And the story is coming to an end. Just one more chapter after this one and it is over. I don't know if I should  be happy or sad... It's kind of bittersweet, I guess. But I'm still extremely exited for the amount of support I've gotten for this story. THANK YOU SO MUCH and enjoy, my friends!

Chapter Thirteen

RYDER AND NORA WENT BACK to his house in an ambulance. His car was still at the Kremlin’s and he hadn’t wanted to ask Jack to go get them after he had asked him to take the pies to his house so they would be there in time for dessert. So the only option they had left was to ask for one of the ambulance drivers to take them back home.

Since no one was dying, which meant the sirens where off, Nora’s head didn’t hurt too much during the ride. The doctor had given her a few pills for her to take during the following days, and told her she had gotten two concussions. One on the front of her head where the door had hit her forehead and one on the back, where her head had hit the floor. Apparently, the pain had been way too much for her to handle, so that had caused her weird outbursts since the beginning, when she had had that crazy idea of her mom planning everything. Which in little less extreme circumstances would have actually probably been true, anyways.

Both Nora and Ryder fell asleep during the drive. They were both sitting in the front, Ryder by the passenger window and Nora between him and the driver, with her head resting in Ryder’s shoulder and his arm around hers.

When they had finally reached the enormous house, they groggily thanked the driver for taking them and he left them to go back to the hospital.

“So, what now?” Nora asked as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands.

Ryder yawned and both him and Nora laughed lightly at their sleepiness.

“Well, we got here in time for the fireworks, so we might as well go see them,” he said.

Nora nodded and they began walking towards the large front doors.

“Can we go check on my little siblings first, though? This near death experience has made me appreciate them more,” she said and Ryder chuckled.

“Are you deliberately making me feel guiltier for what happened? Because spending half an hour next to a hospital bed thinking of a hundred scenarios in the ones the doctors where wrong and you just died where punishment enough, I think,” he said.

“That is probably the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me,” she said with a teasing smile on her lips.

“Then your life certainly lacks sweetness, my friend.”

Nora frowned. “You sounded just like Jack.”

He frowned, too. “I know, right? This spending so much time with him is kind of transforming me.”

“Creepy,” she said as they walked back into the kiddie room.

Many of the kids that had been there earlier where gone, probably with their parents having dessert or getting ready to watch the fireworks. But as soon as she walked in, Nora saw her little brother and sister playing with some Lego blocks.

“I’m telling you, that won’t hold the structure of the house we are planning,” little Dun was telling Mimi while she placed some blocks on top of a very impressive construction.

“What is structure?” his little sister asked, not paying attention and adding more blocks to their building.

“It is–”

Before Dun could finish, Nora walked closer to them and opened her arms wide. “Siblings of mine!” she called.

Both little kids turned to look at her, and once they saw her, they both frowned.

“What happened to your forehead?” Dun asked.

“It looks purple,” Mimi agreed.

Nora rolled her eyes “Just hug me, you little minions,” she said.

They both exchanged a look but then they shrugged, stood up, and did as their older sister asked.

“I missed you,” she whispered.

“Why? You were just a few rooms over,” Dun said.

Nora rolled her eyes again.

“You seem happy,” little Mimi whispered as she looked up at Nora.

The eldest Scaffold smiled. “I am happy.”

Mimi smiled back. “Then I am happy you are happy.”

Nora kissed little Mimi’s forehead. “Did I ever tell you you are my favorite sister, Mimi?”

Little Mimi didn’t seem thrilled to hear that, like Nora had expected. In fact, for the first time in her life, Mimi actually analyzed Nora’s words. “I’m you only sister.”

“Right,” Nora said as she thought through her words.

“Am I your favorite brother, then?” Dun asked.

“Sorry, Dun,” Nora said with a teasing tone. “You are my only brother.”

Little Dun rolled his eyes and Ryder walked forward to speak to Nora.

“For a few seconds he looked just like you,” he told her.

“I know,” Nora said with a proud smile.

“Hi,” a little voice said from below and they both looked down at a smiling Mimi who was staring at Ryder with shiny eyes. “I’m Mimi,” she said as she extended her arm in his direction.

“Ryder,” he said with a sweet smile as he shook her hand.

“Are you Nora’s boyfriend?”

Nora rolled her eyes again. “Seriously. Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“Because you look cute together,” Mimi said and then left to yell at Dun because he had just taken the pieces she had recently put, off their construction.

“I like them,” Ryder said with a smirk on his lips.

“Of course you do,” Nora replied and took his arm to drag him out of the kiddie room.

As soon as they stepped into the crowded garden, though, they where intercepted by no other than Nora’s mom.

“Why?” Nora mumbled as soon as her mother saw them. She was thankful it was dark outside, so there was a large possibility her mother wouldn’t see the gigantic purple bruise on her forehead.

“Nora! Nora, hun!” Mrs. Scaffold said as she trotted towards them. “There you are, hun. I’ve been wondering where you’ve been.” Mrs. Scaffold’s eyebrows shot upwards when she saw the boy standing next to her daughter. “And who might this fella be?”

Since it seemed like Nora wasn’t going to introduce them, Ryder extended his arm and shook Mrs. Scaffold’s hand. “Ryder Crawley. A pleasure Mrs. Scaffold.”

Mrs. Scaffold seemed ready to say something polite back, but then she seemed to repair on something he had just said. “Wait. Crawley? Like in my daughter’s-future-husband Crawley?”

Ryder frowned, unsure of what to answer to that. “Ah.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Mrs. Scaffold said as he gave Nora a confused glance. “I’m not talking about Nora. I’m talking about Mimi.”

“Mimi!” Ryder said and a smile took over his lips. “Of course. I met her earlier. Lovely lady. Definitely wife material.”

Mrs. Scaffold smiled appreciatively. “I like him,” she told her daughter.

Nora smiled back and rolled her eyes at her mother. “I know you do,” she said and then took Ryder’s arm again. “Come on, let’s go see the fireworks and stay as far away from your mother and apple pies as we can.”

Ryder smiled down at her sweetly and Mrs. Scaffold’s smile widened. “Deal,” the boy said and enveloped Nora’s hand with his.

Nora had a gazillion things she wanted to ask Ryder. She wanted to know what had made him seat with her that day during their second grade field trip. She wanted to know why had he decided to help her hide the animal behind backpacks and jackets. She wanted to know what had possessed him to defend her in front of all of their teachers and classmates and even their parents. She wanted to know if he though his mom had realized there weren’t twenty pies and if she would kill him if she had. She wanted to know what it had been like, growing up in a house as big as that one.

But instead of asking all those things, as they sat away from everyone else, by the side of the Crawley’s lake, she asked the one question that had never crossed her mind she would end up asking him.

“Did you have as much fun as I did?”

And as he turned to look at her, ignoring the beautiful fireworks above their heads, she could see in his eyes his answer.

“Yes,” he whispered. “Yes, I did.”

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