And here it is … the final chapter!

CHAPTER 80 - EPILOGUE

Three years later …

Elizabeth stood in the kitchen finalising the last touches on the giant cake in front of her. She did her best to spread the green buttercream icing evenly. Her mind was wandering, thinking back to the occurrences from three years prior when on this exact day she gave birth to her beautiful boys.

A lot had changed in that time, but much had also stayed the same. The Thornton family had moved houses in that first year to give them more room and Jack was insistent they needed a larger yard with a swimming pool. They had found the perfect place in a newer estate, a little closer to Jack's base too.

Jack was comfortable with work and had been delegated to a training and education position that meant no more deployments, although there were occasional stints to training courses at other bases. He was still recovering from his head injury from four years prior and occasionally he had relapses that would hit them all hard, but all-in-all he was adapting quite well. He still regularly saw Frank and he knew that without him, his recovery would have never been as good as it had been.

Elizabeth and Jack had realised a long time ago that a lot of Jack's memories were gone, but Elizabeth spent a lot of time reminiscing and telling Jack stories about the time he had forgotten. Their focus now was on making new memories as both a couple and as a family. At the time, Elizabeth was actually glad things had happened the way they did. After all without the accident, they would have never been blessed with Liam and Ashton and Jack would probably be spending a lot more time away from his family. As a couple, the romance hadn't exactly dwindled prior to Jack's accident but it was definitely more like being in a relationship in the early stages again. Even though there were some disadvantages to Jack's memory condition, the advantages outweighed them and all Elizabeth had to do was watch Liam and Ashton giggling and laughing, playing with their sisters, and wrestling Jack only the way boys can, to see that.

Elizabeth's business had finally gotten off the ground about a year prior. She had put the boys into childcare two days a week to get the business moving forward. She had been worried at the beginning, but they thrived being around other children their age and she felt less guilt knowing that they were happy. With them taken care of, she was able to finalise everything and was able to set an opening date and six months later she had opened their doors. Within just a few months, the reputation of their school had grown so strong that she had a solid waiting list and already Elizabeth was making plans to open another site closer to the city. Her own father, William, had been so impressed by the success of the business he had since retired from his own role at his firm and was helping her manage the business side of things much to her delight. Elizabeth was then able to focus on being in the classroom with the children, which is where she knew that she could help the most, as well as spending more time with her own children. Life was good.

Elizabeth finished icing the cake and once that was done, she began carefully placing the dinosaur figurines on top of the cake.

"Mom!"

Elizabeth continued what she was doing as she answered. "What is it Grace?"

"Dad's finished putting the streamers up. What was next?" Grace asked as she poked her head around the kitchen door. Her hair was now much longer, trailing down to her waist. She was growing out of her baby face and was turning into a gorgeous young girl.

"The balloons are just over there on the table."

Grace grabbed the packet of blue balloons and bounded back out the door the way she had come in. Elizabeth smiled to herself at her almost ten-year-old daughter. Grace had grown up so much even in the last year.

"Mom!" Another voice interrupted her progress.

"Yes?"

"Liam just drew all over the wall" Eve replied, exasperated as she walked in.

Elizabeth sighed. "What do you mean he drew on the wall? I thought you and Halley were watching him and Ash?"

"I was watching Ash and Halley was on her phone instead of watching Liam."

Elizabeth finished what she was doing before dumping the icing bowl in the sink along with the pallet knife she had been using. She quickly rinsed her hands in the sink, drying them on the hand towel as she followed Eve out of the kitchen.

"Halley!" she said when she saw her daughter sitting on the couch staring at the phone in her hands. Halley didn't look up.

"Mmm?" she said still glued to the screen.

"Hand me your phone now, please?"

That broke Halley from her thoughts, glancing up at Elizabeth in alarm. "What? Why?"

"You know the rules. Your phone is only to be used during free time or for emergencies. Is it free time?"

Free time was a special time of the day when the older children were permitted to use their devices.

"No" Halley said groaning. "Can't I just finish texting Ginny?"

Halley's current best friend unfortunately had a lot more freedoms than Halley herself was allowed but Ginny was the youngest of three children. Elizabeth and Jack found it a continual struggle trying to explain why Halley wasn't allowed to do the same things that Ginny was allowed to do.

"No. You are supposed to be either watching your brothers or helping set up for the party and you are doing neither. Our guests are going to be here in just under an hour and I just heard that Liam drew on the wall …"

Elizabeth turned around now only to see a scribble in red marker along the wall and a collection of markers sitting on the floor, spilling out of Grace's pencil case. She groaned, looking around but still couldn't see where Liam actually was.

"I will have your phone now" she said holding out her hand. Halley rolled her eyes before putting the pink cell phone in her hand. "Can you please go find Liam now?"

Halley stood up and, dragging her feet, did as her mother asked. Eve stood there watching the whole thing.

