It is always an odd, but good feeling when typing The End on a fic. I'm oddly sad this one will be over. BUT Epilogue will post tomorrow. I will mark this fic complete then.

Thank you as always to Kyla713 for looking this over. To Packy or all her flails and comments.

Enjoy!

Chapter 14-

Buster came home with us on Christmas Eve, which seemed rather perfect. We didn't name him, and I had a sneaking suspicion if Toby was allowed to name the pup, he'd be called something like polka for the few dots Buster had. He was black and white mixed breed, and absolutely adorable.

He took to Toby right away; just about knocked him over with all the licks Buster gave him. The more I saw how happy Toby looked , the more I could never be mad at Bella for not asking me first. Toby needed this as much as Buster probably needed him.

The ride home was no different. Buster stayed next to Toby the whole way home, cuddled up next to him, his head in my boy's lap. It took a bit to coerce the pup out of the car once we were home. No one wanted to push him, pick him up or make him go in. We wanted him to realize he was safe and free.

Once inside, Buster sniffed his way around the house excitedly. After he was happy with his surroundings, Toby got him to follow him by showing him the sign come. Toby walked him to the kitchen where we set his water and food bowls down. Toby then signed water, but he fumbled a bit with the sign of food, which Bella helped him with. We got him to sit for a treat, and shortly after that, the pup was tuckered out.

"Can we call Jasper now?" Toby asked, looking up at Bella. "I want him to know we have Buster."

Bella grabbed her phone and nodded before texting a message. "Just let me text him to make sure he can get on video chat." I'd become so used to hearing Bella speak over the last few months, that I no longer think of her as deaf. Sure, she still sounded it, but she seemed more confident now than she had before when she spoke out loud. It was nice to see that she had let that wall fall.

"Can he?" Toby impatiently asked.

"Yes, he's ready now. But, hmm, it seems he has a visitor over, so might not be long." I had a feeling who the visitor was.

When Toby raced upstairs, Buster noticed the excitement and bolted up from sleep to follow his friend. We hurried up after them.

Bella opened her laptop and sat in my office chair, pulling Toby up with her before pushing call. Jasper came up to the screen and we also noticed Alice in the background.

Hi! We all signed to each other.

Bella put her hands in front of Toby and began signing to Jasper, Sorry. I know you probably had plans, but a certain little boy and his dog wanted to call and say thank you.

Jasper's eyes grew with happiness and smiled. So you picked him up? Everything okay?

Bella urged Toby to sign next, all the while helping him, of course. Yes! He came right up to me. He is the best. I love him. Thank you, Jasper.

I picked up Buster in my arms to show Jasper, and then I signed myself, I am glad you told Bella about him. He's a perfect fit. No way would I have said no.

Jasper clapped, looked back at Alice before coming back and smiling. This makes me happy, he signed. I knew he'd get the love he needed with you guys. Plus, it will help Toby learn ASL.

I nodded. Good idea. I know that Toby wants to be able to talk to you more. So, works for us all.

Jasper shook his head, clearly emotional. I look forward to getting to know him, too. I have so much I want to teach and tell him. He paused and looked like he was thinking, and then resumed signing. I would have taken Buster in myself, but allergic, sadly. But I look forward to watching Buster while he's with you guys.

Bella and Toby both signed thank you to Jasper again and said goodbye, but not before making plans to meet up with Jasper a few days after Christmas so he could meet Buster himself.

Later that night, as we were getting Toby ready for bed and trying to wind him down for the next day, he insisted that Bella open his surprise to her. He couldn't wait, he said. That waiting for tomorrow was way too long.

He handed it off to Bella; it was a rectangular wrapped package. There was a name tag at the top with my mom's handwriting, but I heard Bella's intake of breath when she noticed what was written.

To: Mom

From: Toby

I wanted to let it be up to him when and if he would call her that. I didn't want to pressure him, though it did surprise me with how soon he did. I knew he wanted a mother, and by the way the last few months had gone, I was clear that he saw that in Bella. I didn't plan to live in sin forever with Bella. I had plans to propose, I just had to wait for a certain season to get here.

"Oh, Toby!" Bella choked out and then carefully untied the ribbon that was around the package.

She began to slowly unwrap her gift when Toby rolled his eyes and said, "It is much more funner if you just rip into it." So Bella did.

Opening the box, she was met with colorful fall leaves from different trees. They were all glued to a book cover, which she then opened. There she found a picture of a bench, just like the one in the park. Under the picture was a caption: Where we first saw you.

As Bella flipped through her book, she came across pictures of Toby with his first sign, her coffee shop and other places we'd gone. When she reached the back, it was leaves again, but in the middle, there was one lone, red leaf. I knew it held significance to them both.

Bella grabbed Toby into her arms and held him to her. "Thank you, sweetheart. I'll cherish that always. You did amazing, and a pretty good job at keeping a secret, too. I love it, and you."

Toby smiled and kissed her cheek before crawling off her. "Grandma said you'd probably like to never forget all your firsts, especially if they mean something to you. And since I wanted to do something special, this is what we came up with."

We got our boy up to bed, tucked him in and kissed him goodnight after Bella read and signed their favorite book to read. We left the door open just a bit so that Buster could walk through and be with his buddy any time during the night. I just hoped we wouldn't wake up to everything being chewed apart in the morning.

Sleeping that night was hard. I knew it was too soon to propose to her, that we'd turned her life upside down so fast, but it would happen before too long. It wasn't an if, but a when.

When our alarm blasted in the morning, I was surprised that Toby hadn't run in like he had the year before. Instead, we found him downstairs with Buster. Toby was trying to sign roll over, but it wasn't having the results he was expecting.

As we sat around our tree opening presents and laughing, I realized I loved this newly formed family more than anything. That I'd hold it together with all I had.

I looked out the window and found that snow was falling, and I thought back to the previous fall, with how the leaves swayed and fell to the ground. Since then, I'd learned that changing seasons bring some of the best surprises. All it took was a small boy, a leaf and the most beautiful woman to set my change in motion all while leaves fell.

The End.

*.*

Seeing how a lot of you took a chance with my Deaf/hoh Bella in this fic, I think you guys would like Kristina Sanchez's(AKA LyricalKris) new book that is coming out. She touches on Deaf culture very well throughout it. And it is the first book I've read in while that I felt represented the Deaf community well. It isn't often when an indie, or any published book touches a deaf character or community like this. If you'd like to pre-order(which I think you should do), please go to Amazon and look up Spaces Between Notes. I can't tell you how excited she had me when she brought up the fact she'd be writing a deaf character.