We'll Still Have Each Other

Scotty walked down the stairs to find Anya on phone with what appeared to be an important call. He listened for a few moments before finally realizing that she was talking to her boss. When she finally hung up the phone with a loud sigh, he walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her left shoulder. "What was that all about? It sounded pretty serious," he told her.

Anya spun around in his arms, looking up at him. "I'm leaving next week," she announced suddenly, throwing Scotty for a loop.

"Wh-what?" he asked, trying to comprehend what she had just said. "Where are you going?"

"Back home," Anya shrugged. "That was my boss. I sent her my last round of shots last night and she was calling me to tell me that that was all that they'd need. I'm done here, and I'm going back home. They're sending me on my next shoot the day after I go home," she informed him, looking up to see a sad look on his face. "C'mon, Scotty, we knew I wasn't going to be here forever. I was here for work, and now that's finished," she explained.

"So…" he trailed off.

"So…" she repeated.

"I guess we should make the most of these last few days then, huh?" he asked.

Anya slapped a smile on her face. "Yeah, I guess so," she said less than enthusiastically.

The next few days seemed to fly by for Anya. She spent what seemed to be every waking moment with Scotty, wanting to be with him all the time before she was miles away from him. She didn't exactly know what was going to happen between the two of them, and she wasn't about to ruin these last couple of days by asking him. She had known from the beginning that their relationship wasn't supposed to be anything that was going to last. A simple fling was all she had intended it to be in the beginning, but now she wasn't so sure that that was what she actually wanted it to be.

On one rare occasion that she was separated from Scotty, Anya was currently sitting at the diner she and Scotty had had their first date in. But, sitting in the booth across from her wasn't Scotty but instead was Harper. Anya hadn't come expecting to make friends while she was here, but she knew that Harper was someone that she was going to stay close to even when she left.

"I can't believe you're really leaving," Harper said for about the fifth time that evening. "Who am I going to talk to or hang out with now?" she asked with a frown on her face.

Anya opened her mouth to answer, but then quickly snapped it shut. She was initially going to say the guys, but then she recalled that Harper still wasn't talking to them. It wasn't so much that they had stopped being friends with her. Instead, it was that they all automatically stuck with Mason, as everyone knew they would, and Harper didn't feel welcome anymore.

"You know you're still going to talk to me, right?" Anya asked. "That's what a phone's for," she added with a small laugh.

Unfortunately, that didn't bring a smile to Harper's face. "It's just not going to be the same."

"I know," Anya responded, just as sadly.

"Anyways," Harper said, wanting to change the subject. "What's going to happen with you and Scotty now that you're leaving? I'm assuming you're staying together. I mean, you are the first person that he's ever been this serious with."

"I don’t really know what's going to happen," Anya admitted. "We haven't really talked about it. It's like we just avoid the topic instead. I don't really want to bring it up and ruin the good time we're having right now."

"Yeah, but you're going to have to say something eventually. What else are you going to do? Just up and leave one day and then figure it out? That's not going to work," Harper pointed out.

"I know," Anya said, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. "I'll go back and talk to him about it tonight." There was a moment of silence, and Anya was debating whether she wanted to say out loud the thought that was running through her mind at the moment. Without much thinking, she blurted out, "You know, I was hoping to get you and Mason back together before I left."

The immediate look on Harper's face let Anya know it was a mistake to say. "That's never going to happen," Harper said matter-of-factly.

"Harper," Anya began, but Harper cut her off, shaking her head.

"It's not, Anya. I wanted it to. Believe me, I really wanted it to. But, he's obviously moved on. So I'm going to try to do the same. The next time you see me, I'm going to be with someone else," she assured her.

"You and Mase seem so perfect for each other though!" Anya said.

"I thought we were. I thought he was the one for me, the one that I was going to spend the rest of my life with, the one I was going to marry. But, that just wasn’t in the cards. And, I've finally come to terms with that. And, I need to move on. And I'm going to."

"You know I'm always going to be on your side, right? The guys have to side with Mason, but I'm on your side," Anya told her.

A smile appeared on Harper's face. "You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that."

•••

Anya walked into the guys' house, knowing that she wasn't going to be doing that after tomorrow. She could hear yelling and she automatically recognized the voices belonging to the Mitrani brothers. She walked further into the living room to see Luke trying to pin Jack down to the floor as Jack tried to push him off.

Mason was standing to one side, cheering Luke on, while Danny was on the other side yelling at Jack to beat up his brother. "What the hell is going on?" Anya asked with amusement in her voice as she looked at her brother.

"Jack took the last juice box," Danny laughed.

"You're kidding me, right?" Anya asked, baffled.

Mason shook his head. "Hell no!" he replied. "Squid is serious about his juice boxes. Nobody takes the last one without replacing them or they're going to face the wrath of the Squid. Ask Jack right now," he howled with laughter.

Anya rolled her eyes at how ridiculous this all was, but she knew she was going to miss this. She hadn't expected to bond with anyone while she was in California, but she was coming out with a bunch of brothers from the trip.

