Hey, everyone. So this is a very quick update, so I hope you're all happy! I just kind of want to get this series over with and off my chest; I've been working on it so long it's starting to be a hassle! But you guys have been awesome, and I hope you enjoy this final chapter. I'm currently working on a new series, called Unexpected Love, which I may or may not post...let me know if I should! Oh, and in this chapter....the first few paragraphs may upset some, but keep reading on! Anyways, ENJOY and please REVIEW! Thanks!

Disclaimer: They are not mine!

Chapter Seventeen: Epilogue

Fourteen-year-old Audrey Bing traced her fingers softly over the cold cement of the double gravestone. Her hands slowly felt the engraved script, her pinky trailing on the dark words.

She smiled. "I miss you two," she murmured. "Lots." She sighed briefly, wondering how much she could really miss these two people. They'd died when she was so young. Nonetheless, she felt their absence in her life. "I wish you could be here today," she whispered, trailing her hand back and forth. "I hope you'd be proud. Really proud. I....think you would be, though. I've done my best, or...at least I've tried."

She smiled. "It's been hard sometimes, and sometimes I hate it that you guys aren't here. When everybody else talks about their relatives, it hurts sometimes. But I've got wonderful people in my life. Thanks for that." Getting up, she placed her hand directly on the stone and whispered. "I love you guys."

"Ready, baby?" a voice broke Audrey's thoughts and she turned around to face her father, Chandler.

"Ready," Audrey echoed, and, picking up her graduation cap off the ground, she walked off with her father to go to her school.

As she walked away, she cast a backward glance at the grave that housed her birth mother, Michelle Forrest, and maternal grandmother, Tricia Forrest, who'd passed away when Audrey was seven. But she smiled once more. They were at peace, happy....and so was she.

Monica Bing wiped a tear from her eye slowly as she watched her daughter Audrey prepare to march up the gym aisle. "I cannot believe our baby is graduating from middle school," she whispered, gripping her husband Chandler's hand.

"I know," he smiled, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "'Least it's not high school, though."

Monica grimaced. "High school!" she wailed under her breath.

"Mooooom!" Monica turned to see her six-year-old son Matthew, sitting on his Uncle Joey's lap. "Do you hafta get all weepy?"

Monica smiled and brushed Matthew's blond hair away from his face. "Sorry, Matty," she apologized.

Joey chuckled. "Women. They're all like this, Matt. Every single one of 'em"

"Joey!" his new wife, Phoebe, hit him on the side of the arm.

"Sorry, Pheebs," he muttered, but he shared a secret smile with his favorite, and only, nephew.

On the other side of Monica, Rachel, balancing her three-year-old daughter Emma on her lap, smiled. "I can't believe she's graduating either, Mon," she said, light tears in her eyes.

Her husband Ross squeezed her hand just as Chandler had to Monica's. "You guys did such a great job," he congratulated his sister and brother-in- law.

"Thanks," Monica and Chandler said in unison.

"Hopefully," Chandler remarked. "We'll do just as good a job with these two." He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on the child occupying his lap, their two-year-old daughter Jenna.

Monica interrupted him by tugging on his sleeve. "Look," she whispered. "It's starting!" Immediately, everyone turned their heads toward the aisle. Monica watched, her heart filling with pride as Audrey walked up gracefully, taking her place with the other graduates in the front.

The headmaster of Audrey's private school rattled on for quite some time, prompting Matthew to whine a bit and asked when Audrey was going up. Finally, the headmaster smiled. "Every year at a Briar Rose Academy, it is customary that our valedictorian give a graduation speech. This year, I would like to welcome class valedictorian Audrey Michelle Bing."

The entire row that had been reserved for Audrey's guests beamed with pride. Standing tall and poised, Audrey made her way up to the podium.

"Good afternoon," she began in a fluid voice brimming with confidence. "As we graduate today from Briar Rose and prepare to enter high school, I know, for all of us, that there have been numerous people that have gotten us to this point. For many, including myself, the most important people have been our parents. That's why I'm here to talk to you about the biggest influences in my life, and my heroes, my mother and father."

"Naming a parent as a hero is certainly not extraordinary. But for my parents, this title is so different. My parents, in my mind at least, are real, true heroes....the kind you read about in magazines. My father, you see, was a teen parent. He and my birth mother dated in the beginning of their senior year of high school, made one mistake, broke up, remained friends, and later found out they were expecting a child. After some real soul searching, they decided to give me up for adoption. I was born in the July before my parents would've entered college. I was early, and my birth mother experienced some serious complications. She died soon after the cesarean section that had been required for my delivery."

