Everything Comes Full Circle

Epilogue

10 years later

Balancing her coffee, two rolls of construction paper, purse, crayons and a bag of streamers Annette pushed her way into Mrs. Morgan's first grade class. Upon her arrival she was met with twenty or so screaming six year olds "hi Annette!"

"Hi guys" she smiled at them as she made her way to the desk in the back. After setting her things down she looked up to the much older Mrs. Morgan who was struggling to regain the attention of the class. "Ok, ok" she said in a cheery voice while waving her hands in a dramatic fashion. "Now that you all have your paint I want to see what sort of masterpieces you can create. Remember I want you to draw what you THINK the character Mary Sue looks like, all right?"

When she was met with the typical inaudible chatter she made her way back to Annette. "You're late" she told her with mock sternness.

Annette gave her an apologetic smile "sorry traffic was a nightmare. Then there was a line at the store and I wasn't sure if I got the right decorations-"

"Annette its fine" she smiled obviously amused. "You are doing a terrific job here. I know when I retire next month the class will be in great hands.

"Thank you" Annette smiled at the thought.

In the past ten years Annette's life had been going along as smooth as could be with only the occasional bump or two. Her final semester at Manchester had actually been a quiet one what with the absence of Sebastian and Kathryn. She had gotten into Harvard where she met a new guy named John. Although she had loved him it was hard not to compare him to Sebastian. In the end they broke up at the beginning of her junior year of college. Annette had gotten over him soon enough and had dated on and off since.

If her romantic life wasn't exactly perfect her career was at least on the right path. While in school she flirted with the idea of pre-med or possibly practicing law but in the end she choose education. Maybe it was because both her parents were teachers she was drawn to that profession. All she knew was that it felt right and it made her happy. Sure teaching might not get her a penthouse of Park Avenue but it didn't matter to her. Annette was happy.

"So is anything knew going on?"

Picking up a some paper work she said "oh yes, that new student finally arrived."

Scanning the classroom for the new face Annette asked "how come they're starting so late?"

"She's been on an extended holiday with her parents. Usually its school policy not to admit students so late but apparently the parents have some clout."

"I see" Annette said with a roll of her eyes. Although Somerhill was a great school a majority of the kids came from wealthy families which made some students not to mention their parents hard to deal with.

"Actually I met her mother and she seemed like such a lovely women. Very devoted to her daughter."

"That's nice"

Suddenly they were interrupted by the sound of a loud crash followed by the piercing scream of a girl. "Oh" Mrs. Morgan winced "would you mind taking care of that? I have to drop some papers off at the front office."

"Sure" Annette headed in the direction of the noise and found Tommy Collins the biggest trouble maker in class covered in paint. Next to him stood a young girl in tears. "What's going on?"

Tommy looked up at her in surprise "she poured paint on me."

"He hit me" the young girl said through tears "and then the paint fell out of my hands."

Getting her first good look at the girl Annette realized she must be the new student Mrs. Morgan was telling her about. As she knelt down beside the children Annette was in awe at how beautiful the little girl was. With her bright green eyes, porcelain skin, and dark hair she must have been one of the most beautiful children Annette had ever seen.

Now Annette couldn't be sure what happened but she knew Tommy. Last week he had locked Mary Ann, the smallest girl in class in the closet and then stole the key so they couldn't get her out. Then a few days ago he flushed the class goldfish down the toilet. It was safe to say it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that Tommy could have done this. Annette seriously doubted this beautiful, angelic girl in front of her was at fault. Turing to Tommy she said "I want you to go get cleaned up and when your parents arrive to pick you up I'm going to have a talk with them about your behavior lately."

"But I didn't do it" he whined "she poured the pain on me when I wouldn't let her use my brush."

"That's not true" the girl said in a soft voice.

"You stupid bitch" Tommy spat out at her.

Several of the classmates oohed at Tommy's language but Annette was far from impressed. "That's enough Tommy! You're going to time out and then you're going to apologize."

"Fine" he grumbled as he walked off to the bathroom to clean up.

Turning back to the girl Annette pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her tears away. "It's ok, are you all right honey?"

She nodded her head as she sniffled "yes."

"This is you're first day right?" When she got a nod she smiled reassuringly "well I know this might not have been a great start but I promise you you'll love being in this class. My name's Annette, what's yours?"

"Sydney" she proclaimed proudly.

"Well that's a pretty name. So Sydney how would you like to be my special helper today?"

A big smile appeared on her face as she nodded enthusiastically. Sydney had a beautiful smile but there was something strangely familiar about it that Annette couldn't quite place. Shrugging off the feeling she went about introducing the new girl to the rest of the class and then began the next project.

