A/N: My reviewers are the greatest! And since you continued to make me happy, I have decided to award you with one more, final epilogue-chapter.

Five years later

"No! You don't fold these like that. Let me show you!"

Calleigh looked down at her and sighed. Despite his youth, Oliver was already a true wiseass and had apparently inherited his father's OCD. Calleigh was certain there wasn't another six-year-old who was so into folding clothes.

"Okay, if you want to, I'll let you do it. I'll be in the kitchen," she left, defeated and Oliver folded his things with obvious contentment.

In the kitchen, she stood by the window and looked out, pondering on how much and how amazingly her life had changed in the past six years.

She had gotten pregnant, had a really complicated time and finally realized what she really wanted. Her life was indeed perfect – she had a son and a partner.

She smiled at her last thought. Partner. Ryan was so much more than that, he was everything and he offered her everything, even though she had originally thought she didn't deserve any of it. He had come into her life with every intention of changing it although they both had been completely unaware of it and he had succeeded in doing it.

Yes, she thought, everything is perfect. What more could she want? She knew that her father would argue with that and vividly she remembered their last conversation.

"Dad, don't start with that! We are very much in love and very content with each other."

"Then why hasn't he made an honest woman out of you?"

Calleigh glanced at her father with an annoyed look. She and Ryan had been together for four years and it was true that they weren't married but that didn't bother her. Although she had always thought herself to be the conservative type to want to be married, she had come to the conclusion that eventually, it didn't matter.

"Not being married doesn't make me dishonest. It is the 21st century, for God's sake!"

"But you're a Duquesne! And Duquesnes don't have 'partners', they have husbands and wives."

Calleigh knew that her father had his own point of view but she was not going to surrender. But she also knew better than to continue arguing with her father. They had had these conversations for several times.

"Daddy, could we just drop the subject?"

Kenwall Duquesne didn't have anything against his daughter's love interest. He considered Ryan Wolfe a good man and a good father but, nevertheless, he wouldn't back out of his ideas. Of course, he also knew that arguing with Calleigh was pointless because neither one of them would back down.

"Alright, alright. But I still don't like it."

Later, Calleigh thought this matter over and over again. The question she needed to answer was whether she really didn't matter if she was married or if she didn't push Ryan because she was afraid he'd run away?

"A penny for your thoughts should be the classical line in our family already," she heard a familiar voice whisper as two arms encircled her and a light kiss was placed on her neck.

Instead of answering, she turned around and faced Ryan who gave her his best amused expression.

"I was just thinking what a great life we have."

"That's nice to know," he said with a smile. "Where's Oliver?"

"Folding his clothes. As he put it, I don't know how to fold them so he wants to do it by himself. The OCD is one thing he inherited from you."

He grinned. "At least something good came out of it."

They shared a soft and sweet kiss that made Calleigh lose all her recent thoughts about marriage. But the kiss soon took heated measures and soon enough they were both short on breath and could feel their arousal stir.

Calleigh was the one to break it off. "Not now, Oliver is the next room."

But her sparkling eyes gave away her real thoughts.

"If he is folding his clothes," Ryan kissed her neck, "and we can slip into the bedroom," another kiss, "and keep it quiet," the next one made Calleigh moan unintentionally, "then we won't get caught."

Her mind was being reasonable but her desire quickly smothered it. "Okay."

They made it quickly and swiftly into the bedroom. They lost as few clothes as possible and were soon in the middle of passionate lovemaking. The chance of getting caught made the excitement grow and release was quick to come.

Calleigh tried to catch her breath while Ryan continued to kiss her neck and she knew that if she let him continue, they wouldn't be able to stop at all.

"Honey," she drew his attention, "as much as I'm enjoying it, we need to stop or we won't be able to stop at all." She placed a quick kiss on his lips and untangled herself from his embrace, trying to regain her composure.

"And would that be so bad?" he asked with a naughty grin on his face.

