So... The final... does an epilogue count as a chapter? im not really sure. Oh well, for the sake of what im about to say, its a chapter. Its the final chapter! im debating whether or not to keep on rambling so you have to read this rather than whats underneath, just to annoy you.

I read a book called Unwind by Neal Shusterman the other day. It was awesomely immense, you know? I'd read the Skinjacker Trilogy, another three books of his, some time ago, and they were absolutely immensly amazingly beyond all possible awesomeness. You should read them. Seriously.

Anwho, moving on, I'll shut up now =)

Epilogue

Lola and Michael stood together, watching from a distance as Emma headed off to catch her plane, with the other CHERUB agents. Lola looked on worriedly. She didn't like that all three of her daughters were involved with spying and under cover missions. It had ruined her life. She didn't want it to ruin their lives. But right now, there wasn't much she could do about it.

Michael wrapped his arm around her waist "She'll be fine. They all will. We'll sort this all out," He promised.

He knew that whatever happened, that he could rely on his own children. Arron would help out the girls when he could and doubtless still be able to achieve straight A's in his exams and Michael was confident that Emma would keep the family together while he and Lola were in America- she'd already proved she was capable, having gotten all four of them through the past few months relatively unscathed. He hoped Anna would find the spy within MI6 and prove him innocent. She would try her best and not give up when it got hard- a trait she wouldn't be best pleased to realise she'd inherited from both of her parents. But it would be Gabby, he knew, that would have the hardest time of all four children. She was the youngest and would have to put up with everyone bossing her about, and all three of her older siblings would be helping out somehow, and not letting her.

He and Lola would work together here, in America, to figure out what would happen after things had settled down, and to lend a hand- and several pieces of private information- to their kids. He was so proud of the four of them. He smiled down at Lola consolingly, "They'll be fine," He repeated.

Michael knew that things would turn out alright in the end, no matter how it ended.

Arron looked across the classroom to see Peter Kenedy waiting by the door. His hand shot up, "Miss, my uncle's here now, can I go?"

The teacher nodded and waved dismissively. Arron gathered up his school books and shoved them in his bag, heading to the door. MI6 wanted to interview him about what had happened, but that didn't mean the whole world needed to know.

The school thought he was going to a family funeral because a great aunt or some distant relative had died, and that his uncle was picking him up. They were kind of right- Peter was an uncle of sorts to Arron.

Once outside the classroom, he turned to Peter, "What happened to Anna? Is she ok? Do you know what punishment Mac and Meryl came up with for her?" He asked in a rush, as they made their way out of the building.

"I figured you'd ask that. After MI6, we're heading over to CHERUB campus anyway. I need to go as a peacemaker and apologise for Karp's stony behaviour, so I figured you wouldn't mind tagging along to see your sisters too. Emma's coming home, you know," Peter told Arron.

"Really? I thought she was on a mission?" Arron frowned.

Peter nodded, "But their cover was blown, so they had to go in a hurry. It's probably best not to mention it to her," He suggested, as he stopped next to a random car in the parking lot. He fished out his keys and pressed the button to unlock the doors.

"Well at least she's back home safe," Arron sighed.

Elizabeth stood in shock for a few minutes, looking out of her window, in her room. Then she turned and faced the others.

"None of us," She said forcefully, glaring at each one of the others in turn, "Knows where they've gone. They didn't tell us a thing, got it?"

Tom, Andrew and Liam nodded. Lilly, Tess, Raine and Jonah shrugged, as if to say 'we don't know where they've gone, but do you seriously think we would if we did?'

"If anyone tells Meryl, Mac or anybody else what is going on, you'll have to deal with the rest of us," Elizabeth continued, "That includes you, Liam. You might severely dislike Anna, but Dan's your best friend. Not only that, you spill, we're all screwed. Emma will personally strangle you to death and I don't even want to see what Anna and Karlie will do to you,"

Liam nodded reluctantly, admitting that he was screwed if he attempted to sabotage Anna's plans.

