This is it, people! The last chapter before the epilogue! Leave a review telling me what you think and if you have any hopes for the epilogue! Happy reading!

As far as any of their friends and family knew, Five proposed to Gwen a month later. Klaus had been swooning as he followed his brother to the jewelry store to pick out a ring. While Five was mostly focused on the cushion cut diamonds, Klaus recounted the four dates he had been on with Jones. The fourth Hargreeves was ecstatic, going into great detail about the butterflies in his stomach whenever the elite teenager had done something particularly gentlemanly or romantic. By the eleventh ring alternative, Five was quite sick of his brother. He let him talk, however, still happy for Klaus. Had it not been for him, after all, Five may never have found the perfect ring.

"She likes rose quartz," he had commented absently, looking over Five's shoulder at the options he was surveying, "Set in gold, in particular, with little diamonds around it." At the look his brother had given him, Klaus held his hands up in defense. "We got to talking about it because I wanted to go try on what ring I want Jones to propose to me with."

It was that ring, the one Klaus had suggested, that Five presented to his fiancée when he re-proposed at a dinner with both of their families. Gwen had cried again as he slid the ring onto her finger. In all fairness, Ben and Klaus were crying too. Allison had wiped away a tear and Vanya had wiped away Diego's. Monica's reaction had been Five's personal favorite, as she had jokingly muttered about never getting rid of him while hugging him.

Between the kidnapping and the engagement, most of them forgot the debutante. Until game night two weeks before it was to take place. Gwen was playing chess with Vanya in the family room, cheered on by their competitive significant others, when there was a knock on the Hargreeves' front door. Five jumped to open the door, leaving his siblings and fiancée to look curiously into the hall. Ben groaned when Klaus took the opportunity to cheat at Monopoly, making Allison laugh behind her book. Luther had taken a long time to get over his relationship with Allison, but he laughed quietly with her. Both Five and Klaus were convinced that he was seeing someone. They all looked up when Five returned.

"It was for Mom."

Everyone nodded and went to go back to their activities, only to pause and look up again. Gwen quirked an eyebrow, but Five gave nothing away. Who could possibly have come for Grace? The woman was a robot designed to take care of and love her children, not make outside relationships. She got her answer when the Hargreeves' mother walked into the room followed by a nervous-to-the-point-that-his-knees-were-shaking Jones Lamontagne. Immediately, Gwen knew what was going to happen. Her hand flew to her mouth to stifle her gasp.

"Klaus Hargreeves," Jones said formally, clearing his throat, "We have not known each other long, nor have we gone out much." Klaus nodded, frowning. "However, I find myself unable to think of anyone but you," he continued, glancing nervously at the rest of his audience, "And I do not believe that I will ever connect with anyone the way I connect with you." He dropped to his knees in front of the dumbstruck Hargreeves son. Taking Klaus' hand in his, Jones asked the question that had been burning within him since they first met. "Will you graciously accept my offer of formal courtship and, by extension, attend the Ophelia Murphy Debutante as my intended?"

A confused silence followed. Klaus turned to Gwen. "What does that mean?"

"It's a fancy-pants way of asking if you will be his significant other," she replied, amused, "At least until you're eighteen and he can propose to you properly."

Klaus turned back to Jones, eyes wide. "Really?" The taller teen nodded, awkwardly scratching his neck. "You want us to be whatever the fuck they are?" He gestured in the general direction of Gwen and Five. Again, Jones nodded. The grin that spread over Klaus' face was large enough to hurt. "Okay." It was a simple answer. He did not need to think about it, did not need to worry about the fact that he was just a month away from being fifteen. All he needed to think about was how it felt to be kissed by Jones Lamontagne. His family cheered. Gwen shed a tear. Five looked strangely proud, which in turn made Klaus' eyes sting with unshed tears of his own. "I'm styling you for the dance," he stated, voice choked, "You have the color sense of a dead rat."

"I would not have it any other way," Jones replied, he too grinning, "Just no pink, please."

Everyone flinched when Klaus suddenly jumped up and pointed a stern finger at his sisters and Ben. "We need to go shopping, pronto." He saw Five open his mouth to protest and turned his determined gaze to his brother to silence him. "You're coming too," he decided, "We need someone to carry our bags." Again, Five began to protest, only to catch the indignant looks both Klaus and Gwen were giving him. He sighed in resignation.

"Fuck," he muttered, "Fine."

