ASL Epilogue

Fate

I sighed as I looked out at the backyard. In my mind, I could still see the kids running around the yard, screaming and just being kids. I missed having kids around. There was a part of me that was not ready for today. I had to fully admit that my son was an adult and by the end of the day he would be married. I heard Bella walk into the room and felt her come up behind me and wrap her arms around my waist.

"You know, maybe there will be more kids running around the yard again soon."

"That's not funny. I'm not even fifty yet. I'm not ready to be a grandpa."

She slipped around to the front of me, "That wasn't quite what I had in mind."

I looked at her in confusion. I had absolutely no idea what she was getting at. She just smiled at me. "I saw my doctor yesterday. I'm not going through the change yet."

"But I thought that you had all the symptoms, including not having your period anymore. If you aren't going through the change then what…" That is when it hit me. She was pregnant. My beautiful wife was giving me another child. I just smiled and grabbed her into a big hug and kissed her.

Three hours later I was standing at the church attempting to calm Ethan down as he paced around. The day was already going better than we could have hoped. Even the weather was cooperating with the sun coming out. The ceremony was set to start in ten minutes and I had just heard from Tanya that the bride was most definitely on her way. Ethan visibly calmed after I passed on his mother's message. James was fidgeting in his tux on the other side of the room. He and Victoria had just turned sixteen and I wasn't happy that they were now driving and dating. I hated that Victoria had a boyfriend now. I found out by accident that Bella had put her on birth control and I wanted to hit the roof. I was eternally grateful that I had to leave for work before Bella had come home because Jane talked me down before I started a fight with Bella that would have me sleeping on the couch for a few days. Been there, done that, don't want to repeat the experience. At all. I chose to believe that Bella had put her on the pill to regulate her periods and not that she was having sex.

Before we knew it, it was time for the ceremony to begin. Tanya and Felix and Bella and I walked up the aisle at the same time and took our seats together. Over the years, I saw through customers at the bar, how divorces split families in the worst ways and made it impossible for parents that had once been happy and loved each other become the worst of enemies. I was glad that had not been the case with Tanya and I. We were able to not only be the best parents that we could be for Ethan, but we were also close friends and confidantes.

After we were seated, Ethan escorted both of his grandmothers up the aisle and then took his place at the altar. Ethan and Catherine tried to keep everything simple and small but that was never really possible. I'd also seen many parents over the years come into the bar to drink away the stress of have a child planning a wedding. I was proud of Ethan for choosing James to be his best man. The two weren't that close and I knew that Ethan could have easily chosen his best friend, Eric, but he didn't. James may have complained about having to wear the tux, but he also confided in me that he never thought that his brother would have asked him to stand up with him but was thrilled that he did. Victoria and Maddie were both bridesmaids while Catherine chose her own sister to be maid of honor.

Bella wrapped her arms around my waist and I kissed her on the forehead as we watched them exchanging vows. We decided that we weren't going to tell anyone about the new baby just yet. We had always wanted to have more kids after the twins were born but it never quite worked out for us until now. Bella had gotten pregnant twice after the twins but had lost both babies to miscarriage. Tanya was amazingly supportive when she heard and came to talk to Bella. She said that she knew from experience what it was like to lose a baby. It was devastating to find out that it happened because of the stress she was under following my accident. I asked her why she never told me about it and she said that she honestly couldn't find an appropriate time to bring it up, and then it became an issue of the only reason to bring it up was to hurt me, so she just kept it to herself.

The ceremony seemed to morph into the reception without me even realizing that it was happening. We spent a wonderful evening surrounded by friends and family; eating, laughing, and having the time of our lives. I was walking around the dance floor and took in the various members of our family and thought about how far we had all come.

Tanya was one of the strongest women that I had ever met. It took her years of fighting the cancer to finally beat it, but she did. There were a few points that we were all sure that we were going to lose her. There were times that we sat vigil in the hospital waiting to hear the worst scenario had come true, but each time she fought her way back to us and had been in remission for twelve years now. It was a year after she went into remission that she and Felix snuck off to Vegas and got married. There were a lot of people that were angry that no one was invited, but it was what they both wanted and therefore I couldn't be anything but happy for them.

Seth showed Angela that love was worth the risk and they were married two years after the twins were born. Seth also adopted Mia on that day. They were a happy family and from what I know, Ben had never bothered to contact his own daughter. His daughter that had always called another man daddy.

Emmett and Rose had moved to Forks ten years ago when his dad had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Emmett was not the type of man to leave his mother to deal with everything on her own. We decided that the time had been right to open up a second bar in Forks for Emmett to run. I still remember the day that we were interviewing for a bartender/assistant manager to help Emmett out when he needed to be with his family and Charlie walked in with his resume in hand. It's a no-brainer that we hired him on the spot. First of all, there was no one that we were going to be able to trust more to take care of things in our absence than my father-in-law. And two, the beloved retired chief of police? Talk about a surefire customer draw.

Jane still worked with me at the Seattle location. I stood by her side the day that she and Heidi were able to legally marry in the state of Washington. We had all carried petitions to get the legislation on the ballot and helped to get the vote out to legalize same sex marriage. A year after that Heidi gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Alec. They used Jane's eggs and had the embryos implanted into Heidi, so they were both a part of the baby and the pregnancy.

I continued to walk around the dance floor until I caught sight of Jasper and Alice sitting quietly with Maria and her husband Peter. Maria had found a home with Alice and Jasper that she loved, and when her mother came back to the states, decided that she wanted to stay. So Alice and Jasper became her legal guardians. Maria was also very pregnant with her first child and she looked like she was about to pop at any minute.

The night wore on with more dancing and more food and drinks and before we knew it, it was time for the newlyweds to leave for their honeymoon. Tanya, Felix, Bella, and I had gone in together to give them a three week stay in the Caribbean. They were going to need the time to rest and relax as they would both be starting medical school in the fall at Columbia. Ethan had decided years ago to go into the field of oncology. What he wanted most of all was to research new treatments to increase survival rates. We were all extremely proud of him.

They had only been gone for about ten minutes when I heard a scream come from the dance floor. I looked over to see Jasper holding a doubled over Maria, and Alice and Peter running for them. I guess that I was right about her being ready to pop.

The four of them left for the hospital in one of the limos since the only one of them that had not been drinking was Maria, and she was in no shape to drive either. Mom and Dad followed behind them in a second limo. Bella and I decided that we would go tomorrow, after everything was said and done.

I grabbed my wife and dragged her out onto the dance floor and held her close to me as we swayed to the music. In the last twenty years I had never been able to regain any of the memories that I had lost due to the accident. There were things that would give me a sense of déjà vu, but that was as far as it would go. I hated not being able to recall things from my life first hand, but I was eternally grateful for what I was given more than I resented what I had lost. I was given an opportunity to make new memories. That was something that I had learned that not everyone got. I was given the rare gift of a second life.

A/N:

First and Foremost, I would like to thank Sweetpea123 for all the hard work she put in betaing this story, fixing my mistakes and making sure that everything made sense.

Second, I would like to thank those who reviewed and let you know that you saved Tanya's life. I was set to kill her off but changed my plans. I just couldn't do it.

Thank you to all that stayed with this story. I know that all of people don't like seeing Edward or Bella with anyone else but I really appreciate your faith that I would get them together and all would be well.

I have a lot more stories in my head that I want to get out. There is a canon one-shot that I am working on and then an all-human story that's been in my head for a while. And there's the On our Own, the sequel to Living Life that I just started posting. I am not going anywhere anytime soon.