Epilogue


"What? You thought the story was over? Uh…nope," Haley rolled her brown eyes into the camera. "They kiss and happily ever after? Not to be rude (don't tell Grandma or Dad), but this isn't Disney! Not HBO either, come to think of it. So…was Operation Mom a success or not? Better question…did Sheridan and Dad ever find out about my brilliant plan and congratulate me?" Haley mused, propping her elbows on her knees and leaning even closer to the camera. "Not exactly," Haley grimaced. "Should I record over that?" she wondered aloud. "It sounded like a confession…"

Haley's panicked face loomed closer and closer to the camera, and the picture went black for a few seconds.

Eventually the picture came back into focus. "Sorry about that," Haley apologized. "Sometimes my imagination…it's too much. Confession?" she scoffed. "NYPD Blue much? Ohh…I'm not supposed to watch that…Dad. If you're listening to this, I only saw it once. One time only. And nobody was naked in it. I swear!"

This time the picture on the camera jumped and jostled as Haley strode down a long hallway. "This is it…the first official grand tour of my brand-new house. Well…not grand tour exactly. You want to see my room? Let's go see my room."

The camera panned over a spacious but cluttered lavendar room, strewn with all the things that screamed a teen-aged girl lived there. It was in a curious state of change from tomboy to girly-girl.

"Cool, huh?" Haley spoke to her imaginary audience. The camera zoomed in on a slim, leather-bound volume, the words About a Girl engraved on the front. "We'll go back to that later," Haley promised. "I know you're still dying to know what happened with my dad and Sheridan. I think the best way to do that is with pictures. We're going to take a small break while I round up my supplies…"

The camera whirred to life again, and a glossy photograph of two enormously attractive, happy people came into view.

"Sheridan looks real pretty, doesn't she? Isn't that red dress to die for? Dad told me he almost had a heart attack when he first saw her in it. She wore it on their first date, and this is the picture the guy at the Lobster Shack took of her and dad together. Looks like a good first date, huh? Don't let its name fool you…The Lobster Shack is no shack. It's not the Seascape either. But they had a great time. Can't you tell? The smiles, people. The smiles. Dad needed someone to make him smile again, and boy, did Sheridan deliver…"

The photo changed.

Haley grinned as she gave the scene meaning. "I don't know if you'd call it a date or not, but this picture is me, my dad, and Sheridan on what Sheridan called her and dad's first real date. Dad taught Sheridan how to play baseball that day. She was very good. You want to know a secret?" Haley's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "I think she already knew how to play baseball. Beginners are never that good. Yeah…Sheridan just wanted to feel my dad's arms around her. Grown-ups are so stupid sometimes. Sheridan could have asked Dad to marry her that day, and I know he would have said yes…In case you can't see me, I'm rolling my eyes right now. You know what? If I show you all the pictures, my tape will run out. They dated a while. Then one day…they decided they didn't like it…"


Haley snickered as she zoomed the camera in on her uncle Miguel and Kay making out like there was no tomorrow. Typical, she thought, rolling her dark eyes when Uncle Miguel kicked his bedroom door shut. Oh! Grandma and the Bennetts would literally have a cow if they knew…To tell or not to tell. That was the question. Haley decided tattling wasn't becoming for a…ahem…woman of her standing (thirteen…count 'em…thirteen candles on her last birthday cake) so she tucked a bothersome brown curl behind her ear and walked down the hall toward the bathroom where Aunt Theresa and Whitney Russell were chattering and raising a ruckus like a bunch of circus monkeys touching up their makeup. Honestly…it wasn't like they didn't talk to each other every night. Haley had seen definitive proof. Aunt Theresa's cell phone bill had put more than its share of gray hairs on her grandma's head. Not like it phased Aunt Theresa. How else was L'oreal going to make money? Duh!

"Haley!" her aunt Theresa shrieked. "I don't have my eye shadow on yet," she finished with a huff.

