Note- I have loved reading all the reviews of this story. It made it really fun to see the insights you all shared. Thanks for sharing your take on this unusual tale of finding love in the most unexpected places.

About Robin, her ending is left open to your imagination. I found it impossible to decide. She wanted Cruz as her friend and to know if Patrick was the man for her and that is where it ended for her. Maybe she later left Patrick, maybe she never did. I know it is not the happiest of endings for her but it would take many more chapters for her to work out all her feelings. Since I couldn't do that properly in the framework of this story I left it open ended.

Now for the update on how the whole group looked one year after the Charity Ball.

Epilogue to The Five

Early Spring 2008

Almost one year to the day that the five friends had sat in Jake's, they gathered again. This time they were at a wedding for one of The Five, which is what certain men in town still called them from time to time.

Kelly remembered back to her own words that night

"Woo hoo, watch out men of Port Charles. Here I come!"

They had taken on the task of finding the Hottest Hottie and in the end they found closer friendships with each other, freedom from their past pain, and, best of all, love.

"Who stole my lip gloss?" asked Emily as she dug around her purse.

The other women were jockeying for space in the mirror.

"No one wants your lip gloss, trust fund chickee," snarked Kelly

"Hey, don't hate me because I'm rich," joked a very pregnant Emily. "Hate me because I am beautiful."

"Oh geez," Robin said, rolling her eyes " I wish she would pop that kid out so she could lose her glow. Its making her obnoxious."

"Milo says I've never looked prettier," Emily cooed.

"Milo would say that if you were covered in hives and lice," Liz said. "You can't really trust his opinion."

"You are supposed to be on my side," said Emily with a smile. She reached over and plucked Liz's lip gloss out of her hand. "This color will have to do."

Liz shook her head at her but smiled.

"Hel-lo," Lainey said, dragging out the word. "I am the one getting married here so do you all think I can get one little teeny tiny corner of the mirror? What do you heifers think?"

She bumped Kelly with her shoulder, and tried to claim more space for herself..

"I hate when she calls us heifers," said Robin with a smile. "It makes me feel fat. Do I look fat to you?"

"No," the rest of them said automatically.

"Everyone take a big step away from the mirror," ordered Lainey as she tried to fix her hair but her elbow kept hitting Liz in the head.

"If you didn't insist on getting married in a public park," said Kelly "without proper facilities for things like blow dryers and multiple mirrors and even lighting that doesn't make us all look like the Night of the Living Dead then maybe we wouldn't be in your way."

"Speak for yourself, Kel. I look great," said Emily as she gazed at her own reflection.

They all groaned.

"We should have never let her date win the Hottest Hottie award," Kelly said "It blew up her ego to mega mammoth proportions."

"Actually, it is a proven scientific fact that love can increase a person's sense of self worth and perception of their..." Lainey started

They groaned louder.

"No lectures, Dr. Winters, please," begged Robin.

Emily knotted her eyebrows and asked, "Wait a minute, are you all saying I don't look great?"

Laughing they said, in unison, "You look fine. Shut up."

Brooklyn stuck her head into the room. "About ready? Its time."

Lainey smiled at her soon- to - be stepdaughter. "Give us five more minutes."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure my Dad doesn't run away," she said "Take all the time you need."

After she left, Robin asked "Is he going to run away? Should I get Cruz to handcuff him to a tree?"

Lainey laughed. "Ned's not going anywhere. Not when I am pregnant with twins."

"Huh?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Two babies?"

"Say what?"

"Twins. Two months along," she confirmed.

Within a second her friends were all hugging her. Lainey felt tears come to her eyes. It had been the most monumental year of her life and it all started because of these women here. And a bet:

"I'll get a hotter stud than you do to take to that Ball."

XXXXXXXXX

LATE THAT NIGHT

Everyone rushed out the doors of the Quatermaine mansion, where the wedding reception was held, to usher Lainey and Ned into their waiting limo to head off to their honeymoon.

Lainey wore a luminous smile as she looked over the crowd- Ned's loud and loving family, her much more sedate parents and siblings, and all their friends. In their faces she so much joy that her heart felt like it would burst from just the sight of it.

Ned's arm was around her waist, he whispered in her ear, "You don't know how happy you've made me."

She whispered back, "Yeah, I do." because he had made her just as happy, just as complete, just as lucky and blessed.

"One last picture!" called out her mom, who could never get enough photos for her albums.

"Get one of The Five," Sonny said with a smirk.

Lainey met his eye and had to bite her lip to keep from busting out laughing. He had finally learned that the flowers sent to his home were from her and her friends and not the Five Families. Sonny told her, during one of there sessions, that he had heard Max talking to Milo about dating one of The Five. Sonny quickly put together that meant Emily and not a rival mob boss.

Though no one had the guts to ever tell Sonny that Milo won the Hottest Hottie award and not him.

"The what?" asked Edward "Five what?"

"Nothing, grandfather," said Emily as she moved toward Lainey to pose for the shot.

XXXXX

In the crowd, Lucky watched with a smile on his face as he stood next to Melana and Cruz. He couldn't believe that he could feel so relaxed watching Liz slip from Pete's side and give him a kiss before she made her way to her friends. But he did. His memories would always be filled with Liz Webber, but his heart belonged to a bitter- tongued ex-model that only a month before had became Melana Spencer. Lulu was still pissed that Lucky and Mel ran off to Vegas and was demanding a second ceremony in Port Charles.

He had been planning to take things slow with Mel but once he let himself start to love her, he had been caught of in the whirlwind of heat and snarky humor that they shared. She made him feel good, and no one said his name, whispered over and over in his ear, in a hotter way than his wife did. It was enough to make him never want to let her out of his sight again.

Melana smiled at him now and said, "Pretty boy, when are you going to take me home?"

He placed his mouth by her ear and answered, "Very, very soon."

XXXXX

As the woman crowded together- Robin, Kelly, Liz, Emily and Lainey- they all couldn't help but let their eyes drift to the guy who took them to the Charity Ball last year.

They leaned in close to each other, wearing identical secret smiles as they remembered how one little bet had brought them so far, had changed the course of the lives forever. It had been a wild ride, a life changing roller coaster of a year.

And none of the woman regretted a thing. Each one of their eyes locked onto the man that their heart now belonged to, then the camera snapped.

(I've been waiting for so long
Now I've finally found someone

to stand by me.

We saw the writing on the wall
As we felt this magical
fantasy .)

The moment in time was captured forever- The Five, all woman who had broken or empty hearts that night in the bar when they decided to take fate into their own hands.

Loving and losing and finding forever had taught them all one simple fact: the best way to get a happy ever after is to go out and grab it for yourself. And grabbing a hot guy to share it with wasn't a half bad idea either.

Robin winked at her fiancé, and he smiled back at her. She had walked into Jake's feeling like her life was over, that night one year ago, but now as she broke away from her friends and walked toward him she knew that the best part of her life was just getting starting.

(I've had the time of my life

No,

I never felt like this before.


Yes, I swear it's the truth
and I owe it all to you.

And I owe it all to you...) ( Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes)

THE END

Thanks for reading.

This story was started in the last days of NaNoWriMo 2006. I needed a break from my novel and something fun to write that would take my mind off of it. So I put the women in this story in a bar and got them drunk.

It's been fun reading all your comments about where you hoped the road would lead them.

I didn't even think I would give them all happy endings but, in the end, it worked out that way. Hope you liked the ride and reading my version of lives that could have been led by The Five.

Sara