"Where's Ash?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well he was there …." Eve said pointing to the floor, "but then I came to find you."

Elizabeth shook her head and headed for the back door where she knew Jack would be. She walked through the large bifold doors into the alfresco area where Jack was standing on a ladder, sticking balloons to the ceiling. A large party table sat in the middle of the room overflowing with everything dinosaur related from matching plates, cups, napkins and a dinosaur table cover.

"Jack, have you seen the boys?"

"Nope" he said, not taking his eyes off the ceiling until he had stuck the balloons in place, before he climbed back down the ladder and walked toward her. He narrowed his eyes at her. "What have they done?"

"One of them … or both of them … drew all over the wall in red marker and now they have disappeared I suspect because they know they are in trouble." Jack was now by her side his arm around her.

"I'll find them" he said as he kissed her cheek and then walked inside. "Boys!" he yelled. "Liam! Ashton! Come here now!"

Elizabeth, Halley and Eve stood behind quietly – all of them listening. Grace continued to unravel streamers at the table. Elizabeth walked back into the house and her and Jack began searching the rooms. There was still a baby gate on the stairs so they knew the twins couldn't have gone far.

As Elizabeth closed in on the kitchen, where she had been not five minutes before she heard giggling. She hurried into the room only to find the boys hiding behind the kitchen counter, their faces and hands now covered in green icing. Liam even had a big blob in his hair. Elizabeth looked at the cake that she had just finished in horror. Sure enough there were finger marks where the boys had decided to do their taste testing.

"Oh no!" she said out loud.

Jack was behind her in a moment. Elizabeth heard him suck in a breath when he realised what they had done.

"Boys!" he yelled at them. "What are you doing? That's your birthday cake for the party!"

The two blonde haired boys stared up at their father with round green eyes, both of their bottom lips turning downward. Talk about making you melt, Elizabeth thought to herself. Despite the mess they had made, she had to cover the smile on her face. They were absolutely adorable even when they were up to mischief.

"First you drew on the wall and now this! I think we're going to have to cancel the party, Mama" Jack said turning to Elizabeth. She could see the humour dancing in his eyes too but the rest of his face remained stern.

"I think you're right" Elizabeth said, putting her hands on her hips and doing her best to stifle her smile.

"No! No! We want a party!" Liam said, jumping up and down. Ash copied his brother, both of them now upset.

Even though they were identical twins and difficult to tell apart in almost every way, there was one main difference. Liam was the naughtier one and his brother would follow his lead. It was almost always Liam's idea to do something and Ashton just went along with it. If they had their backs to you and you couldn't tell who was who, you could tell who Ashton was because he constantly watched his brother for guidance. Whether it was because he was the smaller of the two for a long time or it was instinctive they would never know but Elizabeth hoped that one day he would grow out of it.

"I don't know that you deserve a party. Look what you did to the cake that your Mama has worked so hard on! That wasn't a very nice thing to do was it?"

"No, Daddy" Liam said looking down at his feet. Ashton was quiet but he was doing the same thing.

"And you know not to draw on the walls, or anything else for that matter, except paper?"

"Yes" Liam replied.

"Ash, you know that don't you?"

Ashton just nodded. Elizabeth was fairly certain Ashton hadn't done any of the drawing but he agreed with his father nonetheless.

"Alright, well let's get the paper towel and the spray and see if we can clean the wall and then maybe we can consider still having the party."

The boys jumped eagerly, going to the cupboard under the sink and grabbing the paper towel out. Elizabeth went to the laundry to get the spray. She heard Jack giving them more instructions and then he appeared behind her to take the spray bottle from her. He leant in closer to her ear and she heard him laughing under his breath.

"Did you see their faces?" he whispered.

She nodded, a giggle escaping her lips.

"They are just so naughty. Man, they remind me of the stories my mother used to tell me about Tom and I."

"So which one were you, do you think? The ringleader or the one tagging along?"

"I don't know but poor Ash – he's got no hope does he?"

Elizabeth laughed softly. Jack looked at her, his eyes dancing, before he leant in and pecked her lips.

"What was that for?"

"Does their have to be a reason why I wanted to kiss you?"

"I guess not."

He leant in and kissed her again before pulling away. "We're going to finish this later when I don't have two green icing monsters to reprimand."

"Promise?" she asked as he walked away.

He turned around, walking backwards for a few steps. "Most definitely" he said with a wink, before going back to the tv room to sort out the wall.

Elizabeth smiled to herself and returned to the kitchen to assess the damage to the cake.

The party went off without a hitch. All their family and close friends had come. They had lots of kid's foods but also some salad and meat on the grill for the adults. It had been a beautiful sunny day and although the kids wanted to go into the pool, Jack didn't think it would be anywhere near warm enough yet. Instead they settled for some party games and after they had sung Happy Birthday and cut the cake, everyone began to depart slowly.

