Goodness me, it's been a long time since I wrote for this! *jaw drops at last update* I am so sorry to those of you who like this story! And wow, only one more chapter to go! I think you guys are really going to like the next one. It's going to have little flashbacks to when James and Katie were little kids in Minnesota in it, and I'm really excited for it. As for this chapter, I can only hope it isn't too rushed. Because it feels a bit rushed to me. Let me know if you think so and I might add some more flashbacks in the next chapter to make this one seem less…sudden. I hope you like it! And the last line to this chapter was meant to pop up in the last chapter, but I just couldn't resist throwing it in already, haha.

A small smile flickered across Katie's lips as she examined the magazine rack before her. James Diamond smiled back at her confidently from the cover. Her grin faded at the headline beneath him. "Most Wanted Man in America Discusses his Love Life." Curiosity perked, she cautiously flipped to the article. "'Well, I'm trying to put my career first right now,' the heartthrob tells us, 'so there's not much time for serious relationships. But a casual date every now and again is fine, just no commitments for now.'"

Katie frowned, her heart beating off rhythm at the words. No commitments? Casual dates with whom? Katie felt something wet drip off of her cheek. She smacked at the tear crossly, chiding herself inwardly. Of course James wasn't "committed" to her! He was a celebrity, one of the most widely-know, in fact. Adults respected him. Teenage boys envied him. Teenage girls obsessed over him. And Katie? She was nobody. Just another obsessive teenage girl, apparently.

After placing the article back on the rack, Katie trudged home. It began drizzling, and she quickened her pace, splashing through swiftly-forming puddles as her damp hair clung to her face. The rain poured harder, disguising the tears that were now freely rolling down her cheeks. Her clothes were soaked as she stomped into the Palm Woods lobby. Mr. Bitters glared at her ragged appearance, but she ignored him. There was a line for the elevator, so she took the stairwell. Her phone vibrated in her pocked as she tramped up the stairs. Flipping it open, she composed herself with a sniffle and answered despondently, "Hello?"

"Hey, Kate," a deep and confident voice replied brightly.

Katie felt warmth flood her cheeks at the sound. Only one person in the world had ever called her that name. "J-James?" she choked out.

"Are you okay? You sound kind of hoarse," his suave voice was tinted with worry.

"I'm fine," she muttered, her voice betraying her by cracking on "fine."

James hesitated before responding, "I'm coming to see you. I just landed in L.A., so I'm in the area."

"Wha-why are you in L.A.?" Katie stammered, stalling in hopes of devising a scheme to avoid the handsome brunette.

"I wanted to surprise you" James answered, sounding slightly hurt, "I miss you, Kate."

Katie's heart thumped excitedly at the words, but she calmed herself and mumbled, "I…now's not a good time, James. Maybe you can stop by later."

An uncomfortable silence passed before James spoke again. "I don't know how long I can stay, Katie. I want to see you. Just let me take you out someplace. Please."

It wasn't in Katie's power to refuse him. The last word, that darned way James could say "please" in such a spellbinding way and use it to get whatever he desired, had tainted her logic, all coherent thoughts about her plan to not see James vanishing temporarily. "Okay."

"I'll be there in thirty minutes."

No other words were exchanged as Katie hung up. Fumbling with her key, she unlocked 2J and slipped inside. Her mom had left a note explaining that she was out running errands. Katie slouched into the orange sofa, flipping her laptop open to help occupy her mind. Her tactic was painfully unsuccessful as James' picture grinned back at her from the Pop Tiger homepage (she had never summoned up the energy to change it from when she was still an avid Dak Zevon fan). "American Hunk Nominated for Best Actor Award."

Katie clicked away irately, nearly slamming her laptop shut. She had always liked James. Always. She may have feigned annoyance with him when she was younger, but the admiration was still there, buried within her soul from the moment he first lulled her to sleep in his fourteen year-old lap. So it didn't seem very fair to her that everyone could like James now. And that James seemed to like her a little less ever since everybody else began liking James. Katie remembered waking up on that day that now seemed so long ago.

Katie rubbed at her eyes blearily as she walked out of her bedroom. Mrs. Knight was already seated at the counter, sipping her morning coffee in her bathrobe. It dawned upon Katie that she must have really slept in, because Mrs. Knight never woke up before her. "Where's James?" she asked in what she hoped was a casual tone of voice.

