Seceding Link

Epilogue

By Somebody's Angel

"No one is perfect, but sometimes people are perfect for each other."The Dashwood Sisters' Secrets of Love

"I swear to God, you knock me up again and I will permanently castrate you!"

"I will bear that in mind when you bring up the prospect of having a third."

His wife glared at him. "Trust me, I won't be!"

He knew he shouldn't piss off a pregnant woman in labour but when it came to his wife he couldn't help it. "Hon, that's what you said after the last one, and look where we are!"

She just moaned in pain. "I must have forgotten, it was a long time ago…but if you must know, the prospect of castrating you is looking more and more appealing!"

He cringed at the prospect, and resolved to stay quiet for the rest of the process. However his wife kept making comments that he just couldn't help but respond to.

"Oh God, Why can't it just stay in there for a few more years," she whined two hours later.

"Cause then it would be really painful" her husband argued.

"This is really painful!" she grunted.

"Well, it would be this times 10, now I need you to push!!"

"Always thinking about yourself."

"Hon, I'm thinking about our baby that is about to crown, now Push!"

"When this is over…we are so getting separate beds!"

"What about being open to a commitment."

"I will be committed…white coat type committed if I have to do this again…AAAAAARRRRGGGG!"

"Well, this is a bad time to-"

"Shut up!" she screamed as she pushed.

"Okay, breathe. Push…"

"Oh, what a feeling." She exclaimed when the contraction was over, "This baby better be pretty, cause it's not giving me a pretty feeling now."

He was now down by her legs, watching the doctor do his work, "And the here's the head…the neck…the shoulders…the arms…"

"Shut Up!" She yelled, "This is not a football commentary! I can feel what's coming out!"

He barely heard her, as he watched his daughter come into the world. "Oh, here it comes. Oh my!"

The room was blissfully quiet until the sound of a baby crying filled the room.

The nurse came up beside her, holding a wrapped bundle, "It's a girl."

"A girl?" She panted.

"Yes, Mrs. Cohen. Here you go." The nurse said, handing the baby to her.

"Oh, she's beautiful!" She said as she ran her fingers lightly over the baby's head. "She looks just like you."

Her husband was confused, "No she doesn't. She looks like you."

She rolled her eyes. "I just expelled something that weighs about eight pounds out of myself. I was talking to myself. What did you do?"

He grinned, "I supplied the other half of the chromosomes."

She smiled back, "Thanks, good enough for me. You want to hold her?"

"Sure." He replied, taking the baby from her, "Hey, this is Daddy. Daddy…" he repeated as his eyes teared up, he sat down in a chair beside his wife's bed, showing the baby to her. "So, what should we call her?"

……………………

"I wanna see her! I wanna see her!" A tiny blonde whirlwind attached itself to his legs the second he entered the waiting room. The other occupants looked up at their youngest member's exclamation, and the new father grinned widely.

"It's a girl. 8 pounds, 2 ounces." He smirked wickedly at the adults sitting before him, completely ignoring the child tugging on his pant leg. "So I heard something about a little girl wanting to see the new baby?"

"Me! Me! Me!"

"Come on Evie, let's go see your baby niece." Seth said, taking the his little sister's hand. Surprising everyone else in the room, Abigail Eve Cohen walked slowly next to her brother, allowing him to take the lead – 'walk' wasn't usually a word in the six-year-old's vocabulary.

The other adults followed; Sandy and Kirsten, Ryan and Marissa, and Dr Roberts, carrying a sleeping toddler in his arms.

About halfway down the hallway, Kirsten finally realised the reason Seth was holding Abigail's hand in his right. "Seth how did you get that cast on your arm?"

Seth blushed a deep red, turning back to the adults, "Um…Summer broke my wrist."

"What! How? When?" A flurry of questions spilled forth from all members of the group, except Sandy who was too busy laughing, and Abigail, who didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

"I was holding her hand, she had a really painful contraction just as I was turning to get some more ice chips. One twist the wrong way and she fractured two of the bones in my wrist."

