I STRONGLY RECOMMEND RE-READING CHAPTER 9 SO THAT YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THE LAST PART OF THIS CHAPTER. THE IMPACT WILL BE A LOT STRONGER AND YOU WILL BE EMOTIONAL SO YES GO READ IT RUN ALONG AND THEN COME BACK. ENJOY!

"Cammie, baby, I need you to breathe for me, love," Zach said. "I need you to breathe. Breathe for me, Cammie. You're having a panic attack, you need to calm down."

I tried, I really tried.

I really tried to breathe for him.

But this time, the ocean that was drowning my thoughts also drowned my eyes and drowned my heart, and I was on the verge of unconsciousness, and to be honest, I welcomed it. I didn't care.

"Find my aunt and uncle," I gasped out. "Zach, please. Find them now."

He looked at me with scared, watery eyes, and whispered something, but I couldn't hear him anymore. I couldn't hear anything anymore, except for my beating heart, a disastrous reminder that I was still alive.

Cammie's POV

Hello world, hope you're listening...
forgive me if I'm young,
or speaking out of turn.
There's someone I've been missing -
I think that they could be
the better half of me.
They're in the wrong place
trying to make it right,
and I'm tired of justifying.
So I'll say to you:
come home, come home.
Cause I've been waiting for you
for so long, so long.
Right now there's a war between the vanities,
but all I see
is you and me,
the fight for you
is all I've ever known...
so come home.
I get lost in the beauty
of everything I see,
the world ain't half as bad
as they paint it to be.
If all the sons -
all the daughters
stopped to take it in,
well hopefully the hate subsides
and the love can begin.
It might start now, yea,
or maybe I'm just dreaming out loud.
Everything I can't be
is everything you should be.
And that's why I need you here...
Everything I can't be
is everything you should be.
And that's why I need you here.
So hear this now:
come home,
come home.
Cause I've been waiting for you
for so long,
for so long.
Right now there's a war between the vanities,
but all I see
is you and me.
The fight for you is all I've ever known...
so come home,
come home.

The piano trailed off, and I opened my eyes. Groggy and disorientated, I wished for the piano and singing to start up again, but it never did. I moaned in distaste, and coughed.

"Zach?"

The sound of his piano bench squeaked and I heard footsteps, messing up the rhythmic pounding deep in my skull.

"Cammie, you're awake," Zach kneeled over the sofa and kissed my neck chastely. I felt the rough pads of his thumbs rubbing soothing circles into the skin in-between my shirt and jeans.

I smiled. "Was that you singing?"

"It was." Zach grinned back, and I raised a trembling hand to his cheek, tracing his jawline with my pointer finger.

"Did you write that song?" I whispered.

"For you," Zach closed his eyes and leaned his head into my hand.

"It's beautiful."

"It's yours."

The heat of his hands traveled up and down my arms, shocking me with his immense body heat.

"I wrote it while you were gone. It's ironically easy to write beautiful things when you're feeling so tragic on the inside."

I blinked the sleep some more out of my eyes and nodded.

"Are you okay?" he murmured, swiping hair off my face and entwining his fingers with mine.

"My head hurts, but other than that, I'm fine," I tried to sit up, wiggling around, and he supported my back with one arm as he reached over and got a glass of water from the coffee table.

"I didn't know you had panic attacks," Zach frowned, slipping onto the sofa beside me, the creases in the leather underneath us matching the ones in-between his eyebrows and on his forehead.

"They started when I was...gone."

A muscle popped in Zach's jaw, but he took my now-empty water cup and placed it on the table again.

"Where's my dad?" I whispered.

"In jail."

"Already?"

"Jonas' uncle sped up the process a bit."

"How long will he be in there?"

"Twenty to thirty years, give or take."

"What about my aunt? My uncle?"

"They were found unconscious in a room of a motel your father was staying at in New York. Joe had slashes on his arms and stomach, they both had severe bruises and some internal bleeding, your aunt has a broken leg. Nothing fatal, though."

Relief swelled through me like a hurricane ripping through flat land. A hysterical sob burst through my lips, and Zach immediately pulled me onto his lap.

"So everything's okay? You're okay? And my aunt and uncle are okay? A-and the policemen are okay? And Jonas' uncle is okay?"

Zach kept his lips pressed to my temple. "Everything's okay, baby, everyone's okay. You're okay, aren't you? Are you okay?"

Was I okay? After years and years of fighting, of trying to swim against the current, of trying to stay dry in a constant downpour of relentless rain, of trying to breathe while being smothered by darkness and hatred, was I okay? Should I be okay? What should I be?

"It's okay, Cam," Zach whispered.

"I just don't know how I should be," I whispered back.

"You shouldn't be anything. How are you? You, truly, now how you should be, but what you are?"

"I – I'm..." I smiled, a sigh blowing out from my lips. "Well you're here with me, so..."

