A/N Please remember that this story is now AU so the canon timeline and storyline are not relevant here and since I placed the time near Christmas, it can double as my Christmas offering. Oh, and this chapter is rated M for some very naughty language.

Epilogue

2 years later….December 22nd

(Ruth) I really can't comprehend that Harry and I have finally reached this stage of our relationship. Tomorrow I am going to marry the man of my dreams and I can hardly wait! (But sometimes he has been so extremely frustrating that he became the man of my nightmares.) It has taken so much emotional energy from both of us to get to this place and I must admit, there were many times when I was ready to walk away because being in a relationship with him was just too hard!

Harry doesn't believe me when I tell him that he is a deeply emotional man and we have argued about it many, many times. He prides himself that he usually is able to control his emotions and I agree to a certain extent; however, when it concerns matters of the heart and those he loves, he feels strongly and is just now beginning to believe me when I tell him that he has been that way as long as I have known him. He has gone to great lengths to re-establish relationships with both of his children recently and I am so happy, not only for him, but Catey and Graham as well. Both of them have very noticeable Harry-like qualities.

I am walking into this marriage with full knowledge that it is going to call forth much patience, understanding and love from each of us. The two of us are alike in many ways but so, so different in others. I guess that is why we enjoy each other's company so much and also why we can have these utterly passionate and explosive rows. I've been very close to saying, "Fuck off, Harry Pearce!" many times when he chose to become Boss Harry while we were off the grid and was telling me what I needed to do.

We are definitely different…he can be quite spontaneous at times and I rarely am. I know that our colleagues have heard some of our arguments in his office…like the row we had when he moved my things into his home shortly after we became engaged and while I was away at a conference. After three days apart, I went straight to the grid to greet him and he happily shared he'd moved all of my things into his house and we were now living together. I was ready to kill! We hadn't even talked about living together yet! Infuriating, controlling man! The rest of the team scampered out of the office when we started shouting at each other and Harry spent the first week of our 'living together' sleeping on the sofa and groveling. He does do groveling quite well I might add. It was times like that that I could see myself walking away from him.

But when I was kidnapped a few months ago and was missing for 3 days, I was told that Harry was visibly shaking when he took the phone call from the kidnappers before he proceeded to clear the top of his desk in a rage. I was never was so happy to see someone in my life when he walked through door when the team rescued me. After being checked out in the Med Bay, Harry took me home…Solicitous Harry is something to behold. He was so mindful of me and anticipated my every need, even knowing when I needed just to be held in silence, surrounded by him and his love.

I can hardly wait for tomorrow and I will stake my life on the fact that Harry feels the same way. We are meant to be with each other; life partners and soul mates in every way that there is and I love this wonderfully compassionate, sensitive, courageous, infuriating man with all of my heart.

(Harry) It is Christmas morning and Ruth is still asleep. I cannot believe that this woman—my best friend, my confidant and my lover—is now my wife. My wife! I have to be careful how I say "my" wife. Yesterday she got quite huffy when I said that because she said it sounded like she was my possession. She let me know in no uncertain terms that she was NOT anyone's possession and I could do well to remember that or this would be the shortest-lived marriage in recent memory. After some groveling on my part, I was able to explain to her that I am so happy and proud of finally being able to call her 'my wife' that I may be going somewhat overboard calling her that. I want to shout it to the world!

We have overcome so many things to get here. We both have tempers, we both are passionate, we both have to be right and we both tackle problems from completely different perspectives. I swear that woman can analyse something within an inch of its life. At work that is a gift and has saved all of us too many times to mention. However, when she did it concerning our relationship there were times when I came very close to screaming in frustration. I must admit that there were times when I stormed out of the house and slammed the door I was so angry.

Deep down, I know that I could never leave her and I am trusting that she feels the same about me. She makes me whole and is teaching me that sometimes relating to the world around me requires a different way of being. I don't always have to be the one in charge and the entire outcome of any relationship doesn't depend only on me. This new way of 'relating' has opened up my connection with my children and I am so grateful to my lovely Ruth for helping me to see them differently.

It is our first Christmas together as man and wife and I plan on spending the rest of our marriage trying to be the man she sees me as being. She is my Christmas gift and I couldn't have a better one…this lovely woman, who has chosen me to be her husband and partner for the rest of our lives, is the reason I get up in the morning. She is my reason for living and I love her with all of my heart and I will do so forever. I only hope that I can be worthy of her love.

Uh-oh, I can hear her getting up. Time to get breakfast going for my wife…my lovely wife.

End

A/N Thank you to everyone who has read this story and especially to those who have taken the time to review it. It has been a good learning experience that I hope to repeat sometime in the future. However, because story ideas seem to come to me at the rate of a moving glacier, it may be some time before I post anything. Have a Happy Christmas.