The end is near... OH MY GOD... I'm finishing stories... that's scary... ;)

Chapter 25 - Normal Life

The week dragged on slowly and the heat had finally worn down. People were still talking but they weren't as rude about it as they had been. Ever had seen her small share of hazing, and even Reid had gotten tormented by a few of his swim team members for 'playing daddy', as they called it.

It was Saturday and Delilah and Ever both sat in their room getting ready to meet up with the reset of the gang. Ever pulled open a drawer, she pulled out a top and several pieces of papers fell on the ground.

"Shit," She mumbled as Delilah knelt down to help her pick them up.

"Ev, what is this?" She asked holding up the papers.

"Nothing," Ever stated picking the papers up off the ground and trying to take them from Delilah.

Delilah kept a firm grip on the neatly folded papers and glanced down at them, "Ever…" She whispered. "These are all acceptance letters…" Her eyes grew wide. "Emerson, Clark University… The Center of Professional Development…" Her eyes grew even larger at the last one that Ever was clutching on to. "CCPA?" She asked carefully. "Ever, when did you…."

"I got them last week," She whispered softly taking a seat on her bed. "I applied before everything with Reid happened…" She stated sadly. "I wanted to get as far away from here as possible…" She let out a heavy breath. "I didn't apply to BU… until a few weeks ago… I wasn't planning on going there…" She sighed.

"But Ever, you got accepted to CCPA…" Delilah sounded astonished. "That is one of the hardest performing art schools to get in to…" She exclaimed.

"I know, but its Chicago Dee…" Ever shook her head. "I can't leave Ipswich, hell I shouldn't be thinking of going to college. I've got a baby to take care of."

"Ever c'mon… you don't think Meredith will want you to go? You don't think Reid will want you to go?" She asked casually. "They will help you, I'm sure Meredith won't mind playing grandma to Declan for a few more years…"

Ever shook her head, "I can't expect them to keep doing stuff for me Delilah… it's not right…" She stated shaking her head.

"Not right?" Delilah asked. "Ever are you listening to yourself?" She asked her friend. "Reid and Meredith both love you…" She shook her head. "You and I both know that Reid is crazy about you…" She whispered.

"I know, but these are just silly dreams… I can't go chasing this when I've got a baby about to be a year old in a few months…" She shook her head. "It's just not right…"

"Ever, stop…" Delilah shook her head. "You are crazy not to do this…" She held up the papers. "You're good… damn good… and you can't let your dreams slip away…" She shook her head. "You should not live your life thinking 'What if…'" She handed the papers over to her friend.

"But it's not fair to…" Ever started.

"Not fair to whom?" Delilah asked. "It wouldn't be fair to you to let this get away…" She shook her head. "Reid wouldn't want you looking back regretting this…" She offered. "He'd want you to look back and think of what a great decision you made to do what you love…" The girl insisted.

Ever sat and sighed, she knew Delilah had a point, but she didn't want to leave everything she knew. She certainly couldn't go to Chicago, she couldn't be that far away from Declan, or that far away from Reid.

Maybe she could go to Emerson, or Clark… they both had schools in or around Boston, so it would work out well for everyone. She figured that she had applied to late to BU, so they wouldn't accept her. She sighed and glanced up at Delilah.

"Let's not worry about this…" She left the papers on her bed. "I believe it's time to meet our incredibly good looking boyfriends…" Ever suggested grabbing Delilah by the hand.

"You can't brush this off forever…" Delilah whispered.

"I don't intend to…" She grinned seeing Reid and Tyler rounding the corner.

The group wound up at Nicky's as they usually did, drinking, playing pool and enjoying their time together; things seemed to be working out well for them. Delilah found herself staying with Tyler in his and Reid's dorm room and Reid with Ever.

Ever pulled out her keys as Reid's arms encircled her waist, his lips fluttering over her bare neck as she tried to find the keyhole. Through her drunken vision she wasn't able to find the keyhole, she pushed on the door and it flew open; she let out a small laugh as Reid stumbled in behind her.

Ever wasn't usually a drinker, so she was a bit of a lightweight, by beer number two she was already giggly and ready to leave with Reid. Reid on the other hand had downed quite a few while they were there and he had never been so glad for his powers.

"You shouldn't use like that," Ever whispered shutting the door behind him.

"I figured it would get me in to your bed quicker…" He grinned pulling her closer to him.

"You are a perverse man Reid Garwin," Ever smiled as he placed his lips on hers.

"I do try," He remarked laying her down on her bed, Ever watched as he let his lips trail down her neck to her collar bone. He positioned himself ruffling some papers under his hands. "What's this?" He asked.

"Nothing," Ever stated shoving the papers off of the bed.

Reid didn't think twice about them, until the next morning. He woke up feeling his head pounding; he really shouldn't have drunk those beers the night before. He stumbled out of Ever's death grip and found his way to the bathroom.

He grabbed the small glass on the side of the sink and filled it with water, he stumbled back in to the room and saw the papers scattered about the floor. He slid down, sitting on the hardwood floor of the dorm.