I looked up and grinned at him, and I felt my eyes creasing up at the corners. He blinked and grinned back, smile lines, teeth and everything. He bent down and attacked my face with nose bumps and kisses, and I laughed.

"You're damn adorable," he gently bit my cheek.

"Owie," I muttered, kissing the spot where his jaw met his neck.

"Can I go see my aunt and uncle?"

"Of course. But first...I wanted to ask you something."

I pulled back and blinked at him, surprised at the sudden change in demeanor."

"Okay."

Zach twisted me so that I was facing him, and he rubbed his hands up and down my back, gently and slowly twisting the knots out of my hair.

"Do you ever think about your future?"

I nodded, confused. "Of course."

"What happens?"

"I – well, I want to go to college," I started. "And get married, have kids, get a job I truly love. I want...I want a house. With a swimming pool, and a big backyard. And I want three cats."

Zach grinned, shaking his head.

"And what about me?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

I blinked. "What about you?"

"Am I..." he licked his lips and swallowed, looking down and playing with our hands. "Am I in it? Your future, I mean."

My heart fluttered and a blush crept onto my cheeks, eating away my pale complexion and coloring me pink. "I...I mean – do you want to be? Would you want to be in my future?"

"Of course," Zach looked up and blinked, his eyes so green that it shocked me for a second. "Of course I want to be in your future."

We were silent for a while, and I clasped my hands together behind his back.

"I want you to be in my future too," I whispered. "For the rest of my future, I want you in it. The whole time."

Zach grinned then, so big that I swear I could see the sun peeking out from underneath his skin, I could see stars clustering together on the end of his eyelashes, I could see my future on his lips, in his eyes, on his cheeks, carved into the lines of his jaw. I could see it all. I could see him kissing me when he got home from work, loosening his shirt sleeves and tie, I could see him kissing me goodnight and good-morning, I could see him calling me while he was away on a business trip, I could see us having a child, I could see him playing catch with a little boy and cooing to a little girl in his arms, I could see everything. And what I saw was beautiful, it was everything I've ever wanted to see.

"And you in mine," he murmured back, his head shaking slightly, exhaling. "I want you in mine, forever."

"Forever," I nodded.

Zach's hands shook as he reached up and unwound my arms from around his neck. "Cammie?"

"Zach?"

"You know I love you, right? With all my heart. More than I've ever loved anything on this whole fucking earth."

I grinned. "And I, you."

"So I have to ask..." he slid off the couch and yanked the blanket onto the floor, shoving it to the side with his foot. He took my hands and scooted me forward so I was sitting upright and on the edge of the seat.

Then, ladies and gentlemen, Zachary Goode proceeded to bend down onto one knee in front of me.

I'd like to say I did something cute or expected, like clasping a hand over my mouth or smiling, gasping or even completely going silent.

But no.

Tears immediately pooled in my eyes and my body shook with sobs, and I even think I let out a little scream.

I heard Zach chuckle and he dug around in his pocket, and pulled out a black velvet box. I was shaking my head, disbelief coloring my veins. Tears streamed down my cheeks, endless streams that embarrassed me to no end.

"Cameron Morgan, I want you in my future, forever and always. I want to be in your future, through every little thing. We've already overcome what most people wouldn't be able to – I know that you will stick by my side, even through hardship, through problems, through sorrows, and I promise that I will stick by you, even when things start to become disastrous. If the world around us becomes a hurricane of grief and sorrow, I wouldn't change a damn thing, because I would have you by my side. And I swear to you, Cammie, that you would be enough. You are the only thing I need in life. Forever and then some. Cam, will you marry me?"

He opened the box to reveal a ring, and smiled tentatively up at me, a look that was unfamiliar on his usually confident face. Sobs were still wracking through my body, but somehow I managed to nod.

And he smiled that smile again, the smile that allowed me to see my future with him, the smile that reminded me of the sun, and he slipped the ring onto my finger.

And for once, for once in my life, everything in my life...was perfect.

FOUR YEARS LATER

Applause erupted around us as Zach finished singing 'Come Home', and he peeked up at me through his lashes, grinning his sun-smile, and I smiled at him. I smiled at him and I cried and I smoothed out my long white dress. He stood up, his tall frame fit into a black suit, and took a seat.

And then I proceeded to go up to the stage. I looked out at everybody I cared about, in their carefully picked dresses. I looked at Bex, Liz and Macey, my bridesmaids, I looked at Grand, Jonas and Tristan, all smiling from their seats, I saw Aunt Abby and Uncle Joe, holding hands and grinning from ear to ear –I saw Dustin and Vanessa, Clary and her brother Dustin, I saw Zoe and Parker (who were together now, by the way) - I saw everybody that mattered to me.

"Hi," I started out lamely. The microphone squeaked and I cringed, and the crowd laughed at me.

