Notes: Well here is the last chapter for the story. I am scared to say it but I'm actually getting a few ideas for a sequel. You guys let me know what you think about that. There will be a few questions for you guys at the bottom of the page!

Darkness Falling

Epilogue.

Brennan woke up as the alarm clock began blaring. He slipped out of bed and made his way to the kitchen.

"Morning, Bren." Lexa said when he walked into the room. "Blair needs to be fed and I cant find her bottles. Do you have any idea where Jess put them?"

"Blair?" Brennan questioned, and then noticed the baby sitting in her carrier at one end of the table. Things had changed for sure, but for now he had to play along until he figured out what all had happened. "I don't have any idea what he did with them."

"I threw them out." Jesse said as he walked into the room. "We just got a safety recall in on that brand. I'll pick up some on the way home from work."

"And how am I supposed to feed our daughter with out a bottle?" Lexa put her hands on her hips and glared at Jesse.

"She's old enough to start cereal, or you can go back to breast-feeding. The latter would be better for her anyway." Jesse picked up a lab coat that was lying on top of the counter. "And who ever did the laundry should know better than to leave clothes on the kitchen counter. It may be more convenient for some people but it puts the clothes at risk of being ruined."

"And it is a good way to spread diseases." Lexa added laughing. "Jess, you know that when the baby gets me up in the morning I bring your lab coat in here so you don't have to go looking for it. Now if you want to trade those few extra seconds with you daughter for your idealism about keeping down the spread of disease I'll be happy to stop doing it."

"I think we would all prefer it if you two would not get into the same argument every morning." Adam said as he walked into the kitchen. "How is Blair today?"

Jesse picked up the baby and then started in on the cup of coffee Lexa had handed him. "She's fine. She slept the whole night for once."

"A couple more nights like that and I might be able to consider having another child one day." Lexa smiled slightly and sat down. "She's a pretty baby, but she is also a lot of trouble."

"You're lucky she's pretty, Lexa." Brennan smirked as he sat down at the table. "She could have gotten Jesse's looks."

"Oh, we wont go into what your kid could end up looking like." Jesse jiggled Blair as she started fussing.

"My kid?" Brennan asked in shock.

"What did you forget that Shal's pregnant?" Lexa's eyes widened in fake surprise.

"Uh, no." Brennan quickly recovered. "Just forgot the comeback I was going to use."

"Sorry, I'm late for watching Jesse be late." Shalimar said as she walked into the kitchen.

Brennan felt his breath catch as he saw her. Suddenly all the pain he had gone through, and all the risks he had taken to get her back were worth it.

"I fixed that problem." Jesse leaned back in his chair and kissed the baby's head. "I had my hours changed. I can go into work an hour later now, but still get off at the same time."

"World's perfect job for you isn't it?" Shalimar sat down and kissed Brennan. "You can sit around and hold that baby for a while then go off to your nice well paid job and then it is back home for more time with the baby and then your wife while the rest of us work on the Underground."

"Oh, now we both know that you and Toni have the Underground going well. The only thing that I'm concerned about is getting this baby raised right so she can take over my job and fix the computers when Bren messes them up." Jesse shot back. "And besides, you have been making all of us cater to your every need since you got pregnant."

"And now time for the other morning ritual." Lexa rolled her eyes. "You know the sooner Jess and I move out the better."

"Just as long as you remember to take the baby with you." Brennan and Shalimar said at the same time.

The room froze and Brennan closed his eyes as everything in his mind fell into place.

Two months into the missing year...

Brennan was sitting at the computers working on a private file when Lexa walked into the room.

"Do you think you could spare a minute to help me figure out how to break some news to Jess?" she asked as she sat down in one of the other chairs.

"I guess I could. What's the news."

"He's going to be a father." Lexa smiled slightly, but the smile quickly faded. "I don't know how to tell him since we both decided that it would be better to wait on starting a family until after he had finished med school and had started work."

"Lex, he wants this, alright. I know that you two had made plans to wait, but he's going to be thrilled to hear that there is a baby one the way."

"Alright." Lexa nodded. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Lexa, anytime."

Three months into the missing year…

Jesse and Lexa walked down a quiet path in the park, the shade of the trees protecting them from the sun.

"Let's sit down for a minute." Jesse whispered to her looking up at a bench just up the path from them.

"Alright." Lexa agreed.

They walked to the bench and Lexa sat down. Jesse stood in front of her for a moment and then dropped to one knee.

"Lexa," he began nervously. "I know that we've talked a lot about a future together, but we have never decided exactly what we want to do. We've got a baby on the way now, I'm back in med school and doing the work at double speed, and for the most part our work with Mutant X has begun to slow down any way. The only thing I can think to do right now is to ask you to just get it over with and agree to marry me."

