I have no words to describe what Skins Fire has done to me. This chapter was meant to be the concluding chapter to the story, but I think we all need some more fluff than we used to. So this is not the final chapter. This is just the beginning of the end of this story. I have so much more fluff planned for everyone, I certainly know I need it. So this chapter, and every future chapter, is dedicated to us, the fandom, who have been screwed over by the writers. Personally, I'm acting as though Fire never happened. The title of this chapter suggests exactly how I feel about Naomi and Emily - they are endless, they are timeless, and no matter what is considered "canon", they will never be over.

Chapter 35: Endlessly

I was standing in front of the mirror, applying my makeup in the bathroom when Emily walked in and wrapped her arms around my waist. It was Ellie's first birthday today and we were throwing a party at our house to celebrate. I was a ball of nerves and anxiety and sad feelings because my little baby girl was growing up so quickly. I wrapped my hands around Emily's arms and squeezed tightly as I sighed and leaned into her arms. She kissed my shoulder gently.

"How has it already been a year since we had Ellie?" Emily murmured, moving her lips along my neck. "Just think...this time last year you were in excruciating pain and refusing to speak."

I caught her gaze in the mirror and smiled at her and fought off tears at the thought of how quickly Ellie was growing up. She was already talking a little and she was walking around like nobody's business. Her first word was "no," which was followed quickly by "mama" for Em and "mumum" for me. She hasn't bothered coming up with a name for Owen just yet. Owen and Ellie always played together, though they always played quietly. Owen was an old soul when he was alone, always quiet and contemplative. Ellie was the exact opposite – she barely finished making one mess before she began making another. When Ellie and Owen were together, they brought out the best in each other.

"It's gone by so quickly. It feels like just the other day when I was holding her for the first time, when she was so small and helpless. And now she sits on the couch and has favourite movies and calls me when she needs me and doesn't like bananas."

Emily nodded and laughed. "She's grown so much. I miss those baby days...you know, back when she was just learning how to sit up and she was constantly falling over? Those were the good days. Before she used to destroy our organization system for all the DVDs."

I pushed Emily away from me with a small smile as I sniffled. "Get away from me, Em, you're making me all emotional and sentimental and if I cry, it'll ruin my makeup."

Emily smiled and kissed me on the cheek. "Okay, I'll go and get Ellie dressed."

I finished up doing my makeup and tried my hardest not to think about how quickly the past year went by. Emily and I hadn't really discussed having another baby yet, but seeing how quickly Ellie was growing made me want another one to live it all over again. I wanted another baby to soothe and breastfeed and love. But right now Em and I were busy with work and taking care of Ellie and Libby and I was nervous to ask Emily if she wanted another baby because I was terrified that she would shoot me down. But I must say, I would understand if Emily didn't want another baby. I'd be heartbroken, but I'd understand. Things were busier than ever at the magazine, and we were actually being approached by other bigger magazines who wanted to either invest in or buy our company. We were still trying to figure out whether it would be best to be taken over or invested in and expand or if we should just leave things for the moment and carry on independently. But today wasn't about the company. Today was all about Ellie.

I sighed as I tried to push away all my worries and stresses about work. I fumbled around with my hair for a minute, trying to brush out the gentle waves that my hair now settled into. My hair had grown long since I gave birth to Ellie, simply because I didn't have the time to pop into the hairdresser's for a trim. My blonde hair was long gone and I'd embraced my natural brown hair colour for the first time in ten years. Ellie simply took up too much of my time to pamper myself like that. My body wasn't the same as it used to be before Ellie either. I was learning to love my new curves on my hips and my fuller breasts and my somewhat jiggly belly. But all that was okay. Ellie was worth it.

Ellie toddled into the bathroom a few minutes later on wobbly legs, all dressed up in a blue party dress.

"Mumum, dess!" Ellie said as she wrapped her arms around my leg to get my attention and then pointed to her dress.

"So pretty, baby girl," I said as I lifted her up and kissed her face all over. Ellie giggled and tried to push my face away from hers as I blew raspberries on her cheeks. Emily walked over and leaned against the bathroom doorframe, smiling as she watched us."Do you want to go downstairs and watch a movie with Libby?"

"Yaddin," Ellie responded. I stared at her confusedly for a moment. Emily smiled.

"She means Aladdin."

"Ya," Ellie said, looking between the two of us as we tried to contain our laughter at her pronunciation. "Ya, Yaddin, mumum."

"Okay, Aladdin," I replied, trying to gently correct her pronunciation. Ellie frowned at me and put her fingers against my lips to silence me.

