Epilogue

A/N: Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for reading, reviewing and alerting. This was my first fic and I never actually thought it would go this far, but you guys kept me going. This will be the end, but who knows, my muse may take them out again to play sometime down the road. This will be an M-ish chapter.

Shouts and cheers resounded across the field as a goal was scored in the final seconds of the game and the crowd of family members on the bleachers exploded with approval. Kate laughed out loud at the grin on her newest son's face as his teammates surrounded him with high-fives and fist bumps, their excitement infectious and palpable in the air even up here in the stands. The older kids were laughing as well, jumping down and abandoning her to head to the field in search of their little brothers.

It was a gorgeous late summer day, still scorching hot but rendered bearable by a soothing breeze that managed to cool things off just enough. And it wasn't helping in the slightest as Kate's eyes fell on the form of her husband in motion, his T-shirt soaked through with sweat and his short hair spiked with it as he crossed the field, high-fiving the kids and shaking hands with parents even as his eyes were already searching her out. He found her easily through the crowd, perhaps picking up on her unusually volcanic heat signature, and her stomach flipped over unexpectedly as that slow-and-sexy grin she adored curved his edible mouth. He had volunteered to coach the team, partly because he loved the game and it was something he wanted to do with his boys, and partly because he didn't want Tommy to be stuck with a coach who didn't know him and wouldn't take his issues into consideration. Seeing him with the kids made her heart melt; he was just too adorable with them. He was a great teacher, though he would never admit it or acknowledge it. He was only now starting to believe her assertion that he was a great father. Even he couldn't argue with the incontrovertible proof that their children adored him unreservedly.

God, he looked gorgeous like this, she thought, still amazed that this man was all hers. She couldn't keep her eyes from tracing his body as his took the stairs two at a time and bounded up to where she was now the only one still sitting in the stands, as everyone else had evacuated while she was struck immobile by his approach. As he leaned in close for a quick kiss, she wrapped a hand around his neck to pull him closer and deepen the contact immediately. He chuckled low and all of her nerve endings were suddenly standing at attention. "Careful, babe, I'm all sweaty."

Kate pulled back just enough so that he could see the heat in her eyes. "Yes, and you know what that does to me," she all but purred, registering the surprise that crossed his face and quickly morphed into desire that matched her own. She could all but hear his thought process. Well, okay, then. Smiling wickedly, her molten gaze was momentarily distracted by a bead of sweat that raced down his face and dripped onto his neck. Without a thought, she extended her tongue and caught it, licking up from the base of his throat until she reached his ear. She felt him growl against her ear, and was suddenly out of patience.

And he was right there with her. He had no idea what had brought this on but he certainly wasn't complaining. Removing her mouth from his neck long enough to respond with a demanding kiss to let her know he was on board, he pulled back and grinned suddenly. "You think Sam would take the boys to the pizza place for us?"

Kate looked at him through eyes darkened with equal parts lust and appreciation for this man. She loved the way he was always right there with her, no matter what she wanted or how crazy it sounded. "I think we could persuade her," she panted, trying desperately to keep from ripping off his clothes in the middle of the soccer field. God, she wanted him, right here, right now.

And then the boys were running up to them, out of breath with excitement and begging to meet their friends for pizza, and Kate sighed, quickly becoming resigned to her fate, for the next few hours, at least. She met her husband's eyes and smiled. "It's okay; I can wait," she whispered into his ear. "But once we get home, you're all mine."

He grinned at her in total agreement, and then they were up and heading to the car, caught up in the excitement right along with their children.

Jack was just stepping out of the shower when she found him, having just gotten the youngest ones into bed. She leaned against the door frame of the bathroom, just watching him move and tracing his body heatedly with her eyes. God, just looking at this man made her hot. He dried off his legs and then his torso, wrapping the towel around his waist, and then he felt the weight of her stare on him and looked up to see his wife devouring him with her eyes. He crossed the distance between them in an instant, and she wasted no time reaching for him and pulling him close, crushing his mouth to hers without finesse. There'd be time for that later; right now she needed him too badly.