"I expected a better proposal than that." Lexa answered seriously and then began to smile. "I guess I'll have to marry you because I cant think of any girl who would accept that proposal."

Five months into the missing year…

"I have an announcement to make." Adam said as he stepped in front of the gathered group. "Thanks to the hard work of all of you we have managed to stabilize every new mutant in the database. There is still a chance that there are a few that we missed due to un-logged experiments and other anomalies, but we have done our job."

Six months into the missing year…

Jesse stood on stage in front of his graduating class. Even though all of the other students graduating from his class were ten years younger than him he was still nervous. "I walked into the halls of this school for the first time over ten years ago with the ambition to be a doctor. With only a year left before I completed my degree I was forced to drop out. I had every intention to return, but day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year there were new excuses for me to stay out of school. Before I knew it ten years had passed and I was still only a year away from being a doctor.

Our oath is to 'Do No Harm.' It is a task which I failed ten years ago. The greatest harm that you can do is to give up on your dreams. When things got rough in my life I chose to give up on my dream, but I learned an important lesson.

A friend who I have considered to be a sister was more disappointed in me than I was, and she is the reason I came back to this school. Over the years she has managed to teach me many things, but the greatest thing that she has ever taught me was that dreams never die. I came back to school as her birthday present. My plan was to give a year of my life to doing what would make both me and her happiest, following my dream.

Because I had her and my other friends behind me I managed to achieve my dream, and I did it in half the time I had expected. I stand here today with my medical degree, and although hard work and late nights of studying are important parts of how I earned this degree there is something more that helped me. A family that consists of my surrogate father figure, my best friend, my sister, and my fiancé. They will be with me in the trials of my new job, as will the child that my fiancé and I will have soon. As long as you have family and friends behind you it is possible to do anything." he stepped away from the podium and wiped a tear from his eye.

Nine months into the missing year.

Brennan stood with Shalimar out side the lab as they waited for news on Lexa. So far her delivery had been difficult, and they were all wondering how she would come out of it.

Suddenly the sound of a baby's cry broke the silence. There was a scurry of noise in the lab and then silence once again. They held the breath as they waited for news.

The door opened and Jesse stepped out carrying a baby wrapped in a soft yellow blanket. "Meet Lina Blair. Lexa had he name chosen long before we knew we were pregnant."

"How is she?" Shalimar asked in a nervous whisper.

"She's going to be fine." His voice broke and tears began to stream down his face. "She's going to be fine."

Ten months into the missing year…

Shalimar stepped into the bedroom that she and Brennan shared. Turning to her side she looked into the mirror, carefully looking over her figure.

"What are you doing?" Brennan asked as he stepped into the room.

"Wondering if Lexa's maternity clothes would fit me." she turned to him. "We are going to be having a baby in a few months."

Brennan picked her up and spun her around. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Brennan opened his eyes again, the memories of Shalimar's death and his trip back to the past were fading, but he knew that deep in his mind he would always remember what had happened. Those memories would be over shadowed by the memories of a happy life, but they would be there, and they would always remind him of how fortunate he was to have his family.

"Why do you want to move out anyway?" Brennan asked looking at Jesse and Lexa. "Just because the secret of the existence of new mutants is all but out doesn't mean that we all have to go to normal lives. I don't think any of us could handle that."

"We just thought that if we moved out it would be a little easier on the kids." Lexa answered slowly."It is hard to register a kid for school if their home is a secret location."

"We've got enough people who can tutor the kids and give them an appropriate diploma, there is no need for us to separate out."

"Brennan has a point." Adam broke in. "Nora, the woman I have been seeing is a teacher and I think that she could make it possible for the children to be home schooled. When it comes time for college I can pull a few strings."

"I'm in for the idea if the rest of you are. I cant say much because of doctor patient confidentiality, but I have seen what happens to kids at public schools, and even at private schools. In the long run it would be better for the kids to be kept here." Jesse put down his coffee cup.

"The most important thing is that we are a family, and I want it to stay that way." Brennan added.

Adam looked over the group for a moment. "We are a family. I know that we have each lost people over the years, and that our plans have changed but we still have each other, and I couldn't be prouder. I've come to think of the five of you that have made up my team as my children. I've lost one of you, I have seen one of you graduate from medical school and become and excellent pediatrician, I've seen one of my two remaining daughters become a mother, I've seen my other son change from a criminal into a great man, and I'm looking forward to seeing my other daughter become a mother. I could not be more proud of you four."

The end.

Do you want a sequel? What did you think of how it ended? What did you think of Jesse's speech? What part of the story did you like best?

Thanks to all my readers! I love and appreciate each and every one of you!

Lotta love

Martana Alexander