a/n - hi so ik you guys are probably mad at me for ending the book this way LMAO so i've written an alternate ending that would (hopefully) make you guys happy!

it's really long just cause i left a lot of stuff open ended in part 32 and i wanted to tie up some loose ends for this so sorry if it's bad/rushed.

i also would've written it longer but i wanted to address that stuff in the sequel + it was already long so i felt bad lol,, also i only kept it one part or else i would've ended up over explaining things and left nothing for the second book.

but here's some closure for now before we get into the drama that is the second book :)

also ty @samantha16avery for giving me the idea of doing an alternate ending! they also gave me the idea of doing an epilogue for dream come true but i forgot to give them credit, sorry!!

but here you go!

—

"who are you?"

carol and dana were taken aback and looked at each other, not knowing how to answer the question.

"nina, what do you mean?" dana lightly scoffed.

"who's nina?" she asked shyly.

"you're nina," carol sternly replied, "and we're your moms. do you not remember us?" her voiced pitched higher to avoid more tears spilling out of her eyes.

the brunette shook her head lightly, "i'm sorry."

"do you remember anything?" dana asked.

nina thought for a second to try and see if she had any memory of anything stuck in the back of her head.

"nini."

dana and carol looked at each other again, speechless.

"what?" dana asked.

"my nickname," she answered with a smile, "nini is my nickname."

"no, honey, we never-"

carol set her hand on dana's arm, interrupting her response to nina.

"do you remember how you got that nickname?" carol softly asked.

"umm," she thought for another second, "i remember just one person calling me it, but i forgot who it was."

carol nodded before excusing herself and leaving the hospital room and closing the door behind her, covering her mouth as she tried not to let any tears or anger out.

"is she okay?" the brunette asked her other mother who was staring at the closed room door.

"uh, i'm just gonna check on her, okay?"

nina nodded before dana squeezed her hand and gave her a small smile. she walked out of the room and saw carol sitting on a chair next to nina's room with her face in her hands.

dana sat down next to her and gave her a hug as carol let a couple tears out.

"how does she not remember us? we were there her whole life, but she remembers that boy? the name he gave her?" carol cried out.

"i know," dana replied softly, rubbing carol's back.

"how does that happen?"

carol felt dana shrug her shoulders, even though she couldn't see the action.

"there has to be something we could do, right?" carol asked, releasing herself from dana's embrace. "something to make her remember more. remember us."

"i don't know if there is a way," dana said, "i think we have to let it happen naturally. i don't know how long-"

"what if we ask ricky to come?"

dana widened her eyes and furrowed her brows in confusion.

"you want ricky to see nina?"

carol nodded, "if the only thing she remembers is connected to him, he has to be the only one who can help her remember."

"honey, you scared him off pretty bad," dana relaxed her shoulders.

"yea but, he loves her and-"

"you know?"

carol let out a breath, "i know how much nina meant to him and how much he meant to her, but everything happened so quickly and you know how i have all these defenses up, especially with change."

dana nodded.

"dana, we have to try. i know he probably hates me right now but he's the only option we have," she reasoned. "and we both know he's gonna see her. it's nina."

"okay," dana lightly nodded, "i'll text him and ask him to come."

carol nodded and the two moms prepared themselves to go back into nina's room. when they entered, they heard their daughter humming a sweet tune as she played with her blanket.

"nina?" dana asked, "what are you humming sweetie?"

"just a song."

"what song?"

she thought for a second, "hm, i don't know," she shrugged.

+

an hour or so later, dana received a text from ricky saying he had just got to the hospital. she excused herself and carol as they left the room.

as they left the room they saw the curly haired boy running towards them.

"she's awake? is she okay? is she hurt? does she need anything? does she want anything?" ricky asked, question after question, not letting carol or dana answer. "is she still in pain? is she bruised? is she still bleeding? is she-"

"ricky," dana interfered.

"is she okay?" he softened his expression.

dana saw his face and she dropped her shoulders before letting out some tears and giving him a hug.

"what- what's going on? she's okay, right? she has to be," he sternly said.

"honey," dana pulled away from the hug, "she doesn't remember," she let out a breath with a forced smile as she continued to cry.

ricky's breath hitched as his jaw slightly dropped in wanting to say something, but just not knowing what to say.

"what- no."

"i'm sorry."

"what do you mean she doesn't remember?"

"amnesia," carol spoke up.

"no," he sternly replied, shaking his head as tears starting to flow effortlessly from his eyes, "no, you're lying to me."

"i'm sorry ricky."

"she doesn't remember anything?"

dana and carol looked at each other.

"she remembers her nickname," dana said, "the one you gave her."

"nini?"

they nodded.

"that's why you asked me to come here."

they looked up at him as he looked back towards carol.

"and to apologize," carol's voice cracked.

