DISCLAIMER – I do not own Gundam Wing.

AN: This is really sappy, but I'm a sucker for happy happy endings.  I probably just should have ended the story after Chapter Nine, but I had to go on.  It leaves a lot of questions unanswered – which brings me to another point…I have an idea of writing another story telling what happens to Jina and Heero between the end of Chap 9 and this epilogue.  Should I write it or not?  R&R and let me know if I should even bother telling you about them.

Epilogue

Quatre watched the merriment of the celebration from the porch outside, gazing in at the shining faces through the large glass doors.  With a mug of warm tea in his hand and warmth overflowing in his heart, he couldn't be happier.  Except if…

His thoughts trailed to her again, and he habitually raised his hand to finger the metal symbol that hung from a small black rope around his neck.  The Chinese symbol read "dog," he knew.  Jina had acquired the small trinket in Beijing, a hundred years ago.  Quatre remembered it as the oddest situation, he and Jina meandering through the narrow channels between buildings in the city to be stopped by an old weathered man.  This fortune teller gave the necklace to Jina with a smile, accepting nothing in return and insisting that this was Jina's zodiac symbol, even though Jina could never remember how old she was or in what year she was born.  Jina wore it almost constantly from that point.  At least, until she left.

"Hey, Quatre!" Duo's voice called, breaking into the blonde's thoughts.  "What're you doing outside?  All the fun is going on in the house."

Quatre managed a weak smile.  "I was just thinking."

"Thinking about your guardian again?"  Duo came and rested against the porch railing with Quatre, looking out over the vast wilderness and letting his gaze rest on the horizon. 

"She's not my guardian anymore," Quatre reminded the old vampire hunter.  "There's nothing left to guard.  No more Purebloods."

Duo nodded and looked down at the dark red wine in his glass.  With a sigh he reached out and poured the liquid, watching it disappear as it soaked into the ground.  "I've been thinking a lot of Heero, too," Duo admitted.

"He disappeared a couple days after…the whole thing, right?" Quatre asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Yea.  And Jina left right away, right?"

"She did," Quatre confirmed.

Duo sighed again, retaining his uncharacteristic melancholy air.  "I wonder if they're still around somewhere."

Quatre continued to rub his thumb over the Chinese dog symbol.  "They are alive somewhere," he insisted.  "They may not be together, but I have no doubt that they are both alive somewhere."  He took a sip of his tea mug and watched the sun start to dip below the horizon.

"Are they happy?" Duo asked.  The question took Quatre by surprise, making him relinquish his gaze on the horizon and stare at Duo instead. 

"What do you mean?"

"I asked if they were happy.  Do you think they are happy, wherever they are?  Do you think that Heero's gotten married like Hilde and me?  Do you think Jina's got a loving husband and is celebrating the birth of their beautiful baby girl just like Cathy's celebrating with you tonight?"  Duo fell silent and continued to watch the sun set.

Quatre blinked.  "I don't know.  I'd like to hope that they both found happiness."

"We haven't heard from them in a year, Quatre.  A whole year.  A lot can happen in one year; just look at us."

The blonde nodded.  "Exactly one year ago," Quatre added.  He was aware of the unique date of his daughter's birth, being on the anniversary of his transformation from vampire to human.  The significance of her birthday was not lost on him, or on Duo.

"Kind of wish that Heero was around still," Duo admitted.  "I'd feel horrible if he continued to hunt vampires after he left and we gave up."  Duo shrugged.  "I'd feel a little guilty, as if I were breaking some promise to him.  It was him and Hilde who saved my life and got me into the whole vampire thing."

Quatre looked at him with confusion showing on his face.  "I always thought that you were in the Heero's unit in the war, just like Trowa and … Wufei."

"No," Duo said with a wistful smile, finally turning his head to look at Quatre rather than the sinking sun.  "I was just a street rat before I met them.  And meeting them was the best thing that ever happened to me, despite the recurring attempts for vampires to eat me."  He flashed Quatre a smile. 

"You feel like you owe Heero a lot," Quatre ventured. 

"Just like you feel you owe Jina for your life."

"That's because I do.  If it weren't for her, I'd have died a long time ago."  He lowered his gaze to the floor and gripped the symbol of his necklace tightly.  "I miss her so much."

Duo nodded silently.

"I suppose we should go back inside," Quatre said after a moment.  He let go of the necklace and reached up to rub his eyes.  Not until he touched his face did he realize his face was wet.  He'd been crying.

"Your wife and baby daughter await," Duo said with a nudge and a smile.  He held the porch door open for Quatre and they both entered back into the festivities. 

"Quatre!" Hilde screeched from somewhere near the kitchen.  She rushed through the small intimate crowd of friends and embraced him with great fervor.  "Your little Angelica is so beautiful," she squealed in feminine excitement. 

"Thank you," Quatre managed between the jumping and spinning in circles.  Hilde finally managed to calm down after her fifteenth baby attack of the day.  "Catherine and I are very proud of her."

"You should be.  She's absolutely beautiful."