Elizabeth glared around the room once more, and then added, "We all might have no family outside of CHERUB, but Anna and Emma do. You want them to end up as orphans too? No. So we're gonna help them out anyway we can. And we start with not breathing a single word of this to anyone. No matter how hard that might be," Elizabeth ordered, knowing how hard that would be for her. She was going to have a very hard time for the next... however long it took Anna, Karlie and Dan to get back.

Gabby and Flo scowled at Anna and Dan.

"You're leaving?" Gabby demanded.

Anna shrugged, "Yup, pretty much,"

"You're running away from CHERUB?" Flo stood up, glaring at Dan.

"Look, we're not going to be gonna forever. We'll be back really soon. It's just gonna be a while, and once we've sorted things out, we'll come straight back," Dan promised.

"Oh yeah?" Gabby snapped, trying to sound like Anna did when she was grumpy, "When?"

Dan and Anna looked at each other worriedly. So they didn't know. Gabby crossed her arms sulkily, "So you're just gonna leave us here on our own?"

Anna crouched down next to her, so they were level with each other. Anna always did that, when she was being serious, Gabby knew. She liked that- it meant that Anna wasn't brushing her off because she was younger. She hated it when people did that.

"Gabby, I am not leaving you forever, got that? I am coming back, so don't think otherwise. I've got to sort out a few things, but then, I'll be back. Besides," She added lightly, "Emma's coming back sometime today!"

Gabby perked up, "Really?"

Anna nodded, "Uh huh, so you're not gonna be on your own, are you?"

Gabby saw what Anna was trying to do and glared at her. She was not going to be convinced into not telling anyone where Anna and Dan were going. She was adamant about that. No. She was not going to let Anna run away either. No more people were going to go missing. Not now. Not after Mum and Dad.

But Anna had, in her nice, blunt and non-patronising way, told her she was helping Dad get back home without being arrested, and Emma had already found Mum, only, Mum was working abroad currently, and couldn't come back home for a while. Which was fine with Anna. And Gabby wasn't all that fussed about Mum. But she would have liked Mum to be home.

"Gabby, I am going either way. Would you rather I run off knowing I could rely on you and that you would be ok, or that I run off and spend my whole time worrying about you?" Anna demanded.

Gabby scowled to herself. Why did Anna have to leave just as Emma was coming back? Why was it that the two of them were hardly ever around together anymore? None of the family was! Gabby was aware that Dan and Flo were having a reasonably similar conversation next to her.

"Gabby, please, just this once, then it will never happen again, I promise," Anna swore.

At least she'd said goodbye, Gabby reasoned with herself. Anna must've known how Gabby would've reacted and had still come to say goodbye. And she had said please and asked nicely.

"Fine. But you owe me all the chocolate bars you have and when you come back you have to clean out Sybil's cage for five whole months!" Gabby demanded.

Anna winced, "Ow, ok fine! I agree! Just... why? Why the hamster?"

Gabby shrugged, "I don't like cleaning,"

Anna

"Are you sure you want to do this, Anna, once we're out of here, there's no turning back. At least not without facing insane punishments and house arrest for the next five years. Or quitting CHERUB altogether," Dan warned again.

We were standing in front of a part of the fence where there wasn't a single security camera in sight, and there was a massive gaping hole big enough to walk straight through as long as we ducked slightly...

I took a deep breath and turned to Karlie, "Are you sure you'll be alright out there by yourself?" I asked, unable to stop myself from worrying about her.

Karlie rolled her eyes and tutted, "I spent more time on the run that you have Anna, so quit worrying about me. I have my contacts, and I know how to get by. I've done it all before. Besides, it won't take me that long to finish off Dasakota since MI6 got the majority of them locked up in the first place- it might take you years to prove your Dad innocent,"

"Thanks for the confidence booster," Dan muttered dryly.

