A/N: Surprise, again! I'm going out of town next week with a small group of friends so I wanted to put this all out before then. This will make it so that hopefully, I can come back refreshed and ready to go on the next adventure.

Though this is the last official chapter, the epilogue is definitely a continuation and not just a series of summaries. This chapter is relatively choppy because they are just short scenes that wrap up a bunch of small stories and plot lines that have been left kind of a breadcrumbs throughout. I hope you enjoy and I hope you REALLY enjoy the ending. Those last couple of paragraphs have been in my head for literal MONTHS.

Enjoy!

Three Months Later

Feeling the sun starting to come through the open window in their bedroom, Emily scrunched her face tightly as she pulled the comforter closer around the base of her neck. Their day would be eventful, to say the least, so she decided to take every moment she could to simply relax. As she settled back into her pillow though, she felt the bed shift to her right. A waft of Alison's shampoo flit through the air sending a smirk across her face.

"Good morning, beautiful." Alison whispered as she climbed back underneath the covers. "Don't try to pass off like you're still asleep, Em. I saw you smiling."

Alison chuckled as she tucked her head into Emily's neck before teasing with her tongue. Her hands roamed freely as Emily adjusted herself underneath her wife's touch. Moving slowly down Emily's body, Alison strategically stopped at the spots on her frame that she knew made Emily weak.

"Al… please, stop. I'm still worn out from last night. Give me some time to recover? Maybe?"

She paused while hovering over her wife's torso, collapsing into her body in defeat before easing her way back up to wrap herself around Emily. "Sorry. I just saw you lying here and looking incredibly adorable with that grin of yours across your lips. Sometimes I think that you forget how attractive you are, babe."

Emily turned onto her side, "You flatter me. But sometimes I think that you forget that I've known you over half of your life." Alison cocked her head as if asking a question, "You always use physical touch as a way to detract from difficult situations. Sometimes, I let you do it willingly, but there's no way we're using your bad habits as a coping mechanism today."

"You suck." Alison flipped over away from her wife to sulk.

Following in kind, Emily scooted toward Alison before wrapping an arm around her nude figure, "Be mopey as much as you want, Alison, but you know I'm right. It's a big day; we should be excited."

"Can we just lay like this for a minute? I know today's important, but I don't really want to face it yet…"

"Whenever you're ready." Emily pressed her lips against Alison's temple as she held herself against her wife even tighter.

They laid in silence for a few moments longer before being interrupted, "Mama! Mommy!"

Emily started rolling to her left while speaking, "If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. You should've never taught her that the baby monitor in her room meant we could hear her anytime she needed us, Ali." She walked around the bed before crouching in front of her wife, "Get up at your own pace. I'm going to get dressed back in my pajamas and make breakfast for all of us. How does that sound?"

"It sounds perfect. I love you." Alison leaned forward, humming into their kiss before sinking back into the mattress for a few more moments of rest.

It took Alison a couple dozen minutes to prepare herself for the day before finally dragging herself out of bed and putting on some shorts and a t-shirt to make her way into the kitchen. Olivia saw her first and quickly became elated.

"Mama! Mama!" she kicked against her high chair, causing Alison to move toward her quickly.

"Gentle feet, Livvy. I missed you so much too, but we have to do our best to be patient. Your mom and I would hate to see you get hurt. Come see me." She reached forward before walking behind her wife to wrap an arm around her. "Thanks for talking me off the ledge this morning."

Emily turned in her arms so that they were face to face, "Of course. You'd do the same with me. You ready to talk to Liv about today?" Alison nodded, "Okay… we'll just go with what we practiced? I put the frame on the counter over there." She pointed behind her before moving back to the food.

"Sure." She gulped before smiling down at her daughter, "You're going to come sit with me at the table while your mom puts the biscuits into the oven and joins us. We have to talk a little about today, Squirt."

Olivia reached up to pull her mom's face into her hands to give her a kiss. Their daughter had the uncanny ability to empathize from a young age. Coming into the world at a time of unrest caused her to adopt a peace about her that she wished to pass on whenever she could.

"How did you know Mommy needed that today? You're so thoughtful." Alison took a deep breath as Emily walked around to the other side of her to help. The brunette reached under the table and placed her hand gently on top of her wife's thigh as Alison began to speak, "So, today, well this weekend is a big day for our family. You… you remember how we talk about your brother?"

