiss. Conrad pulls away too quickly for Liz's liking. He looks down at her for only a split second before she leaned back in. She placed her hand on his cheek as his goes to her waist to pull her closer if that were even possible.

Liz pulls away this time with a smile. His face holding the same expression. Her hand falls from
his cheek as both of his hands cup her face. She laughs as his smile widens before he leans in again. The kiss almost being impossible because of their bright smiles, but they didn't care.

They finally had each other.

______________________________________

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ: sᴇᴀsᴏɴ 1 ɪs ᴅᴏɴᴇ!!!! ɴᴇᴡ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ sᴏᴏɴ ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴍ sᴏ ᴇxᴄɪᴛᴇᴅ. ʜᴏᴘᴇꜰᴜʟʟʏ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴜʏs ᴇɴᴊᴏʏᴇᴅ ɪᴛ sᴏ ꜰᴀʀ <3