So this is it?!

It's hard to imagine this being the last update for this story, let alone this series, but it is. As you may have noticed, the epilogue has two parts, followed by the Q&A. if we're being perfectly honest, you can read the Q&A before the epilogue if you want to, but there is a very slight possibility it might spoil the epilogue if you're being hypersensitive or if you literally read too much into it. Just letting you know. :)

Finally, thanks again to Cozy Shadow, Fairlyoddme, Raquel the writer, MistyVoid48, Lady Miioh, Angelinx, Guest, NotBornHatched, xXDarkAngelKittenXx, FFLuvr, Nightstar95, and Nouveau for reviewing the last couple of chapters. I'm truly sorry if I missed anyone.

Now on to the epilogue!

Seven Years Later…Part I

"Remind me why you invited those imbeciles to our home again?"

I folded my arms before glaring at my husband, whose stance practically mirrored mine. "Those imbeciles are our friends, remember?"

Shadow's crimson eyes remained unconvinced.

"Like hell they are."

"Why are you being so mean?" I said. "It's Sloan and Salem's birthday." I turned the oven off. "Doesn't it get a little tiring playing Mr. Doom and Gloom all the time?"

He scoffed. "The only thing that's tiring is retuning home from a mission, only to get a text from the faker that he can't wait to pillage through our stuff."

I shook my head. "He's not going to 'pillage through our stuff'."

"His monsters will."

I had to fight off a laugh. My hands moved to his shoulders, and I studied his expression. He didn't really look pissed, but I could tell something else was bothering him. Well, more than usual.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He took my hand, laced his fingers through mine. "How can I assist you, my love?"

I grinned slightly before shaking my head. "Why don't you just relax for a second? You just got back and the kids should be up to bother us soon."

"Fair enough."

"But today's going to be fun," I assured him. "Let's go show everyone how awesome we are." I offered him a fist to bump with my free hand. He rolled his eyes before cupping my cheek and kissing me. It was a gentle gesture, but it was still an invitation. It had been weeks since we—

His mouth widened and his tongue intertwined with mine. I whimpered as he sealed the gap between us. He pressed me against the counter, and I wrapped my legs along the small of his back as he lifted me on the counter. The feeling…it was too good to stop. But we had to.

"Shadow...the kids—" His lips pressed against my neck, silencing me. I choked on a moan before my hands scrambled for the belt of his pants. "—We have to be quick."

His lip jerked upward in a small smile. "You will."

I fought the urge to scoff when he hiked up my dress; his hands rubbed along my thighs, spreading my legs. My lust filled eyes found his as I kissed him harder. He let out a growl as my hands clawed against his back, and I thrust my hips against his. His hands moved to them, steadying me as he suckled on my lip.

"What are you waiting for?" I whispered in his ear before licking it, biting it. "Take me."

I watched him through lidded eyes as he moved to my neck again. I felt his warm, soft breath trickle against it until he stopped abruptly, his eyes shifting to the corner of the room.

"I didn't ask for an audience," was his response.

I blinked the confusion out of my eyes before looking over his shoulder. I deflated with a sigh. "Really, Rouge?"

She only smirked before shutting the door behind her. "Hate to intrude, but—" she paused before folding her arms over her leather jacket, tilting her head. "Actually, Sugar, if you arch your back a little bit more, he'll have perfect contact with your—"

"Get on with it."

She pouted her lips. "Mission. Ravnora Gardens. Planned attack at 11:00."

My heart fell; that was only a few hours before the party. I rubbed Shadow's shoulder, nodding. "Go."

He sucked in some air through his teeth before pinching my hand. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay." He pecked my lips before stepping past Rouge.

"Sorry," she then said. But the usual sly look in her teal eyes had evaporated. "It shouldn't take more than a few hours. Turn's out some motherfuckers messed with the water supply to poison the people at the garden." She twirled a loose strand of her hair as if she wasn't talking about terrorists. "For some odd reason everyone's more genocidal in the fall." She wrinkled her nose. "I think they're putting something in pumpkin spice lattes. Ruby had one and she's been a bitch ever since."

I couldn't help but laugh before hearing a girl scream in the living room. "I'm going to take that your kids are here?"

She nodded. "Feel free to enlist them in manual labor."

"I'll need it."

Shadow cleared his throat. "Hurry up."

Rouge rolled her eyes before smiling at me. "Can't wait for the party!"

When I heard a clatter from the living room, I could only pray that today would go smoothly.

"Where's dad?" I was expecting one of the twins to ask this, but they were too busy having fun. As they should be, but still. If they were oblivious to him not being here, then that meant I had no reason to be upset. And I wasn't, but still! I turned to my oldest as I poured a bag of chips in a bowl.

"Making the world a better place, I guess." I handed it to him. "Put it on the snack table, okay?"

"Are you trying to distract me, mom?" the boy said, folding his arms. I almost rolled my eyes. Ansel was only six, yet he was almost the spitting image of his father in both mentality and appearance. The only difference was his jade eyes, which he narrowed at me. "You seem dismayed."

