Epilogue

"Surprise!" Everyone cheered as Alice walked downstairs.

"Oh my goodness!" she squealed as she saw all the decorations around the inn. They consisted of baby blue and light pink tablecloths, balloons, and streamers. "What is all of this?" she asked in bewilderment.

"It's your surprise baby shower," Sarah explained in delight that the surprise part worked.

"Oh you guys are so sweet!" Alice said as she ascended down the remainder of the steps and gave them all hugs.

"It was Jimmy's idea!" B.E.N. said as she approached him.

She turned to Jim with a smile. "You planned this?"

Jim blushed and kissed his wife on the cheek. "Yes I did," he stated proudly. "Our son could come any day now and I wanted you to have a proper baby shower before he arrives."

Alice laughed. "We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet," she reminded him. "That's why there are blue and pink decorations."

Jim pouted. "Fine, but I still think it's a boy!"

Alice rolled her eyes and laughed at her husband's stubbornness.

The party continued as planned. Everyone enjoyed Silver's cake and snacks, Sarah shared some of Jim's baby stories for entertainment, and Alice was completely unaware of Jim's last surprise. While she was busy chatting with Sarah, Jim gave Silver the signal and the two quietly left the room.

"Where did Jim go?" Alice asked once their conversation had brought him up and she noticed his absence. At that moment, Jim and Silver came in through the door carrying a baby crib. Alice gasped. "It's so beautiful!"

The crib was made of wood, completely crafted by hand. There were little planet and galaxy designs carved into the headboard and around the sides of it. It was everything Alice could have imagined.

"Did you make this?" she asked Jim.

He nodded proudly and rubbed his hands over the smooth surface of his masterpiece.

Alice stood up and gave him a big hug. "I love it!" she said. She was still smiling when he thanked her with a kiss. All of the sudden, Alice's face suddenly transformed into a look of pain as she grasped her stomach.

"Alice, what's wrong?" Jim panicked.

Alice looked up at him returning his panic. "I think my water just broke!"

Hours later

"It's a girl!" Sarah exclaimed as she wrapped up the screaming newborn.

"Yes! I knew it!" Jim cried as he carefully picked up his daughter.

"No you didn't. You thought it was a boy," Sarah corrected.

"What are you talking about?" he teased. Alice sighed and leaned back against the bed with her eyes closed, exhausted from just giving birth. "Hi Sweetheart!" Jim cooed at the baby. Her crying started to slow at her father's voice. Jim observed his little daughter. She had light brown patches of hair on her head and big blue eyes. Jim couldn't tell who she resembled more, due to the fact that she was only minutes old. He started to tear up as she wrapped her whole hand around his finger. "Alice! Look!" he whispered.

Alice looked up and smiled. "See, she already loves you," she told her husband.

Jim was beaming with happiness. All of the stress of being a father floated away like a cloud. "Well I love you too, little one," he said as he kissed his daughter's forehead.

"Can I see her?" Alice asked. Jim obeyed and handed their child to her. Alice started to cry as she held her baby girl in her arms. "She's so beautiful!" she said as the baby stared at her mother.

"What are you going to name her?" Sarah asked the couple.

Alice and Jim looked at each other and back down at the child. "We don't know yet," Alice replied.

"That's alright. I'll go tell the others the news," Sarah said as she left the room.

Alice looked up at her husband. "What should we name her?" she asked.

Jim started to chuckle. That's up to you, love. I only came up with boy names."

Alice started to laugh. "Of course you did!" she said. She looked back at her daughter. "What about Jane?" she suggested.

"Why Jane?" Jim asked.

Alice didn't look away from the baby. "When my sister and I were little, we had these dolls that we carried around with us everywhere we went. Her doll's name was Jane. I guess the name is kind of special to me."

"What was your doll's name?" Jim asked curiously.

Alice smiled. "Emily," she replied.

"Then her name is Jane Emily Hawkins."

All of the sudden, Jim heard the baby start crying softly, only when he looked down at her, she wasn't even upset. Then, the volume of the crying increased greatly until-

Jim opened his eyes in the dark room to the sound of his daughter's faint crying in the other room. He looked over at his wife. She was slowly getting up to go calm the child. "Alice," he said to get her attention.

"What?" she asked as she turned around, revealing her disheveled hair, half opened eyes, and dried drool on her cheek.

"Don't worry about it. I'll go get her. You need to get some sleep," he informed her as he uncovered the warm blankets and stepped onto the cold floor.

