A/N: Hello, my lovelies! The first thing I want to do is thank every single one of you for your wonderful patience- I know this has been a long time coming. I had some problems coming to terms with the end of Journey- after all, I've been writing it for well over a year and I've changed a lot in that time. And the biggest change in my life might not have ever happened if it weren't for writing this fic. (the next paragraph is pure fluff, I want to give you fair warning.)

My sweet Maggsie, you are the greatest love I have ever known. You are my triumph, my inspiration, and my heart. These next three chapters are for you, for everything you give to me. You fill my life with light and your love makes me a better person. And don't worry, this isn't the only mention you get. ;)

I know this seems a little short, but let me explain. This is the way I wrote the ending when I first started writing Journey nearly two years ago. And I was going to make it longer and make all of these changes to give you what you wanted. But you know what? I've made the decision to do it this way and use my creative license. You might be a little disappointed, but I hope that for the most part you will understand that this is how it was always meant to be.

Thanks, everybody! Have a great read! Oh, and I have so many people to thank that I've that I will mention some at the end of every chapter- in no particular order.

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It was the summer of 2008 and school had just let out. Lindsey was seventeen and headed for her senior year in high school. It was hard to believe my first baby was almost all grown up. And she had really come into her own, too. She and I had spent spring break driving up and down the west coast looking a colleges and universities. At the end of the summer, Sara was taking her to look at schools on the east coast. She either wanted to be an English teacher or possibly a veterinarian. What that really meant was that she had no clue what she wanted to be, but Sara and I were not worried. She was doing great.

Linds had gotten her driver's license about six months before, and she was saving up money for a car, working as a barista at Starbucks. She was also dating a boy, Tom, whom I thought was very nice, but whom Sara thought was not to be trusted. Though I'm pretty sure that's what she thought about every boy Lindsey had ever brought home. Not that she had brought that many home. She'd had a couple flings early on in high school and then one serious boyfriend for two years. When that ended, she was heartbroken, which, for a sixteen year old meant that she didn't date for about two months. And then she found Tom. It was no wonder that she was never without a boyfriend for too long, with her long blonde hair, almond-shaped blue eyes, and sweet disposition- captain of the soccer team and president of the debate club, she was a well sought after catch. Of course, she complained at being only 5'5, even shorter than me- already Ayla had surpassed her in height.

Ayla had just celebrated her fourteenth birthday the month before, and was soon to be a sophomore in high school. She was spending the summer working on an astrophysics project in collaboration with a few college students that she was hoping would allow her to start taking science classes at USF in the fall. I thanked God every day for the fact that she did not seem to be interested in dating yet. She was proving to be tall (5'8 so far) and beautiful just like Sara, though just like Sara, she certainly didn't think so. She even wanted braces to close the gap between her teeth, which Sara was inclined to give her but I out and out refused. When she had her own money, she could so it- but without my blessing.

We never did put her in private school, though we had seriously considered it. But in the end, the public schools were so good that we didn't have to. The teachers there readily created a special program for Ayla so that she could take advanced courses and still manage to spend most of her day with kids her own age. It took a bit of time but gradually, she made friends and finally got to do all the things little girls are supposed to- sleepovers, shopping expeditions, trips to Disneyland. By the time she reached fourteen, she was as well adjusted as we could hope for our little genius to be.

Maggie was eleven and very into music and theatre and dance. She sang a solo at her fifth grade graduation and had a big part in her school play, though not the lead- much to her disappointment. And she was trying to start a band. She was still gorgeous with her big gray eyes and irresistible smile. I dreaded the day she went off to high school and I would have to worry about who she would bring home. Already she was showing us that those pre-teen hormones were hard at work and doing their best to drive us crazy.

Mags was born with an air of confidence that eluded most adults, and it sometimes got her into trouble. She was constantly correcting people, and not in the timid soft-spoken way Ayla did. Maggie let you know in no uncertain terms when you were wrong. And according to her, Sara and I were wrong quite a bit these days. We could only imagine what full-fledged adolescence would bring. But there were other times when she was still just our adorable little angel child and of course, no matter what, we wouldn't trade her for the world.

The twins were five and headed for kindergarten. Lizzie was our wild child; Sara said she thought I must have been exactly like her when I was little and she wasn't wrong. She looked like me too, even more than Lindsey did. She had the bright red curls and big blue eyes and with my cheekbones and sticky-out ears, Sara always called her our little elf child.