"what?"

"i know i was being harsh by pulling you guys apart. i just always had this image in my head and her coming here made it all just... fall apart."

"but it's not her fault."

"i'm not blaming her, ricky," she replied in an angry manner. "i'm not blaming anyone but me. i was stubborn and selfish and-" she paused. "i'm sorry."

ricky nodded, not exactly accepting her apology.

"but we need your help. she needs to remember, please," she begged, "maybe seeing you will help her."

"i would do anything to see her," he replied, "anything to help her."

"thank you, ricky," carol said before slowly getting closer to him and grabbing onto him for a soft embrace, "thank you."

he let go of her embrace before he braced himself and walked into nina's room quietly.

when he walked in, he saw her sitting upright, playing with her blanket and was humming a familiar tune, which he shrugged off.

she was there, in front of him. she was okay, bruised and bandaged, but okay. however, he couldn't help but notice that it didn't look like her.

she smiled as she sat there, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. her eyes didn't have that glow and she looked very out of it.

"nini?" he spoke up, clearing his throat right after.

she turned her head to face the boy and a wide smile grew on her face at the sight of him. her eyes widened, her eyebrows lifted, her face and aura just lit up.

"ricky!" she exclaimed as she opened her arms gently, wanting him to come in for a hug.

he let out a breath of relief before rushing next to her and taking her in for a tight hug. he let a loud sob and started sniffling.

"you remember me," he said.

"please, and let the others suffer from your complaints? no thank you, i'm saving them," she joked.

he let go of her hug and gave her a long, sweet kiss. once they released, he set his forehead on hers as they kept their hands on each other's cheeks.

"you remember the others?"

she nodded, "it's all slowly coming back."

"what else do you remember?" he pulled away.

"not much," she frowned as she looked down at her fiddling fingers.

he grabbed her hand and rubbed his thumb on the back of it, causing her to smile a little and look up at him.

"i missed you nini, i'm so sorry, this is all my fault. i-"

"jeez richard, i heard your crying while i was unconscious, i need you. don't leave me. yell at me, blame me." she mocked.

"neens you can't make fun of a person's suffering," ricky replied as he wiped his tears.

"yea, but you're not just any person. you're my person."

she smiled a cheesy smile and ricky looked behind him to see nina's moms standing there with smiles on their faces.

"you remember," dana spoke.

nina nodded, "i guess, i just wish i could remember what that song i keep singing is."

"was it the song you were humming when i came in?"

she nodded.

"i think i might know what it is."

nina gave him a confused look as he smirked and turned to her moms. they looked at each other before carol took a breath and nodded.

+

an hour or so later, they hear knocks coming from the entrance of her door and they see all turn to see a family waiting to come in.

"one second," carol says before heading out of the room, dana following closely behind.

"who was it?" nina asked ricky who was still sitting beside her.

"um," he paused for a second before answering, "you'll see," he smiled.

outside of the room, carol and dana were talking to the family about nina and her condition. they couldn't help but be in shock, but also confusion as to why they called them.

"we wanted you guys to know," dana spoke up. "you're her family too, and even with everything that happened, you still deserve to know."

they all nodded and looked at each other.

"aren't you mad at us?" serena asked shyly.

dana and carol looked at each other before carol answered.

"i'm sorry," she softly said. "i over reacted, i realize that now, but put yourself in my shoes, our daughter flew to another state by herself and found her family. we could tell she was happy through the phone every time she talked about you guys. we thought she was going to leave us."

julie softened her expression when she saw carol start to break down, tears clearly wanting to fall from her eyes. she went in for a hug and rubbed her back as carol looked at charles and serena, not knowing what to do.

"it's okay," julie said, "and it means the world that you apologized," she backed away from the hug. "our intention was never to take nina away from you guys, we just wanted to get to know her."

carol nodded, "i'm sorry."

julie rubbed carol's arms as the rest of them watched, not knowing what to say.

"um nina-" dana spoke up, "she remembers ricky, he's in there right now."

"she remembers him?" charles asked, surprised.

she nodded.

"does she remember anyone else? anything else?"

"she remembers the song."

"what song?" serena asked.

"the one you sang that night," dana said.

serena looked at julie and she stood there with her brows furrowed.

"she- she does?"

dana nodded, "maybe if you visited her, if she saw you guys, she would remember something."

"she barely knew us," charles scoffed. "she didn't get the chance."

"it's worth a try," carol shrugged, "please?"

the cruz family looked at each other before nodding and making their way into the room. the three mentally prepared themselves by inhaling and exhaling a long breath.

"nini?" julie quietly spoke, her voice a little higher.

nina looked away from ricky and faced the door where the five people stood, looking at her.

she looked at all of their faces, trying to see if she could recognize them. analyzing them, she took a couple seconds on each person, and then it came back.