"Dismayed?" I considered his words. "What did I tell you about reading the dictionary for fun?"

His expression didn't shift.

"Fine. I guess I'm feeling dismayed."

"That's understandable." He pulled me into a hug, pressing his head against my stomach. I patted his head as he pulled out a card. "Happy birthday."

I hugged him harder, before crouching to kiss his forehead. "God, I love you."

"Good to see you've raised a momma's boy," Sonic said as Ansel ran off to play with the kids.

And when I said, "ran off" I meant I forced him to go. But when I said, "play", I didn't expect him to stand awkwardly like a statue while the others danced with Bozo the Clown/DJ (*cough* Tails *cough*). Sonic laughed when Serena, his six year old, pulled the boy into a hug and he blushed madly.

"Aww, they like each other," he teased.

I rolled my eyes. "You know Shadow would kill you before he'd let that happen," I replied, taking a sip from my bottle of water. "I mean, seriously. No one would find your body." Sonic shook his head, laughing harder.

"I'm still trying to figure out how you two happened."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You and Shadow…It's so out there that it's kind of perfect."

I pouted. "If it's so perfect, why isn't he here?"

"It's the sporadic nature of our work." He shrugged again, and as much as I wanted to yell at him for taking my marriage lightly, I knew he was right. "Not all of us can be boring lawyers."

"I happen to like being a boring lawyer."

He scoffed. "Sure you do—" Just then a catchy ringtone cut through the air. "Speak of the devil. I have to go. Sally and I will pick up the kids in a few."

"Alright."

I surveyed the party landscape. The event was in full-throttle; children littered the backyard, which looked like an explosion of colors from the bouncy house, to the streamers and the confetti. It was a beautiful sight to see, especially with the weather being so cooperative. It was sunny, but not overwhelming, and a gentle fall breeze swept over us every so often. I watched the twins in the bouncy house with some of their school friends until I felt my phone vibrate.

My heart leaped until I saw whom it was from. Clarissa.

It wasn't that I wasn't happy about it. After all, she texted me 'happy birthday' and a group photo of her and Parker, and her seven and five year olds April and Ash. Next to them were Phil and Fran. They were on a family vacation. Happy. Yet, I couldn't remember the last time my family went on vacation. Shadow and I didn't even have a honeymoon. It was "canceled". And I didn't think it took much to guess why.

"You never told me it would be this hard!" At first I thought it was the universe pleading on my behalf. Then I was ambushed with a hug. Or what was attempting to be a hug. Cream was due in a month, and her stomach was more than aware of that.

"It'll be over soon," I assured her. She shook her head.

"I mean, I can't even drink! And Tails doesn't drink anyway so he thinks I'm being unreasonable."

"You're always unreasonable." I smirked.

"Ha."

"Anyway, where's Shadow?" she said, attempting to fold her arms over her protruding belly. "I mean, all this kid music is killing me too, but you don't see me running to work."

"You can't run anywhere," I said, patting her stomach. "Do you know what the gender is?"

She shook her head, but smiled. "Try genders."

My eyes widened. "Twins?"

She grinned harder. "Triplets."

Before we could spaz out like a bunch of girl-moms, Blaze came into view. She looked happier than usual. We narrowed our eyes at her playfully. "What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing much." She turned to her twins who had already made it on the dance floor area, and Silver who was talking to Knuckles. When his eyes found Blaze, he waved at us. She lifted up a bag. "Amy, can you help me wrap this in the kitchen? I don't want the twins to see."

I turned to Cream. "Could you supervise for a second?"

Before she could object, we fled into the kitchen.

It was sort of nice getting away, even if it was only thirty feet. I took it as a cue to bring the cake out of the fridge. "You want to help decorate it?" I asked my friend. "You're much more artistic than me."

"It's cake." She laughed. "As long as there's frosting and it tastes good, I think the little ones will be pleased."

I smiled as I wrote out my son and daughter's names on the cake. As expected, it looked like crap. "Are you sure I shouldn't just buy something real quickly from the store?"

"It doesn't look that bad."

"If you say so."

I smirked and looked out at the window. There, I saw Violet and Sloan talking about something. Or rather, Sloan whispering something in Violet's ear. She laughed.

"Do you think they'll be best friends like us?"

"They better be." Blaze's eyes were gleaming. I didn't mean to make the moment overly sentimental. It was a simple question. But I knew the implications were great, beyond the children themselves.

"There isn't a day that I don't feel blessed to have them." She shook her head. "I know, they're almost eight, and I'm being a broken record about it. But I still can't believe you did that for me. I can't believe I have you in my life."

"You're giving me too much credit." I pulled her into a hug. "I love you, Blaze. And I'd do anything for you, you know that."

She held on tight, nodding. "I love you too. And I'd do anything for my sister." We stayed like that for a moment until Blaze jumped up, clasping her hands.

"Which is why I got you this." She presented the small bag to me. "It's for the twins, too. Well, technically." She smirked.

