Hello everyone!

Wow, this had been quite an adventure, and I thank you so very much for keeping up with me and supporting me! Here's the last chapter and the epilogue, ending with a little crossover, that I hope will please you. Don't hesitate to tell me about it!

It feels strange, to end this story (my first finished long story!), yet I believe I lead it where I wanted it to go, and now it's time for me to focus on other things. There's still my Game of Thrones fanfiction that I need to put my mind into. And then, there's another I just began, and I wanted to thank everyone that had left a comment on it. So much support, I really appreciated it!

As always, I don't own Gone with the Wind, its characters. Nor every works referenced or hinted in this fanfiction, like "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier.

I hope you will like the end of it, and forgive me all of the inaccuracies in the story.

I love you all,

…

Chapter 45

"I dare say, you surprised me. I never thought you would go that far," Rhett said quietly, finally leaving his spot on the threshold. "Give it up now, you're surrounded."

The casualty with which he walked into the room was baffling and had Scarlet not learned to read between the lines of the behaviors and expressions of her husband, she would have been properly shocked by it.

Now, she was just quite irritated.

Oh, he was angry, alright. But at a second lookthat she wished she hadn't had, there were other things in these dark eyes that dumbfounded her.

He's hesitant, she realized. It was one of these moments when he wasn't completely sure he would not regret this act on his conscience. He was waiting for a reason to do it, for Richard to shoot first. Yet, to Scarlett, distraught by her lack of eating, it seemed so very ridiculous, when the English lord had been the one to kidnap her, could have killed her and who knew what else.

Rhett wasn't looking at her anymore, and his eyes were bored into Richard's, whose body had stiffened as it stood from the sound of his voice. There, she could see the movement of his muscles under his clothes, and she idly remarked that he was certainly stronger than what he had looked at first glance, with all the tension in the room, and that from where things stood, if there was a fight, the outcome might not be settled before dinner.

A thin thread of air was tickling the skin of her cheek like a cold, threatening whisper. She shook her head, determined not to care. This had been on her mind, and it had left it, and she would certainly not go back.

"She's incredible, my wife, don't you think?" Rhett continued his harassment. "Strong, brave, resilient, irresistible… It took time to get her, for her head and heart are quite thick…"

"Hey!" Said wife protested.

"… But then, it was all worth it, and I wouldn't change her for the world…"

"Oh, my love…" She softened.

At her side, Richard was shaking his head most violently, his fingers pulling at his hair.

"Shut up! Shut up!"

"Is the green-eyed monster eating you up, mate?" Rhett grinned almost maliciously. "That's generally a common effect when one meets Scarlett. She truly is the green-eyed monster by herself."

It looked like a farce, and it certainly was. For suddenly, Rhett let out a deep and weary sigh.

"Come on, Richard. For old times' sake. You've got me good; I grant you that. But it needn't end with you being six-foot underneath."

"Before, you wouldn't have that many scruples," Scarlett hissed.

"What can I say, love. Age makes me nostalgic. And I have to admit you and I had parts in this."

Richard let out a sharp cry. His nails had left traces on his cheeks, like the fall of bloody tears.

"You think admitting that will be enough? That I can… just go back to life as it was, with the satisfaction that you said I got you good?"

"No, of course," Rhett said. "But I hate waste."

Richard looked at him as if dumbfounded. He took a step backward, then another closer to Scarlett.

"And yet, it seems life isn't for me, after all…" She heard Richard whispering at her side as he caught her hand.

"Her fate is linked with mine. If I die, she dies too," Her abductor's voice raised and broke. "Now, what do you choose?"

Rhett closed his eyes a second, before meeting his with a heart-breaking fatality that puzzled Scarlett.

"So you've chosen death, then."

"Was there another way?" Richard's laugh was wild as he said it, nervous and weak "You know I wouldn't have given up."

"There was. But it seemed you did not look for it."

"I always knew you would be the reason for my end…"

"You made it," And Rhett's tone was sad.

"No. You made me."

This was preposterous and dragging, and Scarlett could not bear it.

"Oh, enough with all these talks!" She scowled, stamping her foot petulantly.

As if remembering she was there, Rhett let out an amused smile.

"Darling. You've always been too impatient to appreciate a tragedy."

She huffed.

'You're not the one being threatened by a madman."

"And you'll die with a madman," Richard whispered in her ear. She went still. And then, suddenly, she felt the cold touch of steel graze her fingers. "If you don't..."

