A/N: Here it is! The last chapter! Hope you enjoy!

"And 5,6,7,8…" Joanna counted off with the music. She watched all the little girls in front of her leap into action, their little legs trying to keep up with the music. She smiled as she watched her own daughter dance around, red hair streaming out behind her. Pride for her daughter's evident ability washed over Joanna and she clapped for each and every one of the girls as they finished their dance and bowed to her, pretending that she was a judge. "Very good, all of you," she responded. "Go and get a drink."

When she turned from watching them all scamper off, she found Nate leaning against the railing, watching her watch their daughter. She walked over and kissed him and the little boy standing next to him. Nate tried to hug her and she protested. "Nate, don't! I'm all sweaty and gross." Her husband always looked perfect, and she hated to mess up his image.

"I don't care," he said, pulling her close. "I'll hug you any time."

"Me too!" Nathan piped up, anxious to get his mother to notice him as well.

"You too?" Joanna asked, swinging the little boy up into the air, making him giggle. "I feel like the luckiest girl in the world." She hugged her son and then put him down, turning back to her class. "Alright everyone," she said. She noticed her daughter talking excitedly with her friend, Mary, and called out to her. "Hannah! Join the group." The two little girls ran hand in hand to stand with the group. Joanna bent down so that she could talk to the children at eye level, something her own mother had never done to her. "You all have done such a great job today," she prefaced. "I want you to go home and work this week on pointing your toes the right way, okay?"

"Yes Mrs. Black," they all chorused.

"Wait a minute!" Joanna called. "We have a problem here. What are you supposed to call me?"

The little group giggled and said in unison once more, "Yes Miss Joanna."

Joanna smiled. "That's much better. Now, all of you go and grab a pencil. You've earned one today." The little girls scampered over to the jar where Joanna kept a large supply of pencils just for such occasions as good behavior and excellent dancing required and began discussing the colors. Writing was just beginning to be taught to these girls, so pencils were a novelty.

Joanna called her daughter over and bent down once more to be on her level. "I just want you to know how proud I am of you," she said seriously. "You did a wonderful job today."

Hannah smiled brightly, her little teeth gleaming as she replied, "Thanks, mommy." She twisted her hands in her dance skirt and then added, "I love you."

Joanna drew her daughter into a hug. "I love you too." Over Hannah's little shoulder, Joanna's eyes locked with Nate's and he nodded, understanding. Joanna deemed it imperative that she establish that she loved her children very much, since her mother had never expressed those sentiments towards her, but she was also firm about obedience. She expected her children to obey her and to listen, and in return, they received a mother who loved them so much she thought that her heart might burst at times because it was so full.

"Mommy?" Hannah asked, breaking their hug.

"Yes?" Joanna asked.

"Can I go play with Mary for a little while?" Joanna nodded, gazing after her daughter as she ran off to play with her friend, one dance shoelace trailing behind her. Joanna sighed. They grew up so fast. She had never understood that concept until she had experienced parenthood, but it was true. She blinked and her two babies had grown into five-year-old miniatures of her and Nate.

She looked back at Nate from across the room and he nodded. "I know," he said, using his favorite phrase. Joanna smiled, so grateful that she had a husband who loved her and knew her so well that many times, they didn't even have to speak to understand each other. Finally, she had found someone to understand her.

For a few minutes, she worked with Nathan, who was also good at dancing, although he leaned more towards music, like his father. She mostly played around with him at the studio, since it was up to her to lock up. After all, she was the owner, and she could lock up whenever she wanted.

Mary and her mom left the studio, so Hannah deemed it a good time to get ready to leave, the loss of her friend being a devastating blow. After all, it would be a whole sixteen hours until they saw each other at school again. The little girl took off her shoes and stuffed them into her little dance bag, coming to Nate for him to tie her tennis shoes.

The family left the studio and Nate drove them down the street and around the corner of the little town they lived in. There, with the new tour bus sitting in the driveway, was Joanna's cozy house, rose garden, and picket fence, just as she had once described it.

And to her, it was the best house in the world. No, it was not the largest, or grandest house, but it had been built for her, by someone who loved her so much, and every detail had been discussed with their heads bent together, silly smiles on their faces as they had planned their first home. Both her children had been born into this house one night around midnight, and it had much evidence of a child-filled house with toys in the front yard and all.

Nate was gone a bit, touring with the band, producing other aspiring singers' albums, and doing interviews, but he was always home for most of the time, having cut down on the lengths of the tours and the frequencies of the interviews so that he could spend as much time as he could with Joanna and his children.

So each had received what they had wanted from life, but this story had no 'finis' because real love stories never have endings.

A/N: Well, that's the end. What did you think??? I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading!

Cr8vgrl