A/N: I desperately had to change perspective, having written from Van Pelt's eyes the entire time... I like Van Pelt, don't get me wrong, but I like the all-knowing, omniscient perspective better. It's easier too.

So, this is the Epilogue! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

'The Great Mr. Jane'

Chapter Eight – EPILOGUE

Five years later

Today was both a black and a bright day in the history of the Jane family – everybody was going to be reunited. Under strange circumstances, that might be added, but reunited nevertheless.

Grace was returning from her honeymoon to Hawaii – with Wayne. Hopefully without a child, they simply weren't ready for that yet.

Walter was coming back from his tour around Europe. He really had stayed away for so long, he had left straight after Jane and Teresa's wedding. He had stayed in the back, but had claimed a small part of the ceremony to say only loving words to his former wife. After all, they had shared many personal and intimate moments in their married times, and they were still best friends. It worked out just fine, staying friends after all they had been through.

Johanna and Luther were also joining them – with their four year old son, Tom. It didn't come as a surprise to anyone that they had been in a relationship all along, and that during the time Teresa and Walter were getting their divorce, Johanna had been pregnant. Grace had been the first one finding out their secret, but just as she did with most things, she had decided not to comment on it. It wasn't up to her to judge or make assumptions so she hadn't. If it had been Jane that had been in her position, everybody would've known within hours. Devil's in the details.

Minelli was joining, as was Cho, both alone but neither cared.

In short, everyone was coming together for a nice party – the fifth anniversary of Jane and Teresa's wedding, to be precise.

Teresa had spent hours on getting their children ready. Now twelve year old Christina had been too energetic to sit still in the chair, and had ended up with a simple ponytail on the top of her head because it was too difficult for Teresa to do anything with her hair. Four year old Mary had pulled all the pins Teresa was applying to her hair out, but maybe Christina's behavior had been contagious since she had been sitting next to her sibling, jumping up and down. Due to Mary having mostly Jane's genes, she copied everything she saw and therefore, Christina's actions too. Two year old Jeffrey had been too fascinated by Teresa's dress that was hanging much too closely to him to witness any of her frantic ranting and cursing. And six month old Grace was contently sleeping, but that didn't mean she didn't have to dress up for the occasion.

And then the biggest child of all was moaning, groaning and pouting at being abandoned by his wife.

"Teresaaa." No reply. "Tereeesaaaaa, come on."

"Jane, shut up. I would appreciate it if you would help, they're yours too."

He went quiet for a while, and Teresa attempted for the umpteenth time to get Mary's hair perfectly in shape, but failing – again.

"Well fine, what do you want me to do?"

He was attacked by an endless list of things that still needed to be done, and he helplessly listened to everything he was going to forget anyway.

"Okay, good luck with that, Teresa. I'll be in the kitchen, trying to save your turkey."

Teresa cursed and Jane chuckled, kissing her cheek and carefully disentangling Jeffrey's little hands from the expensive dress, then escaped the room.

Somewhere deep inside, he was surprised to see Grace and Wayne already sitting in the living room. But he knew them, he'd known they didn't find locks and doors important – he'd known already when he had noticed Grace and Christina spying on him and Teresa when she had told him the news. Grace was a nosey woman, even if she wouldn't admit it.

"Don't tell me you're with child," Jane said when he saw Wayne's eyes switching to her belly for just a split-second.

Grace groaned and Wayne's face was a picture.

"Oh, man, how did you know?"

"Your eyes. You looked at her belly when I walked in, and after having experienced four pregnancies of Teresa, I know exactly what look men use to look at their lover's swollen belly – or not so swollen belly. Trust me, it's perfectly fine. I simply hadn't expected you to start with children so soon."

Wayne wisely refrained from talking, and Grace decided it was better to change subject.

"Talking about kids, how are yours?"

"They are upstairs, Teresa is trying to get them ready for the party – in vain, of course, but I appreciate she tries. They are just like they were the last time."

"No, they are not. Your little one only used to be a month old when we went away, Jeffrey wasn't talking yet, Mary wasn't obsessed with her older sister and Christina wasn't a lady."