Her eyes widened. She did not understand it at all!

But she wasn't about to question it now as he turned her to him, and she managed to get the grip of it.

He kissed her forehead as she stabbed him. Not a sound, as he finally released her and she took a few steps back. He looked at her with eyes that were not seeing, or maybe an image of the past. Of a girl, that he had lost, and that now he took completely for Scarlett. His arms tried to reach her, but faltered to the sound of Rhett's shot. The gun fumed, and her husband's jaw was clenched as the window broke, the form of Richard Fenton falling through it.

She began to tremble. The knife fell from her hand. Her knees buckled. Then the baby kicked again, yet she felt so weak…

She was about to fall as well when Rhett caught her in his embrace, and she held onto him with relief. His heart beat under her ear, his fingers slipped in her hair. She let out a sigh, her eyes closed through the caresses. Kisses, soft and sweet were laid on her face, and she allowed herself a little cry of mixed sadness and fear, her little fists gripping shakingly on her man's waistcoat.

"Which one of us killed him?" She said after a time.

"My dear, I do believe it's useless to think of such details. He's dead, now," He watched from the corner of his eyes the body laid in plain sight, with blood slowly leaving it. "And with enough luck, people will think the ghosts killed him."

"Luck?"

"Alright, money, honey. Bribing. But let's not focus on the materiality of the matter."

She bit her lips, before finally admitting what was now burdening her. "He… He gave me the knife…"

"I suspected so."

They let it linger for a moment, yet it was oppressing. Oppressing like that attic filled with dust and ghosts, and the violence of the wind pushing through the shattered glass.

"Who was he, really?"

"I thought I knew. However, now, I'm not sure," He replied reluctantly after a time. "He was a good lad. He was everything others wanted him to be. Very sensitive when he did not meet the expectations of others. It used to make me laugh, but I supposed I envied him in a way. He was accepted when I was not, and for him, it was enough. So here, I wonder, why would he not be like me?

"I did not realize in fact he was on a tightrope, and that when I pulled him in another way, I unbalanced him, and twisted him in a way he would not recover. I thought I was showing him the truth of things, but maybe I only pushed him harder. And then, there was Cassandra, flimsy Cassandra. A true English lady in the eyes of others, educated and polite, but with a wandering eye that held no love, nor true pleasure. She did it because she was bored, and… I don't know. Maybe for her, there was a thrill in doing it, and she did need some thrill to continue living. If one could call it living.

"I could see she was playing with him, as she was playing with others, but then I suppose I was a bit jealous. I could see he would marry her, and she was making him change into a pup without spirit, and I thought to protect him by pushing her away from him. I had such an ideal of liberty, the image of the whippings at Dunmore Landing was still so very much in my mind, and I wasn't about to do nothing when one person I cared about, that I considered as a little brother, was about to submit.

"I thought I was preventing himself from being hurt, and used. But maybe it was because he was my toy, the brother who followed me like a shadow, a credit to my bruised ego, and she was pulling him in another way, so I pulled harder. And then he snapped. At first, I tried to shake it off. But then, Cassandra came to me, in tears. She was in danger, she said. I never really knew what she was talking about, it was so confusing. Once she was talking of his father paying for the abortion, then she was talking of killing the monster we had created. It was your fault, she told me, maybe you are the true monster…"

Scarlett shook her head, distraught.

"You were never a monster. You just wanted to be loved and accepted. You wanted a family…"

He nodded, but she knew he did not agree. One corner of his mouth went down, and his expression darkened.

"I'm not sure about that. But when I left London, I thought I had learned my lesson. I would not let any woman suffer what she had, and I would never trust in love. I'll be my own man, and I'll never be influenced by others, or try to shape them like I wanted them to be. I won't let any woman lead me on as she did, and I would never give my love without being sure it was truly reciprocated. I despised her. She was the proof for me that every woman played a role, and bullied men to get what they wanted. Yet, thinking of her death disturbed me. It had been terrible, and even in my spite, I could not justify it. And then I met you…"

"And you thought yourself trapped."

"Sometimes, we twist the most precious things in our life, because we're afraid, and we don't want to give up what we had. Or maybe because we don't want to admit we never had it from the start. Sometimes, we put people in molds, hoping we'll make them exactly as we want them to be. But it does not work like that," His grip strengthened on Scarlett, and she raised her eyes on him. "When he came to see me again, when I was in jails after the war, I thought all was forgotten, and that it was no use of questioning myself. But then I'm afraid also I did not really care to think more about it. He was a page in my life I had turned, like many others, and even though I reread some parts of it with interest, I had no real wish to linger on it. I wanted to find you, and help you. I was worried about you… I didn't care to look back…"

She reflected on it and accepted it. Yet, another thing was bothering her.