"So did you even get to see your daughter born, or were you too busy getting bandaged up?" For some reason Seth didn't think Ryan's question was as sincere as it could have been.

"Of course I saw her born, the doctor splinted it first then I got the plaster on after…why'd you think it took me an hour to get out here?"

Seth went to open the door, thought better of it, and knocked first. His sister didn't feel the need to wait, opening the door almost before Seth lifted his knuckles from the wood.

"Hey Jay, I brought visitors." Seth said softly, unsure whether Summer was asleep or just resting her eyes.

"Summer!" Again, Abigail didn't see the need for caution, bursting into the room and causing Summer's eyes to snap open.

"Abby! My favourite sister-in-law."

Seth snickered, turning to Marissa, "Guess you've been upstaged."

"Shut up Cohen." Came three female voices, and it was Ryan's turn to snigger, this time at Seth's being simultaneously chastised by his wife, his sister and his sister-in-law.

"Can I see the baby?" Abigail asked, and Seth carefully lifted her onto his lap as he sat in a chair next to the bed.

"Everybody, meet Sara Danielle Cohen." Summer announced, cradling the newest addition to the family.

"She has hair like mine!" Abigail exclaimed.

"Yeah, how do two people with dark hair get a blonde kid?" Ryan asked teasingly, throwing a knowing look at Summer.

"Turn around, genius." Seth replied, nonplussed. "My mother's blonde, and so is Summer's dad…well, uh, he was."

Ryan smiled sheepishly at the older generation before turning back to the bed in the centre of the room.

…………………………

Seth opened the door carefully, peeking his head inside before fully entering the room. He couldn't help but smile softly as he took in the sight before him. The covers were pulled up to Summer's shoulders, her head leaned back against the pillow and eyes closed. Her hair was gathered in a messy ponytail, curls spilling over her pillow as Seth listened to her deep and easy breathing. He let the door close quietly behind him before making his way over to the bed and sitting gingerly on the edge; he didn't want to disturb his sleeping beauty, but he just couldn't resist reaching out to grasp her hand.

He was pleased when her fingers found his upon their own free will, entwining with his as her eyes fluttered open.

"Hey," she whispered, beaming up at him through sleepy eyes.

"Hey." Seth grinned at her, squeezing her hand gently. "I know I'm breaking my promise, but I just couldn't resist."

"What promise was that?" she asked sleepily.

"Well, about four hours ago, you forbade me to ever touch you again. Made me swear never to come near you."

"I did not…oh. I did, didn't I? Well, when you squeeze something that large out of an opening that small, we'll talk about who can touch who again, alright?" The glint in her eyes and the smile on her face belied her words.

Seth winced involuntarily at Summer's remark, and squeezed her hand again. He focused on the beautiful face beaming back at him, and felt himself choking up, not for the first time that morning. "I'm so proud of you," he managed to get out.

A tear leaked from the corner of her eye, and she smiled up at him, her free hand resting over their entwined ones. She replied simply, "I had some help."

"No, that was all you Jay…I was just along for the ride."

"Well, I was talking about the nurses and Dr. Montgomery, but I guess you did help a little bit too," Summer teased lightly. Seth chuckled and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. He rested his hand on her forehead, lightly brushing several stray curls out of her eyes as her expression turned more serious. "Really, Seth…I couldn't have gotten through that without you."

Seth could see that Summer was getting teary eyed again, causing his eyes to water a little too. It had been a very emotional, very exhausting day for them both, and Seth was still in awe that any of it was real. He leaned his forehead against hers, whispering huskily, "Hey, til death do us part, remember? I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

Summer's chin quivered, and two tears made their way down her cheeks. "I love you."

Seth smiled, "And I love you." He leaned in to kiss her, but a soft cry made them both sit back up.

They simultaneously turned away from one another, Summer to the plastic crib at her bedside, and Seth to the pram sitting next to his side of the bed.

