It's difficult to know how to deal with the epilogue for this story as there are so many facets to the outcomes. There's Rose and Emmett's story, Ben and Angela's, Mary Alice and Jasper's, Edward and Bella and then there's Esme. Then I had to decide whether or not to go into any detail about Tyler, Lauren and Jessica too.
And then I had to factor in what happened to all the bad guys. Carlisle, Charlie and Renee, Jake and Billy Black too.
I toyed with writing a single epilogue, as tradition dictates, but knew that I'd end up having to write a thirty thousand word chapter to fit it all in. That would dictate how much time I could spend on each couple and what happened to them down the track and I found myself already mourning being able to really enjoy their futures. After all, I write and you read to get to the happily ever after, right?
So I thought bugger it, a chapter for each pair sounds like fun. Well, maybe a half a one for some of them, or whatever. You get what I'm trying to say right?
Emmett McCarty and Rosalie Hale
6 weeks after leaving camp (Edward and Bella, Alice and Jasper have already left Australia and are back in the States)
True to his word Emmett was back at Crossroads in exactly six weeks. To the day, though not the hour. He'd left just before dawn. He was back at twilight. It felt good to see the familiar buildings and gardens although this visit wasn't exactly in the same capacity he'd dreamt of for the whole six weeks he'd been away from the place.
Instead of running through the admin block and busting down Blondie's door to get at her he stood under the awning of her cabin in a fucking monkey suit!
Emmett had only worn a suit twice in his whole life to date. Once at his grandfathers funeral and once at his sisters graduation from university. He didn't like them. They were constricting, restrictive and he felt like a total idiot as he stood there staring at the damned door trying to muster the courage to knock.
"Don't be a pussy," he muttered to himself and made a fist against the wood.
She knew he was coming. They'd talked to each other every single day, without fail, since the day Edward and Bella had left camp, so she knew to expect him. But still her belly fluttered with anticipation and more than a little fear that he wouldn't show.
But when the knock at her door came she nearly wet herself with excitement.
She tried not to run through the cabin and settled for a gentle-ish jog. She didn't even smooth down her hair or give thought to what she was going to say as she reefed the door open to him.
And he was in a suit!
"Blondie," he managed to say before she flung herself at him.
She'd all but promised herself she wouldn't gush, she wouldn't cry and she definitely wouldn't turn into one of those simpering idiots who couldn't survive without a man. But she was and she did. She was crying before his huge hands circled her waist. She was gushing about how good it was to see him, how much she'd missed him and much to her own disgust she was simpering into his shoulder about how she never wanted to be apart ever again before he tilted her chin and took her lips with his.
Emmett, for his part, had promised himself he wouldn't go all caveman and attack her. He told himself that he had to do this right because she was worth more than anything to him and he had a duty to her to treat her right. Hence the monkey suit.
But all his mental efforts were for nought, just like hers had been, when he'd come face to face with her for the first time in so long. He caught her easily as she leapt on him. He listened in rapt attention as she spoke and then his inner caveman, well, caved.
His tongue was in her mouth, her nails were raking up his back and they were locked together in an embrace so tight there wasn't a cubic inch of air between them.
The smell of her, the familiar feel of her curves in his hands, the thrill of kissing her hadn't done his memory justice he thought as he tugged on her bottom lip with his teeth.
And then the new man that was Emmett McCarty surfaced in his brain.
Oh he knew that if he asked she'd take him inside and they'd end up in bed. It would be easy. They both wanted the other and even though it had never been said he knew that she loved him like he loved her.
But Emmett wasn't about the easy road anymore. The new Emmett knew that if it was worth having it was worth some effort. And Rose was worth it and they had things to do and things to talk about before that happened again for them.
With that in mind he loosened his grip around her and gentled the kiss, tapering it off so that it would feel like a natural conclusion rather than the swift withdrawal he needed to accomplish.
With their lips finally apart he lowered his forehead to hers and blew a steadying breath out over his lips. "I've missed you," he told her truthfully.
"God Em," she breathed huskily, "I've missed you too."
The shiver that took him over at the sound of his nickname falling from her lips almost shook his resolve but he was determined enough to kick it aside and continue with his plans.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked breathily.
"Let me lock up," she told him before kissing him softly on his lips and moving back to the door. He watched her check the lock once she'd withdrawn her key and then she returned to his side and took his hand. "Lead the way," she smiled.
So he did. Down the winding path towards the administration block and right by it to the front of the camp to the parking lot. He settled her in the passenger seat of his shitty old Toyota with a strange sense of pride despite the look and feel of the car.
There was no awkwardness as they drove down the mountain and out into the suburbs. They'd talked every night before they went to sleep so they simply did that as he drove. He filled her in on how he'd gone on his last exam that morning and she told him all about the new group of corporate guests who'd arrived that afternoon. They talked about his sisters recent grant renewal and about his classmates run in with the law the weekend before. She told him all about the plans she had for the remodel of the corporate function room.
