AN: Again, sorry for the delay. Real life has a habit of getting in the way. Hopefully, the length of this epilogue will make up for that a little bit. :)

So far, the only song title I've gotten from any of the three winners of my mystersy song game has been Bridge Over Troubled Waters, and awesomely enough, that title fits great with a story idea I have. Unfortunately, I have another story that I want to do first, so it won't be the very next one I write and post, but it is planned for the future. The next chaptered story in this AU will be Shayna's story, and I'll tease you with the song title I will be using: Fire and Rain by James Taylor. But I will not promise when I will start posting that because it is far, far (far, far) from being finished, and I don't want to start posting anything that could take months again to finish. But it is something you can look forward to eventually and no one has to worry that Everybody Plays the Fool is my last story planned for this AU. :)

Well, on with the story! I hope you enjoy the ending to Everybody Plays the Fool! Thanks to all who have read and those who have reviewed, and as always, thanks to my awesome friend and beta, Kerry Blue, without whom this story wouldn't be half as polished.

A crisp, clear night the day after Thanksgiving, New York City…

Brandy sipped what little was left of the champagne in her glass and leaned back against the support pillar on the outskirts of the large ballroom, just taking everything in. The crowd was huge and she was pretty sure fire marshals were holding people back at the entrance because they had exceeded the cavernous room's capacity.

Well, it might not be actual fire marshals since Brandy had learned awhile back that they functioned differently in NYC than they did in other places. Then again, since many of them were likely here anyway as invited guests, maybe they were pitching in and helping with crowd control in between enjoying the large buffet or dancing in the middle of the room to the music that the DJ was playing. It seemed to Brandy like Ana and Jack had invited to their wedding reception half of New York City. At the very least they must have extended invitations to the entire NYPD, NYFD, and the New York offices of the FBI and ATF and maybe even the DEA. Oh, and the New York City Medical Examiner's Office. And the City Council. And some of Dominic Messer's baseball friends. She didn't envy the security types who were probably experiencing apoplexy at having all of these high profile and important people in one place.

It was such a stark contrast from how the wedding itself had been. As Ana had explained it a few days before, she and Jack wanted a small, intimate wedding that was just about pledging their lives together in front of their families and closest friends. There had been no more than fifty people in the beautiful church that Devon had told Brandy was where they had spent most Sunday mornings growing up.

At the thought of Devon, Brandy sighed. She couldn't see his blindingly white dress uniform in the crowd around her, but he was never far from her thoughts. While she had had plenty of contact with him during the few weeks since their near death experience, there had always been others present which prevented them from having any kind of substantive discussion about the future of their relationship. Or whether there was a future to their relationship at all, since Shayna had informed Brandy before the ceremony this morning that Devon had received orders the night before to report back to his home base in California within the next 48 hours. Devon wasn't recovered enough to be sent out on any serious missions, but the Navy evidently thought he was well enough to come back for some limited duty.

And therein lay the problem. Devon was flying to California in a matter of hours and Brandy was staying here in New York City. They had known each other for such a short amount of time that the separation shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but Brandy felt a sharp stab of pain in the region of her heart whenever she thought about it. Subconsciously, that was likely the reason she had been trying to subtly pull back from Devon and his family for the last week or so. She had claimed a need to retreat a little from the media spotlight, and the intense scrutiny she and Devon and his family had been under since the kidnapping made her excuse a pretty legitimate one. While the press and the public usually had a pretty short attention span, it was unlikely that such a juicy story would be dropped anytime in the foreseeable future, what with the psycho pushing for a quick trial date and his father being scheduled to die in a couple of months despite the attempts of the psycho to use Brandy's "advice" about claiming his father as a co-conspirator.

But none of that was the real reason Brandy had strived for some distance. Despite the persistent press, she had enjoyed being drawn into the circle of Devon's family. They were a group of amazing people and Brandy was fast becoming very good friends with Shayna. She could even remember most of their names now, especially his Uncle Don. Though Brandy would still call him Ron once in awhile to joke with him.

