Hey, folks! The penultimate chapter of this story, which means the second to last chapter. I can't believe I'm almost done. This chapter is the aftermath of the fight, how everyone recovers and we get some reconcile moments between a few of our friends. I hope you enjoy it!

Warning: Contains some... uh, mature scenes later in the chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's.

Chapter 39: Reunion, Recovery, and Reconcile

"Alright, let's go..."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Lizzy frowned as a female officer lead her to a police car. Jake and Blake watched smugly. This time, she had no chance of bail. As Lizzy sat in the back, she glared at her former leader, "I hope you realize that this isn't over... right?" She asked.

Blake smirked, "Oh trust me... it's over, Liz. You're just gonna spend sometime on thin ice..."

"Make that a LONG time..." Jake added.

All Lizzy could do was roll her eyes as the car drove away.

After that was taken care of, both rivals were being treated of their injuries. Blake couldn't help but watch as his wife was loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. He prayed that she and the baby would survive.

Izzy, and Maia stood by Jake's side as he was being treated, with Troy also being treated of his injuries.

Tori, who was already treated on account of her wearing a sling, walked over to Skylar, who was rubbing Kiara's back as she continued to sleep, "How is she...?" Tori asked her daughter.

"Still out of it..." Was Skylar's response, "I'm just glad that she's back to normal... my baby..." She then gave Kiara a kiss on the forehead.

"And I'm glad we're back together again..." Matthew said as he and Brandon stood by them.

Indeed, everyone was reunited with their respective families and friends. Stacy had come back with Kari and Blair, and both were reunited with their families. When Blair asked about her mother, Blake told her that she would be fine...

Jake found it hard to tell Melanie about her best friend's fall of doom... but Melanie wasn't sad about it... she was devastated. But, after what Stephanie did, she figured that it was well deserved.

The bodies of the enemies were removed... but Katie, had disappeared throughout the entire fight. Jake had set out a search to track her down. Cat was extremely worried for her daughter, and only wanted to reconcile with her...

But then came the news that nobody wanted to hear...

A police officer walked up to Jake, "We looked for this Stephanie person... you said she fell from the top of the building, correct?"

"Correct..." Jake nodded.

"Well... we searched all around... but we couldn't find her..."

"... What?"

This caught the attention of people around him, as Melanie spoke, "You mean Stephy is still alive?"

But she's gone... Blake thought.

"But there's no way she could have possibly survived that fall." Tori pointed out, "She fell at least ten feet!"

The officer sighed, "Well, we'll keep looking. All we found was two bloody knives..." He held up a bag with said knives. It's possible that she must have pulled out the knives and escaped. Jake glared, "Well then, gather your greatest people on the force, and track her down. She's a dangerous criminal, and she must be caught."

"Affirmative, Hutchinson..."

With that, the officer walked away.

"Where do you think she went...?" Izzy asked.

Jake shook his head, "I have no idea..."

"I may know my sister, but I even I don't know where she could have run off to..." Blake added, "I just hope she's alright..."

As he said that, he couldn't help but look over at Skylar. Now that all of this was over, he felt the need that he should get some words out, "Um... hey, Skylar. Can you come over? I wanna talk."

Skylar raised an eyebrow, but nevertheless did as told, giving Kiara to Brandon as she did so. "What do you want...?" She asked.

Blake took a deep breath, and then spoke, "So... I wanted to say that I'm sorry for kidnapping you all those years ago... and hurting you... and making you think that I raped you... I know you probably still won't forgive me... but I hope that my half assed apology will due..."

He expected her to not forgive him, but instead she said this, "I should apologize too... for thinking you were behind all of this. I thought that since this all of this was happening because of D.P.K.T.I... I thought you wanted revenge again..."

"Actually, I think we all should apologize..."

That voice came from Beck, as he Jade, Andre, Robbie, Cat, and Trina walked towards them, all looking somber, "Blake... we are SO sorry for not believing you all this time..." Trina admitted, "Can you ever forgive us...?"

"Yeah..." Jade looked down with shame, "Can you...?"

Blake smiled at all of them,"Well, I guess since everyone's being so forgiving right now, I suppose I should forgive you guys too... if you're willing to forgive me for all the crap I've caused you..."

"Apology accepted." Beck replied with a smile.

Tori sighed, "At least that's taken care of..."

"Everything is taken care of..." Jake added.

A week later...

The Hutchinson family treated themselves to a lovely little breakfast of eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon, milk and orange juice. Jake still wore a sling around his arm, as it would take time for the wound to heal.

Troy was taking physical and mental therapy yet again after his last encounter with Deville. And this time, it had helped him tremendously, as Dr. Jack gave him some simple advice... positive mental attitude.