His light blue eyes scanned over the papers, seeing that they were some sort of letters he grabbed at them and pulled them within his grasp. His eyes focused on the first letter that graced the top of the small stack.

Miss Ever Devlin Carmichael

136 High Street Room 231

Ipswich, MA 01938

Dear Ever,

It is an honor to inform you of the Admissions Committee's decision to offer you a place in the Chicago College of Performing Arts' Class of 2010.

Reid felt his eyes go wide at the thought, Chicago. Ever hadn't said a word about going to Chicago for college. She had applied to BU didn't she? She was just waiting for her letter of acceptance. Reid felt a lump in his throat as he glanced up at her sleeping figure.

He sifted through the stack and then looked back at her; they were all acceptance letters to every Performing school in New England, one from California and another from Nevada. He felt his heart pounding unevenly in his chest. Could she be thinking of leaving him, for good?

He heard a ruffling from the bed, if his head hadn't been hurting earlier, it was now. He glanced back and those green eyes bore in to his soul.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was soft and traces of sleep evident in her voice.

"I woke up and found these…" He stated rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Care to explain?" He asked his tone obviously hurt.

"Reid," She sat up her hands slipping under the thighs, rocking slowly back and forth.

"You didn't tell me that you applied to schools… schools halfway across the continent…" His voice seemed full of rage.

The thought of her leaving just irked him the wrong way, everything they had been through and she was going to run away from it all?

"No," She shook her head sadly, feeling her emotions running haywire, her head was woozy from the booze they had consumed the night before. "Reid it's not like that…" She urged.

"Then what's it like then Ever?" He asked her harshly. "You're gonna run away? The bastards in jail for Christ's sake… he's not going anywhere…" He insisted.

"Are you listening to yourself?" She scoffed. "You aren't even listening to me..." She shook her head. "I applied to these schools before you and me…" She glared at him, her gaze hurtful.

"Before?" Reid asked.

"I had no intentions of staying here before we were together, I was praying for school to be over so I could pack up my shit and leave…" She pulled herself up to her full height. "Until I met you, that's when I applied to BU, but I think it was too late… I haven't even heard back from them… but Emerson and Clark are only twenty minutes away from BU either way…" She whispered taking the papers from Reid. She walked over to her drawer and stuffed her papers in their hastily.

"So you're not running?" He asked.

Ever turned to look at him after closing the door, "Of course not, I've got too much here now…" She shook her head. "Besides I couldn't take Declan with me if I went to one of those other schools. I just wanted to see for myself if I was good enough to get in…" She admitted.

"So no word from BU then?" He asked sadly. He really wanted to go to the same school as her, not seeing her everyday would be pure torture for him.

That smile, the way her eyes sparkled when the light hit them at just the right angle. The movement of her body with his, the way they were almost perfectly in sync with each other. He couldn't see a day without her in it.

The two didn't speak anymore of the acceptance letters; instead they took showers and got ready for their peaceful Sunday. Reid and Ever stopped at his dorm room to grab something before heading over to the house. Meredith had decided to make brunch, wanting to, as she put it… "Spend some time with my kids…"

Reid laughed as Ever made a smart remark about them being brother and sister in a way, and asking if their relationship was incestuous. Reid gave her a disturbed look and she simply smiled. He forced the door open and both of them stood in shock at the picture before them.

Tyler was on top of Delilah; both of them were obviously topless, the sheets of the bed covering their lower halves, both caught in a tedious lip lock. Ever's hands flew to her eyes, all the thoughts of her 'sweet and innocent' Tyler were now ruined.

"Goddamn it Reid, don't you know?" Tyler pulled away from Delilah, neither of them bothering to move from their current position.

"Excuse me for coming to my room to get something, geez…" Reid bit back rolling his pale blue eyes.

"What did I tell you about corrupting my sweet, innocent Tyler?" Ever asked her small hands still covering her eyes from the scene before them.

Delilah snickered as Tyler rolled next to her, she pulled the covers up to her bare chest and waited as Reid sifted through his things. Tyler groaned lowly, but he couldn't help the small smile that was forcing its way on to his lips.

"I'm not as sweet and innocent as I appear…" Tyler quipped back in a tired drawl.

"I can see that…" Ever stated slowly peeking through her fingers at the bed. Her two friends were no longer in a compromising position.

"Got it…" Reid grinned picking up something and heading back to the door. "Now you two better be using protection, I don't want to have any little Tyler's running amuck." He waved his finger at the two.

Tyler reached behind him, grabbed the down pillow and chucked it at the couple, it flew past Ever and smacked Reid right in the face. The blonde pursed his lips together and glanced down at his girlfriend.

"I don't think we're wanted here…" He remarked.

"What was your first clue?" Ever asked with a laugh, pushing Reid through the door and closing it securely behind her.

"That was interesting…" Reid laughed sliding his arm around her shoulders.

"To say the least…" The girl grinned up at him and looked at the small bag in her boyfriend's grasp. "What's that about?" She asked.

"I just picked something up for my mom," He shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh really?" She questioned him.

