Hi all. I realize that I have been delinquent in finishing Destiny, but I promise I'll post the next chapter (the second to last, I think) this week. This is just a one-shot that came to mind as I spent hours on YouTube watching Desi and Matt. (They're just so cute!) This one-shot takes place in 2015. Despite the title, it's a happy ending for the couple that takes place after the show has ended. I hope you enjoy.

Losing A Son

Nora held a glass in the air as she prepared to make a toast. Her baby just got married. He was too young: only 21 years old. They weren't even out of college. Still, she couldn't tell him that they were making a mistake. Across the room, she saw her family; they'd become close over the years. It was inevitable, their children had been through more than any kids should have had to experience at such a young age. Destiny's mother looked nervous. She'd felt that same nervousness, too, until she saw Matthew waiting for Destiny at the end of the aisle. He'd never looked more certain about anything. The way they'd stood beside each other for so many years, she couldn't tell them they were making a mistake, because in her heart she knew they weren't. Still, she hated to lose her baby.

As she readied herself to speak, the emotion welled up inside her. Destiny, her son's wife, was the reason Nora would be able to share a dance with Matthew after she made her toast. She remembered the first time she met the chubby girl, with the perfect chocolate skin and the beautiful braids. Matthew was in a wheelchair. Destiny believed in Matthew even when she and Bo hadn't. She'd fought to get him the surgery he needed to walk again. Somehow, she even found the courage to stand with him when he thought he killed a man; gratefully, they all learned he had been wrong.

"To my handsome son and his beautiful bride on their wedding day," Nora felt her own voice quiver. Matthew smiled a reassuring smile at her. It was the same smile that had been her sunshine for the last 21 years. When she looked at him she barely saw the grown man he'd blossomed into during his first two years at Penn State. Instead, she saw the same dark-haired, freckled face little boy who ran to greet her when she came home from court each day. She took a deep breath and continued on. "You both have made me so proud today. Today, you made official what has been true for years. You are family. I think you may have been since the day you met. Thank you Destiny for always loving my boy with your whole heart."

Sometimes she was amazed at how close the two remained despite everything, even when Matthew became infatuated with the Manning girl. The worst was when they broke up during their freshman year of college. This time it was Destiny who put the space between them. After high school graduation, Matthew decided to stay on at BE to stake his claim to the Buchanan legacy. Destiny went on to Penn State. The distance between them was too much for Destiny to take, especially since Matthew was working so many hours and taking classes at Llanview University. On a weekend visit, Destiny told Matthew that she couldn't be in a relationship with a ghost, told him she would always love him and she called it quits.

Matthew lost it in way he hadn't even done when he was suspected of murder. He stopped eating and moped for a week. She tried to mother him to no avail; he was simply despondent. One evening she talked to Bo about it.

"We have to do something, Bo."

"Yes, we have to let Matthew figure out what's important to him."

Thinking back, she smiled as she recalled her irritation with Bo at the time. "What's important is Destiny and she just broke his heart."

"He's a Buchanan, Red, he'll win her back."

And he had. A week later, he announced that he was going to transfer to Penn State to be with Destiny. A month later he was admitted as a transfer student. The next fall, he was on campus. As they arrived at the dormitory, Destiny was waiting out front. She practically leapt into his arms as soon as he exited the vehicle. Then she greeted them warmly. Somehow, Matthew managed to secure a room in the same building as Destiny, prompting Nora to remind him that she had no desire to become a grandmother before she turned 60. Before she and Bo left to return to Llanview, they took Matt and Des to dinner. For dessert, Matt and Destiny shared an ice cream sundae, the way she'd seen them do a million times at the palace as kids. And when they said their goodbyes, she and Bo watched them walk into the door of the dorms hand in hand. It was then that Bo made a simple prediction.

"He's going to marry her. You know that don't you, Red? And it's probably going to be soon."

She guessed he thought the truth would upset her; it didn't. "I've known it all along."

Now, she watched as Matthew led Destiny to the dance floor. A minute later, Bo asked for her hand. She silently prayed that the two kids would avoid the same mistakes she and Bo made for so many years. As the DJ announced it was time for the mother/son and father/daughter dances, Nora made her way to Matthew. For a minute, she thought Matthew would refuse to relinquish his hold on his new bride, until her brother Shawn arrived. And then, for the rest of the song, Matthew was hers again. She decided to take the moment to ask Matthew something she'd always wanted to know.

"Matthew," Nora brushed at his hair, "how did you know Destiny was the one?"

"Grandpa told me."

"What?" Asa died several years before Matthew met Destiny. "How can that be?"

"When we were in the cabin and I was still in the wheelchair, I asked Grandpa for a sign that everything would be okay. Then Destiny walked in. And whenever Destiny is in my life, everything is okay."

Nora smiled a half smile. It was hard for a mother to know she'd been replaced. She wondered if every mom felt a twinge when it happened.

"Mom, do you know why I trusted it?"

"Why?"

"Because Grandpa loved you, so I knew he had great taste in women." He smiled again. "Besides Destiny is like a weird cross between you and Grandpa Asa, she's got all your compassion and all his stubbornness. I'm lucky to have you both."

Without a word, she kissed Matthew on the cheek. It was then she realized that she wasn't losing her son she was gaining a daughter.