So many people to thank today! ::deep breath:: Thank you Shadowmage97, Cream of the Ice, DragonsCrescent13, Karts of Sugar Rush, BeyondTomorrowwithyou, and MaevyH for reviewing the last chapter.

Sorry this took so long considering the short length. I was rather sick part of this week on top of everything else going on, but I'm doing better now.

Well, my friends, it has been a wonderful ride. I've really enjoyed it and I hope you have too. Here is your denouement. If you still have questions either about the story, the characters, why I made the decisions I did, or anything short of my street address and phone number, post your questions in the reviews and I'll answer at the end of the epilogue. I plan to post that sometime next week, probably around Wednesday.


Guy woke to sloth claws prodding his stomach and Belt's alarmed warbling. "Huh?" he asked fuzzily, lifting his head. "What is iiiiaaaaaghh!" He jerked backwards and rolled to a crouch, and then stared at the caveman sitting right by his bed. "Uh...good morning?" Guy said, bewildered and still rather alarmed.

"There's nothing wrong with you," Grug said matter-of-factly.

"Um..." Guy tilted his head, confused. "Come again?"

"You said yesterday that you didn't know what about you it was that was so awful that I couldn't be okay with—with you and Eep." Grug looked away. "It's not you. There's nothing wrong with you. You're—you're a good kid and you make her happy. It's not..." His voice dwindled into a mumble. "It's not about you."

Slowly, Guy relaxed, sitting back down on his bed with a thump. "Oh," he said lamely. "Uh..."

"Someday," Grug began, and then heaved a great sigh, as if this were a terrible effort. "Someday I'll be proud to call you my son," he said in a rush, and then he turned and left with a speed that was astounding in a man that size, while Guy sat there with his mouth open.

He looked down at Belt. "Um...am I still dreaming?"

Belt whirred a negative.

Guy looked back up again. "Huh." He started to smile.

He got up and walked out of the trees, looking around at the familiar family scene with a contented smile. Ugga was sharpening a spear head while Sandy chased Douglas and Thunk chased the two of them. Gran was reclined on her repaired chair, her arms behind her head.

Just as he was wondering where she was, Eep brushed past him. Guy caught her hand and she turned back, letting him tangle his fingers with hers.

"Hey," he smiled, stepping close to her.

"Hey," she smiled, leaning into him.

He rested his forehead on hers. "Sleep well?"

"Mm. You?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "Nice dreams."

"Good," Eep said mischievously, squeezing his hand and pulling away. "Gotta go. I told Dad I would hunt with him today."

"Okay," he said, holding onto her hand as long as he could before letting her fingers slide through his. Guy stood there grinning like an idiot. He didn't even notice when Pal walked up beside him until Pal cleared his throat.

Guy jumped and whirled to face him. "Dad! Uh..." He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Are you, uh...still mad at me?"

Pal studied him for a moment, arms folded, and then sighed. "Yes, but I can deal with it. You're a grown man and you can do what you want. Just—tell me next time. I know it may seem kind of crazy for us to worry after you've been on your own all this time, but we can't help it."

"Sorry," Guy hunched his shoulders a little.

"Forget it." Pal shook his head. "So what were you really doing all day?"

"Nothing, we were just talking, mostly." Guy shrugged, obviously trying to keep back a smile, and Pal grinned. He took a step forward and pressed his thumb to the purple mark over Guy's pulse.

"Ow!" Guy jerked away. "Hey, what the—"

Pal tried to look stern and failed as his shoulders began to shake. "You were doing a little more than talking to get a mark like that."

Guy flushed all the way to his hairline. "I said we were MOSTLY talking," he muttered, and then he made a series of rather entertaining faces as he tried to look at his own neck. "What mark?"

"Tell Eep to be a little gentler next time," Pal couldn't help the chuckling that was starting to rumble up from his chest. "It's called a hickey, son, and it happens when someone kisses you hard enough to bruise."

Guy's hand flew to cover his neck and Pal's laughter roared out.

