***Y'all, this song is "Starting Over" with Chris Stapleton. You know you want to listen to it.

Ha, and I toned down the content for this scene. We're keeping things sweet. Yeah, you'll know what's going to happen in the distant, distant, DISTANT future...but yeah.

And yes, I know this isn't how it usually starts. I changed this so many times so it didn't seem incredibly cheesy, but keep in mind the innocence of the characters involved LOL There's bound to be some cheesy moments.***

***(Jay's POV)***

***Music Cue***

I finish unpacking my suitcase for our two-week stay and force a grin, glancing over at Nya. "That's the last of the luggage," I say. "Gosh, I didn't know we'd need that much for two weeks."

She smiles vaguely from her spot leaning against the doorframe, her skirt swishing at her waist.

Yep, Nya and I decided to do this thing right and dress back in our wedding attire for our trip. My suit's a little big on me now, given that my muscles have atrophied. But then, she's still in a bridesmaid's gown instead of a wedding dress. I guess we're a match made in heaven.

She says hollowly, "We have so much luggage because we don't know how long we'll be here, Jay. I'm not going back - not yet, at least."

I swallow at her pain. It's...been a long haul the past three months, to say the least.

I approach her, opening my arms for a hug. "Nya, I'm really sorry that...I'm sorry for what happened."

She cautiously steps toward me, and I enfold her in an embrace. Nya didn't cry today after we left the mental hospital – not a single tear. She cries from anger sometimes, and she was hysterical the night Lloyd broke us, but...this is different. She feels as though she has nothing left now since Kai, her only family, rejected her.

Scratch that. We're family now.

And I'm going to be there for her, just like she was there for me during every nightmare I had about my mom, every moment I just couldn't keep the tears at bay, and every time I begged her to get together with me to fill the void inside. She was there for every panicked moment I experienced after my injuries this June and every time I snapped at her out of grumpiness.

She made me better, and now I'll do the same for her.

I stroke her back, trying not to say anything stupid like 'it's gonna be okay' or 'are you all right?'. Instead, I go for, "I'm here, Nya. I love you."

"You're one of the few who does," she replies, her voice tired of all the trauma life has put us through.

No. I will not drag anyone else down into the cycle of depression I've been going through for months.

I look down into her eyes. "I have an idea."

"What?" she asks halfheartedly.

"We could dance," I say softly. "You realized you might have feelings for me while dancing, right? And my dad even has a whole ballroom here we could use. I think you'd like it."

Her eyes open wide in surprise. "You're joking. A ballroom?"

"I'll show you." I place my hands on her shoulders and guide her toward the ballroom, even though I'm sure I'll have trouble finding it in this huge place. I may have been here before, but this is a mansion. I grew up in a trailer, mind you.

When we finally locate the ballroom, I rest my hands on Nya's waist – right where they belong. She reaches into my coat pocket and pulls out my phone, powering it on and selecting a song that's soft and acoustic. She then places the phone back in my pocket and gingerly loops her arms around my neck.

I set us to swaying and gaze down into her face, letting her know how much she means to me. I loved her back in June, but...our love is different now. Now, she's been with me through a literal fire, and she's encouraged me and cared for me the whole way. And she's also given me doses of tough love – when I've needed it, of course.

"You mean the world to me," I breathe, leaning my face down toward hers.

"I guess I did something right in life, huh?" she says lamely. "I married you."

"You've done more than that, and you know it. You're a valuable asset to our team, but also to each one of us individually. And you're smart and sarcastic and...you're amazing." I give her a silly, foolish, lovestruck grin.

"I've really missed your sense of humor," she chuckles. The sound is sad.

I eye her sympathetically. "I'm sorry you were stuck without me for such a long time. I wasn't there for you, and...I should've been."

"It's not your fault." She looks up into my eyes, and I see the uncertainty and sorrow written all over her expression.

Nya needs somebody to love her. She's given out a lot of affection recently, and she's pretty much drained.

So I stop right there in the dance floor. I angle my neck and hover my lips over hers, and she instinctively leans up on her tiptoes, pressing her mouth against mine. Her grip tightens at my neck as she leans forward.

I steady my hands at her waist and tilt my head to reach her better, deepening the kiss. She purrs gently and allows me to hold her even closer, even tighter, even more lovingly.

Nya needs to know how much she means to me, and for once in my life I'm going to be a man of few words and let our love do the talking.

She suddenly pulls back, taking me by surprise. I lean down to capture her lips again, but she tucks her face against me, preventing me from reaching her.