"Get it together, girl!" Bex shouted from her seat. I shot her a quick glare and cleared my throat.

"I really don't know how to start this. I'm not one-with-my-words like Zach over there. And I've practiced this speech in the mirror about a thousand times last night. Do you know how many times I got through it without stumbling or forgetting what I needed to say? Absolutely zero. Not one time. And now I wish that Zach let me get through this first, because compared to his song for me, I'm going to sound like an absolute idiot."

The crowd laughs.

I stutter and look down, but then gather confidence and smile, looking up at Zach again, Zach and only Zach.

"Zachary Goode. I could stand up here for days and weeks and months and years and list every single thing that I love about you. I would say that I loved your eyes, and that smile you only show to me, I would say I loved the way you kiss me good morning, I would say that I love the way you play around with me and cuddle with Sir Squiggles. But I'm pretty sure nobody would want to sit through that, and frankly, you probably already know. So I decided that my wedding speech was going to be a bit different. It's not really going to be a speech, I guess."

I gulped. I saw Zach smile encouragingly at me, and that was all I needed to go on.

"Zach..." Tears immediately welled up in my eyes, and I willed them back, annoyed at myself. "Thank you. So very much. For everything. Four years ago, I was in a dark place. I was in a little bubble, a dark, painful bubble, full of insults and clenched fists, full of stale alcohol and locked doors. But then you...you came along one day, and you pushed yourself into my little bubble, and somehow you wrapped yourself around me and pulled me out of it. You showed me the sunlight, and you showed me that sometimes it's okay to sit in the dark for a while, as long as I remember how to get out of it when I need to. You not only showed me how to stand in the rain without minding it, but how to dance in it. You showed me how to stand in the dark without being afraid. People can lift their hands towards me now without me flinching. You've helped me so much and you don't even know. And I can't thank you enough for that. You will never, ever know how highly I hold you in my heart. You will never know how dear you are to me. You will never know how much you taught me how to save myself. You will never know...Zach, it hurts me. It hurts me that you will never know how much you mean to me, how much this," I waved my arms around at the wedding ceremony. "means to me. How much you loving me means to me. And sometimes I just lay down and smile because you love me, and I love you back, and it's just...it's surprising and marvelous and it's the most perfect thing for me. It's the only thing I need. You're the only thing I will ever want or need, that I can promise you. So, Zachary Goode, are you listening?"

He was smiling gently, and he nodded. "I'm listening."

"Come up here."

Zach slowly stood from his chair and walked up onto the stage, and I shoved the microphone away and stepped closer to him. He wound his arms around my waist and kissed the crown of my head. The crowd murmured, but I ignored them. This was me and Zach, Zach and I, this was us, and for us only.

I looked up at him, and blue met green, and blended together, like an ocean. Wild and passionate and right. But I was no longer drowning in this ocean. I was swimming in it, I was floating, and I was being carried on a current that led me to Zach, to love, to a future. And I loved it. I loved the wild waters and the ice cold current. Zach and I were the ocean, unbreakable, unchangeable, and constant.

"Thank you for finding my heart."

I've decided to combine the last chapter and the epilogue, and this was it. This is the very very last chapter of Abused. And now I can finally mark this story as 'Complete'. And you have no idea how much this means to me. To all of you – to those who might have started this story today, or to the ones who have been with me since the day I posted the very first chapter – thank you so much. Thank you so much. My friend and I got a happy ending, and I thank everybody who cared enough to ask. We got a happy ending, and so did Cammie and Zach. Thank you for sticking with me, reviewing, favoriting, thank you for everything.

And so, the last author's note, will of course have a quote: Keep going.

I guess it's not a quote, but I wanted to end it like this. Just because this story came to an end, doesn't mean that everything else should have an ending, too.

If you are struggling, if you are sad, if you are going through something so extremely difficult that it seems as if ending everything would be the better option – keep going.

If you are hopeless, if you are lost, if you think that you have nobody – keep going.

If you are crying every day, if you think you have no friends, if you think you are too skinny or too chubby, if you think you're too stupid or too smart – keep going.

If you don't have a good relationship with your parents, if someone is hurting you physically or emotionally, if you've just been through a bad breakup – keep going.

If you've made a couple mistakes, if you've said the wrong thing, if you've embarrassed yourself horribly in public – keep going.

Keep going keep going keep going keep going keep going, no matter what.

Because I promise each and every one of you that if you keep going – in the future, you will thank yourself. You will thank yourself for not giving up. Because when you're at the lowest of the lows, you know what happens? The only direction you can go is up. When you're beaten down to the ground, there's nothing else to do but stand up and smile as you do it.

You will find love. You will find somebody who cares for you. You will find a passion.

You will find yourself.

And you will love yourself.

You will love others.

And others will love you.

So to everybody, to each and every single one of you, I'm leaving you with one last thing that I hope you will remember forever: keep going.