One could say many things about Klaus Hargreeves but most people did not expect him to be as good at moving things along as he was. Gwen had barely set down her school bag after returning him from school the next day before she was ambushed by the Hargreeves siblings. They ushered her into the Silver family's car, where Simon gave her an exasperated look. She had no idea what Klaus had done to convince the man to help, but she had a feeling that it involved a lot of nagging. They drove through town, to the shop that made most of Gwen's clothing. Gwen already had a dress for the debutante waiting in the back of the store, which Klaus immediately consulted before shoving Five into a changing room. The shop's assistants seemed rather pleased that he was doing their job for them and sat back to have tea.

Five exited the changing room, holding his arms out. "Well?" He was dressed in a charcoal gray three-piece suit. Klaus eyed him critically, gesturing for him to spin. With a pained look in Gwen's direction, Five did as he was told.

"The color is good," Klaus muttered to himself, turning to the seamstresses, "The pants need to be taken in at the waist, and the length needs to be adjusted." They nodded, approaching Five with measuring tape. "Jacket and vest's good, so's the shirt." Tilting his head, he gave his brother another look up and down before nodding with finality, pleased with what he was seeing. "We'll need a tie that matches Miss Silver's dress, of course, but I'm happy with the overall result." He politely ignored Five's dark grumblings and turned to the rest of his companions. "Who's next?"

The rest of the afternoon continued in the same fashion. Klaus, in between sips of tea, commanded color changes and style changes and whether or not any adjustments needed to be done. Five gave up on trying to decipher what his brother was saying on his own, turning to Ben for translation. "What the hell is mulberry?"

"A kind of purplish red."

"And periwinkle?"

"It's sort of a light bluish purple."

"How do you know this?"

"Years of only being able to talk to Klaus."

Five outright refused to buy anything other than his suit for the debutante. Being ordered around by Klaus was bad enough the first time. Still, between Klaus and the girls, and even Ben, there were plenty of bags to load into the car when Simon arrived to take them to the Italian restaurant they had decided on for dinner. Seeing the smile on Gwen's face as she saw him try on the suit one more time before they left made it all worth it for Five.

"So, Klaus," Allison said teasingly once their food had arrived, "Tell us more about Jones." Simultaneously, Ben and Five groaned. Klaus ignored them, launching into the same stories he had already told his brothers many times before, happily elaborating when he was asked questions.

A week before the debutante, things changed drastically in the Silver household. Jones, having come out to his less than accepting parents, had been kicked out of his family home and dragged into the Silver one. His tuition at Ophelia Murphy's was paid through his graduation and non-refundable, so his position as a student was safe. His parents, on the other hand, refused to acknowledge him. Gwen and Five had raged for hours along with Monica, while Klaus comforted Jones. They had all expected it, really, yet it was disheartening that they had been right. Jones, however, just expressed relief. "I can be whoever I want to be now," he explained, "And they cannot do a thing about it that is worse than what they have already done."

It was an adjustment for all of them. Simon was pleased to have another person to cook for, just as Klaus was happy to have his boyfriend nearby. It took some time for Jones to get used to finding Five shirtless at the dining room table in the mornings, as it was a rather obvious deviation from what he was used to. But at the end of the day, they were all pleased to have another addition to the family.

"Are you ready?" Gwen smiled gently at Jones as they stood outside the doors to Ophelia Murphy's ballroom. They would be announced soon, revealing to the entire school the truth of why Jones had been thrown out. She was dressed in a silk, mermaid cut evening gown that perfectly matched what a woman would have worn in the Thirties. Not to mention that the color matched her engagement ring. "We technically don't have to do this," she reminded him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "The purpose of these things is, after all, to finalize the matches." Which they had already done.

Taking a deep breath, Jones nodded. "Let them talk." He was happy with Klaus and grateful for everything Gwen had done for him. Going to the ball was the least he could do for them. He smoothed down the lapels of his suit jacket and held his arm out for Klaus to take. With a determined nod to Gwen and Five, Jones stepped through the doors as they were opened for him.

"Mister Jones Lamontagne and his… intended."

Gwen rolled her eyes at the pause as she turned to fix Five's tie. "Behave," she warned, "No innuendos, no hands where they are not supposed to be and most definitely no sneaking away."

"What if someone says something about us or them?"

"No killing anyone."

"That's your limit?"

Shaking her head, Gwen accepted his arm as it was held out to her, "I was hoping you could stick to sarcastic, elitist clapbacks," she replied quietly, preparing to enter the ballroom, "But if it gets really bad I will pretend not to see if you punch someone." Five nodded, pleased with the deal. Gwen pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before the doors opened and they stepped into the ballroom.

"Miss Gwendolyn Silver and her… fiancé?"