Quatre's attention was diverted from Hilde as he saw Cathy with the small bundle of blankets in her arms.  Cathy looked absolutely radiant, her auburn hair shining in the evening light and her eyes sparkling with a happiness that Quatre hasn't seen since their wedding day.  He was utterly and hopelessly in love.

Catherine bid goodbye to most of their guests, only Duo and Hilde were staying the night.  After the door was closed, she danced her way over to Quatre, handing him the newborn in her arms. 

"It's too bad Trowa and Roddy couldn't be here," Cathy said with a hint of sadness in her usually boisterous voice. 

Quatre stared wide-eyed at the small child he held.  Her hair was soft and strawberry blonde, and her eyes were gray as most babies' were.  He gave a little smile of amusement as those blue-gray eyes tried desperately to focus on his face.  Gently he stroked Angelica's soft face with the tip of his finger.

"I'm sure they're more than happy where they are," Duo was saying, conversing with Cathy and Hilde.  "And I think they happen to be eloping in Paris right now."

"Really?" Hilde and Cathy squealed at the same time, pressing Duo for more information. 

Quatre blocked out the small gossip that was occurring around him.  He instead focused his attention at the angel in his arms.  With a sigh he shifted her small weight and smiled again as she closed her eyes and tried to refocus them on her father's face.  A little hand appeared from the folds of the blanket, wavering and reaching blindly up to touch Quatre's finger as he stroked the side of her face.  He placed his finger in her palm, delighting as her tiny fingers curled around his one. 

"Quatre," Cathy said again, getting his attention.

"Yes dear?" he asked, a little dazed at being interrupted. 

"I said that it is time to put Angelica to bed."

Quatre nodded, looking down to where his wide-awake child was playing with his finger.  "I think she's nocturnal, though," he said with another smile.

"And I don't know where on earth she'd get that trait from," Cathy said, putting her hands on her hips. 

Quatre gave a sheepish smile to his wife and kissed her gently on the cheek. 

*******

"Quatre," Cathy moaned from the bed.  "What are you doing up?"  She grumbled as she turned over in bed, moving the blankets to see her husband standing by the baby's crib. 

"Just staring in amazement," he answered in a hushed whisper.  "Go back to sleep dear.  Everything is fine."

He heard the sheets moving on the bed as Cathy settled herself back in a comfortable position and went back to sleep.  He thought he heard her mumble something about the marrying vampires, but he wasn't sure.  His senses weren't as acute as a year ago. 

His attention turned back to his daughter, watching her as she stared right back at him.  She was still trying hard to get the focus eyes thing down and Quatre couldn't help but smile at Angelica's efforts.  As far as he could tell, his daughter hadn't slept at all that night, simply lying there peacefully when he'd put her to bed hours ago.

Maybe she really was nocturnal.  Was she a vampire?  Quatre doubted it.  After all, he wasn't one anymore. 

Vampires.  His thoughts again drifted to his guardian, his savior.  Jina was out there somewhere, still caught in the nightmare of a vampire's life.  She never received the same gift of mortality that Quatre had.  And she fled from his presence the following night.  Quatre's hand strayed to the necklace again, lifting it up and over his head to examine it more closely.  His finger traced the lines of the symbol.  Dog.  The zodiac sign that claimed its owners to be loyal.

And Jina had been loyal.  A more caring friend than he ever believed possible.  She loved him more than Catherine did, and probably more than he loved Catherine – though it was a different kind of love.  Jina would have died to protect him.  And it was Jina who taught him the meaning of unconditional love.  His heart ached at the thought of her now, wandering the streets somewhere as they used to, with no home. 

Quatre dangled the necklace over his daughter, watching her reach out with tiny hands to grasp the shining metal symbol.  He quickly tied the black rope to the mobile that hung over her head, letting the necklace just within her reach.  Her fingers curled around it protectively.  Angelica was born in the year of the Dog as well, Quatre reminded himself. 

His musings were cut short by a noise downstairs.  Not a noise, but a feeling that someone was downstairs.  He cast a quick glance to his sleeping wife.  The hair on the back of his neck rose, and he no longer doubted that there was an intruder in the house. 

Quatre crept to his doorway, peering outside for an answer to the strange feeling that now enveloped his heart.  Down the hall, another head was poking out of a doorway – Duo was searching the hall just as Quatre was.  They locked eyes a moment, each nodding to the other and coming out into the hall.

"Did you hear something downstairs?" Duo asked in a hushed voice.

Quatre nodded, not missing the fact that Duo had his old katana held in one hand.  Quatre'd never had a weapon of his own, and he moved across the hall to the closet, grabbing the baseball bat inside.  Duo smiled at Quatre's weapon of choice.  The two had been learning the game for a few weeks, and Quatre decided now was as good a time as any to practice his batting stance. 

They crept together to the edge of the stairs and slowly started making their way down.  Quatre's mind reeled as he walked soundlessly down the stairs that normally creaked.  Someone was in his home?  His thoughts bubbled at the prospect of someone causing his family harm. 

So involved was he in his thoughts that he didn't notice he'd missed one of the steps until he went rolling down the rest of the way, banging his head numerous times as he tumbled down the staircase.