Haley giggled when she captured Whitney's shake of the head and lightning quick roll of the eyes. Ooo. If she was into blackmail

"Haley! Mi hija! Put that thing away!" her grandma ordered, covering her face with her hands.

"But Grandma," Haley teased. "You look so nice today, and it isn't everyday that Uncle Miguel graduates from high school and gets to French kiss Kay in the same house as her parents," she revealed with a sly grin and sudden change of heart.

"Haley…Dear," Ivy grinned into the camera's lens wickedly as Pilar and Sam and Grace Bennett dashed down the hall, "you are so good."

"And so dead as soon as Miguel finds out you ratted him out."

Haley turned around at the sound of her dad's laughing voice.

"Aww, Dad. Can't a girl have a little fun? What is it, Dad? You look a little funny," Haley smirked.

"Haley," her dad blanched. "French kissing? How…"

"Experience," Haley deadpanned, cracking up when she caught her dad's expression of total panic—live and on camera. Haley had the sudden urge to pop the tape into the player and hit rewind a thousand times. "Oh puh-leaze," she rolled her dark eyes at him. "Like I don't know what tongue-kissing is. You do it all the time with…"

"Ha-wee!"

Haley giggled, whirling around and zooming in on the toddling little figure coming out of the kitchen, looking like she was going to fall any second.

"Ha-wee!" she called again, a pout forming on her pink lips when she couldn't find her.

"Ivy?" Haley handed the camera to the older woman.

"Haley, Dear…I haven't a clue how to operate…"

"Ivy, it's rolling. Just point it. Right here. I'm here, Trista," Haley said, holding her arms out, "come here." Haley scooped Trista up into her arms, making her giggle when she kissed each chubby, tanned cheek.

"Ha-wee!" Trista shrieked, kicking her tiny sandaled feet back and forth.

In her position as proud and adoring big sister, Haley knew that was Trista-speak for twirling. "Ready?" she asked, slipping a hand to the back of the sleep-flattened blond curls at the base of Trista's small skull and wrapping her other arm firmly around the tiny waist.

Blue eyes sparkled, little button nose crinkled up, and full pink mouth opened in a stream of breathless, happy laughter.

Haley struggled to regain her breath as they slowed to a stop. "No more. Haley's head is spinning," she explained as Trista slid the length of her body, swaying on her feet the moment they touched the floor. Laughter went up around the room as soon as Trista plopped down on her diapered bottom after only a few staggered steps, and Haley noticed for the first time that everyone was watching. Everyone.

Trista was equal parts clown, equal parts shy. It looked like Bozo was on break when embarrassed tears welled up in her big blue eyes, and her little face started to crumple.

Thinking fast, Haley pointed toward the kitchen door where another figure had just emerged, "Look, Trista! There's Mama!"

Trista half-stumbled, half-crawled the short distance and hid her teary face in her mother's skirt.

Haley grinned as she watched her dad rise from the sofa, his brown eyes connecting with blue. She sighed happily. The way her dad looked at Sheridan… Correction! The way her dad looked at her mom was enough to make Haley melt. Without taking her eyes off her little family, Haley reached for the video camera, bringing it up to her face as soon as her hand closed around it. As family historian, she had to capture every moment to remember always. "Smile, Trista," she said, creeping forward slowly. Haley snickered when Trista gave her that infamous Crane-Lopez-Fitzgerald glare of defiance. All she was missing were the arms crossed over her little chest, and she'd be fit to go, Haley thought. "Okay…if you're going to pout…"

The camera traveled up from Trista's indignant little face, up, up, up…

"Say hi for me," Haley put forth her request, zeroing the lens in on her mom's gently rounded belly.

The sparkle of the diamond on Sheridan's hand glinted as she rubbed her hand over her stomach softly. "I think he's sleeping, Haley," she laughed. "I love you, Sweetie, but I don't think that's going to be enough if you don't move that camera off my fat…"

Haley grinned when her dad interrupted her mom with a kiss. Caught on tape, of course! Her dad and mom nuzzled noses, and she zoomed the camera out to show his hand over hers on her pregnant stomach.