Alison paused as Olivia looked at the frame placed in her mother's hands before saying, "Leem."

"You're right, baby girl. Liam." Emily smiled, resting her head against Alison as she continued, "We've told you a lot of times that Liam was our first baby. But it's actually kind of sad because we never got to meet him and hold him and love him like we get to do with you every day. So once a year, we get together with other people who love your brother just as much as the three of us do." Emily's voice cracked thinking about all of the citizens of Rosewood that always came out in both Liam and Chance's memory.

"And from what your Mommy tells me, it's a hard day but a good one because of how much of an impact your brother had on people he never got to meet. Today will actually be my first time being able to celebrate him with so many other people. Can I tell you something?" Olivia nodded as she looked between her parents, "I'm kind of scared about it. I don't know how I, or other people that may be there, will react. But I also know that I'll be okay because I have you and your Mommy with me. Can you stay by my side today so that we can look out for each other?" Alison tickled her daughter's stomach to lighten the mood as Olivia collapsed into her hand.

"You're going to be great today, Ali." Emily grazed her hand up and down her wife's back as they walked across the street toward the memorial. "You remember why we're coming here today, Squirt?"

"Leem! Leem!" Olivia looked up from holding her mother's hand while crossing the street together, before making eye contact with someone on the grass. "Gamma! Gamma!"

"Why were we ever worried about her today? She's literally going to be passed from person to person as the happiest girl in the world." Emily whispered into Alison's ear as they stepped onto the curb, and Olivia dashed for her grandmother's arms. "How are you doing?"

As she asked the question though, she looked into the small crowd of people in front of them, who were all looking back their way. Emily paused, looking behind her to see what the issue was before realizing that they were all staring back at her wife. She stepped in front of Alison's frame to block to crowd before speaking.

"Em…" Alison whispered, "You told Liz that I was coming today, right?"

"I texted her, yes. She said it wouldn't be a problem."

"For her or everyone else?" Alison gulped, wanting nothing more than to disappear. But as Alison opened her mouth to speak again, they were interrupted.

"Emily! Alison! My goodness. It is such a pleasure to have you both here with us today." They turned around to see Chance's mother, Liz, walking toward them both with her arms wide open. "Emily, I love you dearly. But I'm going to hug your wife first if that's alright."

As soon as Alison's body was wrapped around Liz's, she was able to exhale in relief. She watched as the faces in front of hers relaxed as well before turning back to their own conversations. Her arms covered Liz's back as Liz began rocking them back and forth.

Liz pulled away holding her at arm's length. "It's been almost a year since I've seen you and a whole three without being able to give you a hug. You look good. Are you good, Alison?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm alright. Today is a lot, but seeing you here has helped."

Taking her arm in hers, Liz began walking and talking, "Emily, I'm going to take your wife for a bit. Greg is over by the grill; he had mentioned wanting to catch up with you!"

"Take your time, Liz. I'll be sure to find you later." Emily left a lingering kiss on her cheek before walking to the other side of the memorial.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret, Ali. I thought that having this celebration of life every year would make things easier. But here we are year three of being able to meet in person, in this spot, and it doesn't fix the wound. You know?" Alison nodded, looking away to wipe a tear from her eye. "It's okay to cry, dear. No one expects you to be a robot. Your son would want you to be honest with how you're feeling today."

"That's not it. It's Chance…"

Liz stopped to face Alison, "Look at me, sweetheart. Really look at me. Today is about our sons and the joyous moments they gave us no matter how big or small. Today is not about their passing or feeling guilt or remorse for wishing things could be different. We save all of that for the other 364 days of the year. But I'm not going to have you standing here in front of me crying about my son when he gave me the best 23 years of my life. Do you understand? Today isn't about your desire for something else to have happened that day. Today, we celebrate. Okay?"

"Okay…" Alison nodded, gathering her emotions back together.

"Have you been here yet? Since your release?" Liz grasped Alison's arm again as they continued walking.

"A few times. Mostly alone though, so seeing everyone around is a little different."