No, the real reason was that she knew Devon would be heading to San Diego eventually and that it wouldn't be a temporary separation. As she spent more time with Devon and watched his eyes as he talked about his career in the Navy, regaling his family with hilarious tales of his job and the mischief he and his friends often got into, she could see his love for his profession. It was a look she understood because she was sure she looked the same way when she was excited about something to do with her job. And it was a look many in Devon's family shared, people who had devoted decades of their life to their chosen careers. But their professions kept them in one place while Devon's was currently taking him to the other side of the country and then off to who knows where in the world.

She had briefly thought of returning to San Diego, too, but her career in New York City was blossoming and starting over in her hometown would be a step back. She knew that Devon would hate the idea of adversely affecting her career, just as much as she would hate it if she were ever to hold him back from his. Besides, being based in the same city wasn't a guarantee that they would see each other much anyway, since he would frequently be away on missions or otherwise fully occupied with his work.

It was an impossible situation, an unlikely set of circumstances upon which to build a lasting relationship. And that was why she had pulled back, why she had claimed work as the reason why she didn't attend the wedding rehearsal and dinner yesterday. She did have plenty of work to do, considering that part of the whirlwind of the last few weeks had been her former supervisor being promoted to fill a sudden hole at FBI headquarters in D.C. and Brandy being offered his position based largely upon her work on the case that resulted in her own kidnapping. She hadn't thought she had done anything that spectacular, but enough people had evidently spoken up on her behalf to make the promotion happen. She was taking the increased responsibility very seriously since she was rather young for the position, and as such it wasn't uncommon to find her working extra hours, though most probably would have thought it fine for her to take the Thanksgiving holiday off. But her parents were busy conducting business on the other side of the world and only had time for a brief phone call, and Brandy needed the work to explain why she didn't attend the rehearsal that she had been invited to.

Early Friday morning she had awakened to a pounding on her apartment door that turned out to be Shayna. Devon's cousin wasted no time informing Brandy that she was not missing the wedding, and that she was to get ready and come with her to the church where the rest of the female members of the family had already started gathering. Brandy had opened her mouth to argue, but quickly shut it when Shayna shot her a look that made it clear no excuses would work this time.

So Brandy had gone to the church figuring that she wouldn't have to interact much with Devon, as she would be with the women prior to the ceremony, and would then watch from a pew seat while he stood up front as part of the wedding party. And she had been right, she hadn't exchanged more than two words with Devon all day. Just a quick greeting after the ceremony in the receiving line before the wedding party had been ushered back into the sanctuary for pictures and a man whose name rhymed with spaghetti had pulled Brandy along with his family to the reception. She realized that had been part of an organized plan to make sure that she didn't skip the reception when the man told her that he was Ell Messer's boyfriend's partner in the NYPD. He had eventually admitted that the family had charged him with making sure Brandy didn't bail out on "a party like New York had never seen," as Ana had put it.

And it was certainly that, Brandy had to admit. She watched the large group of people dancing to the slow song currently being played over the loudspeakers, her eyes finally snagging on someone she knew. Devon's Uncle Don was dancing with a woman who Brandy was pretty sure she remembered as being Jack Dent's mother. She idly watched the couple, letting her thoughts drift from their previous seriousness and completely missing the figure in a blindingly white dress uniform coming up behind her.

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Don slowly danced with Deb Dent as he gazed across the ballroom and noticed his nephew approaching the ballistics tech that had captured so much of his attention. The poor guy was so far gone, and yet within a few short hours would have to fly three thousand miles away from the object of his affection.

Not that Don was in a much better situation. He wasn't as nearly far gone as his nephew, but he was dealing with his own separation issues. Deb had gone back to Washington not long after Devon and Brandy were rescued and she had kept in only sporadic touch with Don since then, and yet he still felt an incredibly strong attraction to this woman when he saw her again at the rehearsal yesterday. And now she was in his arms and he didn't particularly care to let her go.

The woman in question looked up at him, cocking her head slightly to the side. "What's on your mind?"

He sighed, deciding to be upfront about things. "I was just thinking that my nephew and I are in a similar situation. He's flying off to California soon and leaving Brandy Charles behind, while you'll be going back to Washington within the next few days and leaving me here. Of course, the distance between New York and D.C. is a lot easier to handle than the distance between here and San Diego."

