Here it is, the end of the epilogue. It's a little sad seeing this story end, it was one of my favorites to write.

tormented soul – Thanks for the help.

D.Torres and dbzneon – Thanks for all the reviews. You two have been the most constant reviewers for this story and I appreciate it, it's a great motivator to keep going.

A/N – "Thoughts"

Chapter 18 – So Much More Than A Summer Romance

Kate laid curled up underneath the covers in a peaceful sleep when the alarm clock's shrill sound tore her out of her dreams. Groaning softly, Kate blindly reached out, trying to find the alarm clock to shut the damn thing off. Finally finding it, she slammed her palm down on the snooze button and curled back up under the covers. She knew she should get up and get ready for work but she was exhausted and was having a hard time leaving the warmth of the bed.

Just as Kate drifted back off to sleep, the alarm went off again. Groaning, she slowly sat up and barely opened her eyes. "I'm up." she mumbled sleepily. Reaching out she angrily switched the alarm off, barely resisting the urge to destroy the evil thing.

As she sat there for a moment, waiting for her body to wake up, she could hear soft laughing from the other side of the bed. "Shut up," she snapped at her boyfriend.

"I'm not the one who took a job where they had to get up before seven," he shot back.

Swinging her feet over the edge of the bed, she struggled to her feet. As she stumbled around the bed to get to the bathroom, "We all can't make our own hours you wanna be Spielberg."

Gordo rolled on his back, "I don't make my own hours, I just took a job where I don't have to get up at an ungodly hour."

After graduating from USC, Kate had gotten a chance to pursue her dream job of writing articles for a fashion magazine. But she had to start out in an entry level position as a researcher. Aside from the hours, it wasn't bad but the job had meant moving to New York City and putting up a major hurdle in front of Gordo's dream of being a director. He had eventually found a job working for a production company. It wasn't exactly what he wanted to do but it brought in a paycheck and Kate got to pursue her dream job. Even though it seemed like it was one way towards Kate, she greatly appreciated the sacrifices he made for her and when the time was right, she'd make sacrifices for him.

About fifteen minutes later, Kate walked back into the bedroom and shook her head at her boyfriend as she started to change into her work clothes. Gordo had moved into the middle of bed and had his face buried in her pillow.

After putting on a tan blouse, a pair of brown slacks, and finishing her makeup, she sat down on the edge of the bed and put on a pair of tan pumps. Turning slightly, she put one hand on the other side of Gordo and leaned down a little, "David," she called softly.

Picking his head up a little, Kate smiled at the sleepy look on his face. "I call you later baby," she said and then gently kissed him. Kate giggled softly as she watched a goofy grin spread across his face and he lick his lips. She then watched Gordo put his head back down on her pillow; shaking her head, she gently stroked his head and after checking Gordo's alarm clock to make sure it was still set, she grabbed her bag and left for work.

Around noon, Gordo had just finished a meeting with his boss and was making his way to his desk. As he walked, James Candor, a coworker, stopped him for a minute, "David, there's a woman waiting for you at your desk."

"Who?"

James shrugged, "She didn't say but she's gotta an amazing pair of legs and the rest of her ain't bad either," he said with a small laugh before walking off.

Gordo rolled his eyes and continued his way to his desk. As he neared it, he smirked a little as he saw who was waiting. The woman was sitting with her feet propped up on his desk and reading a magazine. "They were right, there is a hot blonde waiting for me. Now what can I do for you beautiful?" he said sarcastically.

Kate closed the magazine and tossed it on the desk as she looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "Am I going to have to keep you on a shorter leash?" she shot back. Kate smiled as she looked her boyfriend up and down, "He looks real good in that black suit. I'm glad I made him get it fitted." The adult Gordo wasn't much different than the younger version, except a few inches taller and his body was a little broader.

Gordo snickered and leaned down to kiss her. "What's up?" he asked sitting down on top of his desk.

"Came to see if ya wanna do lunch."

"Sounds good."