Guy turned a deep shade of red, but then he grinned widely. "It was a really good day," he admitted, glancing around guiltily.

Pal chuckled and put his hand on Guy's head. "Ah, to be young and in love. Enjoy it while you can."

"Until I'm old and in love?" Guy grinned.

"Pretty much," Pal grinned back, and then he took pity on the kid and changed the subject. "If it's okay with you," he said, "Your mother and I would like to find a place close by to settle down in. I know you're happy here, and there's no reason for us to roam around anymore. We'd like to stay and—be a family again."

Guy looked at Pal sharply. "What about you?"

Pal smiled. "I'm happy when your mother is happy. That's really all that matters to me now. And with you close by, I can wander off for a day or two if I get too restless."

"You'd be welcome to stay in the valley, you know that," Guy said.

Pal shifted his weight and folded his arms again, looking at the ground. "I appreciate that, I just—I think it would be best if we found our own place. If you know of anywhere, let me know. Otherwise, I'll start looking around the area tomorrow."

To Pal's surprise, Guy's expression changed, and the boy looked away. "I'll—think about it. I might—" He hesitated. "I'll think about it."

Pal raised his eyebrows, as Guy began to walk away, a distant look on his face. "Oookay," he said to the empty air where his son had been. "See you later then."

The next time he saw Guy, he was pacing inside a small circle of rocks near where they had carved the fishing spears. Pal watched him for a while, and then started to walk towards him.

Eep caught his arm as he passed her. "Wait. We're not supposed to bother him while he's in the circle."

Pal looked at her, and looked at Guy. "He's been pacing there for ages."

Eep shrugged. "It's what he does. He's thinking through something. He'll come out when he's figured it out." She tilted her head, reconsidering. "Or when he gets hungry. Whichever comes first."

Pal looked down at her. "Do you know what he's thinking about?"

"No idea," Eep shook her head. "He'll tell us when he's ready. Even if you tried to talk to him, you wouldn't get anything useful." She made a face. "Trust me, I know."

It took Guy a long time to come to his decision, but once it was made, he left the thinking circle and went straight to find his father. "Can you come with me? I want to show you something."

"Okay," Pal said, frowning.

Guy led his father out of the valley and into the jungle. After a short distance, he made a sharp turn through a crevice and a game trail opened up in front of them, leading up the mountainside.

"Where are we going?" Pal asked as Guy began the climb.

Guy just flashed a grin over his shoulder and kept walking.

"There's a spring off that way," he said, pointing off to the left of the trail. "It feeds a little stream that comes down near the trail. Plenty of fresh water." He didn't look back to see Pal's reaction. They were almost there.

The trail veered away to the left, but Guy turned into the trees on the right. "This way," he said, looking back to his father, who looked thoroughly confused. Guy just smiled to himself and kept walking towards a triangle of light visible ahead.

The triangle grew and then the trees cleared suddenly, revealing an expansive view of the beach and the ocean beyond. They stood at the edge of a wide, semicircular clearing that jutted out from the mountainside.

"Wow," Pal said softly, impressed, taking a few steps forward.

Guy hung back. He already knew that if he walked forward he would see the jungle beyond the cliff, even see the tip of the Crood's little valley below. He knew that as long as you didn't get too close to the edge, the trees and the rock walls kept the wind from being too strong to bear, just as he knew the way the light flooded this place at sunrise, and that the view of the night sky was breathtaking, and that it was too small for seven people but just right for two.

Belt climbed up from his waist to his neck, and Guy stroked his little friend, scratching the sloth's back absently as he watched Pal walk slowly around the space. "I think there was a landslide here a long time ago that took out part of the mountain," he said eventually, just for something to say. "The slab here is sturdy, though, and the dirt is too thin for the trees to really take hold, so it stays clear. The others don't know about it," he added, trying to sound indifferent. "I found it while I was wandering off on my own one day."

Pal turned and looked at him, and Guy flushed. "This was going to be your place," Pal said slowly. "Yours and Eep's."