Calleigh couldn't help but smirk as well. He was even more irresistible with his face still a bit flushed from the lovemaking and his perfectly shaped body in her sight son her thoughts were a bit confused. But she stayed confident.

"Let's go back to being parents now." Seeing the frown on his face, she leaned closer and whispered, "If you're a good boy, we will continue this tonight." She left with a satisfied smile at the look on his face.

"Sweetie, are you done with your clothes?" Calleigh entered Oliver's room and saw him fold his last shirt with obvious content.

"Yes."

She gave a proud look at her son who had really done a better job than she would have. Not that she was messy.

"Wow, you should become a professional folder!"

"Mom…" he rolled his eyes and Calleigh couldn't help but chuckle. So like his father.

"What are you two doing here?" Ryan had snuck in quietly, so neither one had heard him come.

"Did you do this?" he asked Oliver, hints of pride hidden in his voice.

"Mhmph."

"I couldn't have done it better myself." He hugged Oliver tightly, relishing in the fact that this little boy was his son.

"What's for dinner?" And just like that, out of the blue, Oliver turned into a 'normal' child.

"Salad and chicken. Want to help me set the table?"

He happily agreed and the whole family started preparing the meal.

"Mom, why aren't you and Dad married?"

Calleigh and Ryan stared at Oliver, then at each other and then right back at Oliver.

"We read this story at school and there were Jane and Tom who got married because they were much in love. And Ms. Bloom said that when two people love each other, they always get married. So… don't you love each other?"

Ryan was amazed by his son's ability to ask these things just out of the blue. He thought how to explain it to him so that he'll understand.

"No, we do love each other. Very-very much. But it's not that people always get married when they are in love; they now live together and have children and they still are happy and love each other. It's the kind of love that doesn't need a paper to prove it."

Ryan couldn't have said it better himself but he was surprised by Calleigh's words. He knew that Kenwall Duquesne wasn't too happy about it and he himself wasn't sure if Calleigh secretly wished for a wedding.

"It's just that some people feel the need to get married to know that they will love each other for the rest of their lives. But your father and I don't need that. Do you understand? People just believe in different things."

Oliver looked around thoughtfully. "So… you do love each other but you don't marry because you don't believe in it?"

"Exactly," she nodded with her son.

"Okay."

The rest of the dinner was casual but Calleigh kept thinking at what she had said. She had not thought it before but it had all come freely, without thinking. Maybe she had come to a decision long a time; it just took Oliver that she could admit it to herself.

"I'm going to go and play now."

Oliver left, leaving Ryan and Calleigh in a somewhat uncomfortable silence.

"Calleigh… did you mean what you said? You really believe that we don't have to get married?"

She smiled at him. Now she knew the answer.

"I know that I love you and I'm quite sure that you love me. My feelings for you will not change."

"I thought you wanted to get married; your Dad does not approve us just living together."

"My father just has to accept with the fact that I am not married. Maybe someday I'll change my mind."

Ryan just kissed her for that. He had always been a keen supporter of living together rather than getting married but for her, he could've done anything.

Calleigh responded to him, opening her mouth and the deepening kiss brought back memories of what had just happened. Ryan seemed to read her mind because he broke off the kiss and looked into her eyes.

"How about we resume what we did before?"

"With pleasure."

He leaned closer but instead of kissing her, whispered in her ear, "If you won't become Wolfe then we just have to give life to someone who will."

Calleigh shivered at his words and felt enormous joy when she understood the meaning. They had talked about having another child for a year. She didn't want to before because she had still believed that this child should be born into a wedlock but with her ideas reconsidered…

"I'd love to."

And she then knew that whether she was called Duquesne or Wolfe, love was one thing she would never lack.

A/N: That's it! I should probably explain my idea of a relationship. Since I'm a firm believer in just living together instead of marrying, I decided to carry this idea into my story as well. Usually my stories end with a wedding but this time I stuck true to my beliefs and I hope you can accept that. So, no flames about that, please!