Derek and the teenagers finished the basic landscaping in the front and backyard of the house on Friday, exactly one week before their high school graduation. Derek was meeting with a realtor on Monday and the house would go on the market. He could have done it that week, but it seemed wrong to start selling the house while the group was still working on it; there was this feeling that the house was theirs until it was complete.

Everyone was sad it was ending, but also very excited about the future. Derek told them to come on back on Saturday to do the final clean up and get their last paychecks. The group seemed relieved that there would be one last day together. Before they left that evening to catch their bus, they stood on the sidewalk with Derek and stared at the house. "It really is a house of dreams," said Angela quietly, leaning her head on Derek's shoulder.

That night the team and Fran came to the house and did the final clean up with Derek and Emily. Then they decorated the inside for a surprise graduation party the next day. Caleb, up well past his bedtime and in a slaphappy mood, ran through the house with streamers chanting, "A party for the big kids, a party for the big kids." He kept the mood from getting too somber; they were all sad to see this end.

There would be a new house and a new group of teenagers in a couple of weeks, and they were looking forward to that, but there likely wouldn't be quite the same feelings as there was the first time. For one thing, Derek had already met with the new group, and they weren't walking into this with wonder and surprise. The new group knew something really good was coming and they couldn't wait to be part of it. Still, their questions were hopeful and amazing when he met them. "When do we get to meet Serena? Is it true Spencer memorizes anything he sees? Will Emily still come on Mondays? Will the little kids be there so we can play with them? Will we get to go to college, too?"

The next morning, everyone gathered early at the house and when Angela, Karina, Philip, Ruben and Julian walked into the house, they jumped up with a loud, "Surprise!" There were tears and happiness and lots of exclamations and sighs about how none of them had ever had a party before. Serena, Henry, Jack and Caleb just wanted them to get to the presents. Though Emily and Derek had footed the bill for much of it, the BAU contributed significantly, and they'd started a collection at the FBI to contribute as well, and each of the teens got one similarly wrapped box.

Inside each box was a framed picture of all of them on that front porch, the one that was in the paper. They each got private letters from Derek and Emily, Serena, Fran, and all of the members of the BAU. They each got a laptop, for school work and to stay in touch. And they each got punch cards good for thirty train rides between Richmond and DC.

They spent the morning and early afternoon talking and laughing, and as their time came to an end, Derek stood up with tears in his eyes to address the teens. He winked at Emily and said, "A very wonderful, spectacular woman once told me that everything that happens to us, good or bad, makes us who we are. We take the past with us, but hold onto the present. And when bad things happen, we can still be whole and beautiful. It's only a matter of believing in that truth. Living isn't about forgetting; it's about remembering everything and choosing a good path. You're all on an amazing path, and we all can't wait to see you through it."

And while the teens rushed towards Derek to hug him after that, Fran wrapped her arm around Emily. "Thank you for my son, Emily. I don't care how simplistic you make it seem; you had superhuman strength and love. You didn't just bring him home safely, like you promised me you would, you brought him home even better than he was before."

Emily smiled with happy tears in her eyes. "That's what we Morgans do. We just get better."

Late Monday morning, when Emily was home doing paperwork and bills for both her and Derek's businesses, and Derek was supposed to be meeting with the realtor, she was surprised to hear the front door open. Aurora bounded into the den before Derek did.

"Can I sit?" he asked her.

Emily looked at him with wide, curious eyes and put the laptop aside and opened her legs on the chair and ottoman so Derek could sit and lean against her. When he was settled and her arms were around him, she stayed quiet until he was ready to speak.

"Eight thousand dollars," said Derek quietly.

"What?" asked Emily.

Derek chuckled. "Will called me after I dropped Serena off. He said he'd received an email from a fairly recent graduate of the police academy about the house. His name is Rick. He'd heard through the grapevine that Will knew me. Rick has a wife named Lauren, who got pregnant last year and gave birth to triplets a few months ago. They don't have much at all, but their parents are willing to put up the down payment, and they qualified for a moderate home loan. I called off the realtor and had Rick and Lauren meet me at the house instead. They're wonderful people. Those babies are so cute. What they qualified for is well below market value of what I could get for that house, but I don't care. That was never the point."

Emily squeezed her arms around him and kissed his head. "Sounds exactly right, Derek."

He nodded his head. "So, eight thousand dollars. After every paycheck was signed and all of the supplies were paid for, that's what I'll make on the project. And it feels like a million dollars."

Emily kissed his head again and said quietly, "At least a million dollars. Derek, what you did...there really are no words. You gave all of us hope and I love you more than I could ever tell you in words."

"The other night when I asked you how we got here, I just couldn't express what I was thinking. That if it wasn't for Robert Foster and your mother, we'd never be at this point in our lives, and it's a total mind fuck, because this point in our lives is amazingly indescribable."

"And what I think is that we would have gotten to a similar place emotionally, no matter what, because it's what we were destined to do. It doesn't matter whose cards got us in that position. If it wasn't for them, we'd have found another way. Don't give them the credit. I'll thank my mother quietly for the money. But Robert Foster is insignificant; the significant thing is that you learned how amazingly strong and beautiful and whole you really are. But you should only thank yourself for that. This was all you."

Derek shook his head. "No, it wasn't. It was half you. Jacob had you pegged when you were five years old. You're spectacular and not like anyone else in this world. And I'm the lucky one who got you."

Emily whispered in his ear, "I'm the lucky one, Derek."

They lapsed into silence for a couple of minutes before Derek spoke.

"Hey, Em? You remember when you were pregnant and the house was under construction and this was the only room we had available to us with a door so Serena couldn't just walk in on us?"

Emily grinned. "Yes. We had some fun times in this chair."

"Oh," Derek said in a mock nonchalant tone while shrugging his shoulders, "I was just wondering if you remembered."

Emily laughed and whispered in his ear, "Go close the curtains, Derek."

Derek eagerly stood and closed the curtains. Then he turned back around, and, in the dim light, smiled at Emily. "Ours really is the best love story ever."

Emily held back her tears and smiled back at him, "I know."

Author's note: I'm going to end this one here. I'll probably pick up on this happy family again in the future, but I recently revisited the story I was writing before Labyrinthine came to me and I realized how much I liked it, so I'm going to work on that one for awhile.

This has been a great ride! I think I've cried more writing Fata Morgana than I have in years. Thanks for sticking with it until the end and trusting me that even though the story got dark, I'd crawl them back out of the hole. Thank you for all of the positive reviews!