"Rhett… Are we the villains in this story?"

"I don't know, love." He said after a moment. "I don't bloody know."

She wondered at it and concluded that indeed no satisfying answer could be found for the moment. And the air was too stale here, too hostile. She couldn't think straight anyway.

"Let's leave the house. Let's leave it right now."

He nodded eagerly. She was not to remember the entirety of the travel back home, for then many things happened on such a swift time. First, a surprise when they put a foot out of the Lalaurie Mansion, and lost themselves in the busy unaware crowd...

"There are no officers…" She let out a bewildered cry. "You bluffed!"

"I often do, you shouldn't be that surprised," He shrugged. "And then, your friends helped very much in the distracting and neutralizing of the others that were guarding the house."

Scarlett squealed in delight.

"Oh, where are they now?"

"By God, Scarlett, they're already scattered!" He pestered her. "Were you expecting a meeting at that time?"

Then, a man, waiting on them with a carriage, and leaving them with a bow.

"Wasn't it Adrian?" Scarlett cried.

"I do believe he thought the best revenge for his mother would be for me to do the dirty work."

Belle. Belle had been his mother, Scarlett realized. And Rhett… Rhett…

Yet, there was no time to think of it now.

Still, it couldn't be helped that she now wondered at all of it. All these background characters, that she did not really care about if she could easily put a label on them. Villain, hero, other woman, minions... All had lives, feelings, bonds like her. Like her, they could want revenge, they could believe in something so deeply they made it true. And she was there, with a story of her own, yet among many that she did not know quite yet.

Her head tilted, curious.

"Or me. I wonder who she really was, that woman…"

He stopped a moment in his tracks and looked at her queerly.

"Now, my dear, as much as I admire your perseveration and questioning, and I can see for you there may be a certain continuity for you in the matter, I do believe that's enough for today." He pulled her closer to him. "Come, Pork and the children are waiting for us."

"Rhett…"

"What, again?"

The water had broken.

"Damn it, Scarlett, a man's heart can't handle that many disasters at once! You ought to be a little more considerate to your old man's.."

"Shut your mouth and help me!"

"Right away," He bowed swiftly, before carrying her, his arms securely around her back and knees. "Madam has her carriage."

The contractions, first coming and going at a slow pace were now much quicker as they entered the house, and it was with a thick voice Rhett ordered around everyone, taking care the children would be out of the way. Scarlett heard it and saw it through a hazy veil, idly wondering what the fuss was all about. She was put on the bed carefully, like a fragile doll, and held still in the same innerving manner.

"Damn, where is the doctor?" Rhett cursed as he finally settled beside her on the bed.

"Ah can do it."

Surprisingly, Prissy had entered the room, determined, and it seemed she wasn't about to be stopped by anyone.

"Oh no. I'm sorry, but I doubt…" Scarlett began, before letting out a sharp cry.

"Ah done grown and learned, Miz Scarlett." Prissy raised her chin. "Ah'll be the one to deliver your baby."

Bewildered, Scarlett met her husband's eyes, and he only shrugged.

"My dear, I do believe we don't have much time to fight and wait for the doctor."

Scarlett bit her lip and nodded begrudgingly.

"Alright, alright. But if you put a knife under the bed, I shall scream!"

Rhett's heart was gripped with pain, and he resolved to stay beside her, behind her so he could be her rock as she worked for the both of them. Gently, he put his arms around her and caught her hands, and to her ear, he whispered soothing, loving words.

When the doctor finally came, the baby was already very much delivered. If he was shocked at the presence of the father at his wife's side, so intimately holding her as she tried to recover, he did not say so, and just questioned Prissy about the process when she began to clean the baby. Yet, it was not to be with Scarlett's eager demand of her son.

"Reginald!" Scarlett cried, and the triumph colored her face most befittingly as she stretched her arms to receive him. "Reggie, my Reggie…"

But then, a grimace of pain made her falter, and the doctor had to examine her.

"There's another one…"

Another boy, other painful hours. And when it seemed it had finally ended, the doctor still had something to say.