Audrey let her words lie there, letting the crowd soak them in. She took a deep breath and began again. "My father, at only nineteen years of age, made the decision he thought was best. I was the last remaining part of my birth mother, Michelle, the last link he had to a true friend and former girlfriend. He knew he couldn't give me up and never know what had happened to me. So, he named me Audrey Michelle Bing, Audrey after my birth mom's favorite actress, Audrey Hepburn. And with the help of his mom, my grandmother," In the aisle, Nora Bing beamed. "he raised me."

"My dad stuck out four years of college at NYU while raising me, but he had help. Not only from my grandma, but from someone else. A friend, a true friend, who my dad met in his sophomore year at NYU, became one of the biggest parts of my life. This friend was constantly there for my father and I. She was willing to babysit me, offer advice....anything. With her help, Dad and I got through his college years. Eventually, Dad opened his own business and we moved in across the hall from this friend. When I was five and a half years old, my dad started dating this friend." Audrey chuckled. "I don't think I was ever so happy as when they told me they were dating."

"It was a long road, though. They'd only been dating a little while when this friend found out she had cancer. My dad tried his best to split his time between raising me and the hospital. Throughout that time, he relied on a few best friends to take care of me....people he's still friends with today, because they were there for him in his time of need, and always will be." Ross, Rachel, Phoebe and Joey all smiled, and shot thumbs up signs to Audrey.

"This friend went through chemotherapy, torturous chemotherapy. We thought it was over then, but it was not to be. There was another tumor on her liver, and she needed a liver transplant. My dad was the only match. The doctors wanted to do a living liver transplant, which would take just a piece of my dad's liver, since the liver regenerates. This process was not without its risks. My dad had to think long and hard before signing the papers.....since for the donor, there was a small, but very real chance of dying in surgery or from complications. My dad," Audrey smiled. "Risked his own life for the very person I call Mom today."

As the audience smiled, Audrey continued. "Yeah, they got married alright! My mom adopted me, and we were a family. We were everything I'd wanted since I was five years old and realized other girls had a mommy, but I didn't. Well, of course, then I realized that other girls had brothers and sisters, and I didn't. So I wanted one of those, too!" The audience chuckled. "Mom and Dad spent almost two years trying to conceive, but finally, a miracle arrived. My brother Matthew, which means "Gift from God" arrived when I was eight. My little sister Jenna, which means "God's gracious gift" came when I was twelve."

"Why am I telling you this whole long saga?" Audrey posed the question to the audience. "I'm telling you because as we go into high school, the one thing we're going to need more than any other is friends; true, real friends who are there for us. Now, if there's one thing my parents are, it's true friends. They," Audrey smiled again. "Are shining examples who were there for one another when a friend was in need. It's my hope that, by telling you this story, I can show all of you just what can come out of the simple act of caring. The simple act of offering advice or a helping hand can lead to something beautiful. As we enter the home stretch of our childhood, I encourage all of you to reach out....just remember how much it will inevitably give you back. Thank you very much."

As Audrey stepped down from the podium, the audience roared with applause. The entire room was now on its feet, clapping harder than Audrey thought humanely possible. She smiled, and searched the crowd for her parents....who had not heard her speech until today. Both were standing, holding hands, silent, happy tears sliding down their smiling faces. Catching her daughter's eye, Monica mouthed a quiet "Thank you" to her daughter.

The graduation ceremony progressed, but nothing compared to Audrey's speech. Finally, after all the diplomas and awards had been received, Audrey ran towards her family. Chandler caught her in his arms and hugged her for a long time. As numerous people came up to her to congratulate her and tell her she was "going places", Audrey stayed secure in her dad's arms. Finally, when all the ruckus had quieted down, Chandler leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his daughter's blond hair.

"That was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard, baby," he whispered. "I have never been so proud."

Audrey grinned and looked up into her father's eyes. "There was one thing I didn't put in there, Daddy."

"What's that?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

Audrey smiled. "Keeping me."

Another tear slid down Chandler's cheek as he clutched her tighter. Every decision he'd doubted, he realized....keeping Audrey....dating Monica....everything he'd worried so much about....he now realized were the best decisions he ever could have made.

Most of all, he was glad he'd been there for a friend in need.

I hope you all enjoyed that! I admit the beginning was a bit rude...making ya'll think I'd killed them, but don't worry; I'd never do that! Anyways, please review!