AN: And here we are. The end of my little (or not so little) fic. Thank you to every one of you that ever read, reviewed, favourite or had an alert to this story. When I started out, I couldn't have dreamt that I would get such a response (More than 150 reviews? You all freaking are amazing!)

And, without further ado…

Epilogue

"Well, it's time for me to say goodbye, Anna," Logan said as they stood on the docks of Bowerstone a few months after the attack of the Crawler. "Like I said before, Albion will heal better if I'm not here."

Annabelle wiped away a stray tear and shot him a sad smile. "Are you sure you don't want to stay? I'll miss you," she said.

"I'll miss you too, but I'll come for a visit soon, I promise." He kissed her in her forehead and gave her a quick hug. "Take care of yourself, please? I'd hate to come back and see someone else on the throne."

"You don't have to worry about that. Travel safe, Logan."

They said goodbye once more before he boarded the ship that would take him to Samarkand. She could see that he was very excited about the prospect of starting over and she couldn't blame him, despite her own misgivings about saying goodbye. He deserved a fresh start.

As she watched his ship sail off into the horizon, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow. Walter was dead and her brother was leaving as well. Her family was gone.

Yet, you're not alone, are you? she reminded herself. She had a new family now. Jasper has finally left the sanctuary to replace Hobson and Ben had insisted that the kingdom wasn't on its feet yet, which meant that their agreement of him staying on as general was still in effect. Page had also started to drop by more often and not only to ask royal favours. Kalin had returned to Aurora but insisted that she come visit whenever she got the chance. Even Sabine and Boulder had asked her to come stay in the castle in Mistpeak.

Yes…I'm not alone at all. Feeling much better than she did that morning, she headed back to the castle.

oOoOoOo

"You know, I find this entire idea about erecting a statue rather…silly actually," Annabelle commented suddenly. They were standing on her balcony again and admiring the now finished statue of Walter. They rest of Bowerstone was also almost fully repaired and things were getting back to normal.

Ben looked at Annabelle in surprise. In the two months since the Crawler had been defeated, she had pointedly avoided talking about Walter or anything involving him ever since their initial talk.

"And why's that?"

The corner of her mouth quirked upward. "I can only think what he'd have said if he saw this…He'd probably grumble about the colossal waste of money and say that would merely be a place for the pigeons to desecrate."

"But why do you find it silly?" he asked carefully.

She turned to look at him, a curious expression on her face. "I just don't know whether Walter…would have liked it," she said finally.

"Honestly? I think he would have. He always was a fan of looking…tall…and stony." It was rare enough for her to be talkative these days, so he decided to risk a joke. "I can only imagine what he would he would have said if he was here now. Shut up, Ben."

The quirk of her lips turned into a real smile, the first one in weeks. "I think you are more spot on than I was, actually."

They continued to stand in companionable silence before she spoke again. "What did he mean…when he said that two years was too long after all?"

He'd hoped that she'd forgotten about that. Ben fingered the box that he'd taken to carrying in his pocket ever since he'd asked Logan and Walter for Annabelle's hand in marriage. He'd planned on asking her after the Crawler attack, but with Walter dying along with sixty-four thousand other people and the entire of Bowerstone almost being destroyed, there had never been a right time. Also, Annabelle had been rather reclusive and quiet the past few months. It was clear that she was blaming herself for those people's deaths, as well as Walter's, even though the rest of the kingdom didn't blame her. In reality, they were singing her praises on every street corner and calling her the greatest queen that Albion had ever had.

"Oh…it was nothing. Just something that we'd talked about before," Ben said vaguely.

"Really? Walter spent his dying moments speaking to you about something that doesn't matter?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.

It wasn't that he changed his mind or anything…he just didn't want to ask her right then and there. He wanted to wait for the perfect moment.

But is there ever going to be something like that? a tiny voice asked in the back of his mind. The point was asking her. It wasn't about where or when it's done.

"Are you sure you want to know?" he asked finally.

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know," she countered, crossing her arms.

He quickly took in his surroundings. The sun was just starting to set and the first flowers of spring were starting to bloom. That was pretty perfect for a spur of the moment proposing.

"You asked for this," he muttered before dropping to one knee. Her eyes widened considerably and he could see the disbelief in her eyes.

Ignoring the nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach, he took her hand in his and he pulled out the box with his other hand.

"Bells, I know I can spend years writing exactly what I want to say, but words can't even begin to describe how I feel about you." He took another deep breath. "This is going to sound extremely cheesy, but I thank every mistake I ever made, because they led me to you. I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

This is that damn rooftop in Aurora all over again, he thought dryly. He opened the box and looked her right in the eye. "Will you marry me?"

oOoOoOo

Some time later

"Madeleine! You're late for your lesson!" Annabelle placed her hands on her hips and stared out into the blinding sunlight. She could barely make out three figures out in the garden and headed there with a sigh.

Sure enough, she found her husband and two children busy playing some sort of game that they invented.

"Mommy!" William cried excitedly as he ran up to her. Her youngest almost jumped into her arms but she managed to stop from tackling her to the ground.

"Whoa there, Will. We're supposed to be gentle around Mommy until your little brother or sister is born, remember?" Ben chimed in and quickly scooped the dark-haired boy into his arms. A smile spread over her face as she laid her hands on her swollen belly. The baby wasn't due for a while, but William and Madeleine were already picking names and deciding how it was going to be raised. Sometimes she thought that they were even more excited than she and Ben was.