"What's wrong?" I ask, more breathless than I realized. I bite my lip, unsure if I've messed up.

"We're not ready," she sighs. "We need to stop."

"Um...we're not ready for a hot makeout?" I reply, not entirely sure what she means.

"No. I mean...we're not ready to take things further." She pulls her face away from me.

I open and close my mouth.

We were not referring to the same thing.

 "Um...yeah, I get it. I mean, I guess we've been focusing on me healing, and not...not taking time for our relationship. I take total blame for that – I'm sorry I've been a bear." I clear my throat. Awkward.

"It's okay. I just..." I can hear her blush. "Thanks for understanding."

"I get it." I shuffle awkwardly. "We'll be ready someday, Nya."

She stares at the floor.

I cough. "Um, hey, wanna go dive in the pool with some of my dad's flamingo floaties?"

Her lips slightly twitch upward. "Can I dunk you?"

"Yes," I nod emphatically. "And then we can order pizza and tell them to make the pepperoni in a smiley face."

"How romantic."

I smile winningly. "And we'll really shadily ask the pizza guy to drop our order on a chair outside, and then we'll prank him by jumping out from behind that giant oak tree on the terrace. Afterward, we'll have a fashion contest to see who can make the cutest outfit out of a cardboard pizza box and matches - "

"Are you sure this is safe?"

"And watch claymation movies until we fall asleep." I wiggle my eyebrows. "Night of your dreams?"

"I think I'll just take the pizza," Nya responds, unable to hold back her grin now.

"Great!" I exclaim. "I'll set up the sprinklers outside so we can soak the pizza guy when he comes."

She lets out a chortle of a laugh, probably a third hysterical, a third relieved, and a third genuine.

I'll take it, though.

I head out toward the front of the house, pulling my phone out of my pocket to call for pizza. Tonight will be fun - Nya needs fun right now. 

She also needs emotional support, and I'm here to give her just that. I always will be. Besides, what better way to supplement a claymation movie than with a good heart-to-heart?

And someday - maybe soon, maybe not-so-soon - Nya and I will be ready for more. I can't say for sure when that will be.

But I can guarantee Nya Smith that nothing - not villains, not crazy relatives, and not my months-long pity party - will separate us any longer.

Right as I dial the pizza shop's number and place my phone to my ear, I whisper, "I love you, Nya Walker."

That's when I realize that the phone isn't ringing.

The pizza guy on the other end clears his throat. "Um..."

I roll my eyes.

Suddenly, it seems like a great night to make pizza at home.

I hang up, then turn and shout behind me, "I love you, Nya Walker!"

***Hey, guys! Thanks for reading Wrong Place, Wrong Time! 

I really enjoyed this book. Hopefully, you guys did, too. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get here, but we're finally finished half a month late.

Gosh, I hope that the epilogue wasn't too cheesy LOL

Fast facts:

- This is the eighth story I've completed.

- It weighs in at over 134,000 words.

- I changed the plot approximately one billion and one times before October 1st. After that, I pretty much knew everything that was going to happen.

Any favorite parts?

Plot twists you weren't expecting?

Plot twists you were totally expecting? XD

So now Jay and Nya have gone all in with their marriage and relationship. That's a pretty big change since the beginning of the book, huh? Let's hope three months of being married will set them up well for I Always Wished, which occurs two years in the future...

Yes, guys. It's finally time to start the last book in the series. The cover's been posted for a long time now, but today's officially the day when I get to edit the description and post the prologue. After that, I'll probably take a few days off writing. This is finals week for me, meaning that I need to study up. I'll update when and where I can, though!

As I side note, all of the books in the INK series so far (including this one) have been targeted at audiences 13-18. IAW, however, is targeted for 18-25 year-olds. It has kind of a twisted plot, guys. And I don't mean "I-have-an-evil-aunt-who-wants-to-steal-my-elemental-power" twisted. I mean, like, the villain is really bad. And bad stuff happens to the characters involved.

To any of you who were hoping for a Kailor wedding, I'm sorry. I promised you a wedding for this book, but I didn't say whose it was going to be. And Kailor shippers also lost a lot of cute Kailor scenes as I revised the book to shorten it, so sorry :(

But Kai and Skylor will be playing a bigger role in IAW. They'll even have some POVs...

All right, all. I'm going to go do a few things for IAW. Again, thank you so, so, so much for allowing me to share this brain-child with you!

A blessing, a kiss, and one last wish...

Beep24***