A/N- hey, the thing with Katie and Damian was just a one shot, just because I wanted some Katie/Mason fun. Sorry, but I don't have a follow up or anything. This chapter is just to tie up some loose ends.

On a more random note, I've recently heard the song 'I Kissed a Girl' by Katy Perry and I love the song so much! I'm slightly obsessed with it.

Chapter 38

Lucy's POV

I tickled the bottom of Brian's foot and smiled as he kicked it against my palm as Sarah reached with tiny fingers for my hand and curled around my thumb. I smiled as she cooed happily.

At one month old they were already quite responsive, swiveling their eyes or heads to see Brian or me when we talked. Sarah was already such a sweet baby, smiling, laughing, cooing and rarely fussing. Brian was curious about everything, watching his father and I with wide-eyed interest, and staring at just about anything that moved or lit up.

I wandered down the aisle of the grocery store, enjoying being out of the house, something that didn't happen too often now that the twins were here. As I studied prices between soups, keeping a hand on the cart out of unfounded cautiousness I felt the hum of my phone on my hip. Absently, I answered.

"Lucy? It's dad."

"Hey dad," I said happily.

"Lucy, I have some bad news. Your great grandmother has passed away." There was a ringing silence for a moment. This couldn't be right. Elizabeth? My great grandmother? She'd always seemed too strong, so resilient to die.

"I… wow." I said softly. I wracked my brain for some word beside another interjection to provide, but found none. What did you say about someone you really hadn't liked, but at he same time really didn't quite dislike? In fact, she was the catalyst that broke Matt and her up so that's a plus, right? I choked some more for words before settling for the closest thing to sadness I could muster.

"She never got to meet Sarah and Brian." I said remorsefully. If I was being truthful I was secretly glad they'd never been exposed to my Gram.

"Yeah," dad said heavily. I knew for one thing he wasn't particularly fond of her, but she was his grandmother after all. "Your grandfather is taking care of the funeral." I frowned. I knew Carlisle would have to be upset. She was his mother! I said goodbye quickly after a slight pause, neither quite sure what to say, and pocketed my phone again. I turned to my babies and sighed, the fun of my small outing suddenly gone.

A week passed before the funeral took place. I stood, decked out in black, among family with Sarah in my arms, my husband's arm around my waist with Brian in his arms. Katie, Mason and our cousins stood on my other side and my parents and aunts and uncles around the other side of the grave. We watched solemnly as the casket was lowered into the ground. We all took small flowers in our hands and tossed them in, tossed them over the smooth polished wood.

Mason leaned over to me as we walked from the filled grave.

"How old was she anyway?" he asked in a slightly amused whisper. I tried to hide my smile.

"I have no idea, but I'd hinder a guess around… I don't know, a million and two?" we laughed very softly as the chilly March air tugged at my hair. Mason reached over and scooped Sarah out of my arms. She snuggled in as she slept on, unaware that she was at a funeral for her great-great-grandmother. We trudged through what was left of the winter's driving snow, trying to figure out where to go from there.

Weeks passed and things got back in a rhythm, Brian going off to work and me taking care of the twins. They were growing so fast that I had to give away some of the clothes they grew out of before I even had a chance to use them. I still rebelled in the occasional outing with the twins, enjoying the freedom of going out and about and getting out of the house.

I walked, pausing frequently to look at clothes, and pushed the stroller ahead of me along the displays in the department store. I held up a sweater, trying to imagine Brian in it when I got the feeling I was being watched. My eyes flew up and connected with a piercing pair of eyes. We stared at each other openly.

I hadn't seen this man in years, and the last time I'd seen him it hadn't been on the best of terms either. His face and features had sharpened but he was the same man I'd come to despise.

It was then I realized he was carrying a baby boy, much older than the twins but not yet a toddler. He seemed about a year old, give or take a month. He had the same eyes his father had and almost the same shade of hair. He gurgled happily, unaware of the smothering tension that had sprung up between his father and myself and made a grab for his father's hair. Deftly, his father moved his hand, never taking his eyes from mine.

I cleared my throat quietly. "Hi." I whispered.

"Hi." He choked back. I averted my eyes finally.

"Wh- who's that?" I asked, nodding to the little boy in his arms.

"This is John. My… son." He said softly.

"I see." I said tightly, not quite sure what to say. He shook his head slowly.

"I've imagined this happening for a long time. I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner in such a small town."

"Actually, I just moved back before the twins were born." I added to make it very clear, "With my husband." He nodded.

"I figured. When we dated," I stiffened at the mention of the time we had together, "I could see you as a mom- with pretty little babies and a handsome working husband, living in a perfect little manicured house. Something straight out of a fifties sitcom." I stared at him, getting mad. He thought he knew me so well! At the same time though, he was describing me, my kids, my husband, my house, and my life I was trying to suppress the realization it was all true. He had me nailed.

"You don't know me at all." I hissed angrily. He laughed, a sad sound.

"Don't I though? I knew you when we were together and I know you now, and I knew then I couldn't give you what you wanted." Anger flared in me again. He couldn't give it to me? He had a son now!

