Never giving up on you - Completed.

60.

[A/N: Guys. This is so weird. This is the last full chapter of this story... And I don't really realize yet that I have finished it. A year after starting it on Wattpad, two years after starting it in Word. I've started many other stories in the meantime, but this was always the one I came back to. It's become so much more than I thought it would, so detailed and so long. 352.081 words, 483 pages in Word. What the hell.

It's been such a pleasure to write this, as it's also been a pain in the ass. I had times where I was motivated and inspired as hell , but also times where I could stare at my screen and nothing would come out. I could write for days if I had the time and I was home alone, but I could also not write for weeks if life or writer's block came over me.

I hope you have read it with as much pleasure as I have written it. Sorry if it got a bit boring sometimes. I just had so many ideas to put in here, and I felt like there were so many things i had to put in there to get to the core of Austin's disease and the effects on his life.

Anyway, please remember along the big lines of his real life, I've made up like 97% of this story, of course. Some things in his life happening here has also happened in his real life, as were my story was based upon. But the story is a dramatization of everything I guess. But, enough me telling things, here we go...]

Caity

If you would have told me four weeks ago that Austin would be walking again and he would be fine, and we would be back in California without any trouble, I wouldn't have believed you.

The past weeks had been a rollercoaster, in every aspect, and I still didn't know how I had survived the stress and the temporary move back to the States.

Austin had been treated with more spinal injections and medication through his IV, and alhough the cysts weren't completely gone, at least they had shrunk enough so that he wasn't in pain that much anymore and he could use his legs like he was supposed to. He had been practicing a lot with physiotherapists, and he was able to walk with a cane now. He had pushed himself to be able to, so that he could be discharged from Stanford Medical Centre and he could attend the annual Marfan Conference to speech.
He had been invited to come talk about what life with Marfan was like, and there had been a lot of audience in the hall. I was seated at the side, helping him up out of his chair when it was his time to speak, and he had gotten a loud applause when he got on stage. I was watching him intently, scanning his face for any form of visible pain or discomfort, but all there was was just his famous grin, and his cute awkwardness of being the centre of attention. Austin had never really liked being in the spotlights, although his entire music career had put him up front. He always got awkward with so many people watching him, except for when he was on stage singing. But singing wasn't the case now; sharing personal experiences about his life was.

While he had started talking, this proud feeling took over me while Austin explained how he had just been hospitalized right before coming to the Conference, what an impact it had had on his mental and physical health and our lives. He spoke about his mom, and when he teared up and choked on his words, unable to go on for a moment, the audience started applauding him until the entire room bursted out in cheering, and Austin wiped away his tears with a grin while taking a sip of water. He looked strengthened by that, and he continued on with his story. All I could do was watch him with my own emotions flooding me. Those damn pregnancy hormones...

I was so proud of him, and so glad to have him in my life. Austin was what people called a role model, and although he always said he wasn't, he surely was. Not only for his fans, but also for me; Austin had showed me what perseverance and courage was, and I loved him for the positive vibe he almost always had going on.