Karlie shrugged, "You don't have to like it for it to be true,"

"Fair enough," I sighed.

I bit my lip, as I turned back to the fence. Family comes first. That was my motto. Always. I was leaving Gabby behind, though, and, in a way, Arron. And I was even leaving Emma behind- I couldn't really ring her up. My phone was too traceable to be of any use to me. I'd need to find another way to contact her.

Dan knew what I was thinking, "The second you walk out of here, you're gonna lose contact with every last one of them. There'll be no one we can talk to or rely on for help,"

"And yet you still want to come with me?" I asked, unable to look him in the eye. I might not like the fact that Dan was screwing up his CHERUB career, but I did kind of want him here with me.

Dan slipped his hand into mine, "I wouldn't miss it for the world,"

Emma

I looked out into the sky as the plane began to descend, my ears popping at the change in pressure. I was back in England again. I was going back to campus. And Anna wasn't going to be there. I'd rang her already on the flight- though I was pretty sure I wasn't allowed, and I'd had to do it very covertly. Andrew had answered and explained. The moron had gone without as much as a goodbye. I was angry at Anna, but I understood what she was doing. I would miss her though. A lot.

For twins who had never really been apart, we were surprisingly independent, but I could count on one hand the amount of times the two of us had gone without speaking or seeing each other for over three days. I'd miss the hell out of her stupid bigheadedness, her ridiculous claims and absurd ideas. Heck, I'd even miss her incredibly well planned out vengeance plans. Although maybe not them so much if they involved paintballing.

I wondered about Lola, and what would happen. I worried a bit, too. But Lola wasn't drinking anymore, and she was a lot better now. It was hard to think of her as my Mum though. I'd gotten used to my Mum being the drunken alcoholic. The real Mum was the one I would always call Lola. Because, really, the two different sides of Lola Simons were so contrasted, they could hardly be the same person, although none of that made much sense. At least Dad was there now- he could look after Lola.

I leaned my head against the window, staring at the clouds, and wondered if our family would ever sort ourselves fully out. Maybe we would, and life would be great. But if we didn't, hey, we were still family, and we'd still be there for each other. We'd stick together.

Anna had said that, once, amid a load of pathetic babbling. She'd decided not to go to CHERUB and split us all up. At the time, I'd been grateful for it, but I hadn't properly understood why she'd give up what she really wanted, and what she thought was right, for something she knew I wanted, and I thought was right. But now I did.

Families stick together, no matter what the disagreement, or the demands of each individual, no matter the struggles each one of them face. Because, in the end, family comes first. Always.

The End

righto, down to business...

actually not quite. google chrome is annoying me (im so sadly out of touch with the world. apparently this thing has been out for ages, but i only downloaded it last week. go me!) its saying that im spelling Arron wrong. it is also giving me several very weird other suggestions, like Aaron, Akron, Barron, Arson and Argon. Surprisingly, it hasnt suggested Argos. Does it have something against argos? I got this watch from argos once. Nice and cheap. £5 and it came with a little purse and necklace that matched it. I was about eight at the time...

Ramblings aside, I would like to thank you all for actually bothering to read this story and those of you who reviewed because ALL of you are eternally awesome. =D

Then, I am gonna write... (is it a sequel still, if its a sequel of a sequel... would it then be a threquel?) a third story, it'll, hopefully finish all of this off, so, no, ou haven't got rid of me quite yet. Sorry to disappoint =) I dunno when I'll start posting it, since, right now, it consist of about three chapters and not a lot of words, so you'll just have to bear with me for a while. When I do start posting it, I'll post something up here somewhere, like I did last time.

And... thats about it, actually...

I'll see you guys (not literally) sometime soon (hopefully) so, until then, don't eat greens (they kill you) running with scissors is most definitely considered dangerous, so only do it if you're incredibly bored and remember, be nice to people- they will then share their chocolate and cookies with you =)