"You're not fat. I've never seen you look more beautiful…"

"Toothache!" Haley groaned, her brown eyes dancing despite her words. What? She still loved to tease them. "Smile for the camera," she repeated. "Grandma," she waved her grandma over. "Will you…"

Pilar took the camera from her granddaughter, and Haley scurried across the room and grabbed her baby sister up in her arms. Pilar smiled behind the camera when Trista blew raspberries at Haley, giggling and leaning forward to press her baby lips against Haley's cheek a moment later.

It was the perfect moment…


Haley's tanned face came into view again, a little older, a bit more freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose, and braces off (woohoo)!

"I said they didn't like dating," Haley grinned, crossing her own arms against her chest and arching a dark brow in amusement. "Not like they broke up or anything," she said, giving the camera her patented eye roll again. "Stop your whining now," she said, uncrossing her arms and leaning forward to stare directly into the camera. "I know. I know. Some of you had your hopes set on honeymoon video, and let me tell you…Spain is gorgeous! But…I may not be eleven anymore, but don't think for a moment my parents would actually let me view that. They don't even let me watch movies that are rated R yet, and I have a feeling…let's just call it a Lopez-Fitzgerald gut feeling…R doesn't even begin to cover what went on behind those closed doors," Haley grinned, blushing slightly. "Eww…eww," she shuddered after a second's contemplation. "There was a plus sign on the stick two weeks later. Get the picture?" Haley winked into the camera.

"So…" The camera followed Haley as she got up from the sofa and walked toward the fireplace where a whole collection of family portraits lined the mantle. "They did the whole wedding thing…you'll have to watch that tape sometime," Haley spoke softly. "Sheridan was so beautiful, and I was in it…Sheridan got to share the beauty of Spain with the man of her dreams…Trista arrived nine months later," Haley said, holding up a newer picture of her little sister with her blond curls longer, blue eyes bluer, her tanned skin not as dimpled or chubby in her hot pink swim suit, but still she'd smiled at Dad with the innocence of the baby she was fast leaving behind. "And then there was our baby brother…" she smiled, tapping the silver-framed photograph with her index finger. "That's me," she pointed to the gangly girl of thirteen, Trista's baby lips pressed to her cheek. "Mom, Dad, Trista, Ryan before he was even Ryan," Haley smirked, "Our first family photo. Our latest family photo…obviously, it's not professionally done…"

Laughter was the only sound heard for several seconds.

"Mom's hoping Ryan outgrows his love of stripping before he goes to preschool…he's going to die when he's older and finds out this picture was displayed right here for all the world to see…" Haley placed a hand in front of the picture, hiding Ryan's naked brown bottom, but the sight of her, Mom, Dad, and Trista all laughing hysterically in the picture made it almost impossible to get her giggles under control. "I got your back, Little Brother," she said breathlessly, walking toward the camera. "Grandma should be ashamed of herself…"

Haley's laughter grew softer and farther away, replaced by the clatter of little feet adorned in borrowed high heels, and the picture on the camera jolted. The sounds of soft breathing were audible as it jerked around the room.

"Trista! You're not playing with the camera again, are you?"

Guilty giggles were recorded before the camera was hurriedly placed against a sofa cushion so that the culprit could make her great escape.

"Trista!" Haley's voice called over and over again as she searched for the sneaky little devil.

The camera continued whirring as a thin, leather-bound volume fell open, the words on its pages coming into sharp focus…

"To Haley…you're finally free. Thanks for opening my eyes to the truth…always know and remember…there is life after love."


The End


And they lived happily ever after!

Cue the sappy music.

:D

Just to reiterate...the characters of Passions do not in any way, shape, or form belong to me, and I in no way made any money from writing this fic (I just had a helluva lot of fun). Haley and the other characters whose names you did not recognize, though-those were mine. All mine.