Like an excited child, I cut through the decorative paper and gift-wrapping. When I saw it, my eyes widened. "Are you sure this isn't for you?"

She nodded. "You need it more than me. Who said you can't enjoy your birthday just because you have kids?"

"But it's so sudden." I found myself pursing my lips. "I don't know if—"

"Everything is sudden," she assured me. "And trust me, you can't keep it a secret for too long. Otherwise you'll regret it."

I rolled my eyes. "Said the Queen of Darkness and Secrets herself." She shrugged.

"It's not a secret if you can't prove it." She got me there. So there was only one thing left to do.

I lifted up the cake that looked like it was designed by the very five-year-olds we were celebrating.

"Now let's go have some cake."

If it were possible to have your cake and eat it too, I think I'd be in a slightly better mood.

"Why does it look so funny?" Salem asked, blinking his father's crimson eyes at me. I laughed as I ruffled his fur.

"Because mommy's uncoordinated." It was Sloan's turn to laugh. The kids gathered around, and we sang happy birthday. Candles were blown, cake was shared out, and then they were back to harassing Bozo the Clown. Well, everyone but Sloan.

"When's daddy going to be here?" I hated the look she was giving me. It was weird, how much she looked like him, too. All of my kids were their father's children. And he wasn't here.

I smiled before picking her up. "He should be here soon." My glance went to the window as I smoothed her dark grey fur. It was late afternoon, with an hour left of the party. So much for a few hours. I set her down, kissing her cheek. "Go play with your friends." With a nod she delved into the backyard.

"Are we late?"

I spun around, and my eyes glued onto Fiona with a young boy and girl in hand. They were around the twin's age, five or four, but I always forgot which one was older. I smiled at my guests.

"Not at all."

The woman breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Fallon and Shiloh had tennis camp, so I apologize for running late. And Sage is in an important soccer match. But he really wanted to come."

I shrugged. "No worries. I'll make sure to wrap some cake and treats for him."

"Thanks." We walked into the sunroom, and I set her gift against the others. "How are the others doing?"

"I'm exhausted," I said, humoring her. "But everyone seems to be having a good time." By "everyone" I meant the children. All of the adults had fled over an hour ago. So I was basically just an over-the-top, free babysitter.

"How's your husband?"

"Distant." I didn't know why I was being so honest with her. I guess we weren't super gal pals or anything, but we had come to the mutual understanding that we'd support each other if anyone needed it. And right now I needed someone over ten to talk to. I wrinkled my nose before changing the subject. "How's your husband?"

"At the soccer match with Sage." She smiled as she watched the kids play tag. "He likes to 'pretend' that he's the coach. But the team would be useless without him."

"Not to pry, but how did you and Scourge get back together?" I said. Part of me regretted asking, but maybe it was because I was bored to tears. Happy to be celebrating my children's birthday, but still bored to tears. "I mean, Shadow was beyond difficult for a while. But I guess I was worse than him. I don't know, sometimes I wonder how I ended up with anyone." When Fiona grinned, I took it as a good sign.

"Trust me, I'm way more difficult than the two of you combined," she said with a snicker. "I mean, Scourge is infuriating as hell too, but you're so much more understanding than me. When I was pregnant with Sage, even up to a few years after we had him, I was acting like a victim. I never wanted to be a mother, and there I was, stuck with this needy kid that I didn't know if I was cut out to take care of." Her icy eyes fell to the ground.

"But the custody case really was the final wake up call. I hate to give you credit for it, but I really needed someone to show me that I had this wonderful, beautiful child in my life," she continued, "So I got over my issues and pushed myself to be the best mother and person I could be. Sometimes when you love people, you push them away. Once I stopped, it all fell into place." She smiled. "And I have you to thank for that."

I patted her hand. "There are things that wouldn't have happened in my life had we not crossed paths. Some of it was hard, but most of it was beyond worthwhile. I'm not the only one who should be thanked."

Fiona pursed her lips. "This is a children's party for Pete's sake. I didn't come here to start balling like a baby."

I could sense I was being overly sentimental as well, but part of me didn't mind it. For one thing, I was beyond exhausted. And for the other, I had learned that being vulnerable didn't always make you weak. Sometimes it was the only thing that could drive you forward.

"You look tired as hell." I was half surprised that Blaze said this, but mostly because I didn't see her come in. She set a bag of ice cream on the counter. "They're beating up Tails because we ran out." I turned to the backyard; saw a group of kids wailing on him. I knew I had to stop it, but it was the most amusing thing that had happened all afternoon.

"Why don't you go lie down for a second?" Fiona said, pulling up the sleeves of her shirt. "Blaze and I will handle it."

"No. I'm fine—" But when Fiona pushed me on the couch, my body rejected movement. I nestled against the cushions, hating myself a little. "Fine. Don't let me fall asleep."

"Your wish is our command." I swear I could hear them laughing. But like my consciousness, it quickly slipped past me.