Chapter Fourteen: Those Happy Years:

Indian Bend Maryland June 2018:

Stephan had come back from MACUSA under the cover of being abducted, and his life settled into a happy routine. With the syndicate in tatters after Mulder escaped, Stephan did not need to hide his family. Melissa was able to walk freely in the muggle world as well as the magical. Their children grew strong and happy and went to Ilvermorny and were tolerated as progressives as the Ilvermorny community was fast resigning themselves to having to be part of the mundane or muggle world.

There were two schools of thought now, one stuck to call the energies that they used magic, others for calling it simply the force. Yes that was from Star Wars but it was better than calling it he sub atomic manipulation of the quantum realm after all. It was part of science and Melissa was studying how some humans could tap into and others could not. Others were studying how wands and such were a perfect conduit for channeling for most force users while some did not need such a focus. How it was that certain things could be changed and others could not, what made food impossible to change from one thing to the other.

It was now 2018, six years after the colonization was to happen and nothing had. The world was getting darker but that was humanities fault not the aliens. Well most of the world was getting darker, there were spots of light and those spots were refusing to dim no matter how bad the world was. Stephan had changed a bit himself, his hair was longer and he wore it tied back. He had hair on his chin that was long and braided and wore a garnet in one ear and a new house ring for the house of Stone on his ring hand and his wedding ring on his left. He was a very wealthy man now, he owned not only the farm he lived on but two apartment buildings in Colorado, one in Denver and one in Ft. Collins, a small potions farm in Arizona and shares in several profitable online social media sites.

Both he and Melissa were well traveled, they preferred to go to Asia to visit as they had the best experiences there. They loved Japan the most and the people there, they and their children were fluent as both Sarah and Saul had spent their elementary years there and were fluent in Japanese. They had followed in their parents footsteps in learning Spanish, French, German, Korean, Chinese, but they refused to learn Farsi and instead learned Hebrew along with Greek. They were far more religious than either parent were and liked to go to church and were looking for one they could join. Their parents believed in God certainly but were not terribly religious.

Both were home from school and Stephan looked at his grown children with pride. They had his black hair and height but looked mostly like their mother, which he was grateful for. Saul was laid back like his mother while Sarah was more like her father, down to her love for potions. She was well on her way to becoming a potions mistress and a healer. Saul wanted to work in intelligence and it looked as if he was going to university for that in Stone City, a hidden city in Colorado built during the cold war. They had finished Ilvermorny and were going to have a fun summer off. Saul grabbed a fresh pair from the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter and started to eat it.

"So you still want to go to Fukuoka dad?" Saul said, "I need a new Hard Rock shirt, I kind of outgrew my old one."

"You and your tee shirts." Stephan said smiling at his son, "but sure, we can do that."

"I want to go back to Nagasaki." Sarah said, "I love it there, the people are amazing and the food, that is great!"

"We can do that." Melissa said walking in . "There was a bit of a commotion in England this year, seems Harry Potter's youngest son got sorted to Slytherin."

"I heard about that." Stephan said, "Albus Severus? What was Potter thinking?"

"Well both really, his wife Ginny would have to agree and from what I know of the Weasleys there is no way he would have been named that if she did not agree. She runs the family, not Harry Potter from what I have heard."

"I am sure he would need it, how is Fox? He has been back for a bit now."

"Fine, and the smoking man is back at his old games." Melissa replied, "he really thinks that the game is still afoot but he has lost."

"No, no he has not, he has an agenda, he still is a threat, though not to us." Stephan said, "let's go to Japan, spend the month, it will be good for us to go back."

"Can we go to Okinawa too?" Sarah asked, "I always wanted to go and we never did."

"A few days, it gets really hot there in the summer." Stephan replied.

The children cheered and Stephan smiled, life was looking so very good for the family now. He had a wonderful life now, no dark lords to fight and a few cases with the FBI to profile here and there, and at times a few raids to help lead against terrorists in America. Yes his life was very good and he was happy to have his second chance. Melissa was perfect for him, a wonderful wife, partner and mother to their children. Stephan got a note that William would meet them, it would be best he was out of country when the smoking man "met" him, the one he was going to meet was in fact a clone of sorts and knew it and was willing to help play the game.

Two weeks later found them in Fukuoka at Hakata Station. Here Saul looked over the tee shirts and found a nice blue one to add to his collection. He flirted with the cashier who giggled and found the American who spoke Japanese cute and funny. Stephan walked up and gave his son a look who just smiled at him. They went to order food and found it very good, Saul got ribs, Sarah the Pork sandwich, Stephan the mac and cheese with chicken and Melisa a burger. All ordered Coke Zero ™ to drink. They watched the music videos and looked over the street below that was being worked on enjoying their time together here.

Later, as they were staying in a suite at one of the more expensive hotels the Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk that looked over the Hakata bay. The rooms were big as they could afford it and Stephan and the children went down to the pool to swim. Melissa was not big on swimming so she stayed behind to research dinner. Stephan had kept in fine form over the years and while in Japan he had used magic to cover up his tattoos so that the Japanese would let him swim in the pool. He was still lean and strong and did not look his near sixty years of age. He looked more like forty, a far cry from his days in England when the stress of war and death made him look far older than he was. Melissa had helped heal his body fully when she found him and now he was as strong and healthy as could be. Once he and the children had finished swimming and showered Melissa took them via subway to Tenjen and then a short walk to Canal City and up to the top where Ramen Stadium was at. The children grinned and picked Hakata Style ramen and went to that shop while Stephan and Melissa picked Sapporo style. While they were eating they noticed an older white man in a three piece brown suit, what was left of his long white hair tied back from a clean shaven face. He was politely ordering ramen in perfect Japanese.

"That is not." Stephan said.

"Yes, Dr. Franklin." Melissa replied, "he has been around for a few centuries now, there are long lived humans, the Flamels are around too."

"The stone did not keep them alive?" Stephan asked.

"No, there are long lived humans you know, you do read the bible."

"Yes I do."

Stephan smiled his life was so good now, who knew what would have happened if he had not been saved. Now he was seated in Fukuoka with his wife, his children a shop away all enjoying ramen while watching the last living member of the American revolution eat ramen not to far from him. When Dr. Franklin saw them he came over and asked to sit with them. Stephan nodded and soon the three were enjoying ramen and talking as if they were old friends. Life was good for Stephan and he was grateful for this chance to live free, happy and wealthy not only in money but family too. His England days were fast becoming a faded dream while this was his full and real life now.

He was not thinking of any further adventures, well accept the traveling kind, his mind was on his family, a family had wanted since he was a boy. His parents worked to hard for too long hours and were not there at home for him. They sacrificed so much so he could go to Hogwarts and that was how they showed loved even though they fought all the time, just like everyone else in the hole he had grown up in. Now he was free, had a family and was content. He never again had to fear anything as his life was really complete now. He was so grateful Melissa found him and gave him a life that she insisted he richly deserved. He smiled as he sipped at his warm sake and realized his life was so very good.

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

So yes I skipped a lot of years and why not? Stephan has had a good life and a great family. He deserves it, as for living in Japan, great way to stay away from any nonsense, besides it is really a great country to raise kids in. Safe, they can go out and play when and where the y want, the cops will not bother the children nor will they get taken away for the "crime" of playing outside by themselves. Yes I did put Dr. Ben Franklin in here, I mean he did live a really long time for his day and age, he was 84 when he died. So I just gave him an even longer life span and no, he is not alien, fully human.

Anyway, do review please!