"mommy?"

they all turned their expressions into confused ones as she said the word.

"what?" julie said, as tears started to form in her eyes.

"you're here," nina's voice cracked and her vision started to get blurry. "you're all here."

"you know who we are?" charles asked.

she nodded, "you're my family," she smiled as a tear fell from her right eye.

julie and charles ran up to her and buried her in a tight embrace as they let loud cries out.

"wait, the song," she started, and the two parents pulled away, "you wrote it," she looked at julie who chuckled and nodded. "and you sang it," she added on, looking towards serena, who was still standing by the door.

serena lightly nodded.

"you- you're my sister," she cracked a smile.

serena let out a huff of air and she ran up to nina to give her a hug, "you remember me," she said with a sigh of relief.

nina smiled and chuckled as serena pulled away and she was surrounded by these familiar people. ricky, serena, her mom and dad. they were all there for her.

but between serena and her dad, she looked past and saw the two women staring at them with tears falling uncontrollably from their eyes.

"are they okay?" nina asked ricky.

"um, i don't think-"

"excuse me?" she said to the women, "are you guys okay, are you guys lost?"

"what?" carol asked, taken aback.

"i'm sorry, but do you guys mind leaving? i just want to spend time with my family," she smiled kindly.

"nina?" dana said, almost speechless.

"oh, i'm sorry, do i know who you are?"

"nini..." ricky said, grabbing her attention.

"what?" she replied softly.

"they already told you who they were earlier. you don't remember?"

she shook her head, "no..."

"nina, we're your moms," dana cried out, just barely above a whisper.

"what?" she asked, confused, "no, this is my mom," she pointed to julie.

"nini," julie started as she turned to her and grabbed her hand, "they're your adopted moms."

"y-you don't want me?" nina asked as her breath hitched.

"honey, of course we do, but, they're the ones who raised you. in california," charles answered.

"what?"

"neens, you don't remember living in california?" ricky asked.

she shook her head.

"do you remember elijah? ej?"

she smiled, "my best friend."

they heard a loud frustrated breath of air come out of carol's mouth as she dropped slid down the wall quickly and cried out into her hands and knees.

dana let out more tears as she slid down next to her wife and rubbed her back.

"i'm sorry," nina spoke.

ricky rubbed her back as she watched the two women cry on the floor. she felt so helpless, she didn't know what she could do to make them feel better.

"honey, why don't you get some sleep, okay?" julie asked as she checked the time on her watch, "it's getting late, we'll come back tomorrow okay?"

she nodded and she gave them all hugs before they left the room.

ricky stood up from his seat and straightened his shirt as nina flung her head in his direction.

"are you leaving too?" she asked, "please don't leave, i don't wanna be alone," she pleaded as she grabbed his arm.

"i'm not leaving neens," he chuckled, "don't worry. i just have to call my parents and update them."

"okay," she said, slowly letting go of him.

"and you're not alone, your moms are right there," he pointed to them.

"i don't know them." she whispered.

"you will," he smiled, "and you'll love them."

she nodded as he walked off.

once he got back from calling his parents and telling them nina was alright and safe, he went back into the room and heard the three girls laughing.

he peaked his head in and saw carol and dana sitting in chairs beside each other, next to nina's bed.

"and then you came home and told us that it was all elijah's fault that you got gum in your hair," dana laughed.

"oh no," nina laughed as she buried her face in her hands.

"you lied to us!" carol exclaimed with a wide smile, "we had to get you to apologize to elijah cause his parents called us and told us that he was bawling his eyes out and thought he wasn't going to be allowed to play with you again," she laughed.

"i don't remember that," the brunette chuckled, "i want to ask him what was going through his head."

the three women reminisced on old stories, and as carol and dana relived it, nina found out more about how she was like as a kid, apparently very rebellious.

"oh, ricky! you're back," carol said.

he nodded as he walked in with his hands in his pockets, "you guys okay? what are you talking about?"

"yea," dana replied as she caressed nina's hair, "just some old stories."

"well, you better get to bed, it's getting late," carol told nina. "is it okay with your parents that you spend the night?" she asked ricky.

he nodded.

"okay, well, you can sleep on the couch, try and get comfy."

he nodded again.

"alright, we're going to go talk to the doctors and ask about your medication, okay?"

"okay."

"get some sleep."

"i know mama c, good night. tell mama d i said good night to her too! i love you!

ricky and her moms looked at her with shocked impressions.

"what?" nina asked, thinking she said something wrong.

they decided to let it be unspoken as carol and ricky smiled at each other, dana already out of the room. carol soon left the room, leaving the two teenagers alone.

"you're remembering more and more," he subtly said.

"yea, i guess i am," she smiled.

"good night, nini," he kissed her forehead, "i love you."

"good night, ricky," she smiled, "i love you more."