They had taken special care not to publicize their engagement. Five had been offended until Monica explained that it was a power move that might pull some attention away from Jones and Klaus. Announcing an engagement, the first of the debutante class, would show that a permanent alliance had already been made between two powerful families. It would force the other people attending to show respect, which would force politeness toward any pairing that was endorsed by them. So long as Gwen and Five showed support of Klaus and Jones, no one could speak up against them without breaking the rules of propriety. As such, the first thing Gwen did as they reached the bottom of the stairs was to place a chaste and wholly proper kiss to Jones' cheek then Klaus'.

Five shook their hands, discreetly watching the reactions around them. There were feelings of shock and outrage written across every face in the room. He found it exhilarating how the tables had turned. Monica smirked from her place in the corner, raising her glass in a silent congratulations. Not a single one of the men and women would be able to utter a word without it being a slight to the families Silver and Hargreeves. Nodding back at Monica, Five swept Gwen into his arms in the first position of the opening dance. "Well, I'd say we're off to a good start," he commented, spinning her in a delicate circle, "We've made our stance on their relationship clear."

"All we can do now is wait and see," Gwen replied in a whisper as Five lifted her, "Thankfully, most of the stuck up snobs in here value alliances too much to say anything." She allowed Five to lead her into another graceful twirl, smiling softly at him. They had worked hard for that moment, but they had made it. Five had conquered the apocalypse. Gwen had helped Vanya understand her powers. Together they had defeated the Commission. The most dangerous thing in their future, as far as Gwen could see, was Klaus' clumsy shenanigans.

The dance ended, Five and Gwen meeting Klaus and Jones in the middle of the dance floor. Monica came up to them, dragging a waiter along with her. "Monica," Five greeted, chuckling as he took a glass of sparkling cider from the tray the poor waiter was carrying, "How are you enjoying the festivities so far?"

"In the six minutes it took to find you guys I've been asked three times how I secured a match with a Hargreeves heir," she replied, taking a large gulp of her wine, "I haven't heard anyone say anything thus far, though." The wink she gave Klaus and Jones caused her daughter to groan.

Five gently pried the wine glass from Monica's fingers, passing it to the waiter before he left. His fiancée sent him a grateful smile, turning to her mother. "You'll not be drinking anything other than sparkling cider or water from here on out, got it," she checked, pinning her mother with a reprimanding look, "Don't make me tell Simon to drive you home." The butler was playing poker in the coatroom with the other men and women employed by the elitist families, ready to drive his odd little family home. Monica pouted but nodded in acceptance.

"Excuse me?"

Jones turned around as someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Nathan!" He happily embraced his friend before gesturing to his date. "Nate, this is Klaus Hargreeves."

"Your intended, I heard," Nathan replied, smiling, "It's nice to meet you." He laughed when Klaus curtsied and turned to Gwen. "And this must be the infamous Five Hargreeves," he noted, shaking Five's hand, "I've heard much about you."

"Infamous," Five mused, playfully narrowing his eyes at Gwen, "What have you been saying?"

The group laughed. "Infamous because you intercepted her before Tristan Carmine could get his snobby little hands on her, I imagine," Monica muttered darkly into her cider, "Thank God." She shrugged innocently when her daughter sighed impatiently. "I'll behave, promise." Unable to ignore all of the manners instilled in her since childhood, the woman turned to the new face. "Hi, I'm Monica Silver," she introduced, holding a hand out for Nathan to shake, "Gwenny's mother."

"Nathan Abernathy," he replied, "Gwenny's friend."

Barely had introductions been dealt with when another voice was added to the fray. "Well, it appears I have found the lowest of low," Tristan said gleefully, a wicked smirk on his face, "Just when I thought you could not sink any lower, Miss Silver, you show up with a larger disgrace than the ring on your finger."

"That comment wasn't creative enough to warrant a punch," Gwen muttered, a hand on Five's chest to hold him back, "Where did you leave your date, Mister Carmine?" She gasped theatrically, nodding to herself as though she just realized something. "Oh, wait, you spent too much time chasing after someone who did better to actually want to find a date, did you not," she continued sweetly, "Not to worry, there is always next season."

"I will get you," he growled, leaning closer, "And you won't see it coming."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Gwen replied, smirking, "But I look forward to seeing what you come up with." Tristan stormed off without another word, leaving the group snickering after him. Turning back to her friends, Gwen shook her head. "He needs to get over himself," she commented, smiling when Five pressed a kiss to her temple, "He'll be a better man for it."

"Hopefully, he will find a better man for it too," Jones added, sipping his cider, "Even I can see that he needs some help to… unwind." So, maybe Klaus had been a rather strong influence on him. Gazing at his beloved as he chatted happily with Nathan and Gwen, Jones could not find it within himself to complain. A nudge at his shoulder had him looking to his left, where Five was smirking at him with a raised eyebrow. Their trip to the jewelry store was their little secret. For now, anyway.