"He had to fly out early this morning," Mrs. Knight remarked, giving Katie an apologetic glance, "The band had an unexpected interview scheduled that they had to make."

Katie tried not to look too crushed as her mother's words sank in. She also wondered how much about her new sort of, almost relationship with James her mother knew about, based off of the sad look her mother was still giving her. "Oh, but he left this for you," Mrs. Knight said quickly with a smile, handing Katie a note.

Katie unfolded it carefully, grinning a little as she took in the more or less neat cursive letters that she had come to recognize.

Katie reached her hand across her laptop to her notebook lying on the table. She flipped it open and slid out her favorite sheet of paper in the world.

"Dear Kate,

I'm so sorry I had to leave without saying goodbye. Well, actually I did, but you probably don't remember that. I came in your bedroom and kissed your cheek, but I don't know if you were awake or not. But anyway, I'm really, really sorry. I wish I could've kissed you for real. I'll come back to visit you as soon as I can, and I'll think about you every day until then. Expect a call from me as soon as our plane lands. I love you, Katie. I'd write more, but Kendall says we have to go now. Don't forget about me, okay? 'Cause I could never forget you.

Love,

James"

Katie smiled sadly. James had called her that day, three years ago. And he had called on an average of every two months or so since then, and Katie had reveled in every second of each one. But other than that, Katie had hardly seen him. He'd stopped by whenever he could, and there had been a few more hidden kisses and pizza dates when he had, but as stated, it had been a long time. Why should it be so surprising to her if James had moved on? Even if he didn't sound like it in the phone call, he was probably just waiting to tell her that they couldn't be together. That was probably why he was even in L.A. in the first place.

A knock at the door made her jump. Katie shakily stood to her feet, hiding the letter. She wiped her hands across her cheeks quickly, ensuring that there were no signs of tears on her face. She creaked the door open and gasped a little at the sight before her.

James cracked a feeble smile at her, his wet hair clinging to face, "You failed to mention that it was raining here."

Katie completely forgot that she was supposed to be upset as water ran down James' face, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Please come in!"

James chuckled breathlessly and walked into the apartment, shrugging off his soaked jacket and carefully placing it on the coat rack, trying not to drip water everywhere. "Um, can I get you something or what?" Katie asked, feeling useless and hating herself for making James walk through the rain.

James ran a hand through his hair carefully, "Could I maybe get a quick shower before we go?" He added with a smirk, "So I'm a little more presentable?"

Katie forced a smile, "Sure." She considered showing him to the bathroom, but then she remembered that of course he still knew where everything was.

As she heard the water turn on from the living room, Katie approached the mirror hanging from their kitchen wall. Back in the day, James used to talk to himself in it. But it hadn't had much use since the boys had moved out. Katie had found the whole aspect of observing one's appearance constantly superficial. But at the moment, she couldn't resist giving herself a quick glance-over.

She sighed a little in disappointment. She ran her fingers through her hair hurriedly, hoping that would make it look less tangled, because it obviously was. She felt her eyes welling with tears again as she took in her appearance. Why was James even here to see someone like her? Just a normal girl in a T-shirt and jeans when he could be with supermodels? To mock her? To show his sympathy for her? Why else would he be there?

"You look beautiful," James' voice in her ear made her jerk in surprise, as he stooped down to give her cheek a light kiss. She blushed and forced a faltering smile as she met James' eyes in the mirror. His hair was still damp from his shower, but he otherwise looked tremendously handsome, Katie noted with warmth creeping to her cheeks.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

Katie swallowed down the sob that had built up in her throat and nodded shakily. James seemed to not notice as he asked playfully, "Have an umbrella? It might save us some trouble."

Katie giggled, calming down a little as James acted as he always had. It relaxed her. She rummaged through a closet, until she found a big black one. Her heart was doing somersaults as James held the door open for her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He opened the umbrella as they left the lobby and Katie kept in step with him, wondering where they were going.

"No pizza this time, huh?" Katie asked with a smirk as James stopped in front of a small Italian restaurant with a sheepish smile.

"Not this time," he grinned, "This time's gonna be a little different."

Katie smiled back as James held the door for her once again, wiping her sneakers off on the doormat in hopes of not dripping all over the carpet. Katie gasped at the sight of the place. The staff was all dressed in clean white shirts and black dress pants, each table was candlelit, and all sorts of herbs and other pleasant smells wafted about the room. The place silently screamed that it was extremely expensive, despite its small appearance. "James!" Katie hissed as James closed the umbrella carefully, "Are you sure we shouldn't eat somewhere a little…cheaper? I won't mind."