"Yaddin," Ellie said with finality. I smiled and gave up.

"Bathroom's all yours, Em," I said. I kissed Emily on the cheek as I walked out of the room with Ellie and took her to the living room.

I sat Ellie down on the couch and rifled through the horribly messy and no longer carefully organized DVD drawer in search of Aladdin. Libby was sat in the windowsill watching for the postman, though she abandoned her spot to come and sit next to Ellie. Libby loved movie time as much as Ellie did because Ellie would spend the whole movie stroking Libby and giving her belly rubs.

I put the DVD into the player and left Libby and Ellie to their own devices while I sorted out getting the food ready in the kitchen. Em had prepared everything yesterday night, so all I had to do was set it out somewhat nicely.

I had just spread the tablecloth over the dining room table when I heard the front door open.

"We're here!" Katie called from the entranceway. I soon heard tiny pitter patters of feet running into the living room and jumping on the couch.

"Owen, shoes off the couch, please," Effy said as she walked through the living room. Her arms were full of alcohol and gifts. Katie followed her in and knelt next to Owen to help him take off his shoes.

"Effy, this is a one year old's birthday party, you know," I said, gesturing to the vodka and beer she'd brought over.

"Exactly," Effy replied as she looked down at all her booze and smiled happily.

Emily walked into the kitchen and smiled at the sight of the free alcohol.

"Wow, thanks, Eff! Naomi could use a few drinks today, she's all sentimental and emotional. Plus, you're officially done breastfeeding now, Naoms, so it's safe to knock a few back, darling," Emily said as Effy handed her the alcohol.

"Mmm..." I trailed off as Effy and I tried to organize the food table. Effy winked at me when she caught me eyeing up the vodka. Old habits die hard, I suppose.

We finished setting up the party food and drinks and by the time the party was in full swing, I may have already had a few drinks in me. It was actually a rather small affair – only family and a few friends, who were mostly mums and kids that Emily and I had met through playgroups or at the local park. Ellie was having an absolute blast and, surprisingly, most of the adults were as well. Libby was also loving all the extra attention. One person who wasn't really enjoying all the attention was Owen, who stuck with his mummies or Ellie or Em and I the whole time and didn't really care to venture out much.

We did all the normal birthday party things. Ellie had a cake and we all sang and wished her a happy birthday, and of course I cried after Emily and I had to help her blow out her candles. Ellie clapped when everybody else clapped after she blew out her candles and it was obvious that she was having, quite possibly, the best time of her life thus far. Eventually the party died down and after all the presents were opened and all the food and alcohol was drunk, everybody headed home. Ellie fell asleep on the couch while Emily and I cleaned things up.

"Did you have a nice time today?" Emily asked me as I loaded the dishwasher. I smiled and fought back tears for the umpteenth time today.

"I did. I'm just scared, I think. Ellie's growing up so quickly and I feel like I can hardly keep up with all the new things she's learning and how quickly she's changing. I feel so emotional about it all."

Emily nodded and smiled at me. "I know. I feel the same way. Sometimes I come home after you've been with her all day and I feel like I've missed out on a billion things Ellie's done that day. It's tough, but I think we're doing alright."

I smiled. "I think we're doing better than alright. Ellie's a wonderful kid."

Emily bit her lip and looked a bit apprehensive for a moment.

"Naoms?" She said quietly a few minutes later, after the dishes were all loaded and the kitchen was completely clean.

"Yeah?"

She walked over to me and pushed herself up onto the counter so she was sitting on it.

"I want to have another baby," Emily said. She looked me straight in the eye but wasn't smiling, maybe because she was scared of my reaction as much as I was scared of her reaction when I'd been thinking the exact same thing earlier.

"Me too," I replied immediately. Emily sighed, clearly relieved that I felt the same way. "I mean, maybe not right now. Maybe we can start trying again in a few months...we'll sort out using a sperm donor clinic and everything then and we can start trying then, once things have settled down with the company."

Emily smiled and pulled me into her. She wrapped her legs around my waist and kissed me swiftly.

"I don't care when we start trying or how we start trying. All I know, all I care about, is that we have another baby together. I'm so...so madly in love with you, so madly in love with our family. I'm so proud of us, I'm so proud of what we've built together," Emily said as she hugged me tightly. Her voice was getting thick with unshed tears and I soon found myself crying into her shoulder. "I'm so proud to be your wife and to be the mother of your children."

"And I'm proud to be your wife and the mother of your children, too. I'll never stop being proud of what we have," I replied, squeezing Emily into me even more tightly. "I'll love you endlessly, Ems."

"Love you endlessly, too, Naoms."

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