She let her hands wander lazily through his damp hair, still standing up in wet spikes much like it had been after the game, down over his shoulders to his broad back. Her mouth moved down his throat, licking up the beads of moisture there ravenously and exulting in the taste of his skin under her tongue. She bent to worship his chest as he began to move them slowly out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, having very little patience right now and knowing that if they didn't get to the bed soon he'd be taking her against the wall or over the vanity, and as enticing as that sounded in theory, he wanted to take his time with her tonight.

They reached the bed just as her mouth moved over his stomach, licking and nipping, and his towel was swiftly discarded as she pushed him down onto the bed and continued making her way down his body. She paused only long enough to pull off her robe and then she was kneeling before him, worshipping him with her mouth and hands, her hunger from earlier this evening now given free rein to run unchecked. He was panting and shaking, desperate for more even as some very dim corner of his brain registered that this was going to be over far faster than he'd wanted. He no longer had the self-control to stop her, and he groaned in agony when she drew up and over him, grinding her hips into his as she leaned up to kiss him hungrily, and he was lost for long minutes until the fog cleared, just for a moment.

It was long enough to get an errant thought across, though, and he took her by surprise when he pulled her forward even further from where she'd been straddling his chest, until she was poised over him and it was his turn to drive her wild, making her hands grip the headboard in a white-knuckled grip as he used his tongue to drive her out of her mind. It seemed like mere moments before she was arching above him and panting his name as she shattered, and then he was flipping her over and pressing her into the mattress, turning the tables on her in her moment of weakness and wasting no time driving into her and quickly taking her back to oblivion.

Kate knew very little at the moment, only that this man was overwhelming every one of her senses in the very best way possible. This was what she'd needed, what she'd craved all day, and she was amazed that after all this she still wanted more. She thought she would never get enough of this man. She pulled him close for a deep sensual kiss, quickly moving down to sink her teeth into his skin, which only served to encourage him deeper, and harder, and faster, none of which she was complaining about. At all.

And then he pulled back and pulled her legs up over his shoulders, making her gasp at both the new, deeper angle and the breathtakingly sexy possessive glint in his eyes. It was all she could do to just hang on for the ride, scraping her nails down his chest while he growled his approval. Without warning she was arching into him and screaming out his name, which he promptly cut off with a hand over her mouth, which she promptly sunk her teeth into. She felt the vibrations of his deep groan of satisfaction as she clenched her inner muscles around him and he erupted inside of her, collapsing on top of her with the very faint worry in the back of his mind that one of these days she was literally going to give him a heart attack. Right now the damn thing felt like it might beat right out of his chest.

Jack laughed into her neck as he tried to catch his breath. "So much for taking my time with you," he mumbled against her damp skin, and Kate laughed breathlessly with him.

"You thought we could take our time? I've been dying to have you inside me since the damn ball game." She looked at him mischievously and licked the sweat from his neck like she'd done earlier. As satisfied as he was right now, he couldn't suppress a shiver at the reactions that action provoked, just like it always did. It still amazed him how much he could want her, after all this time. And then she was pushing at his chest. "Now get the hell off of me. I'm hungry."

Jack laughed. "How could you be hungry after all you ate?"

But she was already slipping into her robe. "Come on, eat something with me. You need to keep up your strength for later. Jack groaned for effect, but in reality he was already on board with that plan.

ooo

As saddened as she'd been not to be starting the year with a new class when school began, Kate was glad for it now. It had been three months, and she was barely starting to feel like herself again. She still didn't have the amount of energy she was used to, and although her doctor said everything was back to normal and all her tests were looking good, she knew that it would have been too much to start back to work so soon after her body had suffered such a major trauma. Not to mention that Tommy was still getting adjusted to life in the Malone household, and she needed to be around during the days just in case he needed her. She'd already been called to the school a couple of times when he'd had a panic attack, and she was glad to be home to be on call for when he needed her.

They'd known he wouldn't have an easy time of it, and things were going surprisingly well, all things considered. It helped having Rusty as a roommate and a classmate. He was remarkably attuned to his new brother's needs and emotions, and often acted as interpreter in the times when Tommy got upset and his speech reverted to the unintelligible garble it had been in the past.