Almost ten minutes later, they were sitting in a nearby deli eating sandwiches. Gordo watched in amusement as Kate couldn't wipe the grin off her face.

"So what's put you in such a good mood?" he asked with a smirk. "When you left, you were ready to damn every thing to hell." he joked.

Kate shrugged, "Aside from its Friday, I'm lookin forward to having Julie visit next week. When I talked to her last weekend, she was already making plans for her big brother to take her to the zoo," she said putting a little emphasis on the word brother. Gordo snickered softly and Kate smiled. Julie looked up to Gordo like a big brother and couldn't wait for him to marry her stepsister to make it real.

"I also talked to Brooke this morning. The wedding is set, its gonna be the second weekend in January."

Gordo watched Kate's grin widened and knew she holding something back, "What else?"

Kate started laughing softly, "Brooke told me, when she throws the bouquet, she's gonna aim for me." When Gordo looked up and rolled his eyes, Kate started laughing harder. "Come on Gordo, they mean well."

"Ever since our friends started getting married, everyone wants to know when we are. I love Lizzie and I think she is great as a wedding planner but I swear, if she hints one more time about our wedding, I will kill her."

Lizzie still lived in Hill Ridge and was a wedding planner, and had just gotten engaged herself about a month ago. She, along with Brooke and Kate's mother, were the most vocal about Kate and Gordo getting married.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "We'll technically we have been in a relationship the longest. Its been what, give or take six years."

Looking over at her, he reached out and took her hand. "And we will get married; when its right for us, not everyone else."

Kate pouted a little but when Gordo just grinned at her, she couldn't help but grin back and shake her head at him. What Kate didn't know was that he had been looking at engagement rings for awhile now and was planning to surprise her on her birthday next month, in September.

"Anything else?" Gordo asked before popping a potato chip in his mouth.

Kate took a sip of her ice tea and thought about it for a moment, "We should call your parents this weekend, just to say hi and see what's up. Ethan and Dana are gonna be in New York in a few weeks for some conference Dana is attending, they wanna hook up and have dinner together. Oh, and Claire says hi, I talked to her last night for a little while before you came home yesterday."

Dana Rodriquez was Ethan's college girlfriend and now wife. They had been married for about six months and lived outside Chicago, where Ethan was a youth counselor and Dana was an accountant.

Claire worked for a local news station in Los Angeles as she tried to break into the entertainment industry.

Gordo nodded as he listened to her. "You talk to Miranda lately?" Kate asked him.

He shook his head, "Not since she and Larry left for Mexico to visit her family a week ago."

Miranda and Larry were both teachers, Larry was the new science teacher at Hill Ridge Junior High and Miranda was a social studies teacher at the High School and also coached the girls' soccer team. After years of denying that she was even remotely attracted to him, Larry had finally worn down Miranda's defenses during college. They were the only other couple in their old group of friends who hadn't gotten married or engaged yet.

Kate had lost touch with Alix going into college and Gordo and Larry would occasionally hear from the award-winning scientist Dr. Veruca Snow, who taught at Berkley.

"You gonna be home on time?" Kate asked after taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Should be. Why?"

"I was thinking we could have dinner together?" she said with smirk.

Looking over at her, he arched an eyebrow. "Sounds like fun," Gordo said with a grin.

Kate looked at her watch and groaned a little, "I gotta start heading back. I'll see you tonight," she said and then gave him a kiss before leaving.

With a smirk, he watched her walk away, almost mesmerized by the way her hips gently swayed back and forth. "Can't wait till tonight."

Late that afternoon, Gordo walked into their apartment and dropped his bag on a small desk they had in the living room. "Kate, I'm home," he called out. He smiled as he saw the small candlelight dinner spread out on the kitchen table. While Kate had improved her cooking skills, they both had actually, Gordo knew the food was takeout. He knew with Kate's work schedule, she barely had the energy to stay awake some nights. So most nights during the week, he'd either cook or they'd get take out.

"Hi honey," Kate's voice came from the bedroom doorway.

Gordo looked over at his girlfriend. "Damn," he mumbled softly. "She looks incredible."

