Here's the epilogue. Enjoy it and please leave me a review.

Disclaimer: I don't own McLeod's Daughters or anything related.

Credits: The title is a song by Creed. The last two lines of this chapter are from that song.

23. With Arms Wide Open - Epilogue

About 6 months later:

It was early in the morning, even too early for Claire to get up, but suddenly she felt that pain again in her tummy which fast became regularly. Now she was alerted.

"ALEX!" She screamed and was heard by him because he had had a light sleep lately. The doctor had told them at their last appointment that it could happen every second so he was ready all the time. Instead of waiting for another word he walked over to her room immediately.

When she saw him, she just nodded and he knew it was time. So he took the bag she already had prepared and helped her up. Then she started to walk towards the door.

"There's no way you're going to walk. I'll carry you to the car." He said, lifted her up, took her down the staircase and brought her to the car.

They drove towards Fisher where the next clinic would be but they didn't come far. In the middle of their way between Drovers Run and Fisher suddenly Claire's water broke so Alex stopped the car at the side of the road and looked concerned at her what she noticed so she whispered: "I'm fine." But he noticed the pain in her voice.

"Claire?"

"The baby is coming, Alex. Now." While she said that the next contraction set in and she wasn't breathing because she had already started to press.

"Come on Claire, we can do it." He said encouraging although he was scared. With these words he left the car and walked over to her side to open the door. Then he took a blanket from the backseat which he would need later when the baby was there.

Labour was close and Claire was scared, more than ever in her life. There should be hospital, at least a doctor. But there was only Alex, the father, her best mate for decades, the one person she could rely on besides her sister. She wanted to let him know what she felt, finally.

"I love you, Alex and I'm lucky that she is your daughter. I love you and if I'm through this mess, I want to marry you because I love you and I will love you forever." She told him while she pressed. Then she started to cry because of the pain she felt as well as the burden which was fallen away.

Only moments after she had told him about her true feelings Alex could see the head. So he didn't have a chance to tell her anything, he just did his job and helped her with breathing and pressing. Moments later their daughter greeted the world. Now Claire cried even more and Alex cried, too. While they did that he wrapped the blanket around the baby and laid her on Claire's chest. Both watched their little darling daughter.

The pain was gone for now and Claire simply watched her daughter while she took Alex' hand who was kneeling at her side.

"Claire, I love you, too. And I want to start a family with you and our daughter. My proposal a few months ago was serious and the ring was chosen with love, already then but it's so simple now. I love you. That's a fact. So there will be a wedding soon."

"And we are going to spend the rest of our lives together on Drovers."

After she had ended, he bent down and kissed her for the first time as a loving fiancée and father. They separated after some seconds and Claire started to talk again.

"Alex, please drive us to the hospital. I wanna check if everything is ok with her."

When she finished, he nodded as an answer, kissed her again and then got back behind the steering wheel and drove the last k's to Fisher.

In the clinic the baby was checked and Claire got a room. After some time they brought their daughter back in a bed which they shove to the window.

Alex and Claire stood close together, one arm wrapped around the back of the other. While she rested her head at his shoulder, both were watching their daughter, another McLeod was born.

We stand in awe, we've created live!

The End

This has been the last chapter, the epilogue, now the story has come to its end. So I want to thank all of you who have read this fanfiction, gave me new ideas, left reviews or encouraged me to keep on writing. Everything was a great support. Especially I want to thank my beta, Isi, you've helped me a lot during the last couple of months and I've learned much because of you.
I love this story and I can't imagine my life without it because it has accompanied me for quite some time. But now it's over and we've to say our farewells.