Wayne's eyes went wide with shock. "What do you mean with these last words?"

"Oh my god, I told you last week." Grace rolled her eyes in exasperation. She looked at Jane and found the same expression as Wayne had had.

"How did you know?"

"I spoke to Teresa, the exact same day we came home. It was the first thing she told me. Oh, remind me not to act like a sappy old woman if we ever get to that point. Trust me, I don't think any daughter is going to enjoy hearing their mother tell everybody that they had their period for the first time."

Jane turned around, not wanting to hear any of it, and he heard Grace chuckling.

"It's a good thing though, Patrick. A beautiful thing. She is no longer a little girl."

Jane turned back around. "She will always stay my little princess."

She nodded in understanding, and let out a long sigh, before getting up and moving towards the staircase.

"What are you going to do?" Wayne asked. She rolled her eyes again.

"I'm going to save Teresa from death, that's what I'm going to do."

Before any of the two men could say anything, she disappeared.

She found the rest of the Jane family in the big bedroom. Teresa and Christina were both sitting on a chair, and the younger children were running around the room. Little Grace was kicking her hands and feet into the air, cooing softly.

"Need some help?" Grace asked, and Teresa's head shot up.

"Auntie Grace!" Christina exclaimed, ran towards her and wrapped her arms around her.

"Hey Chrissie."

She chuckled, then pushed away and jumped on the chair next to her mother. Some things simply never changed.

Teresa swore she could see a change in Grace's demeanor – she looked happier, and although that wasn't a big surprise since she had now married Wayne, she did suspect that there was more to it.

Grace saw her looking at her, and immediately became uncomfortable. She hugged her body, then, to switch the attention to somebody else, she hurried over to Little Grace, only to find that the girl was still asleep.

"Grace," Teresa drawled, and soon, Christina knew what the two were doing. Her eyes went wide.

"Are you pregnant?" Christina all but exclaimed, incredulously, and got up once again to give Grace a big hug. Strong arms hugged her from behind as well, and Christina chuckled at Grace's shocked face.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you," a familiar voice said, and Teresa jumped up, wrapping her arms tightly around the person the voice belonged to.

It was Walter.

"Hey Reese," he said softly. She went on tip-toe and placed a kiss on his cheek.

They were friends. And they had always been friends, ever since they had met. They thought they could change it if they would sleep together but truth was, it couldn't be changed. It was a feeling, a nagging feeling, that wouldn't go away.

The past could not be changed, and in all honesty, they hadn't changed anything at all. It was there all along. Nobody bothered looking further than they could reach. If everybody just kept pretending, nobody had to lie or deceive to put on the act.

"I brought you something," he whispered to Teresa, then reached into his jacket and got out something silvery. He motioned for her to turn around and she did. He applied what felt like a necklace around her neck, and when she looked down, she saw an oval-shaped stone, black in general and white engravings. She lifted it to look at it and frowned. She turned around and saw a brightly smiling Walter.

"It's the Eiffel Tower-"

"I knew that, you idiot," she hissed, but smiled all the same.

"I bought it in Paris," he explained. "And... And I was hoping you would come with me once. To Europe. Just the two of us... as friends, of course."

She stared at him, and he blushed and looked away. Then, he shook his head to clear his thoughts and the blush disappeared.

"I miss you, Teresa. We may not have been perfect... lovers, but you are still my best friend. And I miss just talking to you-"

"Walter, it's fine, I understand." She paused, looked around. "But... I have a family now. They need me."

"I know."

Grace interrupted then, not after apologizing, of course.
"I'm okay with watching your kids for a week, or two."

Walter smiled again, his blinding smile, the smile that Jane used too when he knew that he was winning an argument, and Teresa rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I'll come with you."

He clapped in his hands, and placed a kiss on her cheek. Then, he ran towards Jeffrey and picked him up. He came to stand beside Little Grace's bassinet.

"Okay, when I left, these weren't here yet."

Grace laughed, Teresa simply rolled her eyes. He didn't mince his words, and she faintly wondered how she had survived eight years of marriage with him. But then again, he hadn't been so carefree when they were still married. It was almost as though when they had removed their wedding rings, the little boy he had always hidden somewhere deep down had surfaced. Teresa was glad he was in Europe most of the time, she wasn't sure she could've survived having him around all the time.