Maia also took some time off to help her family, and even acted as a maid for her father.

Kari was just happy that everything was back to normal, and so was Izzy.

"How are you feeling, Daddy?" Maia asked.

"Still a little sore, but good nonetheless..." Was Jake's response.

"I hope Ally and the baby are doing good..." Izzy spoke up.

Due to the gunshot wound, Ally had to delivery very early, which resulted in a premature baby boy. Jackson Skyler Clark was born November 1 at 6:45 AM. It was a blessing, for if Ally hadn't made it to the hospital in time, she and the baby would've died. And although little Jackson was premature, he was alive, and that's all that matters.

Right now, the two of them were still in the hospital. Blake wanted to stay with them, but he had to take care of Blair. Speaking of which, he was going to bring Blair over so she and Kari could have a play date.

The day before, Cara came by to thank Jake for saving her life. Although she was devastated by the death of her father, she also knew that it was well deserved, and what he was doing wasn't right...

And now she wanted to be close to Jake and his family, along with her sister Dana.

"I can't wait for Blair to come over so we can play." Kari said with happiness, biting into her pancakes.

"Be patient, sweetheart, they'll be here soon..." Izzy chuckled.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang, which made Kari really happy, "They're here!" she cheered. Izzy went to the front door and opened it, revealing Blake and Blair, "Hey, Iz..." Blake greeted.

"Hi, Auntie Izzy..." Blair also greeted, hugging her, and then going upstairs with Kari, who was waiting for her.

Blake came in slowly on crutches. His leg had a bad fracture from where Stephanie shot him, so he had to stay off that leg for a while. Izzy helped him get on the couch, as Jake walked in, "So, how's the leg?" He asked.

"Everytime I move, it's agonizing hell..." Blake answered bluntly, "But... it's getting better. How's that arm?"

"You mean shoulder... sore, but healing at the same time."

"So, we're even..."

"Right..."

Izzy couldn't help but chuckle, "I'll fix some snacks and lemonade for you two..." With that, she disappeared back into the kitchen. Now both alone in the living room, Jake and Blake were silent... not sure on what to say to one another.

After a few moments of said silence, Jake spoke.

"Thank you..."

Blake looked at his rival with confusion, "Huh?"

"Thank you... for all your help. If it wasn't for you and everyone else... we would've never been able to stop D.P.K.T.I for good this time... you did all you could, and you saved the day."

"Me?!" Blake asked, "Saved the day? I almost died!"

"Hey, so did I! But... we both pulled our weights in this battle... and we both came out on top... we all came out on top in the end... you were a big help for once, Blake... and I couldn't be more grateful..."

The former evil pirate just smirked a little, "I guess I should take some credit... and, I'm sorry for giving you a lot of shit over these past few years. I shouldn't had pressured you the way I did... I was just-"

"-Concerned for the safety of your family?" Jake interrupted, "I know... I understand. I was too. Even if I did screw up at times... I made up for my mistakes... and so did you..."

"Yeah... say, what happened to that Sophie chick?"

"I dunno... I haven't seen her since last week. I was hoping to talk to her..."

That's when Izzy came back into the living room, "Oh, I talked with her the other way. She apologized for what she did all those years ago, and she wants to hang out sometime. We're friends again!" She confirmed, "Though I am still a little wary..."

Jake smiled, "That's good..."

Speaking of Sophie... and that night...

"Oh, blow me down! I almost forgot. Hold on, Iz!"

With that, he got up and went up the stairs, as fast as he could go. A few minutes later, he came back down, holding a box, and giving it to Izzy, "This is for you..." He said, "It was a gift I made when you were pregnant with the twins... but after... certain events, I forgot about it for a while... but then I decided to modify it..."

Izzy took the box and opened it. Inside... was a beautiful necklace. With two garnet colored gems, and one sapphire gem hanging on a silver chain. Izzy was amazed, "Oh... Jakey. It's beautiful!" She gasped.

Jake smiled, "It's the kids gemstones... I was going to give it to you for the twins... but I forgot... and then Kari was born, and I was going to give it to you then... until she got kidnapped..."

The former pirate girl hugged her husband, and gave him a kiss, "I love it... thank you..."

"You're very welcome, my fair maiden..."

Blake just shook his head, "Lovey dovey bullshit... I guess I'm guilty of that when it comes to Ally and me..." He admitted, "Oh, by the way... how's Kiara?"

"Kiara is doing much better, Tori says..." Jake answered, "She's been taking special classes to help her mental state. But all in all, she a sweet girl now..."

"That's a relief... and thank god Skylar and everyone finally forgave me... it's about time I got some respect..."

Jake chuckled, "It would have been easy if you just respected them in the first place..."