Throughout the day Sydney remained by Annette's side and she had to admit she was quite impressed by the young girl. For a six year old she was very poised and articulate. It was also clear she was far ahead of her classmates intellectually. She could already read through the whole book while most children struggled with a sentence. Her handwriting was also impressive as was her learning comprehensive skills. Annette was thought about suggesting to Mrs. Morgan that they should consider advancing her up a grade but she decided against it. She was already half in love with the sweet little girl she would hate to see her leave.

At the end of the day nannies and a few parents were arriving to pick up their respected children. Annette was helping the children with their coats as she waited for Tommy's parents to arrive so she could have a talk with them. She was also waiting around because she wanted to meet Sydney's mother who she had been going on about all day. Apparently she was the prettiest, smartest, funnest, person in the whole world according to Sydney. It was rare to meet a child so enamored of there parents so Annette was curious.

Bending down to help Sydney with her expensive, black, fur lined coat she asked "did you have fun today?"

"Yeah and I got..." suddenly something over Annette's shoulder caught the girls attention. "Mommy!" she yelled out as she ran past Annette.

Smiling Annette turned around to greet the woman she had been hearing so much about. However as she got a look at the woman who's arms Sydney went flying into her smile fell. Clad in a sleek black suit she wrapped her arms around her daughter lovingly before picking her up and carrying her. Her mother was beautiful with the same porcelain skin, dark silky hair, and serious but bright green eyes. Yes Kathryn Meteuil hadn't changed a bit.

Approaching her with that same confident strut she smiled and practically purred "hello Annette, what a surprise."

Annette knew nothing with Kathryn was ever a coincidence. In ten years Annette had tried her best to erase the memory of Kathryn from her mind and she had more or less succeeded. After she was shipped off to god knows where she thought little of her. It figured Kathryn would drop back into her life right when she least expected it. Never in a million years did she guess it would be as one of the parents of her students.

Forcing a polite but cautious smile Annette said "hello Kathryn. Yes it is quite a surprise. I had no idea you were back in town."

"Yes just this past weekend actually. So you're a teacher here?"

She nodded "yeah or I will be. What have you been up to? I haven't heard anything since you were sent off to...rest."

The confident smirk never left Kathryn's face. "Well I finished school in Europe, went to college and studied business. Actually I took over my fathers publishing business. We were living in London but Sydney wanted to come to New York" she said as she playfully tugged at her daughters hair and smiled. "Anyway my husband and I thought it would be a good idea to come back to the states."

"Oh, so you're married?"

"Of course she's married silly" Sydney said exasperated. Tugging at the pearls around her mothers neck she asked "where's daddy? He said he would pick me up and take me to get ice cream afterwards."

"I swear the kid forgets nothing" said a familiar male voice.

Dropping down from her mothers arms Sydney lunged at the man behind her. If Annette was surprised to see who her mother was she nearly fell to the floor when she met her father. Scooping the little girl up into his arms Sebastian kissed her and asked "you miss me?"

"Tons and tons" she exclaimed as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

Turning to face him Kathryn chided "you're late."

"Sorry traffic was a bitch" he told her as he leaned in and kissed her cheek. As he pulled away he looked up and noticed Annette for the first time. Unlike Kathryn he looked genuinely surprised to see her. "Annette what are you doing here?"

Sydney giggled "she's my teacher daddy."

"Really" he said eyeing Kathryn with just a hint of a smile on his lips "how surprising."

"I thought so" Kathryn said with an innocent shrug.

Shaking her head Annette sighed "nice to see nothing has changed with you two. So you're married now?"

"Yeah almost eight years now" Sebastian told her.

"Hmm, your mother must have had a fit Kathryn."

"Not really she's dead" she answered casually.

"Oh"

There was a pause in the conversation before Sebastian asked "so are you-"

"Daddy I want to go!" Sydney interrupted as she began to tug at his arm "come on you promised."

"Ok, ok" giving Annette that famous smile of his he said "sorry I have to get going."

"All right well it was nice meeting you Sydney" still holding on to her daddy's arm she turned around and waved. Annette looked up and gave Kathryn a tight smile "see you around Kathryn."

Smiling sweetly she told her before turning away "actually it's Mrs. Valmont."

Shaking her head Annette watched as Kathryn caught up with her husband and daughter. It was strange seeing them again after all this time especially together. Often when she thought about what it would be like if she saw Sebastian again she usually figured it would be painful. However it hadn't been. Well maybe just a little bit as she watched him put his arm around Kathryn.