"I'm sure." Liz laughed, "Let me walk you through everything though. We wanted everything on this corner to be circular because we really do believe in the circle of life in our family. No life provides a definite end. I mean, look at our boys. They unite people every year. We commissioned the sculpture from an artist friend of Greg's, who I think did a great job."

"He really did. I noticed how much little Liam there looks similar to Olivia the first time I came out. It really is outstanding the work you did here, Liz. It means so much to our family that you commemorated our son beside yours."

"Loss is loss no matter how it occurs, Alison." She allowed her words to linger in the air between them as they held hands staring at the sculpture.

"So, Emily tells me that you've been using the restitution we paid your family for the upkeep of the memorial site. Is that still correct?"

Liz nodded while speaking, "Most of the money was used toward getting the land back into reusable condition, the sculpture, and installing the benches and things. The city does the upkeep around the area for free as it is public space. But yes, most of the money went right back here. We always thought the idea of restitution was unnecessary from the beginning though. No amount of money will ever bring our son back, just as you serving time wouldn't change a thing either. So, this seemed like the best option."

"You said 'most of the money.' There was some left?"

"Yes. Just over $100,000. We were able to fully fund the tuition for a student at the University of Pennsylvania who was going into the same medical program Chance was in."

"What a blessing for them. Just the one though?"

"We looked into starting an actual college fund. But those require a lot more initial capital, you know."

"Come sit with me, Liz." Alison guided Mrs. Baker over to one of the circular benches in the middle of the memorial. Placing one hand over hers, she started talking before she could convince herself to stop, "Now, I'm not sure exactly what this would take. But if you're interested, I'd like to put up the money to start a fund in Chance's name."

Liz quickly put her hands up to her mouth in surprise, "Greg? Gregory?" she called out as Emily and Greg rushed toward the two women, "Sweetheart, Alison wants to put up the money for the fund we wanted to start at the college. Are you sure?"

Emily placed her hands on Alison's shoulders as she listened to her wife, "It'd be an honor. After all you've done in the aftermath of such a terrible tragedy, for both of our families. How you've celebrated our son every year and welcomed us into your lives when most people wouldn't have even looked my way. It's the least I could do to begin to thank you for the impact you and your family have made in our lives."

As Liz and Greg embraced, breaking into tears of joy, Emily wrapped her arms around Alison's shoulders from behind before gently whispering, "You amaze me. Endlessly."

"You know, I haven't asked you what it feels like to be driving again since getting your license back?"

Emily glanced at her wife from the passenger's seat as they drove away from the memorial site. Her heart was beating in time with the car while trying to get her mind off of the day.

"It's great to get a little bit of freedom back, but I still can only drive if I have an adult in the car. Like a damn permit driver."

Reaching over to hold Emily's hand, Alison found solace laced between her fingers. A type of grounding force contained within her palms, keeping her sane and secure and safe.

"I'll drive with you anywhere, babe." Emily reassured, kissing the back of her hand before nonchalantly speaking again, "Want to go on an adventure? Mom took Liv for the night, so let's live it up."

"I don't mind. Where do you want to go?" Alison shrugged.

"How about you turn right up here? Let's go out of town a little bit."

"What are you up to?"

"We can do something else, Ali. I just thought going out of town could be a welcomed change. Do you have something else in mind?"

"No, that's fine. We can definitely go explore." A pause ran through their conversation, "Sorry, Em. You seemed a little sneaky."

Emily laughed, "Sneaky? How could I be the sneaky one when you're driving? It's okay though, sweetheart. Maybe we can go catch the sunset up in the hills. Does that sound alright?"

"Yeah, that's good. You have a spot in mind?" Alison smirked back at her wife, still not letting up.

"I think if you make a left at this next light it will head up that way."

"Sounds good…"

The two women made their way up into the hills for a few more minutes before Emily gently pointed left again down a road into a subdivision.

"You're being sneaky again, Em."

"Shh…" Emily hushed as Alison rounded the corner to find a plot of land at the end of the road completely lit up with lights.

"Emily? What did you do?"

"Just pull over right here, babe. I haven't done anything yet. Stay right there." Emily leaned over the console to place a kiss on her wife's cheek before hopping out to come around to the other side of the car. Opening the car door, she continued, "It's like I told you, I wanted us to watch the sunset."