James looked alarmed, "You don't like it?"

"No, it's not that. It's just…we don't have to eat here. It's really not a big deal; it's just lunch, you know," Katie said quietly.

James looked a little relieved and winked at her, "It's more than just lunch if I get to have it with you. I want to make this special."

Katie blushed again as James approached the front desk. Apparently, he had already made reservations because they were seated immediately. Katie bit back another gasp as she inspected the menu. There wasn't a single entrée that was less than thirty dollars. "James," she whined quietly, "I don't want to run up the bill. Is it alright if I just get a side salad?"

James sighed, "Katie, please. I want you to enjoy yourself; don't feel bad about the bill. Trust me. I've got it all under control, so just order what you want."

Katie rolled her eyes mischievously, kicking softly at James' shoe under the table, "Whatever."

James grinned back at her, and a waiter soon came to ask for their orders. Katie wasn't sure exactly what she had ordered, due to its fancy-sounding name, but it was one of the cheaper items on the list and she was sure she'd like it. Whatever it was.

After some small talk between Katie and James, just like old times, a waiter brought back two pasta dishes and placed them in front of the pair, giving Katie a skeptical look, but the girl was too absorbed in James to notice. In fact, Katie was so focused on James that she began to pick up on little things that implied that something was wrong within the boy. The way his smile began to flicker and look more and more nervous as well as the way his eyes began to look more worried than usual. And the way his hand shook a little bit as he pushed it roughly through his hair. "James, is everything okay?" Katie asked quietly, raising her eyes from her pasta with concern.

James smiled weakly, "Y-yeah. I just…uh…I need to tell you something."

Katie felt her heart plunge down to her stomach. So this was the part where they faced reality, and James told her that they just couldn't work out. Preparing herself for the worst, she took a deep breath, "Sure. Anything."

James ran his hand through his hair again, "Okay."

He cleared his throat before beginning, "Kate, I know I' haven't had much time to be with you lately, and I'm sure that that's really disappointing for you especially."

James paused, before hesitantly continuing, "But I wanted you to know that a day hasn't gone by without me thinking about you, just like I promised in my letter. You're so different from anyone I've ever met before, and I really…love you, Katie. I know that I haven't told you that nearly as often as I should, but I do. Ever since we hung out at the Palm Woods, I don't know, I guess we just clicked. But everything always felt right with you, and I've never met anyone like that, like you, in my entire life."

Katie gasped aloud as James slid out of the booth and onto one knee on the carpeted floor. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, flipping it open to reveal a golden band with one diamond set in, shimmering in the candlelight, "I want to be with you forever, Kate. And if you want me too, then Katie, will you have me?"

Katie felt a few awkward stares boring into her skin from the other people in the restaurant, but she couldn't have cared less. And the uncertainty on James' face was breaking her heart, but she had to know something. "B-but in an interview, you…you said that you didn't want to have any commitments!" Katie stammered, tears forming in her eyes, "I thought you'd moved on."

"I could never!" James exclaimed quickly, reaching his free hand up to gently wipe away the tears trickling down Katie's face, "I-I though you didn't want the paparazzi to know about us. Katie, I'm so sorry. I'll take it all back for you. I'll do anything to have you, Katie. I love you."

"Really?" Katie whispered, fearful of his answer.

"Of course," James replied instantly, completely serious.

Katie smiled, "You don't have to do that."

James smiled back weakly, and suddenly Katie realized that she still hadn't answered his question. Unable to torture James any longer, Katie flung her arms around James' neck, "I love you so much, you know that? Yes! Yes, yes, yes I'll marry you!"

James wrapped his arms around her smaller frame as Katie buried her face into James' shoulder, running a hand through her hair. "I love you too," he murmured, gently kissing her neck as he held her close.

Katie smiled as she felt James pull back to lift her hand gently, sliding the beautiful diamond ring onto her finger. She leaned in closer again, and he smoothly joined their lips together. Katie couldn't have been happier. It was the best she had felt in her entire life, even better than her first kiss with James. Sitting there with her lips against James', Katie realized that things could only get better from then on out. She'd never have to be alone again. She was going to belong to James Diamond, and he was going to belong to her. She was going to be able to be with him all the time, and likewise.

Katie Diamond? It had a nice ring to it.