Guy didn't meet his father's eyes. "She doesn't know about it," he said after a moment. "She won't be disappointed." He was pretty sure she would have agreed with him, in any case. Belt whirred softly, rubbing his head against Guy's arm.

Pal came back and put his hand on Guy's shoulder. "You don't have to do this. We can find our own place."

Guy dragged his gaze up to meet Pal's. "I want you to have it. For Mom." He shrugged. "It's not as protected from the weather, but you can always come down to the valley when it gets really bad. The sun's pretty bright without shade, and I was trying to figure out how to build some kind of shelter, but—"

"It's fine. I can build us something." Pal looked at Guy. "If you want to give me a hand, I can show you how."

"That sounds great," Guy said, grinning. He looked out at the view again. "Will she like it?"

"Yeah," Pal said, putting his arm around Guy's shoulders. "She's going to love it." He paused. "Are you really sure?"

"Yeah," Guy forced a smile. "I am. I'm—we're—not ready, anyway. I'll figure something else out when the time comes."

Pal was silent, and after a moment, Guy looked up at him. He was surprised to find tears glimmering at the corner of Pal's eyes.

"Dad?" he said, awed. Belt echoed his feelings with a concerned coo.

"Come on," Pal said roughly, turning back the way they'd come. "We should get back."

"Yeah, sure," Guy said uncertainly, settling Belt back at his waist.

Pal put his hand on Guy's shoulder as they walked back into the trees. "Thank you, son. Really. This'll be perfect."

By the time they made it back down the trail, Pal seemed to have recovered from whatever emotion had overtaken him. He began planning, thinking out loud about the house they would build and what they would need. Guy mostly just smiled, letting Pal talk.

When they got down to the valley, Pal stopped and put his hand on Guy's shoulder. "I still have some thinking to do," he said. "I think I'll go fishing. Would you mind sitting with your Mom for a while while I'm gone? I think she would appreciate it after—uh, yesterday."

"Uh, yeah, I can do that," Guy grinned guiltily. They parted ways.

Guy found Inda leaning against a tree near the waterfall, her flute in her lap, her head tilted back against the tree trunk and her eyes closed.

"Mom?" he said softly, not wanting to wake her if she was asleep, but at the sound of his voice, Inda raised her head and smiled.

"Guy," she said, and patted the grass next to her.

"You don't look well today," Guy said, sitting down by her.

"I'm fine," she said dismissively. "I didn't sleep well. It's nothing serious."

Guy frowned, looking at her more carefully, trying to decide if she was paler, thinner, than she had been a few days ago.

"Guy," Inda said, touching his hand. "You can't keep looking at me like that."

"Sorry," he mumbled, dropping his eyes. "I'm just—"

"I know. You worry. Just like your father." Inda sighed. For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then she reached out and touched his hand again. "Before we came here, I thought I had lost everything," Inda said quietly. "I lost my past in the cataclysm, and I lost my future when I lost you. Your father kept us going, but I just kept thinking, what's the point of it all? Why do we bother running? Were we just coming here so we could live a little longer and then die like everybody else? But at the same time, I didn't want to die, because once we were gone, that would be it. Our entire people, wiped away like we were nothing. And that made me angry. So I kept going. Because I was angry, and because I loved your father too much to leave him alone." She sighed a little, looking down. "I'm not proud of those feelings."

"Mom," Guy said softly, taking her hand in his. She locked her fingers around his tightly.

"I'm telling you all of this because I want you to understand," she said urgently. "I want you to understand what it's meant to me to find you again. It's given me so much hope, Guy." She lifted her free hand and stroked his. "Not just because I love you and I've missed you, but because finding you gave me hope, because this isn't the end for us. Not only have you survived, you've found a way to thrive and be happy. I couldn't be prouder of you. Pal, and me, our whole family and our people will live on through you and your children." She smiled. "Whether I'm sick or not, whether I really am—Guy, your father and I will die someday no matter what. Everybody dies. Someday we'll leave you behind and there won't be anything that anyone can do about it. But that's okay, because—" She reached out and cupped his face. "You'll still be here. And because of that I know we'll have left the world better than we found it."