They walked quietly over to the land which sat at over an acre off of the top of the hill they were on. Artificial candles were set up in a large circle around the middle of the ground with a small blanket in the center. The area had trees surrounding it that framed the sky in front of them. Over an hour away from sunset though, Alison was still confused.

"Who set this up for you?"

"I may have promised to buy dinner when we go out with Spencer and Wren next week… Do you like it?"

"It's stunning, but I don't understand what's going – "

Emily stopped in the middle of the circle, turning to face her wife, "Let me explain. I got this idea a little over a month ago around your birthday because I realized exactly what steps I still had yet to take to further show you how dedicated I am to us and our family and our future."

"You do so much already though, Em. All of this isn't needed." Alison placed her forehead on Emily's, closing her eyes to soak in the moment.

She chuckled, kissing her cheek, "This is just the first part, so be prepared to keep being overwhelmed."

Alison shook her head. "What are you doing?" She asked wildly as Emily held both of her hands as she lowered herself onto one knee.

"Five and a half years ago you proposed to me at one of the most significant places in our relationship. You took my hands in yours, and you promised me forever. You didn't promise me perfect or easy, but you promised me love. You promised me happiness on my hardest days and dedication on my darkest. And in March, we talked about how you kept every single promise you made that day. But that you wouldn't wear your wedding ring again until I committed new vows to you. Every day since then has kind of haunted me to be honest. I look at your left hand, and a pang hits my heart. But since getting back together, I also think that our relationship has pushed past what we were the day we got married, so I didn't think your original ring would do either."

"Em…"

Reaching into the picnic basket sitting on the blanket, Emily pulled out a small black box, "In my original vows, I missed out on capturing a huge part of marriage that is inevitable. We were bound to struggle, Al. We were bound to hurt and get hurt. I hadn't anticipated just how bad our struggle and hurt could be. I believed we were undamageable and indestructible. But I've realized that the beauty of true love is knowing that even though there may be damage and destruction, we will both be there the next day to rebuild and repair."

Emily inhaled before continuing, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that life is about accumulating scars. As humans, we accumulate hurt. We accumulate moments of learning and disappointment and struggle. And if someone's going to come into your life and take your hand, they'd better be ready to take your hand, scars and all. I lost sight of that. I lost the ability to see all you've overcome, and all we were made to overcome. So that's what I'm here to promise you. I promise to acknowledge our hurt, our disappointment, our struggles. I promise to turn them into moments of learning. I promise to take care of you, scars and all. I love you, Alison. I've loved you since the moment you drove overnight in the middle of that snowstorm. And I've fallen in love with you over and over again every day since. As always, you are my yesterday. You are my today. I hope that with this ring you will be my tomorrow. For all the days of my life. And with that, Alison Lauren DiLaurentis, will accept this ring?"

Emily opened the box to reveal a stunning 2 carat white gold ring with a cushion cut diamond and small diamonds lining the band, engraved with '7 years down. Forever to go.' on the inside band. She smiled up at her wife as Alison stood with her mouth covered, "Are you serious?"

"Am I serious? Alison, I've been on one knee for almost five minutes professing my love to you. Of course, I'm serious!"

Pulling Emily up from the ground, Alison wrapped her wife in a bone-crushing hug, "Yes. Yes. A million times, yes."

She leaned away for Emily to be able to place the ring on her hand, "Does it fit? Do you like it? Is it okay?"

"My God, I love you. It's perfect, Em."

Keeping her arms entangled around Alison's waist, Emily stared down into her eyes as Alison slowly began letting the entire moment sink in. She felt Alison's hands enlace behind her neck as they both held on to every breath between them. "Let me know when you're ready for the next thing…" Emily whispered into her wife's ear.

"Give me another minute to process this."

Alison leaned back before connecting the two in a kiss. Emily always loved being able to feel Alison's smile against her just before their embrace. She loved seeing and feeling her happiness in every aspect of their connection. The blonde twirled her fingers through Emily's hair, grazing the back of her neck which forever made her go weak.

"Okay. I'm ready." She whispered, pulling away from their kiss, "What's next? Dinner from Sorrento's? A cute sunset stroll?"

Emily smirked while keeping her arms around her wife, "Both of those suggestions are extremely cute but are also incorrect. Do you remember how I started my whole vow spiel like 10 minutes ago?"