She considered him for a moment before tearing her gaze away to look over his shoulder. "I've, uh, been having some thoughts about that." She took a deep breath. "I've been thinking seriously these last few weeks about stepping back a little within the DEA." Her gaze wandered over to where Don knew Ana and Jack were standing, chatting with some guests. "Recent events have led me to reevaluate a few things in my life and I came to realize I've missed out on too much with my son. I know I could make our relationship better and still keep my current position, but I've been getting tired of the constant politics that have to be played at my level in a federal agency anyway and looking to find a way out of that nonsense. So, I put out feelers to see if it would be acceptable to the powers that be if I were to move back a step or two, maybe to the head of the New York field office position since the woman currently in that slot is retiring soon, and it seems like that could work out as a possibility. Jack seemed happy that I wanted to be more of a part of his life when I told him last night of my plans." She finally looked back up at Don. "This means that I would be around more often, if you'd like to go out sometime. You know, maybe spend some time together when we're not surrounded by a million people waiting to see if we'll start yelling at each other again."

Don grinned. "Sounds good to me. Better than good. And even though I'll be busier in the new year, what with Mac deciding to step down as Chief of Detectives and me being appointed Interim Chief, I'm sure I can find some time to liaise with the DEA's office."

"So it's true what I've heard?" his dance partner inquired. "Jack had mentioned the possibility awhile back and I've heard some rumors that it had become official, but I didn't know for sure."

"It's official," Don confirmed. "Mac submitted his retirement paperwork late last week and he will step down effective the first Monday in January. Just one of many changes in our family lately." And it was. These changes had mostly all been inevitable, the retirement of Mac and the marriage of one of the kids and serious relationships for some of the others, but Don had never anticipated that they would come in such quick succession. He hadn't quite decided how he felt about taking over Mac's position, even temporarily, but for now he wasn't going to think about that. For now, all he wanted to think about was the woman in his arms and the celebration going on around them for one of the happiest moments his family had had in a long time. And as he caught another glance of his Navy nephew, he sent up a quick prayer that things could work out for Devon as well as they seemed to be shaping up for Don himself.

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As Devon approached Brandy he hoped he wasn't playing the fool, that her recent retreat hadn't been meant to indicate to him that she wasn't as in to him as he was to her. But he needed to know for sure before flying back to California whether she felt anything like he was feeling, whether their fledgling romantic relationship stood a chance.

And then her head turned and their gazes locked and he knew that he had better than a chance. If he was interpreting her look correctly, she was feeling everything that he was. But before he did something rash based on that gut feeling, he reined himself in and tried the slow approach. "Hey."

"Hi." Their gazes stayed locked for a few more moments until she looked down at her empty glass, holding it in both hands. When he noticed the slight tremble there he decided to throw all his resolutions out the window and go for broke. It wasn't like he had a lot of time to spare.

"So, I was wondering, have you been avoiding me these last few days because you seriously had a lot of work you just had to do, or is it because you wanted to let me down gently and not hurt my feelings by having to reject any advances I made?"

Her eyes slid briefly closed before she slumped back against the support pillar and looked at him. "Neither. I avoided you because I'm afraid my heart is already too involved, but I can't imagine how anything could successfully come of it all, what with you being three thousand miles away soon. Or even more miles when you're back on full duty and flying around the world. I figured I would try to let myself down gently."

His breath caught, but he managed to ask his next question. "And how is that going?"

She looked off to the left. "Not well at all."

He gently took her chin in his hand and turned her gaze back towards his. "Ah, Brandy, you really have no idea, do you?"

Brandy looked up at him, her eyes giving away all of her uncertainty. "About what?"

His thumb moved slowly over her chin. "About the fact that you're the first thing that has ever made me even briefly consider giving up the Navy anytime before I hit retirement age." He smiled. "I love my family dearly, but missing them has never been a strong enough pull to bring me back to New York permanently. And yet, now I have the strong urge to lose my reenlistment papers when my time comes up in a little over a year. That is, if you think you could possibly wait that long to have more than phone calls and e-mails and the occasional short visit."

A tear ran down her cheek and he caught it with his thumb as she started to speak. "If you're serious about this, about us, Devon Messer, then I can certainly handle a year of what you described." She straightened against the pillar. "But I don't want you to make any final decisions about your career right now. We barely know each other at this point. I would hate for you to give up a career that you love for someone you figure out too late isn't compatible with you after all."