"Eli, I'd like you to meet your sister, Sara." Seth turned back to his wife with a sleepy toddler in his arms.

Twenty-two-month-old Elijah Jacob Cohen rubbed his chocolate brown eyes sleepily, but instantly jerked awake when he saw the pink bundle his mother was holding.

"Sah-a!" He exclaimed, launching himself onto the bed. Fortunately Seth was well versed in his son's rocket impersonation and was able to prevent him squashing the newborn.

"Wait a second there, tiger." Seth placed his son gently in his wife's lap, holding him until Summer lowered their daughter into Elijah's lap and got a firm grip on the two of them.

"Baby." Elijah said, moving a finger towards his sister's face. Both Summer and Seth made to stop him poking her, but he touched her cheek with a gentleness that belied his not-quite-two year old status.

Seth and Summer looked at one another and smiled, Seth reaching his arms around his wife to hug all of his family.

If someone had told Summer in junior year of high school that she would be married with two kids a mere two years out of college she would have laughed, and probably slapped them.

But here she was, happier than she could have ever imagined all those years ago. Yes, Elijah had been a surprise graduation gift, and yes, he had been born out of wedlock, but neither of those facts mattered to the people whose opinions mattered to the couple. And although Summer wasn't proud of the fact that she had turned down Seth's marriage proposal twice before accepting the sincerity of the third time, she knew that it was a testament to their relationship that they hadn't broken up over it, that Seth listened, accepted and, best of all, understood her reasons for turning him down.

It had been Seth who convinced her to keep the baby, to make her see that she could still have a career and a baby, and a husband even. It was Seth who had given up a promising journalism career to be home with Elijah, working freelance from home while Summer worked long hours as an intern at a Boston law firm. It was Seth who rubbed her tired feet when she finally got home at 10 or 11pm, who massaged her shoulders while she bathed, who got up in the middle of the night to feed the newborn Elijah.

And it was Seth who allowed her to find herself, who loved Summer Jordan Cohen for her, not his idealistic version of her.

And for that she loved him.

THE END!

Finally, the end. Yes, the epilogue is written in a different style to the others, mostly because I wanted to be somewhat vague about the woman in labour at the beginning of the chapter – was it obvious it was Summer, or could it have been Kirsten?

For those of you neurotic enough to count years/months, yes I did calculate the dates (I'm neurotic also). Abigail was born in January of their senior year – as this was started after S1 I'm keeping with the theory that they were in junior year during that season (2004) – they graduated college in June 2009 and Elijah was born in November of the same year. Thus Sara is born in August 2011, Elijah is 21 months and Abigail is 6½.

And while I did originally ask for Jewish/Hebrew names, I decided that while Sandy and Kirsten definitely had to name their second child in the tradition of the first (Hebrew names with meaning – Seth Ezekiel means 'God will strengthen the appointed', while Abigail Eve means 'My father's life joy'), Seth and Summer would be a little less traditional. Elijah Jacob was actually the name I had picked out for Kirsten and Sandy's child when I made Kirsten pregnant, but you readers convinced me to let Kirsten have a little girl.

As for the question of how Seth (and Sophie in 416) can have brown eyes when both Kirsten and Sandy have blue eyes, it's apparently not as simple as we're all taught in high school biology. If you're interested this website has a pretty good explanation (replace 'dot' with a period): www(dot)thetech(dot)org/genetics/ask(dot)php?id29

Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed. I know every writer says they live for the reviews, and I'm no exception, but it really means a lot to know that your work is appreciated and brings some entertainment into the lives of others. Special thanks to the following people, who have reviewed almost every chapter of this story: Ansy Pansy aka Panz, friendsfan808, Doves30, kursk

So please let me know what you think. I have to say I was very disappointed in the lack of response to chapter 8, but then again it has had by far the least number of hits – probably my fault, taking five months to update. I will definitely respond to any signed reviews eventually, and am willing to answer any questions or queries you may have.