"So it was me then, right? You obviously have no problem giving that to your wife." I spat. He winced slightly.

"I'm not married." He said quietly. I laughed, a hard bitter noise to my ears.

"Well isn't this just perfect! It's exactly what I expected too! You knocked a girl up! Why you have the child right now is beyond me but--"

He cut me off. "Yes. I did knock Maria up. She does have custody of John, but we've been together and he's my son too. When Maria told me she was pregnant it changed my life." I vividly recalled being told I was pregnant- the elation, the fear. It had changed her life. She could understand that much. "It changed me. I got a steady job, Maria and I found a house and moved in together. I grew up." He said, pained. I looked at him again.

He had grown up, this much I could tell. Physically and otherwise as far as I could tell. What he was telling me was true.

"I'm sorry I did that to you in high school and again at that party- but it's different now. I've wised up. I have a son and I fell in love. I'm asking Maria for her hand in marriage. As unfortunate as it is that it happened in that order, it's all true. I just don't want you to hate me anymore." He stated confidently. I nodded and, wanting to get rid of the tension, laughed quietly.

"Do you remember the night we broke up? That awful dinner with my great grandmother?" he laughed, relieved.

"How could I? I was scared out of my mind of her!" Matt laughed heartily. "How is she?" he asked. I hesitated a moment.

"She- er, actually, she died about a month ago." He seemed surprised.

"Really? She seemed like she'd scare death off if it tried to get her." I laughed again.

"Exactly! I was just as surprised." We laughed a little longer and chatted about our daily lives a bit. I told him about my pretty babies, my handsome working husband, my perfect little manicured house, my life straight out of a fifties sitcom and as we talked I realized just how much I loved my life.

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Time warp! Woo! Its 3 years in the future- Mason and Sophie are in college (they're 21) and are living together in an apartment. Katie is going into her second year of college (she's 19) and the twin's are three years old now. Everything else is pretty much the same.

Mason's POV

I watched my pretty girlfriend stroke the hair on my nephew's forehead and placed a feather light kiss on my niece's. Sarah stirred ever so slightly but went still again after a moment.

"I'm glad they're finally asleep." Sophie whispered. "Brian was coughing so much I wasn't sure he'd be able to sleep. It's just our luck they get sick the week we get a turn with them." She joked with a smile.

"Don't forget the Sarah's sneezing streak either." I whispered, chuckling softly.

When Lucy and Brian had decided to go on a weeklong trip to New York as an anniversary present. Sophie and I had volunteered to take the twins for the week as it was summer and we didn't have school at the moment. I had work of course, but Sophie was taking some time off of her job at the newspaper to stay with them.

Katie was sad she couldn't but she couldn't take any time off of her job. She was a weathergirl and part time co-host to a local news station. She had high hopes of becoming the next Katie Couric, only as Katie Cullen.

I watched as Sophie tidied up our guest room they were using as their temporary bedroom. She silently folded clothes and gathered toys from the floor. I watched her work, leaning on the doorframe, admiring the way the evening sunlight played across her brown silk hair. She glanced up to see me watching her and a smile played on her lips.

"What?" she asked playfully, straightening up.

"Nothing." I said, crossing the room and pulling her to my chest. "Just imagining what a good mom you're going to be someday." She glanced over her shoulder at the sleeping twins.

"They're so sweet." She sighed, turning in my arms and crossing them in front of her. Brian turned onto his stomach and snoozed on. Sarah squeezed her teddy bear closer to her stomach. Sophie smiled and kissed me.

"I love you so much." I whispered into her ear. She grinned up at me, upside down to my eyes. "Did you know that?"

"No, not at all. You've never mentioned it. Why don't you remind me?" she said, her eyes bright and teasing.

"How do I love you? Let me count the ways…" I whispered back. She giggled mutely.

"I can't wait until I'm a mommy." She said with a happy sigh, again looking at the twins.

"Slow down! We're not even engaged yet, much less married." I pointed out. She nodded.

"You know that if you asked I'd say yes, right?" she said seriously. I fingered the satin box in my pocket.

"Do I know that?" I asked.

"Of course you do!" she said, smacking my shoulder. "I love you and you know that."

"In that case…" I slid down on one knee. "Will you marry me? I am so in love with you and I would love to make you my wife, my Mrs. Cullen." My hand shook ever so slightly that was holding the box out to her.

She stared mutely at me, gaping from the box to me and back, making the circuit so many times I was considering saying 'Just joking!' and putting the box back in my pocket when she nodded. Ever so slowly at first she nodded, then she picked up speed and my vision was blurred by a mound of sweetly scented brown hair as she had just thrown herself into my arms.

"Yes!" she said from her seat on my knee. "Yes, Mason Cullen, I will marry you." She said as tears gathered in her eyes. I squeezed her tight to me, enjoying the feel of her in my arms, where she'd stay conceivably forever.

A/N- lots of loose ends tied up! Next chapter or the one after begins Katie's story! Woo hoo!

--Cullens4everandever