Lizzie had learned to do everything early; walk, talk, read, write- manipulate. And she ran around doing whatever she wanted. And she was the baby, so everyone indulged her. And she was athletic, like her brother. There didn't seem to be anything she couldn't do and I was excited to see who she would grow up to be.

Matthew was of the quiet make, like Ayla and Sara. Of course, with four sisters always shouting above him, what did we expect? He was painfully shy which I sometimes lost patience with, but Sara always understood. He was a handsome little boy, with blonde hair a shade darker than Lindsey's and big hazel eyes. Wide eyes, like mine, and a button nose and sharp chin.

As Sara had always wanted, he was her little athlete. His mannerisms were so like Sara that I sometimes wondered if somehow there was a weird mistake and he was actually her biological son. They had lots of little secrets that were theirs and theirs alone, things they never shared with the girls or me. Not that it bothered me, though. Quite the opposite. It was good for both of them, and when Mattie had a problem or a scary dream, he always came to Mommy first because he didn't want Mama to think he couldn't do it himself.

I liked my role as the one who made all the bad things go away, whereas Sara liked being his perpetual playmate. With the girls, except for Ayla who had never seemed to need a disciplinarian, it was always the other way around.

On this particular summer day, we were going to the beach. Lindsey and Sara had headed out in the early early morning in order to catch the good surf. Surfing had been something they had shared together since we moved to California, and even though Sara was teaching the other kids, going out in the early summer mornings was still a tradition that the two kept up.

The plan that day had been for them to go out early and then to grab all of us a picnic breakfast and for the other four kids, the two dogs, and I to meet them for a day at the beach. My role at the beach was generally to sit on the beach and keep an eye on everybody- I rarely got to put a toe in the water. I didn't mind; it was fun just to watch my family.

When I pulled up at the beach, Lindsey ran up to me and said that Mama was getting breakfast.

It took us awhile to get all of the boards and buckets and chairs out of the van and loaded into the wagon we now brought everywhere. Whether we were transporting twins or gear, the wagon was a lot more practical than a stroller. Hershey and Casey were well trained dogs and they just followed us along the beach to the picnic grounds, though technically they were meant to be on leash.

After we had gotten everything set up with the umbrellas and the towels, I looked up the beach to see Sara talking, several bags of food in her arms, with a very attractive young woman in a surfer's wetsuit. Sara was similarly attired, but she had gotten hot and halfway peeled off the wetsuit so that besides her small bikini top, she was naked to the waist. My eyes narrowed immediately.

It wasn't that I didn't trust Sara- not at all, and though there might have been a twinge of envy, I wasn't really jealous of the younger woman. I knew that I looked good, especially for forty-seven. I had held my figure and I still looked hot in my suit. But my wife could be so oblivious sometimes, and this other surfer's stance and attitude were anything but innocent. She couldn't take her eyes off Sara- my wife! And there was the problem, right there. I wasn't jealous; I was territorial.

Moving a little closer, I could hear them talking.

"So you've been surfing for a while then?" the woman was asking.

"Oh sure, I've lived in California for most of my life, so…"

"Cool, yeah, I'm out here all the time. And I make it out to Hawaii about once a year."

"Yeah? That's really awesome."

"Totally, you should really check it out…" And the woman touched Sara's arm.

I was just about to go over there and give that woman a piece of my mind when Lindsey caught sight of my expression and followed my gaze to its subject. She smiled and patted my shoulder, "I'll take care of it, Ma."

"What? Huh? No, I, uh…" I tried to act like I wasn't upset, "It's fine…"

Lindsey just shook her head, "Hang on a sec." She went over and whispered something to Ayla and Maggie who nodded and smiled. Then she turned and jogged up to Sara.

"Hey, Mama, is that breakfast? Did you get me the egg sandwich like I wanted?"

"Sure did."

I smiled as I saw the other woman's face freeze. "You have a daughter?"

Sara raised an eyebrow as she threw an arm around Lindsey's shoulder, "Yeah, my oldest, Lindsey. Linds, meet Naomi, she's a surfer too."

"Hi!" Lindsey smiled. Behind her back she made the 'okay' signal and I watched Ayla and Maggie run past me with the dogs fast at their heels.