"Mary wasn't here either."

"No, but she was in your belly."

"But that's not out here."

Now Walter rolled his eyes. He put Jeffrey down, who had been staring at Walter ever since he had been picked up, and then Walter reached into the bag he had put against the wall before he had interrupted conversation.

He got out a few things, then walked over to all the kids save Christina to give them something.

"You're Santa?" Grace teased. Walter blew her a raspberry, and she chuckled.

Little Grace got a silver rattle, and when Walter shook it gently, she awoke and immediately started inspecting the item.

Jeffrey got a wooden car. He stared at it, then he got a big smile on his face, chuckled and started playing with it.

Mary had her index finger in her mouth and was standing close to her mother. She didn't know this man, and suddenly he was giving them all presents. Her opinion changed though when she saw the cute doll Walter reached out to her.

Teresa smiled sweetly at Walter, and he mimicked the smile, then he rolled his eyes when Christina was about to throw a tantrum since she didn't get any presents. Walter grabbed her hand.

"Come, Chrissie," he said softly, before pulling her with him. Christina frowned at her mother, but let him pull her along.

Teresa took the opportunity to quickly finish Mary's hair, now that her attention was completely absorbed in the doll. Teresa sighed out of relief when she finally succeeded.

"Good, now that that's settled-"

She was interrupted by a loud scream, and she all but dropped the comb she was holding and ran to where the exclamation had come from. Grace followed her.

They found Christina and Walter in her room.

"Mom!" she exclaimed. Teresa had to blink a few times to catch up with what was happening – Walter had bought Christina six different dresses, and he smiled smugly at the enthusiasm of the young girl.

"I bought a dress in every country I visited."

Christina gasped, taking a light blue one in her hands, caressing the fabric. "Which countries?"

"Six."

"Which, Walter?"

Walter sighed exaggeratingly. "Fine. France, Spain, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and England."

"I haven't even heard of half of these countries," Christina mumbled while she was still observing the dresses. Then, she pushed the dresses away and went to embrace Walter.

"Thank you, Walter."

He simply shrugged, and wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"I figured, because you're becoming a lady now, you need pretty dresses."

She smiled, and nodded.

Jane and Wayne stepped into the room too, frowns on their faces.

"Where's the fire?" Jane asked. Then, he saw what Walter had done, and his small smile fell. Teresa immediately hit his arm, and he startled, before looking at her.

She was silently judging him, telling that he shouldn't do what he was about to. He sighed and got out of the room. Teresa smiled apologetically at Walter, adding a small 'the dresses are nice' and then followed Jane out of the room.

Jane was now wandering through the halls, on his way back to the kitchen. She stopped him.

"Patrick," she said softly, but he didn't turn around. "Patrick, she's your daughter, but she was his daughter too for seven years. You can't just assume that either of them forgets about their time. He may have showed it in all the wrong ways, but he still loves her. He's not going to take her away from you, I promise, Patrick. He knows she's your daughter." She brushed his cheek when he turned around. "He still loves her, like he loves me, but he's not going to take me away from you either."

"I... I'm sorry, Teresa. I know that. I should know better. But I've spent seven years looking at you and Christina from a distance and now that you're mine..."

"I'm nobody's, Patrick. Not yours, not Walter's."

He smiled. "I know, my love."

He brushed her cheek too, and leaned in for a small kiss.

"Now go and admire all these dress with Chrissie... and Walter."

He pouted, and she rolled her eyes. "Patrick, I'm not asking you to love him, just live with him in peace, now that he's going to stay here for a while."

He sighed. Then, she smiled a devilish smile.

"Oh, and Walter and I'll be going to Europe together."

She ran away, loudly laughing, to avoid Jane's teasing hit on her butt.

It turned out that everything was going to be just fine.

A/N: Thanks for reading! See you all in a bit, I suppose. I'll be looking at a new chapter for Once Upon a Child either tonight or tomorrow, so be prepared! ^^

The Great Mr. Jane is OUT!