It was a Saturday and they were making the most of spending a day off with the family, as Jack and the team had just closed a difficult case that had kept the team late at the office all week. They were currently at the park, the boys practicing their soccer moves with Jack and Danny while Elena pushed Finn on a swing and Samantha and Kate sat talking on a nearby bench. Even deep in conversation with the woman she had become surprisingly close to, her eyes kept straying to him.

Her husband was looking damn good today, looking fit and carefree as he played with the kids, and she couldn't take her eyes off of him. He had surprised her yesterday by returning home early after they'd closed their case, and she had paid Kevin and Hanna good money to take the rest of the kids out to a movie so they could spend the afternoon and evening alone in bed together. She couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she remembered how much fun that had been.

Samantha noticed her friend's concentration was off today and elbowed her in the ribs. "Hello? Earth to Kate?" Kate blinked and looked away from her husband's body, with effort.

"I'm sorry; what?"

Samantha just laughed. She sure as hell couldn't blame her for that. She took in the look on the woman's face and had to laugh some more. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Mrs. Malone," she teased. "This is a family park."

Kate found herself blushing which just made Samantha laugh harder. "I thought he went home early yesterday for just that reason," she said with a grin. It was impossible not to like this woman. She had long ago given up even trying. The two of them were too good together to begrudge them what they'd found.

"I don't know what's wrong with me lately. I can't keep my hands off him these days." She looked up as Elena and Finn sat down next to them, each of them slurping an ice cream cone recently purchased from a nearby stand.

Kate's eyes lit up instantly. "Ooooh! Ice cream!"

Elena, having caught the tail end of the conversation, smirked and raised a brow. "Hmmm, sounds like someone's pregnant."

Kate froze, everything inside her going still. "That's impossible." Really, it just wasn't possible. Was it? She tried to think back, her now-racing heartbeat making it difficult. She'd been feeling tired, still, but she hadn't been sick at all. She had been eating like a horse lately. Jumping her husband every chance she got. But she'd had… no… no, she hadn't. Not since the hospital.

And… there it was. The hospital. She had missed quite a few pills due to that whole ordeal.

She looked at him still playing with their children, clearly enjoying himself. He was having a great time being a dad this time around, and he was doing a much better job separating his home and work lives. His nightmares were less frequent now, and he hadn't even attacked any suspicious-looking passers-by in the park today. He might not mind, she thought with dawning hope. And what about her? What did she feel?

And then a slow smile began to creep its way across her face. Who the hell was she kidding? She was having a helluva time being Mrs. Jack Malone. She loved her life now, with all the changes and adaptations it had brought. She had never been happier. To have this chance, now, this gift, with the most amazing man she knew? It was a miracle that she knew she would never be able to regret, even for a moment.

She looked over at her friends with a half-rueful grin, a little embarrassed that Elena had caught on before she had. Quickly doing the math in her head, she realized that the first trimester was nearly over, and didn't that explain a lot. "Yeah, okay, so it may be possible," she admitted drily, absorbing their smug smirks without complaint. She rolled her eyes at them as she got to her feet. "Excuse me, but I think I need to have a little chat with my husband."

They watched her walk over to where the guys were kicking the ball around, holding their collective breath as Kate motioned him over and leaned into him, her hands on his chest as she spoke to him intently, and then had to laugh as they watched him lift her into his arms and kiss her breathless. The boys stopped and stared, only to be brought into a group hug as their mom explained the latest change in their lives. They grinned at each other, only Tommy not reacting, just standing still, looking thoughtful, until finally he smiled and nodded. "That's great news, Mom. I thought you were just getting fat. But a baby will be a lot more fun."

Their laughter carried on the wind as Elena and Samantha looked at each other, grinned and grabbed Finn's hand to lead him to the soccer field to offer their congratulations. They'd take their good news where they found it, because life was too short not to.

Kate straightened to her full height and put her hands on her hips after bending to hug her newest son. "And speaking of getting fat, who's going to go get me some ice cream?"

The end… for now…

A/N #2: So that's it. Thanks for reading, and my muse isn't ready to let go of Jack Malone just yet, FYI. There'll be a J/S coming soon, and then… who knows? :D