Epilogue

Three Months Later...

The bathroom door opened and billowed steam out into the hallway along with the strong smell of lavender. Max Caulfield stepped out into the hall and made her way back towards the living room in the baggy tracksuit bottoms and loose-fitting pyjama shirt. It was still late afternoon but she was feeling pretty casual and relaxed. As she walked into the living room, sitting herself down on the couch and grabbing the TV remote, she took note of Chloe and Hope in the kitchen area. Clearly she wasn't the only one relaxed. Chloe was showing Hope how to make pancakes. Hope's tiny hands gripped the handle of a frying pan that would be too long and heavy for most other girls her age to handle. Her strength allowed her to take the weight like it was nothing, but control was another issue. And as Hope was about to find out, too much power was just as much of a problem as not enough. The dish of the frying pan sheared clean away from the handle and flipped in the air, clattering to the ground with an almighty crash that had her recoiling and pressing her hands to her ears.

"That's okay, sweetie." Chloe soothed her. "It was an old pan anyway." Max knew Chloe was putting a brave face on the loss of one of Joyce's old pans- one of the few things that had been able to be salvaged from the old Two Whales Diner- but that was okay. She'd ring around and see if she could find someone to repair it.

"Aww..." Hope muttered, looking crestfallen at the mess of half-cooked batter that now lay halfway across the kitchen floor. "I wanted to eat that!" That got Max laughing. She practically cackled from her perch on the sofa before shifting back against the cushions and tucking her feet up next to her as she gave Chloe an even look.

"Could she be any more your child?" she asked.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Chloe snapped. "I think she's doing pretty awesome for someone who's only just turned eight."

"I'd actually say she's doing better than you." Max nodded in agreement. "At least we don't have to try and get that one off the ceiling, Chloe!" Chloe huffed indignantly at that and Hope burst out laughing, a grin lighting up her face. It wasn't something Max and Chloe had seen from her until after the incident with Alison and it was no wonder. Considering the magnitude of the secret she'd had to hide... That wasn't a responsibility any kid should have had to bear. But now she knew that they were willing to accept her no matter what, she'd really opened up to them. Max also thought it had helped that her replacement glasses had arrived in time for her birthday. Chloe had decorated her cake and Hope had been able to see it properly, much to everyone's relief.

"Hey, I had many ingenious solutions to getting that thing down!" Chloe protested.

"Chloe, throwing one of the neighbourhood cats at the ceiling and yelling 'Expecto Patronum' is not what I'd call ingenious." Max said drily. "And name me literally one other person who gets a pancake off the ceiling with a shotgun."

"David?" Chloe offered. Max thought for a second before throwing her hand up in frustration.

"That was on me. I set the bar too low. But do you really want to end up like him?"

"Hell no!" Chloe spat the words as though the thought left a bad taste in her mouth. "Unfortunately you don't live with him for as long as I had to without something rubbing off. And since I never managed to find any good bits to learn from him..."

"That's not entirely true." Max said, getting up and making her way over as Hope, sensing Chloe's discomfort, wrapped an arm around her. It wasn't exactly a loving gesture, but certainly more affectionate than she'd been before. "There were quite a few good bits to David that you would have seen. You just didn't recognise them because William had all those qualities too. They just looked different on him. Strength, passion, commitment... They both had all of those. You do too. And those are the things I'm praying that Hope picks up from you. Not how to get a pancake down from the ceiling by blasting it with a twelve-gauge, okay?" Max wrapped her arms around Chloe, Holding her close. She felt Hope's other arm on her own waist, pulling them both closer together and closer to her at the same time with a strength that belied her scrawny eight-year-old frame.

"All I ever wanted was to fit in." Hope said. "Trussy always told me to be myself and that someone would come along who knew me. And Dani did. Then Connor. Then you. And I don't care about the rest. If they don't understand, that's their fault." Max and Chloe didn't have anything to say to that. They just bent down and picked up their newly adopted daughter, hefting her weight between them. Hope laughed and they knew it was partially from joy but partially because she could probably lift the pair of them on her own. In one hand each. Just then the doorbell rang. They carefully set the young girl down and Chloe went to answer it as Hope sniffed the air. Max knew she was picking up on something they couldn't.

"You know who that is, don't you?" Despite her phrasing it like a question, she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

"It's Dani." Hope confirmed. "That means Connor can't be far behind."

"Well then..." Max said as she picked up the now cooled frying pan dish and scooped up as much of the pancake remains as she could. "I think we'd better get cracking with these pancakes if you kids want dessert, don't you?" Hope's grin made a reappearance as Max fished a fresh pan out from the cupboard. It was smaller but it would do.

Chloe had a habit of insisting on cooking when they had guests over and then cooking enough food to feed a literal army. But Max knew that was set to work to their advantage here. An army was one thing. Three growing young werewolves of all things were quite another. And even with her rewind powers she still couldn't help but wonder how her life had reached the point that literal werewolves were not a strange thing to her anymore. But it didn't matter. What mattered was that Hope was here now and enjoying the life she had, no matter what direction it took her in. And as Dani and Connor arrived, everyone got a turn at making pancakes. Once that was done, Chloe served up their supper; and Max couldn't help but watch with adoration as Hope sat down at the table looking more contented than they'd ever seen her now that she had her family- her pack- around her.

End!

Author's Note: Well, this is it. The final chapter and Epilogue of Fitting In. Updates for this story seem to have flown by and I'd definitely be open to writing more if people wanted to see it. Maybe something where Max, Chloe and Hope all visit Haven Springs. Max gets to explore the music shop, Hope gets to roam the mountain range and the woods and Chloe tries to set up a home away from home in the Silver Dragon dispensary. If anyone's interested in reading that, feel free to let me know in the reviews section.

Thanks so much to everyone who's supported me so far. I hope you've all enjoyed this story. I certainly enjoyed writing it and as I said before I would love to write more stories about original characters and exploring different types of powers they might have and so on. In the meantime, I'm also brainstorming ideas for AlexXSteph stories and there will definitely be more Pricefield content in the future. Please feel free to review and I'll see you in the next story.