Annette started to turn away when she noticed Tommy getting yelled at by his father while his mother talked with Mrs. Morgan. As the Valmont's passed by Sydney stopped momentarily and looked at Tommy. A slow, wicked smile suddenly appeared on her supposedly angelic child's face. When Tommy looked over at her with a miserable expression her smile grew and she muttered "loser" to him before turning away to follow after her parents.

It occurred to Annette in that moment that maybe Tommy was telling the truth after all. Sydney had seemed so genuinely upset that Annette of course believed her. She quietly wondered if it was all an act. After all her mother was one hell of an actress, what if it ran in the family? Shaking her head Annette realized maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to advance the child after all.

* * * * * *

"So tell me the truth" Sebastian asked his wife as they climbed into the limo. "Did you know Annette was Syd's teacher?"

With an shrug Kathryn asked "what makes you think that?"

"I know you Kathryn, you can't hide anything from me"

Grinning slyly at him she purred "care to make a wager on that?"

"Mrs. Monty told her at the party" Sydney said as sat next to her father and pulled out her drawing utensils.

Kathryn's mouth fell down in mock shock "you little traitor." Her daughter only giggled mischievously in response which only made Kathryn love her more. She was so very much her daughter. Looking across at her husband she told him "ok maybe I had an idea she worked at the school."

"I knew it" he smirked. "Don't you think it's a little juvenile to try to one up her after all these years?"

"I was just curious how she would react is all"

"Well she did seem quite friendly" Sebastian said purposely trying to push her buttons. "And she was checking me out."

"Please" she snorted in disdain "you're hardly that appealing anymore."

With his typical cocky smile he told her "that's not what you said last night."

Kathryn only raised an eyebrow and smiled at the memory. Looking up from her drawing Sydney asked "How do you know Annette, mommy?"

"She use to be friends with daddy""

Ever the intuitive child she asked him "was she your girlfriend?"

"Yep"

"Did you like her a lot?" When he nodded she went on "more than mommy?"

Wrapping an arm around his daughter he kissed the top of her head and gave Kathryn a reassuring smile "never. Now who wants ice cream?"

* * * * * *

An hour later with a belly full of ice cream Sydney put her drawings aside and fell asleep on her father lap. Although it was getting late they still had one more stop to make. As the limo came to a stop outside the cemetery gates Sebastian asked "are you sure you want to do this?"

Glancing out the window Kathryn replied "yes."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No it's ok" smiling down at her sleeping daughter she said "stay here with her. I won't be long."

The driver opened the door and she got out of the car and made her way into the dark cemetery. The heels of her stiletto boots crunched in the snow as she made her way to his grave. It was funny after all these years she still remembered exactly where to find him even in the dark. When she reached the medium sized head stone she stopped in front of it and smiled "hello James."

Kathryn waited a beat as if expecting an answer. When she was met with only cold air she went on. "I'm not very good at this so bare with me. I'm here...well I'm here to apologize I guess for the way everything turned out. I mean I realize now I wasn't exactly responsible for your death, Sebastian's drilled it into my head enough times. I want to apologize for the way I treated you."

Shaking her head sadly she knelt down and touched the cold marble stone. "You loved me and I still for the life of me don't know why. I was awful to you, I used you and you still...you still cared about me. Aside from Sebastian you were really the only true friend I ever had. So I wanted to let you know that I am thankful to you and I do love you for what you gave to me."

"Anyway I'm sorry I haven't come to see you sooner. I've been away" Smiling she told him "I'm married to Sebastian now if you can believe it and for the first time in my life I'm genuinely happy. We have the most beautiful, perfect little girl. You would adore her. I showed her your picture once and she thought you were very handsome. That's quite a compliment coming from a six year old." Kathryn laughed at the memory and then let out a deep sigh. "James I just wanted to let you know you're in my thoughts and that I'll never forget you. You deserved so much more than me."

* * * * * *

"Where'd mommy go?" Sydney asked half asleep as she lifted her head up.

Caressing his daughters hair Sebastian explained "she's visiting a friend baby."

"Oh" she then fell back against him and fell asleep.

As she did Sebastian glanced nervously out the window wondering if Kathryn was all right. When they made plans to return back to New York she told him one of the first things she wanted to do was visit James. This had worried Sebastian not because he was jealous but because he knew just the mere mention of James made his wife upset. He wasn't sure how she would react to visiting his grave. She had been gone awhile and Sebastian wondered if maybe he should go out after her.

Just then the car door opened and Kathryn climbed in and sat down next to her husband. Touching his warm hand to her cool face Sebastian asked "are you ok?"

Kathryn smiled at him reassuringly before leaning in and giving him a kiss. "I'm fine."

"That's good" he told her as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Lets go home"

The End