"You have more kids?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I-"

"Mama! Mama!" Ayla and Maggie came running up.

I laughed at the way Naomi's face fell. Getting the idea, I bent down and whispered to the twins, "Go run over and jump on Mama, okay?"

They nodded and were off like rockets, "Mama! Mama!"

I grinned in satisfaction as the other woman went pale. Ha. My family. My kids. My wife. Step off, bitch. With that, I stripped off the long t-shirt I had been wearing over my suit, pushed my sunglasses up on my head, and swaggered over to join my family. I slipped an arm around Sara's waist and glared protectively at the blonde surfer woman.

Still completely unaware, Sara hugged me back as best she could and kissed me softly on the lips, "Hey, honey, I was just bringing breakfast. I got you the fruit salad like you asked, but I also got you two glazed donuts because I know you secretly wanted them."

I smiled serenely at my beautiful Sara who knew me so well. "Thanks, babe."

Sara turned back to Naomi, "Sorry, this is my wife, Catherine, and these are our kids," she pointed to each of our children in turn, "Lindsey, you met, and then Ayla, Maggie, Matthew and Lizzie. We were just about to start our day at the beach."

The young woman looked more than slightly taken aback, "Oh, um, hi everybody."

My darling children all smiled politely at her.

I wrapped myself around Sara and rested my head on her shoulder, "Did you want to join us for breakfast? We've got lots of food…" I said it with a smile on my face but my eyes and my tone said that I wasn't really asking.

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to intrude. Besides, I've got work in a couple of hours…but it was really nice meeting you."

I laughed as the woman practically ran toward the parking lot.

Sara furrowed her brow, "I wonder what happened; she was really nice a minute ago…"

Lindsey grinned, "I bet she was…"

I took the bags of food from Sara and gave them to Lindsey, "Why don't you get everybody set up? We'll be there in a little while."

My oldest daughter winked at me, "Sure, thing."

I smiled at Sara and dragged her along the beach in the opposite direction, "So…thinking about trading me in for a younger model?" I joked.

"Huh?" Sara still didn't get it.

I rolled my eyes, "Surfer babe was pretty into you…"

"Who, Naomi? Nah. She's doing grad work at UCLA in marine science. She's just really friendly. I met her up by the breakfast place…"

"Sara, are you serious? She was all over you; she was this close to inviting you to Hawaii! And did you see the way she ran for the hills when she saw the kids and me? That girl was hoping for some action."

Sara caught the twinkle in my eye, "Did you…you had the kids ambush me just to shake off that girl, didn't you?"

I laughed.

"Eww. She was like twenty-three, she might as well be Lindsey's age. She probably still plays beer pong and spin the bottle. You don't seriously think I was interested in her, do you? 'Cause I'm not, I-"

I nudged her playfully into the water. "Babe, I wasn't worried. I just wanted her to know that she was barking up the wrong tree and that you'd been taken for a while."

Sara put her arms around my waist, "Mmm. For seven years, to be exact."

"Well, technically we've been married for four years and eight months."

"Yeah, but we've been together for seven years and a month, and today is the anniversary of the first time we…you know."

"No, it's not, we waited almost two months for that."

"Not that. I meant the first time we said I love you."

"Oh." I felt a warmth grow in my stomach, "Really? How do you remember stuff like that?"

Sara hoisted me up so that we were eye level, "I'll remember that day for the rest of my life," she said seriously.

"Oh, you're just begging to be kissed now, aren't you?"

"Maybe."

The surf tickled my toes as Sara continued to hold me up and I kissed her soundly. Minutes later we heard a chorus of 'Eww!' 'Yucky!' and 'Get a room!' We both laughed and my wife set me down. Hand in hand, we walked back towards the family we had created together.

That day was full of love and light and it has always been one of my favorite memories.

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If you just want to read all three chapters and review at the end, that's fine with me. I'm not begging for them for this fic anymore- all reviews should be given of your own free will. This was the first Cath/Sara fic to ever reach a thousand reviews, and that is proof enough for me of your devotion.

I want to send a special thanks out to: tofem, ., cathandsaraforever55, CSISVUTWFBgurl, Gryffindor620, forkeh, Ponys, Chimp1984, Halliwell-luver, AquaBubbles, Piper Gilmore and Chelsee6. And of course, my beautiful Maggsie!