Rosie and Viola had helped to clean up before they left with their families so when the Thornton's were finally left alone, Jack and Elizabeth were able to relax out the back while the kids continued to play in the yard. Eve and Grace were playing in their tree house while Halley sat at the outdoor table with colouring pencils and paper.

"Mom, what do you think?" Halley said as she held up a picture of a character of her favourite tv show. Clearly, she had got her father's gifts of drawing. Even Jack was sometimes stunned at how good Halley was for only twelve years old. She had an amazing eye for putting things down on paper.

"That's beautiful Halley" Elizabeth said as she looked at the drawing more closely.

"Thanks!"

Elizabeth was sitting next to Halley with Liam on her lap. Due to the excitement of the day, he was now sitting immobile in his mother's arms, clearly exhausted.

"Halley!" Grace called from the tree house.

Halley glanced over.

"Come play with us!"

Halley stared at them for a moment.

"Go on, Halley. Just for a little while" Elizabeth encouraged. "They love it when you play with them."

Halley shrugged. "Okay."

Elizabeth watched as she slowly made her way over and Grace beamed at her big sister. The tree house was only a few feet off the ground and sat in the fork of a giant tree. It had been there when they moved into the house and the two younger girls had spent most of their time playing in it whenever the weather had warmed up. They had a small table and chairs in it and Jack and Elizabeth had bought Eve a mini kitchen set last Christmas which they enjoyed playing with.

Jack came out carrying Ashton who was already asleep in his arms. Jack handed Elizabeth Liam's favourite sleeping toy and Liam immediately curled up against it and rested his head against her chest. Jack sat down beside her and Elizabeth chuckled.

"You're always the favourite with this one" Elizabeth said, nudging Jack while looking down at Ashton.

Jack laughed. "Are you jealous?"

"No. Just making an observation."

Jack slid closer to Elizabeth's side and they watched the girls playing in front of them, their shrill voices filling the air.

"Well, this is a rare sight these days" Jack said motioning toward them.

Elizabeth smiled. "Halley is growing up. You're lucky she can still pretend to be a little girl sometimes."

"She will always be my little girl though."

"You sound exactly like my Dad! Now you know what he went through having to watch his three daughters grow up, get married and have families of their own."

Jack groaned. "Don't remind me. I do not want to think about Halley dating some no-hoper."

"A no-hoper like you, Jack?"

Jack gave her a pretend glare. "You know what I mean."

"Don't worry, you will have Eve at home with you for a bit longer."

"I hope they are all at home for a long while."

Jack took Elizabeth's hand in his, the other holding onto Ashton as he rested against Jack's chest.

"Thank you, Elizabeth."

She looked across to him in surprise. "For what?"

"For all of this. I never could have imagined a life like this."

Elizabeth laughed. "I didn't do this on my own, Jack."

"You know what I mean. You never gave up on me, on us. We could have lost everything without your faith and patience."

"Jack, I fell in love with you all those years ago. There was no way I was letting you get away from me that easily just because of a bump on the head. I knew you were still in there somewhere – I still had doubts sometimes but you came back to me."

"You're a hard woman to forget, Beth."

Jack leant over, pressing his lips to her cheek, before she turned and met his lips with her own.

"I love you, Jack. Nothing will ever change that."

Jack's face lit up with a smile, his dimples on full display. "I'm glad, because I have to go away on a training camp for a few weeks and I was worried how I was going to tell you."

"Jack, you're not serious?!" she said, her expression stern. The last thing Elizabeth wanted was to be left for weeks with two boisterous toddlers, along with their girls. The girls could look after themselves to a degree, but it was hard work being a working mother of five when Jack wasn't home. The last time it had been for four days and Elizabeth felt like everything was out of control over that time. She was not keen to experience it again let alone for any longer duration.

Jack laughed. "No, I'm not serious but I wanted to test just how much you love me."

"You're pushing it, Mister" she said as she nudged him in the side.

Jack chuckled as he put his arm around her. "You know you love me."

Elizabeth mumbled in slight agreement, shaking her head as she smiled. She leant in, putting her head on his shoulder.

"I love you too" he said with a smile as he kissed her forehead and stared out over the backyard thinking about how lucky he was despite everything that had happened and Jack knew if given the opportunity, he would never change a thing.

* THE END *

Thanks for everyone's support with this story. I initially planned to have this finished a lot quicker but unfortunately life got in the way. Thank you to those readers who continued to send reviews and messages with encouragement and have supported this story since the very beginning!

Sometimes it is so hard to stay motivated especially when you're crazy busy at work or the kids are sick or something else gets in the way of writing but I knew that when I started this story (or any others) that I would finish it … eventually. This was my first attempt at modern fan-fiction and I was amazed at how supportive this community was and still is. So thanks again and happy reading :)

Now to get onto some of those other stories!