She decided to not watch the end of the fight as she climbed the stairs, hoping that Scotty would be in his room. However, she found his door wide open, and he was nowhere in sight. She sighed as she walked to her room, opening the door and finding Scotty sprawled out on her bed. "What are you doing in here?" she asked with a smile.

"I was waiting for you," he answered.

"That doesn't sound creepy at all," she joked, jumping on the bed and getting settled in next to him. "But, I am glad that you're in here. I need to talk to you," she told him.

"What's up?" he asked, sitting up in bed and looking down at her as he wrapped one of his arms around her, pulling her in close.

"I'm going to miss this," Anya said, burying her face in his chest.

"Me too," Scotty agreed. "But, something's telling me that you weren't looking for me just so you could tell me that you're going to miss this." Anya shook her head as an answer and Scotty glanced down at her. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow," Anya stated.

"Oh really?" Scotty said sarcastically. "I didn't know that," he added with a small laugh.

"Scotty," Anya said lowly.

"What?" Scotty asked.

"What's going to happen to us?" Anya blurted.

"I don't know," Scotty admitted.

"Do you want to stay together?" she asked him. "Or do you want to break up?"

"What do you want?" Scotty asked, not wanting to answer her question first.

"I want to stay together," Anya admitted. "But, Scotty, I know that you're not one to have a serious girlfriend, you never have been. And, honestly, I don't know what we've been doing. I don't know if this was just something to pass your time for a little while or what. I don’t want to stay together if in two days you're going to get horny and want some action. I don't want a call from Kevin telling me that Danny's killed you for cheating on me. I don't want…"

"Anya!" Scotty interrupted her.

"What?" she asked, looking up at him, having been off in her own world on a tangent.

"I don’t know what we've been doing either. All I know is that I feel differently about you than I have anyone else. And yeah, in the past, I probably hooked up with anyone as soon as you left. But I don't want to do that. I want to stick this out," he told her.

"Really?" Anya asked a little skeptical of what he was saying.

"Yes," Scotty nodded.

"You do know that if you hurt me and cheat on me you will die, right?" Anya asked. "Danny will kill you." Scotty laughed at that, and Anya gave him a look. "I'm not kidding. Danny will kill you," she repeated.

"I know, but here's the thing, Anya, I'm not going to cheat on you so you have nothing to worry about," he told her.

"Good," she said, leaning up and kissing him. "So what now?" she asked, settling back against the headboard.

"I guess we just take it one day at a time and figure it out," he said.

Anya nodded her head. "I think you're right."

•••

Luke walked into the living room, staring at the mess in front of the front door. "Damn, how many things could you possibly have to take back home? You weren't here that long!" he said, looking back and forth between Anya and her enormous pile of bags that she was taking back home with her.

"This really isn't that much," Anya told him, not really seeing the problem.

"Dude, you take more than this with you when you're going to Aspen for two days!" Mason called him out, causing everyone to laugh.

Kevin was the first one to interrupt the laughter with some serious talk, walking over to Anya and giving her a hug. "I'm gonna miss you here," he told her.

"Yeah, you better come back soon," Keir added.

"I will, I promise," she smiled at him.

"Yeah, she's going to have to come back and fuck Scotty. You know those two can't keep their hands off of each other," Jack said, earning him a punch in the arm from Danny.

"Dude! That's my sister!" Danny exclaimed as he watched Jack rub his arm.

"You know it's true!" Jack yelled at him, but he quickly shut up when he saw the look Danny was giving him.

"So where are you off to next?" Luke asked Anya.

"I'm not sure," Anya replied. "I'll find out when I go in to work tomorrow. But, I'll be sure to let you guys know."

"Call me when you get home to let me know you got there okay," Danny told her.

"Yes, big brother," Anya said in an annoyed tone, but everyone knew she was secretly happy to have a brother that cared about her.

"Let's get your stuff out to the car," Scotty said, grabbing a few of the bags that were sitting in front of the door as Anya followed him outside.

"Wow, I'm surprised they stayed inside," Anya said with a laugh, noticing that she and Scotty were the only ones outside.

"Yeah, I had to bribe them to do that," Scotty admitted. "But, I needed a moment alone with you."

"Why?" Anya asked.

"So I could do this," he said, putting her last bag in the car before he grabbed her face, kissing her.

Anya slowly pulled away, smiling. "I like that."

"I know you're worried about me, Anya, that I'm going to cheat on you. But, you've got to trust me."

"I do," Anya said sincerely, rising up on her toes to give him a kiss.

"Will you two stop making out and get her to the airport already!" they heard Mason yell, and they immediately pulled apart to see all of the guys standing outside, staring at them.

"I thought you guys were going to stay inside!" Scotty yelled at him.

"We did," Mason told him. "But, fifty bucks only gets you five minutes."

Scotty rolled his eyes as Anya laughed. "Let's get you to the airport, huh?" Scotty asked, and Anya nodded, getting into the car.

"I'm gonna miss this place," she told him, looking back at all the guys, who were yelling goodbye and waving at her. "Bye guys," she yelled back, as Scotty drove away to the airport.