Alison looked up at her perplexed as all of Emily's words swirled through her mind. She giggled, placing her head against Emily's collarbone, "I now understand all of our friends saying that they forget everything during their proposals other than making sure to say 'Yes.'"

"Well, you did remember to do that. Do you need a refresher? I said, 'Five and half years ago you…' –"

Her wife's eyes lit up, " – Proposed to me at one of the most significant places in our relationship."

"Exactly, and I knew that if you had taken so much effort to make that moment special… I needed to attempt to do the same."

"This sunset is fascinating, Em. You did all of that and more."

"I did happen to pick a miraculously good day. But, no. That's not what I mean. I wanted to do this in a place that I hope will become of the most significant places in our relationship, too."

"Where? Here?"

"Yeah. I reached out to Jason, who reached out to your Dad, who in turn helped me access some of the funds in your family's trust."

"My Dad? Emily, I don't speak to my fath –"

"Let me finish, Al. I was hoping that maybe you wanted to unvoid that check from Christmas with me?"

"Unvoid? The check?" Alison began looking around as the pieces fell into place.

"I bought this land with money from my portion of the trust, Ali. I know how much you hate parts of our house now. I see how you sometimes cringe at the thought of the memories that invaded our home. I want to build new memories with you, baby. I want to build a new home. With you. Right here."

"Right here?"

Emily nodded, before letting go of Alison's waist while still holding onto her hand and starting to run to her left. "I want to build a house from… right… here." Emily stopped when she ran into the small rock row she had made indicating their plot line and drawing a line with her arms in the sky to either side of her before running off in the other direction. "All the way to… right… here." She stopped again to mark the plot line on the other side. "It's just over an acre of land, for us. For Liv. And it's almost the same distance from town as our house now."

"I can't believe you..." Alison smiled, spinning around to take in the land they were standing on. When she stopped, she crouched down to feel the blades of grass between her fingers before turning back toward the sunset and sitting down. She curled her legs up underneath her chin as she wrapped her arms around the front of her calves simply staring straight ahead.

Emily followed suit while imitating her wife's movements beside her, enveloping Alison in her arms, "What about this can't you believe?"

"That we made it here. In seven months, we went from broken and fragile to connected and strong. That the day that destroyed us will now also be shared with today. The day that restored so much faith into everything our future is going to become. That 18 years ago, I had the courage to come up to you and offer to show you around school, and that you had the foresight to agree. I don't know, Em. Sitting up here with all of this in front of us when the inside of a concrete cell was my reality for 22 months, it's overwhelming that somehow I still have good fortune. That somehow you're by my side."

"Get used to it, Al. Your stuck with this view and me by your side until forever."

"Promise?" Alison tucked her head sideways to smirk at her wife.

"I wouldn't settle for anything less."

The two women sat in blissful silence overlooking the city they grew up in. They watched the colors in the sky fade from blue to black as the clouds transformed from white to pink and the bands across the sky melted into a deep purple on the horizon. Each of them endlessly thankful that even with all they had faced, they were continuing in this life together. For as many steps that the couple had taken over the past seven months, no moment felt more impactful for their future than being on top of that hill.

And whether they chose to see it or not, it was plain to see that their future had been protected all along. That their story was meant to continue. That their fate was forever tied to one another. Because even though the Alison walking out of that prison seven months ago when compared to the Alison sitting atop this hill appeared to be two entirely different people, there would always be one thing that connected them both. One thing that had protected Emily and Alison for the past four years no matter the high or low. Because as they sat there content and hopeful and oh, so in love, Alison silently smiled, licked her finger, and raised it to the air.

Their safety. Their protection.

It would forever be found in the wind.

A/N: Wipe away your tears... well, I actually don't think this would elicit tears, but you never know. I love the end of this chapter and the idea that Liam has been with the relationship all along really get my emotions moving.

Thank you for all of the support and major thanks to all of the new readers who have sent reviews and PMs over the past few days. I love that some of you get to just binge this story; I think that'd be the best way to do it!

Epilogue will be out Monday morning before I leave for my trip! It's one of my favorite things I've written and also includes a time jump. See you then!

Read. Review. Favorite. Pass Along.

- secretpen28