"And another one…"

"What?" Scarlett protested most violently this time. "Oh, no, that's too much! I'm stopping now!"

"Come on, Scarlett, just a little more…" Rhett gritted his teeth, his body all tension and worry.

"Damn you, Rhett Knave Butler! Damn you thrice and back to Halifax!" She scowled. "Three babies, Rhett? Why, one wasn't enough for your ridiculous, inflated masculine pride? You better love babies, indeed, for they will be the last ones you'll ever have!"

"Of course, my dear, of course…" He nodded, but did not really seem to listen to her. Some drops of perspiration fell from his brow as he tried to comfort his wife. "Continue, you're doing so great, darling. Push it. It's almost over, oh…"

The third one was a girl, and, with the lack of another cradle, she was handed swiftly to the parent who had enough strength to hold her for a moment before finding a solution.

Rhett looked at the girl in his arms, his heart melting violently to a hot liquid that fell almost painfully down his organs, until it reached his guts.

Bonnie, he wanted to call her. Yet, he refrained. Bonnie could not be brought back, could not be replaced. This was a new baby, a new girl. She deserved her own name.

"Prissy… Thank you… Thank you…" He heard Scarlett whisper, and it brought him back to reality, to the wonderful woman at his side as she thanked her former servant over and over again.

Prissy smiled, and there was a pride in this that was beautiful to see.

Everything was beautiful.

He leaned back on the pillow, exhausted as if he had been through labor as well.

"Thank God it's easy to get babies out of you!"

"Don't even think about it," Scarlett retorted, before commenting on a lighter tone. "I think we will have our hands full with these ones."

She leaned back on him, and he folded his arms completely over her petite frame. Her nose raised, and nuzzled his chin.

"I feel so happy…." She whispered softly. "Do you, Rhett?"

He couldn't even talk. It took time for him to find his voice again. And when he finally did, it was croaked, barely higher than a whisper.

"They are marvelous," He mumbled "You are marvelous."

A thin, dark eyebrow raised on his love's face as she considered him with an amused face.

"And you're on high."

She giggled, before settling more comfortably on him.

"Rebecca. She'll be called Rebecca. And she shall break many hearts," He said in wonder. "She'll have long dark hair and green eyes…"

"No," Scarlett chided lightly. "Her eyes will be dark, like yours. And she shall cut the hair just to spite everyone around her."

"A mixture between you and I, love. What a terrible thing the world will face."

"Don't forget Reginald," She chided. "But yes, I do believe she'll be one to charm her way out of everything. She'll even be able to charm children and animals."

"And too cunning for her own good."

"Beware if the husband doesn't follow."

"Now, Mrs. Butler, don't let's talk about husbands right now. You know it will upset me."

She looked carefully at the baby, and smiled.

"I hope… I hope she'll find love, as we did. I hope she will not marry just for money, a title, and a good house."

He raised her knuckles to his lips and kissed them, but did not answer.

"It's aright… We're alright…" He finally whispered.

Eventually, another cradle was found, and they were alone in the bed.

With eyes closed, he gathered his wife against him, his nose buried in her hair.

"And this one boy… What could be his name?"

"Oh!" Scarlett cried, horrified, and sat abruptly. "We haven't named him!"

Rhett stared at his wife, amused at her hurry.

"Indeed, we haven't. But that can easily be solved. What do you think?"

She shouldn't have raised, he thought, worried, and he was about to scowl at her, but as she leaned on the cradle, he did not find the heart to.

"Well, we did name the other with an r…" She considered. "We might as well continue."

"So, it can be Rasputin."

"Where does that name come from?" She berated him, irritated. "No, I was thinking of a proper name. Ross, maybe."

"Absolutely not. That's my brother's name" He quipped.

"Oh, yes, that's right."

"Little Rake number two?"

"Do be serious!"

"Certainly not Richard, from what I gather."

"Giving that name to our baby? Are you mad?"

Embracing her from behind, he looked at the baby and wondered at the seriousness of his expression.

"How about Robert?" He said softly.

"Robert…" She tried. Then smiled. "Like the hero in my story."

"Indeed."

"That's fitting," She kissed softly the baby's brow, content, before putting him back to the cradle. "Welcome, Robert Butler."

"Too discrete for his own good, it seems. I do believe he will be easier to manage."

"I do believe you're right," She nodded, her hand swaying lightly the little cradle. "But he'll be loved nonetheless."

"Indeed."

She turned her face to him and kissed him softly, with a love that still managed to shake him, and he almost cried on the spot.