"Yes ma'am…" He nodded heading out to her Sequoia. He grabbed the keys from her possession and pulled himself in to the driver's seat.

Within minutes they were parked outside of the Garwin Manor. He smiled up at the house, he had never remembered being this happy seeing the place, seeing his mother… it was strange. It was new. And he welcomed the new outlook on his life.

"You ok?" Ever's small voice tore him out of his thoughts.

Pale blue eyes caught green ones and he let one of his infamous smirks carry itself on to his lips. He tossed her a wink of reassurance and pulled her towards the house. Without knocking or ringing the bell he walked in to the large castle-like building that he knew as home.

"Mom?" His voice rang, bouncing off the wood paneled walls.

"Kids?" Meredith's voice came from the kitchen, a small gargling followed suit. "I'm in the kitchen," She let them know.

Reid pulled Ever in to the kitchen where the older woman was juggling the 8 month old baby and a spatula that was flipping pieces of French toast for their brunch. A smile spread across her face, revealing her pearly white, straight teeth.

"Here let me take him," Ever offered taking the growing boy in her arms.

Gurgled sounds came from him and mumbled 'Momma's' as well. Reid smiled giving his mother a sweet kiss on the cheek, her jaw went slack as he offered her the small bag.

"For me?" She asked calmly, letting her long skinny fingers fold over the two strings that held the bag closed. Reid simply nodded, noticing the broche attached to her top that Ever had gotten her for Christmas.

She grinned wildly and opened the bag without another thought. She looked down to see a small box laying at the bottom of pink and blue tissue paper. Ever's eyebrow arched in question, wondering just as badly as Meredith was about the present.

Meredith picked up the gold box and opened it slowly; Reid looked on expectantly waiting patiently for her to open up the small gift. The cover to the box slipped off and on to the counter, near the batter, the gauzy white fabric under the piece made it stand out more than it already did.

It was a simple gold chain with a gold heart-shaped pendant, a locket to be exact. Meredith picked it up and smiled over at her son who gave an easy shrug of his shoulders. She opened up the small locket and found two pictures on the left her deceased husband, Joseph, and on the right a picture of Reid, Ever and Declan together.

"Reid this is wonderful…" She whispered grabbing her son in a death like clutch; the tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"You weren't supposed to get all mushy on me…" Reid defended giving his mother another quick kiss on the cheek.

"You are not the same boy you used to be," Meredith whispered pulling away from her son; she placed her hands on either side of his face and gave him a sweet smile. "You've grown up so much…" She whispered.

Ever sat back watching the exchange, she felt a tug at her heart as she glanced down at her light haired son. Those hazel eyes looking up at her with a toothy giggling grin. She could feel the mother son love emanating in the room, it was simply touching.

"You're gonna make me cry or something, stop…" Reid forced a laugh as he shook his head, putting his hands on her wrists and pulling her hands from his face.

Meredith forced a laugh seeing the glazed over look in her son's eyes, she sniffled back and held up the necklace to him, urging him to put it on her. Reid took the delicate piece of jewelry in his hands and hooked it around his mother's neck. It hung low over her heart and near the broche.

"It's good to have you kids home today," She whispered glancing up at Reid who nodded his head. "You have some mail on the desk in your father's office if you want to take a peak…" She nodded her head in the opposite direction.

Reid nodded and grabbed Ever by the elbow gently guiding her towards the office. He picked up the small stack, several credit card offers, some junk mail, a few other miscellaneous pieces that didn't catch his attention until he saw one that did.

Miss Ever D. Carmichael

The front read with the Garwin Manor address printed below it. He handed it over to her with expectant eyes, the return address was the regular seal for the court house, he had a pretty good idea of what it was.

Ever's fingers trailed over the envelope, she flipped it over, adjusting Declan on her hip as she hooked her finger through and lifted up damaging the seal of the envelope. Her eyes moved swiftly over the paper and she looked up at Reid.

"The trial for Richard is going to be in two weeks, I'm going to be asked to take the stand again…" She felt her blood rising with fear at the thought of having to go through it all over again.

Reid noticed that she was visibly shaking; he stood up from the plush leather chair and held on to her upper arms firmly. He pulled her in to a hug, pressing Declan between them.

"Everything will be ok Ever, you just tell the truth, they obviously have enough evidence or there would be no trial right now…" He shrugged his shoulders. "I know Rosalind and Wayne and they wouldn't go through with this unless they knew it was a solid case."

"I know, I don't doubt it… but I have to live through all of that again…" She whispered. "I don't want Declan there…" She shook her head after a short pause.

"I understand, I'll ask mom to stay home with him… that way I can be there for you." He assured her.

"God, this is all so much…" She whispered her free hand finding it's way to her forehead.

"But it'll be over with before you know it…" Reid stated. "And then we can go and lead a normal… happy life…" He insisted.

"Reid," She looked up at him a half smile showing on her face. "You're a witch… how is that normal?" She asked him.

Reid opened his mouth to say something but shut it again shaking his head; she had a point… a very good point. Their lives would never be normal; it would be extraordinary and supernatural. That was a given, but normal, never.

Please remember to R&R!