"Sorry, Mommy," the five year-old boy said sincerely, his blue eyes round. "Are you angry?"

She couldn't help but laugh. "Of course not, Will. I'm glad you're excited." She kissed him on his head. "Maddy? Where did you get off to?" she called, turning her attention back to her eldest. "You know you have history today."

"Can't you give her a break, Bells? What's one day?" Ben asked as he shot her his signature grin and put his squirming son back on the ground. "We were just in the middle of finding the pirate's treasure."

She sighed, rolling her eyes playfully. "You let them get away with everything. That girl is already so much like you that it's frightening. One of you is enough," she teased, crossing her arms.

"Now you're just being silly," he countered and she rolled her eyes again.

"Madeleine Rose Finn, I'm not asking again," she called turning serious once again.

Their nine year-old daughter poked her blond head out of one of the shrubs, her emerald eyes pointedly avoiding her mother's gaze. "Do I have to, Mommy? It's just a bunch of facts about dead people," she moaned as she skulked out of her hiding place. "I know that-"

"No argument, young lady. Professor Samuel is already waiting for you and it's rude to make him wait even longer," she said sternly. Madeleine looked as if she was going to argue, but let out a huge sigh instead.

"Alright…"

When Madeleine disappeared through the castle door, Annabelle crouched as far as she could next to William. "Will, why don't you go see what Jasper is up to? I'm sure he'd love to tell you that story you like so much," she said. William's eyes lit up and he immediately sprinted off to the castle as well.

With both of her children out of the way, she turned her stern glance to her husband.

"Can't I give her a break?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm glad I have your support."

"You are one mean lady, your Majesty," he countered, smiling brightly. "Let her enjoy her childhood while she can."

"She needs to learn how to be an effective ruler so that when we're gone…" she trailed off and she could feel involuntary tears welling up in her eyes. "These horrid pregnancy mood shifts," she muttered wiping at them fiercely. "I can't seem to stop crying at the silliest things."

"Hey, come here." He pulled her into a tight embrace, chuckling softly. "I promise I won't argue with you about lessons again, alright?"

"Yes, you will. Arguing with each other is one of the things were best at." She pushed him away to look him in the eye and shook her head, a small smile on her face. "Whatever is wrong with me that I decided that raising a family with you was a good idea?"

"Well, if we mess up the first one, we always have two more tries to get it right," he joked, kissing her forehead and placing his hands over her stomach. "And failing that, we try again."

"I don't know who you think who you married, General, but I am not going to spend my life popping out children," she laughed and slapped him on his arm. "I love our children to death, but I don't think I can handle another pregnancy just yet. I'm trying to get through this one as it is."

"But I love it when you're like this…So completely unpredictable and so unbelievably beautiful." The arrogant smirk he usually wore was back on his face, but his eyes shone with a quiet intensity. "I love you."

She rolled her eyes for what seemed to be the tenth time that day. "I love you too, you infuriating buffoon. Now let us get back to your son. I don't want him to tear down the castle."

"And here I thought you wanted to be alone with me," he sighed melodramatically as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "And why is he my son all of the sudden?"

"Do you prefer that I call him some other man's son?" she countered. "You know by now that when they get that mischievous streak in them, they are exactly like you."

"Charming? Dashing? Unbelievably attractive?"

"I don't know what I ever saw in you," she said dryly. "I must have hit my head in that Monorail station before we reached Mourningwood."

"It might have been that my charms were too much for your innocent royal heart to resist. Or I was the stupid one that went for a woman who accused me of confusing her gender." The smirk grew even wider. "And called me an infuriating idiot more times than I can count."

She bit back another smile. "I have to say…when I met the arrogant captain of the Swift brigade, I never thought that he would one day be the entirely willing father of my children."

"And I never thought that little girl that strolled into Mourningwood, covered in mud, blood and a rather scathing personality would agree to marry me. I was actually really scared that you were going to say no for a moment back then," he admitted.

"I've tried saying no to you, remember? It doesn't work out," she joked, kissing him on the tip of his oft-broken nose.

Ben sighed with contentment as he kissed his lovely wife again. The past ten years had easily been the best years of his life. With all the worries of the Crawler out of the way and Bowerstone now completely rebuilt, they'd settled into a relatively normal routine.

Ben had never thought that he'd become Albion's Prince-consort, but then again, he'd never thought that he'd end up married with children.

He couldn't be happier.

A smirk spread over his lips as he studied Annabelle who was staring out into the distance, clearly in thought.

"What are you thinking about, sweetheart?" he asked, pulling her close against him to lock his arms around her stomach and rested his head in the crook of her shoulder.

She turned around and snaked her arms around his neck a strange smile on her face. "I was just wondering why the fairytales always end with "And they all lived happily ever after". In my opinion, this is the very best part. It deserves to be told."

"This sure beats the dashing scoundrel and the beautiful princess riding off into the sunset. Much more complicated as well," he said sarcastically. "Then again, everything about us had been more complicated than any fairytale."

She smiled brightly and took his hands in hers to place it on her swollen stomach. "But would you change it?"

His smirk grew even wider when the baby kicked suddenly and he leaned down to brush his lips against hers.

"Not for anything in the world," he whispered before capturing her lips.

oOoOoOo

AN: And there we are! Thank you all again for the continued support and I hope that I didn't disappoint with my ending.

I'm far from done with the Fable world and this pairing and I have an idea for another, different Ben/Princess fic in the works, so I'll be sure to see you around!

Until we meet again!

;)

atotalRPGfan