Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with the Mediator Series because that honor is exclusively Meg Cabot's. I also don't own anything by William Shakespeare that happens to appear in the chapters. I also do not own or have any affiliation to the places mentioned in NYC; I've only ever been to a few of them. I do, however, own the plot. Yay for me. ;)

I would like to take the time to thank all of you have reviewed, alerted, and favorite-d this story:

lovelikewoe13, dori-tori, angel4eva-15, Iced tears, NegligibleNaina, B e l l a t r i x. o x. (I spaced it so it would show), IsobelleBaby, jediahsokaroxx, Living On a Snowflake's Dream, Iruchi-chan, vampireobsessor, MaryImaginary, kimmi0490, crazybeautifuldisaster, JesseLoverLeona (aka Weasleygirl1993), Jack Sparrow's my man, twilight charmer, iceQueen02, Maddzatazz, SparklyVamp, MarcyPlayground, NCISlover16, Kiefercarlos, MelodyontheWater, Miami Blackheart, Rudy555, procrastinator, indie-girl124, xoxdreamrrxox, and bookworm3.

Also, a hug and thank you to WillowBee for being such an awesome source of inspiration, cheering section and pusher! I dedicate this epilogue to you and hope you'll be happy with my surprise at the very end.

Thank you also to those who have read but maybe didn't let me know through favorites, alerts or reviews. You mean a lot to me, too!

You all are a bunch of truly wonderful people. I hope this epilogue is everything you could have hoped for and that I don't disappoint.

A/N: This epilogue is in Jesse's point of view. Read, review, and then have fun!

TWELVE YEARS LATER

I finally finished my shift at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital where I was getting ready to finish my last year of residency. As it was raining I was thrilled to find a cab with relatively little trouble and ducked in while giving the cabbie the address of my brownstone near Central Park. Being the ripe old age of thirty (ha ha) I didn't really enjoy the novelty of the subway like I used to when Susannah and I had first moved to New York. We had spent almost every weekend the first year we lived here exploring New York City. And by that, I mean Susannah showed me around and, as we slowly met new people, we began having little outings with our friends.

Susannah had fit right in with Rutherford (or Ruthy, as we now called him) Cantrell and he had immediately helped her adapt her one act children's plays into a full-length play that debuted at New York Public Library's Children's Center at 42nd street in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. It actually had garnered national attention. Ruthy then demanded (in a nice way, he said) that Suze write another full-length children's play that he would (and did) produce at his playhouse. That was the beginning of a very wonderful and lucrative partnership. Susannah was approached to write the screenplay for a children's movie (which she did an extraordinary job on, in my opinion, but I've been told that she can't treat me as an objective observer) and then she began writing a play called A Girl, A Boy, and Their Life Together. It had taken her about three years to write the play to her specifications—and she had quite a few since it was based on our story—and it had become an international phenomenon. Two years ago, it had been adapted into a movie for which Susannah adapted the script. Currently, she was writing two plays simultaneously and was doing amazingly well. Suze Simon, playwright and screenwriter has become a household name.

Meanwhile I had graduated summa cum-laude from Columbia University with a dual degree in Child Development and Communication Disorders. I had then gone on to Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons for medical school. I had graduated with honors and started my internship at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. I was content with what I did and was also somewhat relieved that while I had been establishing myself, Susannah and I had a concrete foundation (we both had worked upon coming to New York—I had been a part time tutor at an after-school center and Susannah had worked full time as Ruthy's administrative assistant) and we were extremely lucky to not have too many financial worries since I had a full scholarship for all of my schooling.

Since I had already pseudo-proposed to Susannah when we had graduated high school, on Christmas morning of my last year of med school, I had left a simple emerald-cut diamond engagement ring with a gold band in her stocking. When she had put it on I had been getting us wassail out of the kitchen and when I came back out she just showed me her hand and then kissed me. It was simple and one of the happiest moments of my life. We had gotten married at the end of June after I graduated from med school—that had been four years ago last month. We had gone on a simple two week honeymoon to Austria (Susannah's choice) that I had been saving for since my second year of college. That had definitely been the happiest time of my life. Or, it had been until seven months ago.

I was oblivious to being stuck at a stand-still in the traffic as I was caught up in reminiscing. Susannah had been sick and lethargic for about four days. I had kept pressing her to go to the doctor as had Rutherford and her best friend Madison White (a librarian at the New York Public Library Mid-Manhattan branch). But Susannah was adamant that she was fine and didn't have time to go to the doctor because we were expecting CeeCee, Adam and their two year old son Keith (who was a holy terror). Finally, I made an appointment for her with Gabby Lawson who was her general practitioner. Gabby and her husband Kane (my general practitioner) had grown very close to us—they had become our parental figures as they were about ten years older than we were and had taken us under their wing when we had first moved out here. I had been distracted that whole day at work and had been wavering about whether to cancel my after work drink with Morris Richardson, my best friend. Morris and I had just ordered when I received a call from Susannah.

"Hello, querida."

"Jesse." I could hear the excitement in her voice.

"How was the doctor? Did Gabby say everything was okay?"

"Yeah, she did. But Jesse, I think you should come home now. I know you're out with Morris, but I really, really need to talk to you."

Something must have shown on my face because Morris had already put down the money for our untouched drinks and was leading my by the shoulder out of the bar. "I'll be right there, Susannah."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you, too. I'll be there soon." I turned to Morris who was in the process of hailing a cab. "She went to the doctor today. But she didn't sound scared or upset, she sounded happy."

Morris opened the cab door and turned to grin at me. "Dude, you must be panicked or just plain stupid. After the symptoms you told me, I have a feeling it's going to great news. And I'm not even a doctor."