"Whatever..."

As the adults talked, Jake noticed that Troy was walking out the front door, "Where are you heading, son?" He asked.

"Out... just spending some time to myself..." Was all Troy said before leaving.

If Jake wasn't looking out of the corner of his eye, he would have noticed Troy's dark look... and that he was holding the same metal baseball bat that he used to beat Deville to his death...

Poor kid... he's been through so much... I gotta cheer him up some how...

The days that followed went on pretty nicely. Troy and Maia continued to help out with the family (With Troy heading out every now and then and not returning until very late at night), Kari played with Blair until it was time for her and Blake to return home everyone...

After a few weeks, Jake's arm and Blake's leg had healed up. Still sore, but they didn't need the sling or crutches anymore.

As for Jake and Izzy...

Jake sat in bed shirtless, only wearing his pajama pants, he eagerly waiting for his wife to finish up in the bathroom. She stated that she had a surprise for him, to thank him for her gift... and all he had to do was take off his shirt and wait.

After a few moments, Izzy walked out, wearing a red silky robe, and smiling seductively, "So, Jake... you like what you see...?" She asked, posing by the doorway.

Jake blushed deeply, but he nodded. Izzy then walked towards him, swaying her hips from side to side, causing her husband to suddenly shake with arousal, "I can tell you're enjoying this already..." she said, "But we've not even gotten started yet..."

But suddenly, Jake grabbed her and pinned her to the bed, smirking rather evilly, "Well... why don't we fix that, shall we...?" He asked, kissing her on the lips, before moving between her legs...

Izzy gasped in pleasure as her husband did all sorts of thing down there... she was going to have to return the favor soon.

Little did they know, was that Maia had walked by, and was listening to the whole thing. Al she could do was shake her head with a smile and be glad that Kari was asleep and wouldn't hear the ruckus her parents were causing. Maia knew that her parents weren't very sexually active, but there were definitely times where they would get in the mood...

"Both are almost forty, and they're still getting it on..." She said with a chuckle, "Ah well, it'll be like that with me and Cedric soon..."

The next day... Jake had gotten a text from Blake... asking if he wanted to hang out at the Red Buffet bar. This confused him a lot, since when did Blake ever want to hang out with him of all people? The more he thought about it, he realized that it couldn't hurt. Besides, now that his shoulder was healed up, he could take the time to get out of the house...

Troy offered to drive him there, before driving off somewhere. Jake walked into the restaurant... where his rival was waiting.

"Ahoy, matey..." Blake greeted with a smirk.

Jake frowned, "I'm not your 'matey'..." He corrected.

"Hey, I figured now that all of this shit is done and over with... maybe we can let bygones be bygones and be... nicer to each other... I mean, I still hate your ass, but I hate you a lot less now..."

Jake wasn't sure what to make of this... "Well... I hate you too... but maybe not as much as I used to..." he replied as he took a seat next to Blake, as Charlie was cleaning off the bar, "So, what'll be for ya?" He asked, taking their order.

"I'll have a couple of Jack Daniels and Cocktails..." Blake answered.

"Wait, you want me to drink with you?" Jake asked in shock, realizing why he was here.

Blake grinned at him, "Oh come on, Jake. Don't tell me you haven't drank a beer or wine at least once in your life?"

To be honest, Jake had drunk alcohol beverages before, but they were only for special occasions, such as a party, where he only drunk very little, and a date night with Izzy. But never had he thought to drink alcohol whenever he felt like, much like Blake would do. He refused to drink to the point where he's drunk.

"Why do I feel like your going to try and get me drunk...?" Jake asked suspiciously.

"Relax, I'm not gonna force you to drink too much if you don't want to... I figured that you could use something to drown out all the stress we've been through... come on, Jakey... you know you wanna..." Blake took a cup and waved in front of the former pirate, "Step out of your comfort zone for once..."

All Jake did was glare at him... he didn't want to take the chance of drinking too much, and doing anything that could possibly get him in trouble with the law... or worse, his wife. Yet at the same time... that cup of beer seemed to be tempting him... just daring him to take a shot...

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take one shot... or two... or three...

After thinking it over, Jake nodded.

"I'll just take a few sips of wine... or more..."

Blake smirked, "There it is..."

It sounds like Blake has tempted Jake there, hasn't he? So, we have found out that Stephanie has escaped, Ally gives birth to a tiny baby in Jackson, Jake and Blake try to get along a little better. Not to mention we get a near sex scene because... hey, this story is rated M, I might as well take advantage of that one last time. Speaking of last, next chapter is the finale, it's been fun, but it's time to say goodbye soon. Until then, I'll see you guys later, and as always don't forget to review, please. Thank you!