Kate was leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed over in front of her. She was wearing a tight purple shirt that had a very low v-cut collar, a tight black miniskirt that barely fell to about mid-thigh, and a pair of black, four inch heels that strapped around her ankles.

Mainly because of her job, she usually dressed conservatively and when they went out, she would normally dress casually; t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers. While she would dress up on occasion, she usually saved dressing in revealing things like this for times when they were in private together.

Smirking at him, "Hungry?" she asked.

"You have no idea."

Snickering and rolling her eyes, "I meant for food," she said as she walked to the kitchen table. "Gordo proves that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

He smirked back at her, "That too," he said as he started for the table.

A few hours later, Kate laid entangled with Gordo underneath the sheets in their bed. They had just made love and she was in complete bliss as she felt Gordo gently kissing her neck. Reaching up, she toyed with his hair.

"Gordo," she said softly. Lifting his head a little, his blue eyes looked into her blue ones. "I have to tell you something."

"Ok," he said as he let go of her and moved a little bit away so he could look at her as she talked. Propping his head up with his hand, "What is it? You can tell me anything."

Kate shifted a little so the blankets covered her up a little bit and slipping her arm under her pillow she rested her head on it. "I went to my doctor a few days, for a physical."

"Yea, I know. How it go?" he asked.

"Good, good," she said trying to make herself smile for him. "Well, they also ran some tests for various things. One of the tests found something."

"Kate?" Gordo asked, starting to get nervous.

Kate smiled softly at him and reached out to stroke his cheek. "Relax. Its good news."

"Good news?"

"They then ran another test and I got the results yesterday," she told him.

Reaching out, he took her hand and squeezed it tightly, "What were the results baby?" Gordo asked scared and nervously.

Kate's smile widened, "I'm pregnant," she told him.

"Pregnant?" Gordo asked in disbelief.

Nodding a little, "Yea." The nervousness about his reaction was evident in her voice, "About four weeks. Our anniversary." July 4th, what they considered the anniversary of when they became a couple; they had had a night much like this one. Evidently, it also produced a baby. "David?"

Rubbing a hand over his face, he wasn't sure what to say. He looked at her and he could almost see his emotions mirrored in her eyes. "I love you. I can't believe we're gonna have a baby," he said grinning and with a small laugh.

Finally relaxing, Kate smiled back at him. "I was so scared about telling you. Uh, Dr. Craysaw wants us to come in for some more tests and she wants to talk to us about a few things."

"Ok. Just tell me when." He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he looked at her, he could also tell that she was tired. "Go to sleep. We've got the whole weekend to celebrate."

Gordo watched as Kate got comfortable and pulled the sheets around her. "You too Gordo," she told him as she looked up at him from her pillow.

Smiling at her, he laid down on his side and snuggled up to her. Gently running a hand across her stomach in a little awe, he kissed her. "I love you Kat. Night," he said softly as he put his head on his pillow.

"Hmm, love you too. Night," Kate said right before she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Gordo watched her for a few seconds with a small smile, "Back in junior high, who would've thought that Kate would not only be my girlfriend and future fiancé, but also the mother of my child," he thought amusedly to himself. He laughed softly to himself as he remembered their social studies wedding project back in junior high. When Kate was married to Larry and he was to Lizzie.

It was amazing to him when he thought back on how they got here. What was only supposed to be just hanging out for a few months turned into falling in love.

There was a time when he couldn't stand to be in the same school as her but now, he couldn't stay away from her. There was more than just the physical attraction that had always been there, he was really in love with the person she had become, the person he knew she could always be.

Suddenly her voice broke into his thoughts, "Go to sleep Gordo," Kate ordered, not even opening her eyes.

Snickering softly, Gordo gently kissed her forehead, "Yes dear."

Just as he got comfortable, Kate rolled onto her side and snuggled into Gordo's chest. He smiled softly as her breath tickled his skin. Wrapping his arms around her, he closed his eyes and finally let himself drift off to sleep.