A pair of hands halted his fall, right before he reached the hardwood floor.  His first instinct was to fight against the hold they had on his shoulders, but then his other senses kicked in.

He recognized her smell.  That unique blend of harsh metallic sting from blood, and the warm softness of a forest.  It was her. 

His arms wrapped around her neck tightly, not caring at all if it were a comfortable hug or choking the object of his current affections.  He simply held as tightly as he could, breathing deeply and shuddering with joy.

"Jina," Duo breathed behind him, arriving a moment or two later after having walked down the stairs rather than rolled. 

She said nothing until Quatre finished his hug and backed away slightly.  "Hello, Duo," she answered finally, her voice soft and as bewitching as he remembered it.

"I've missed you," Quatre blurted out, his eyes watering.

"And I've missed you," Jina said, her eyes alight with hope and happiness as she gazed at her old master.  "I hear you have reason to celebrate."

Quatre was about to answer when Jina's attention suddenly seemed to be drawn to the top of the stairs.  Cathy and Hilde were up, having awoken during Quatre's tumble down the stairs.  A small wiggling form rested in Cathy's arms.  Without a word, Jina moved up the steps, smiling warmly at Cathy and Hilde before turning her gaze on Angelica.  Cathy handed the baby over for Jina's closer inspection.

"She's beautiful," Jina commented to no one in particular.  "Congratulations."

"I was beginning to think I wasn't going to see you again," Quatre admitted, joining Jina on the stairs as they both admired the young baby.  

"I had to come.  I could feel your joy, and we came right away.  At night of course," she added with a smile. 

"We?" Duo asked, picking up on that minute detail.

"We," a low voice said from the shadows of the den.  Duo whipped around, his braid swinging as he focused on the figure emerging from the doorway. 

"Heero?"

Quatre's eyes, too, strained against the dark to see the man at the bottom of the stairs.  Duo's little yelp and hugging assault of the figure confirmed that he was, in fact, Heero.  And Heero was alive and well.

"Nice to see you too," Heero managed to say through Duo's hug.  He endured more hugging from Hilde and Catherine, his old hunting partners before he spoke again.  "Congratulations."

"Thank you both," Quatre answered him.  Quatre had a smile on his face that rivaled the best of Duo's grins, and it was infectious.  Heero's serious countenance broke and he smiled back at the happy father.

Duo immediately stepped backwards, shock evident in his features.  "Heero?  Your teeth…"

The smile faded instantly from Heero's face, and he looked up to Jina on the stairs.  That's when Quatre noticed it.  The obvious signs of a growing vampire.  His intense blue eyes were streaked with a web of crimson.  The points of his elongated teeth showed slightly whenever he spoke, gleaming in the moonlight that filtered through the house. 

"What of them?" Jina hissed, her own teeth growing to vampire length as her anger grew.  Quatre could see the red of her brown eyes intensify, even in the dim light.

Duo stood flabbergasted, looking first at Heero, then Jina, then back at Heero.  "You said that if any of us were to be turned," Duo said softly, the hurt obvious in his tone.  "Then the others would kill them."  He looked up at Heero, waiting for his old partner's reply.

"I know."

"Was it an accident?" Duo asked.  Quatre's imagination overloaded, flooding his mind with visions of Heero's capture and vampires forcing him to damnation.  He saw Heero scouring the streets for blood and happening to run across the most dreaded and famed of all hunters: the vampire who hunts vampire.  Jina recognized him and took him in…

"No," Heero answered.  "It was not an accident." 

Quatre's imaginary story burst.  He looked aside to Jina, who had a wistfulness and…an unreadable light in her eyes as she looked down at Heero.  Heero was staring just as intently back up at her, that light reflected in his own blue eyes.

"You're in love," Quatre said, speaking his thoughts out loud.  Gasps were heard from the girls and Duo just stared at Heero.

"I changed him," Jina offered.  She seemed not to notice that Angelica had grabbed a lock of her dark hair in tiny fingers.  "It was his choice."

Duo's look softened.  Quatre too, understood.  Heero didn't want to leave her.  And he had made the commitment to stay with Jina for the rest of eternity.

"We only came to let you know we're alive," Heero said, his eyes resting on all of the mortals of the room.  "And to congratulate you all on your successful lives."

"And congratulations on finding each other," Hilde said, putting a hand on Heero's arm.  Heero nodded a farewell and disappearing into the shadows of the den again. 

Quatre blinked at Heero's sudden withdraw.  Jina has been teaching him well to disappear like that, he thought.  He turned and accepted his child back into his arms.  Angelica remained holding onto Jina's hair, and the vampire seemed not to mind at all.

"It was good seeing you again, Master," Jina said with a sad smile as she kissed his forehead. 

"And good seeing you, too," Quatre replied, his voice choking on held-back sobs. 

"There's a wedding in Paris we need to attend," she said with a broad smile.  Jina pulled her hair gently from Angelica's grasp.  Then she, too, disappeared into the shadows of Quatre's house.

End