Devon didn't think that they would be incompatible. In fact, he had recently caught himself fantasizing about a distant future wherein they had made their relationship more permanent and built a home together. But he knew that now was not the time to voice that opinion. Instead, he would heed her words and they would go as slowly as their separation would require. He hoped that time would show him to be right, that this thing between them was something special that could last through not just this upcoming separation, but through anything that came at them from here on out.

They were abruptly brought back to the party when Dominic walked up. "What are you two lovebirds doing over here? You're missing the whole party!"

Kaile sent them an apologetic look. "Sorry guys. I tried to distract him, but he wanted to come over here and play the big brother."

Devon rolled his eyes. "It's not your fault, Kaile, that my brother is an annoying busybody."

Dominic pointed a finger at his younger brother. "I'm going to let that go since you're leaving so soon, but don't think that I will forget you said that."

Devon was about to make a crack about how he was so scared of his older brother's "threat," but Ella walked up with JD before he could say anything. "Are you two seriously getting into it in the middle of Ana's wedding reception?"

"Of course they are," Shayna said, joining their group. "Why should now be different than any other time?"

Devon sighed in mock exasperation and looked over at an amused Brandy. "As much as I don't want to, I have to ask, are you sure you aren't having any second thoughts? Because I get to fly away from these people soon, but you're stuck here with them."

Shayna latched onto his comments like a bloodhound on a scent. "Do I take that to mean that you guys are going to start dating despite the distance issue?"

Brandy looked up at him and Devon's heart skipped a couple beats at the heat in her gaze. "Devon wants to give the long-distance thing a try, so if you all don't object," she said wryly, "yes, we are going to try a relationship."

Dominic reached over and slapped Devon on the back. "Great! And hey, maybe we'll have to get you a pool table too sometime in the near future."

Devon raised an eyebrow. "I don't think we're anywhere near that stage. In fact, you're much closer to that than we are. But speaking of pool tables, did you get everything set up?"

"Of course I did," Dominic replied. "I got a call awhile ago from the moving company that everything has been handled. When Ana and Jack get back from their honeymoon, they'll barely be able to open the front door because of the thing, but it's inside."

Devon took pity on the obviously confused Brandy and briefly explained. "To make a long story short, when we were kids, well, Shayna and I were kids and the others were teenagers, our whole family was eating out at some place with pool tables and our Uncle Don kept saying things to my parents, making jokes about the pool tables. Eventually one of us caught on-"

"I think it was Ana actually," Dominic interjected. "Which makes it only right that she's the first to get one of her own."

"Right, so Ana caught on and realized that my parents had a, uh, history with pool tables. And she immediately started saying things like 'Ewww!' because she was at the age that thinking about that in relation to your parents is gross."

"It's still gross to me," Shayna joked. "I continue to maintain that I came by stork."

"And thus it became one of those epic family jokes," Devon finished. "So, what better gift could we all get Ana than her very own pool table to facilitate the, uh, growth in the family that she has said she and Jack plan on working towards in the near future?" He pointed a thumb at his older brother. "It sure helped our parents because we think that Dom here was conceived on one. According to our aunt and uncles, the table that our parents once owned was gone by the time Ana and Ella were born, but they still had it when Dominic was--"

"Okay, okay, enough, enough," Dominic pleaded as everyone laughed and he grimaced at the thought of his own conception. He waved down a nearby waiter carrying a full tray of glasses filled with champagne and passed them around to everyone in the group. "A toast! To the growth of our family, whether through pool tables or weddings or kidnappings." Dom managed to not spill any of his champagne when Kaile elbowed him in the side. He recovered and smoothly continued talking. "And may our growth bring happiness as we continue to welcome new people into our very odd and crazy family," he said, motioning to both JD and Brandy when he referenced the new members of their group.

Devon rolled his eyes at his brother's toast, but drank anyway because he agreed with the sentiment of it. He very much hoped that the newcomers to the family continued to bring as much happiness as Jack already had for Ana. Brandy had already brought pleasure and happiness into Devon's life like he had never felt before and their relationship had barely started. Despite all the hardships and crazy psychos his family had had to endure in the past year, he would be a fool to not give thanks on this Thanksgiving weekend for the great and wonderful things he had in his life. As he put his arm around the woman he had come to care so much about, he could only hope that this next year could be filled with more of the happiness and less of the hardship.