AN: Okay, guys here is the epilogue. It's actually out before I said it would be. I didn't have very much to finish on it. The epilogue is inspired by the song It Won't Be Like This For Long by Darius Rucker and Reba (the TV show, which is fantastic if any of you haven't seen it), which I don't own either obviously.

I would like to say thank you to Guin Parris for all of the reviews, and to everyone who has followed and favorited both of the stories. They would have never been finished if it weren't for you guys.

The epilogue is dedicated to everyone who has read both Beauty and the Techie and Beauty and the Techie 2: Book of Secrets.

Thanks for sticking with me for both of the stories.

Happy Reading!

Epilogue: It Won't Be Like This For Long

Seven Months later

Riley's POV:

I laid in bed staring at the ceiling. Carissa hadn't gone to sleep all night. Was that supposed to be normal? Bianca and I took turns all night to take care of her and try to get her to go back to sleep.

"I'll get her." Bianca said tiredly as she started to get up.

I shook my head, "No, I got her. I can't sleep anyway."

"You sure?" She asked.

I kissed her head, "Go back to sleep. I've got this."

"Alright..." She replied before going back to sleep. I went over to the cradle.

"Hey Carissa, what's the matter sweetheart?" I asked as I picked her up. She stopped crying. I sighed in relief, she had stopped. I kissed her head, "That's my sweet girl." I held her for a bit feeling myself starting to fall back asleep. "Alright Clarissa, I'm not much of a singer, your mom is tired, so I'm gonna try."

I sighed and started to sing to her a song I had been hearing Bianca sing to her all week. She had sang it so many times this week even I had the song memorized by now.

"Come stop your crying

It'll be alright

Just take my hand

Hold it tight

I will protect you from

All around you

I will be here

Don't you cry..." I started to sing to her. Eventually she fell back asleep.

As the week passed, we both got into the routine of getting up to take care of Carissa. 'I love her, but what I wouldn't do for one night of sleep.'

I poured myself a cup of coffee and put water in the microwave for tea so Bianca wouldn't have to fuss with it when she got downstairs.

The microwave dinged, I took the water out and filled her mug.

"Morning Ri." Bianca greeted as she came down the stairs.

"Morning." I replied tiredly and asked, "How is she?"

"She's alright. She's better now." She replied, "How are you doing?"

"Tired. I don't remember the last time I actually had a decent amount of sleep."

She hugged me with a small smile on her face. "It wont be like this for long, Ri. One day soon we'll look back laughing at the week we brought her home. This phase is gonna fly by. Just hold on, it wont be like this for long."

Four Years Later

Bianca's POV:

The years past when Carissa was around a year old she started sleeping all the way through the night for the most part. She could hold full on conversations by the time she was two. She was almost four now and very much daddy's little girl, not Riley minded.

"She start's preschool today." I reminded Riley. Carissa missed the cut off date last year.

"Yeah, I know. I'll drop her off and meet you at the FBI building so we can look over those files." Riley replied.

I nodded, "Good plan."

"Although, getting her there is a different problem. She's changed her outfit three times already. I keep telling her she looks great, but she doesn't believe me." He replied, standing up from the table, "I'm gonna go start the car, see if you can hurry her along." He kissed my cheek and headed out the door.

Carissa came out in a little overall dress with a t-shirt and sandals. "I don't wanna go to school. I wanna stay home with you and Daddy."

I smiled and went over to her, "Carissa, sweetheart, we'd like that too, but we've got a lot of work to do today."

"You want me to go to school?" She asked.

"I think you'll like it." I told her.

"But I don't know what to wear." She replied.

"I think you look beautiful." I told her, curling a loose blonde curl behind her ear.

"Really?" She asked.

"Really." I hugged her, "Now your dad's got the car started, you ready to go?"

She nodded, and headed out to the car.

Riley's POV:

When I dropped her off at preschool, she was clinging to my leg not really wanting to join the small group of students starting to form. The teacher helped pull her of off me and directed her to the rest of the students.

"What can I do?" I asked her about Carissa. She had been like this at the open house and when we toured the school. She didn't really want to go.

"Don't worry, this will only last a week or two." She smiled, and looked at the students starting to talk to one another, and then looked back to me, "It won't be like this for long. One day soon you'll drop her off and she won't even know you're gone. This phase is going fly by, if you can just hold on. It won't be like this for long."

I thanked her and left. I thought about the words she said as I drove to meet Bianca. She had said something similar to what Bianca had when we brought Carissa home. It won't be like this for long. I knew it wasn't. Another year, she'll be actually going to school, and then it won't be very long after that until she's a teenager, and then a few more years after that she'll be in college, and then married. I took a deep breath, trying not to think about how fast it all can go by. Not really wanting to think that it won't be like this for long.

Bianca's POV:

"Hey what's bothering you?" I asked as Riley walked into our office, he looked sort of melancholy.

"I was just thinking about how fast time goes by." He replied, "Are you sure she has to go to school? Can't she just stay at home with us another year?"

"I think it would be good for her to go. Gives her a chance to meet kids her age."

"Yes, but first it's preschool, and then it's actual school, and then she'll be leaving for college and getting married."

"She's four." I replied, but I knew sort of what he meant. Time goes by fast. "Who's to say Carissa's the only child we're gonna have? We could have more eventually." I told him, with a small smile on my face, "We've got Carissa for around fourteen more years before we have to send her off to college. That's quite a bit of time before we have to let her be independent. I really think we should enjoy her before she becomes difficult."

"Difficult?"

I smiled, "If she's anything like me, then yeah, she'll be a little difficult when she gets to be a teenager."

"I don't know if I can say I'm really looking forward to that."

"It won't be like that for long." I replied.

We both dug into our work.

It wasn't going to be like this for long.