Guy's vision blurred as his eyes filled with tears. "I don't want to be left behind," he whispered.

"Being left behind this time doesn't mean that you're being left alone," she reminded him. "And if there's a place people go after they leave this world, we'll be waiting there for you. Us, and all of the family you never met."

Guy lowered his head, the tears beginning to leak out of his eyes.

"Guy." Both of Inda's hands closed around his. "I hope that I'm here for a long time. I want to see you stand up with Eep and I want to see the children you'll bring into the world. I want to know what they'll be like. I want to see all these crazy, wonderful ideas you have. I want to be here for all of that. And there's so much I want to teach you, all the stories and songs of our people. But if—" She sighed, and her voice quavered a little. "If I can't be here—for whatever reason—I want you to know that this is enough. I'm happy. I love you. I'm so proud of you. And I want you to live the best life you possibly can."

Guy's breath hitched in a sob as he raised his head to look at her. "Don't look at me like that," Inda smiled. "I'm not going to die tomorrow. Come here." Guy slid over to her and she put her arms around him. He put his head on her shoulder. "Nobody knows how much time they have," Inda told him gently. "Let's not waste any of it being sad about things that haven't happened yet."

Guy nodded against her shoulder.

"So," Inda said slyly. "What exactly were you and Eep up to all day yesterday?"

Guy choked, and began to laugh through his tears. "Mom!"

"Don't 'mom' me, young man, I know a love bite when I see one."

Guy's hand flew to cover his neck again. "Mom!"

"Did you work everything out?" Inda asked, smiling.

"Not, uh, everything—" Guy hedged, not looking at her. "But—yeah, mostly. I think we—have an understanding now."

Inda smiled. "I'm glad."

"Yeah," Guy grinned at the ground. "Me too."

"So," Inda said, as Guy straightened, wiping his eyes. "Would you like to hear a story?"

They ate well that night, with meat from Eep and Grug and fish from Pal. Thunk contributed some fruit that he tucked among the coals to roast. It was surprisingly good, especially with the fish.

"It's a more delicate flavor," Thunk said thoughtfully, when the food was gone and the family had more or less returned to his senses. "That's why the fruit is better with the fish. Hmm."

Guy grinned. "Looks like maybe we should just turn the cooking over to Thunk from now on," he murmured to Eep, who snorted and shook her head.

"No way," she whispered. "He doesn't get a head start on the rest of us just because of a couple good ideas!"

Guy chuckled, then sobered slightly as he watched Pal steer Inda off to bed early. He felt Ugga's hand on his shoulder and looked up, trying to muster a smile for her. "Try not to worry too much," Ugga said to him softly. "It's not what she wants."

Guy nodded, and Ugga squeezed his shoulder before moving off. Eventually, the rest of the family drifted off, as well, leaving Eep and Guy sitting by the fire.

"It seems impossible, doesn't it?" Guy said, putting his arm around her. Eep scooted closer and snuggled up against his side.

"What does?" she asked.

"This. Everything. When I think about where I was a year ago even, it just doesn't seem possible that I somehow I ended up like this. I have everything I ever wanted." He looked at her. "And everything I didn't even know I needed. It's just...crazy."

Eep smiled. "I think you earned it."

"Maybe." Guy sighed gustily. "I just—I don't know. I spent all that time working to get here, but I think a part of me never really believed it would happen. And not only did I make it here, but Mom and Dad made it, and I have you and—" He shook his head. "Imagine if I had stopped trying because I didn't believe I would make it. If I had given up. It just—it blows my mind how much I would have missed out on because I thought it was impossible."

"Guy," Eep said, her tone one of amused exasperation. "You think too much."

He chuckled. "Yeah, maybe." He gave her a slow grin. "Think you can help with that?"

Eep grinned back, and then reached up to hook a hand behind his neck and drag him down to her. Guy closed his eyes and kissed her, and for once, he didn't really care if anyone was watching.