It took me minute, but when I figured it out a huge grin broke out on my face. "I'll call you tomorrow." I told him as the cab drove away. When I got home I found Susannah sipping milk out of champagne glass and another one sitting on the counter.

When she saw me, a sly little grin broke out on her face. "So, Dr. de Silva. I bet you can't figure out what I'm going to tell you."

"Is that a challenge?" She nodded. "Well, I'll win. We're going to have a baby aren't we?" She nodded and let out a shriek of laughter when I scooped her up and twirled her around the apartment.

When the McTavish family showed up the next day we all went (including Gabby and Kane, Madison, Morris, and Ruthy) to L&B Spumoni Gardens (they had the best pizza!) in Brooklyn to celebrate.

When I heard the cabbie say something particularly nasty, I became aware of my surroundings and realized that we were stuck in traffic again, but this time we were only a couple blocks from home. I told him I was getting out here, paid the fare, and continued on foot to the brownstone. When I went in the door, I wasn't particularly surprised to find the six foot five, 275 pound hippie bulk of Rutherford Cantrell on the couch next to my hugely pregnant wife. In fact, he had confided to me that he came over most days because he knew Susannah got lonely and I hated leaving her by herself. I was, however, floored to find Gina Ackerman-now-Delaroche in my living room. We hadn't seen much of her since she and Brad had divorced seven years ago after their two year marriage. Gina was a high-powered corporate attorney in Dallas while Brad had moved back home and married Serena Clark (Ms. Clark's niece). Serena taught theater and Brad taught world geography and coached volleyball. They had twins, Derrick and Evan who were about to enter first grade. Gina's second husband, Hilton Delaroche the Fifth came out of the kitchen with a tray that had three cocktails and a small glass of water. While I couldn't really stand him, he at least was considerate enough to not make my wife make the cocktails or to make her one.

When I let the door click shut behind me, Susannah looked over and her whole face lit up. Her face might have been puffy and her hair had been pulled back haphazardly, but I couldn't think of anything more beautiful than the way she looked right at that moment.

"Jesse. I'm so glad you're home." She slowly pushed herself off the couch, with a little help from Ruthy, and waddled over to me.

"Querida, I trust you've been behaving today?" I smiled at her and reached out to rub the purple shadows under her eyes.

"I've done my best, but Rutherford and I have been having trouble with this one particularly stubborn scene. So I didn't get a nap and he didn't get his whiskey. And now, Gina and Hilton have stopped by since they were in town." She wiggled her eyebrows at me and I laughed softly.

"Well, I guess you still get a kiss." I brushed her lips softly three times and then pressed them firmly for a few moments—a tradition we had started when I came home from my first class on my first day at Columbia.

"Aww, you guys are still as cute as you used to be. It makes me jealous." Gina grinned at us from her chair, although I could detect an underlying edge of sarcasm underneath her tone. I just grinned back, unsure how to exactly interact with this new version of Gina I wasn't comfortable with.

"Hey Gina. Hilton. It's nice to see you both. Rutherford, how are you?" I grinned at him. If I couldn't stand Hilton, then Rutherford hated him. He'd called him a pretentious prick too many times to count and was barely civil to Hilton in public.

"I'm just dandy, Hector. Just dandy." The twinkle in his eyes made it really hard to not laugh out loud.

I led Susannah back over to the couch and helped her sit down. I settle down on the floor in front of the couch so I could be nearby in case she needed something.

"What brings you to Manhattan, Gina?" I asked. Hilton answered with some monologue I barely paid attention to and just nodded at the appropriate places. Thus began two hours of conversation that I only desultorily added to and couldn't wait to be done with. Finally, Rutherford said something and the three of them left.

"Oh thank god they're gone. I'm so ready to go to bed. I'm exhausted." Susannah smiled down at me and I reached down and levered her up off the couch.

"You're not hungry?"

"Ruthy and I had meatball sandwiches about twenty minutes before Gina and Hilton showed up and they were only here about thirty minutes before you. I know you ate something at the hospital." She grinned as I helped her pull her nightshirt over her head.

"I ate something. I'm much happier not knowing exactly what it was." I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and then changed into my pajamas while Susannah did her nightly ritual. When she came back out, we took about thirty minutes to get her situated comfortably and by the time I laid down, she was asleep.

I had never been more content than I had been lately. I was deeply in love with my wife, and I was going well in my career. And in a little less than two months, we would be a happy family of three. I personally was hoping for a girl. I even had the name picked out: Rae Emalia de Silva. If it was a boy, I had no idea. But I really wanted a girl.

When I finally heard a snore from Susannah, I knew she was deeply asleep and so I closed my eyes and relaxed. Twelve years ago, I had imagined this life we would have. But, I'd been ridiculously shortsighted. The live we lived now was beyond my wildest expectations and happiest dreams—it was bliss.

The End.

But not for long! I know I had said that I wouldn't do a sequel. But when I went back over this epilogue it was ridiculously long for many reasons:

1. I couldn't leave the characters without crying.

2. I loved the direction their lives had taken and the new people they had met and their new relationships.

3. I wanted to give them more than a blissful existence—I wanted it to be a real existence.

4. I just was not ready for this story to end yet and the epilogue was almost thirty pages long.

And so, there will be a sequel. It will be short (only five chapters) and it will only be published after my next story The Way We Were (a Harry Potter NextGen fic that is the first part of a three part series). The sequel with be entitled: The Pediatrician and the Playwright and will pick up two years after the epilogue of this story.

I really hope you loved this story and will want to read the sequel. You'll have to put me on Author Alert (God, I'm shameless when it comes to attention) so that you'll know when the sequel comes out.

You all are such wonderful people and I hate to wish you adieu so instead I will say À bientot! Good night and good luck! Go have some yummy cookies and keep on the lookout. Until next time.