"Being a mother to these three may become quite the challenge. I believe we will have our hands full."

"I'll take care of the girl," He said swiftly. "You can keep the boys."

"Fine. Then, I'll have two boys that will challenge you when they come of age to deliver my girl from your clutches."

"You would dare set them against me?"

Eyes met eyes, defiant and proud.

"And you would dare steal one of my babies? Our babies? That's a war you'd be signing for."

"To have peace, prepare for war, or so it is said."

She let out a lazy smile, already knowing she had won.

"Well, that's foolish. The war is over now. Don't start another yet. I'm tired, and I can't bear these shenanigans."

And as if to prove her point, her body faltered, and he caught her and settled her on the bed. She couldn't hear his chidings, and maybe it was better she did not. She had exhausted all her strength, and now, she needed her rest. So he took it as his cue to leave her be for now, and reassure the children and tell them of the birth of their new babies brothers and sister.

When he came back, she was asleep, one of the boys in her arms. From the darkness of his skin, little Reginald most certainly.

"Rhett…" She protested when he tried to take the boy from her. "No, let him there, Rhett… it doesn't bother me…"

"Oh, but he does bother me…"

"Mmm… nonsense…"

"Here, here, darling…" He kissed her temple softly. "Now, you little scoundrel, get out."

There was a little glare on the baby's face, and a little indignant protest as he was taken from his mother's arms and put properly in his place. Yet, Rhett was certainly not in a mood to indulge as he took his place at his wife's side, forgetting the scent of blood and the events of today in favor of the warmth of knowing himself to be exactly where he belonged.

…

Two hours later, the door was opened, followed by a hint of a little head with ginger locks.

It was all so very silent, and Ella slipped in, curiosity bright in her pale green eyes. She took care not to disturb anything, each step slow and careful. Yet, the parquet was old, and she winced when she heard its cracking. Swiftly, her face turned to her parent's side. Yet, she saw no reaction, but a light movement under the covers.

She looked at the row of cradles. All babies were asleep, except one, and in her mind, there was already this conviction: this was her little sister.

A little too small and chubby to play yet. But then, she supposed it was alright like that as well.

Ella sighed happily, a sudden feeling of love squeezing her heart as she met the dark eyes of the baby. It leaped and sang in joy. The baby's eyes considered her for a time, before closing, as if she had offered too much of her time for her older sister.

"Rebecca…" Ella uttered the name with wonder.

The door opened a little more, and then Wade swiftly came in, a disapproving expression on his face.

"Ella!" He whispered warningly. "You shouldn't be there!"

Oh, he was such a killjoy! Ella thought.

"But the babies, Wade! The babies!"

Wade scowled, before nodding with satisfaction that he had two other brothers, before swiftly leading his sister out of the way. He sighed. He was supposed to look after her. But then what a work!

"Come on, Ella. Let them sleep."

…

Time after that, when it was considered Scarlett was enough recovered for it, the Butlers, old and young, sailed together for another adventure, and as often as it was with them, other people joined them on the way by surprise.

Rhett shook his head in amusement as he considered it when the night came, and suddenly the deck was almost empty. He joined his wife on the rail and reflected.

Their journey had been long and painful, and had changed her as well as him. Never would they be entirely the same as before.

The spoiled, lost girl, haunted by fears, had become a woman strong of her experiences and ready to love, and love truly. No more did she blind herself, nor did she refused to hear. No more did she contented herself with half-truths and lies. What was once untamed and wild was now a powerful concentrated strength. What was once turned exclusively inside was now open to the world and richer by it.

The cynical blockade runner who affected not to care had dug out completely the heart of the boy full of expectations that he once had buried deep to avoid disappointments that had happened nonetheless, or perhaps in part because of it. It did not matter anymore, for he found it had matured on the way to become that of a man's, and the scars that had been drawn in it were now only patterns in an exquisite tapestry he marveled at.

They did not forget the past. They could not, for it was what had forged them. The world had crumbled down around them, and they had danced around each other, destroyed each other's surface until they laid bleeding raw and forced to face the truth of it. They let others help, until they almost lost their way. Yet, it had been what it had taken to reunite them again, finally ready for each other, ready to be a family and build anew.

She turned back as she felt his presence, and silently, he took her into his arms and kissed her hair.

"Where will we go now?" She said.

He looked at her with love and tenderness.

"For now, where the wind will lead us. And then… who knows?"