Alice didn't hesitate to plop onto bed face first into her pillow. She was completely drained from getting absolutely no sleep for the past three months since the baby was born. When Jim opened the door, he peeked back at Alice and was envious of the fact that she was already asleep. He then went into the other room where his daughter was crying.

He took a bottle of milk off the cabinet outside her bedroom and took it inside. He went over to the crib and took the infant in his arms. "Shhh…" he cooed, half asleep. Her crying died down as he fed her the milk. He looked down at his daughter, remembering his dream. "You know Jane," he whispered. "Your mommy and I need sleep at some point tonight. I was having a great dream until someone woke me up."

The infant just stared back at his with her big, blue eyes as she drank her milk.

"That doesn't mean anything to you huh?" he asked.

She burped up milk in reply.

He chuckled and wiped the vomit from her face and her little nightgown. "Of course not," he said as he sat down in the rocking chair next to her crib. He looked down at her again and noticed that she was still wide awake. "What is it going to take for you to fall asleep?" he asked.

Jane just stared up at him, but this time she smiled a toothless grin and started waving her arms around excitedly.

"Oh you want a story?"

A little squeal came out of the three-month-old and her grin reached both her ears.

"Okay, Okay calm down. This is supposed to make you fall asleep remember?" he said and she obeyed.

Even though Daddy wasn't very descriptive, she loved to hear the stories that he told her almost every night. She couldn't wait to hear this one.

"Once upon a time," he started and Jane was already silent and focused on her daddy's story. "A knight was just roaming around his kingdom when he found a magic portal that took him into the future where he met a beautiful princess. They became really good friends over a couple days. But the knight had to return to his kingdom because he knew his mommy would be very worried. So the princess decided to go back in time with him and they had so much fun. Over the next couple days, the knight started to fall in love with the princess, and the princess was falling in love with the knight!"

Jane squealed because she knew they were going to fall in love. "But they didn't dare tell each other, for they feared that the other person didn't feel the same way," Jane stopped squealing and her brow furrowed. Why didn't they just say something to each other? They both felt the same way. This was frustrating.

Jim chuckled at his daughters reactions. "One day, while the knight was visiting the king's castle, a little fairy named Tinker Belle told the princess that she had to go see Father Time in Never land because she needed to return to the future or it could ruin the time space continuum. Well the princess wasn't happy about that. She wanted to stay with the knight forever. So she planned on negotiating with Father Time about staying. Guess what Father Time told her to do," he said.

Jane's eyes were wide open as she wondered what was going to happen next.

"The princess had to eat a poisoned apple and wait for the knight to come rescue her. Of course, the knight came as quickly as he could but he had trouble finding the castle so he got some help from Peter Pan and the lost boys. They were really nice and told him everything he needed to know. So he went to the castle and learned that he had to fight a dragon before he could get to the princess! The dragon was huge and breathed fire and had really big teeth."

Jane's eyes were full of fright at the sound of the scary beast.

"But the knight was strong and brave and he defeated the dragon so that he could find the princess. He looked everywhere in the big castle and couldn't find her. Then Tinker Belle came and showed him where she was. When he finally found where the princess was sleeping, he leaned forward and-"

This was Jane's favorite part!

"-and he kissed her right on the lips! Then she woke up and told her knight that she loved him and the knight told her that he loved her too. When Father Time saw how much they loved each other, he let them stay together and they lived happily ever after! The end!"

Jane waved her arms and squealed with joy. They had lived happily ever after! She loved when that happened. How could she go to sleep now, like Daddy wanted, when she was so excited about the end?

"Okay now you're way too excited. You need to sleep, little one," he said as he carried her over to the crib and set her down.

Jane looked up at her father and realized what was happening. She immediately started to cry again.

"Oh no," Jim groaned. "Jane please stop crying." He picked her up and went back to the rocking chair. "This happens every time. I need to stop telling you stories or you'll want to go to Never land someday yourself."

Jane's crying slowed as her father hummed the same lullaby that her mommy always hummed. Her eyes started to get heavy as the song progressed. About five minutes later, Jane finally fell asleep in her father's arms.

Jim carefully and quietly carried her over to the crib and set her down on her little pillow. He quietly walked out of the room and down the hallway to where his wife was sleeping. When he crawled back into bed, he was surprised to see Alice looking up at him. "I thought you were asleep, love," he said as he stroked her hair.

"I overheard your story," she replied with a smile.

Jim smiled back. "What did you think of it, my beautiful princess?"

She giggled and gave him a quick kiss. "I think my knight-in-shining-armor should tell his stories more often." She then snuggled up next to him and laid her head on his chest. Within a few minutes, both of them were fast asleep.