And on the whole drive her hand on his thigh felt like an anchor to him. Something solid to hold him to the ground, to steady him and keep him pointed in the right direction. That's what she was for him, what she did for him. She gave him hope. And that's what had been missing from his life for so fucking long he thought to himself as he pulled the shitty little car into the driveway of his temporary home.
"Where are we?" Rose asked once he'd come around to her side and helped her from the car.
"My home," he told her proudly. "Well, my temporary home anyway," he chuckled as he took her elbow and led her to the door.
She'd assumed when he'd asked her out for dinner that they'd go to a restaurant or cafe. Hell, knowing Emmett they'd eat at a bar somewhere. She wouldn't have minded any of those options as long as they were together but she was a little dumbstruck to be now standing on the front steps of a house.
He ushered her inside and introduced her proudly to his surrogate mother, Mrs Carstaires. Emmett had never mentioned her, or where he was living, other than to say that he was fine, that he was fed and he had a roof over his head. She'd hoped he wasn't rooming with some bunch of redneck drinkers but she hadn't wanted to pry so she'd just accepted his assurances. Now she understood.
That night Rose fell more in love with Emmett than she already was.
Watching him fuss over his landlord made her giddy. His blush as he showed her his room and his pride when he shoved his graduation certificate for his course into her hands made her putty in his hands.
They had dinner at the tiny round table right there in his home, Mrs Carstaires fussing over them both equally. Knowledge of Emmett's home life might have been kept from Rose, but Mrs Carstaires knew all about her.
She asked question after question about Crossroads and listened with genuine interest to the answers. She waxed lyrical about Emmett's handyman skills and generally displayed about as much pride in the guy as any mother could.
He'd landed on his feet Rose thought to herself as they talked about him having finished his course over dessert. It was obvious that his passing his exams and graduating was bittersweet to the lovely old lady.
Emmett had paid up his rent until the end of the following week but he'd already told his landlady that he wouldn't be staying past that.
Rose wondered, but Emmett hadn't said a word leading up to his exams or at any other time what his plans were after that. She desperately wanted to offer him a place with her, to live with her, but wanted him to ask first. She needed the decision to be his, for him to tell her that he was ready. She didn't want to put any pressure on him as far as their relationship went, but she did wonder what he was planning to do now.
With dessert finished and the dishes cleaned up by Emmett who insisted the ladies should sit in the living room with coffee while he saw to the kitchen, Rose found herself perched on a floral sofa drinking out of a fine china cup.
When Em announced that he was done and that they'd be leaving she watched with a tear in her eye as he said goodnight to Mrs Carstaires and promised he'd call her if he wasn't going to be home overnight. Rose thanked the lady for her hospitality and was once again seen into Emmett's little Toyota.
As he navigated the suburban streets he asked if she was up for another introduction and a drink or two. Not wanting the night to end with him just taking her back to camp she readily agreed. She'd been too long without his actual, physical company she thought as he wound his way through town.
This time he did take her to a pub. Right in the heart of the city. It occupied a whole corner of a block that faced the cities spectacularly lit gardens. They parked half a block away and walked hand in hand back along the street to the pubs brightly lit entrance. It was only then that Rose thought to ask who she was going to be introduced to.
Emmett just grinned and ushered her inside. The dark, rich timber that lined the walls and coated the ceiling caught her attention and he had to almost drag her towards where his sister and the jerk sat, waving at him happily, at a small table.
Gemima took to Rosalie immediately. She was bubbly and warm and enthralled with the woman who Emmett hadn't stopped talking about for weeks – Rose learnt after a few rounds of drinks had loosened everyone up a bit. Except for Em who nursed one beer then switched to juice because he had to drive.
His sobriety didn't matter thought. Emmett had come to learn that he could have fun without being drunk and he found that he liked waking up clear headed more than he liked the hangovers anyway. Rose was both impressed and proud.
The jerk turned out to be a lot of fun too and quite a few stories and minor misdemeanors were discussed as the foursome spent some hours laughing and joking. When the two couples went their separate ways later that night it was with genuine hope that Rose told Gemima that she hoped they'd see each other again soon.
Emmett steered a blissfully happy Rose back to the car and then he drove her home. It was a long drive and even though it wasn't silent the tension was palpable.
Rose didn't want to be taken home, not unless he was going to stay with her, but he hadn't called Mrs Carstaires to let her know he wouldn't be home so Rose knew she was going home alone. It hurt.
Em, for his part, hated driving her back to camp knowing he was leaving her again. But he placated himself with the knowledge that it wouldn't be weeks until he saw her again this time.
Their kiss under the awning of her cabin was far from chaste but once again Em tempered it and pulled away with a soft sigh. "Can I see you again?" he whispered to her hopefully.
"Stay with me," Rose begged, internally kicking herself for once again doing something she'd sworn to herself she wouldn't do.
Feeling as desperate to say yes as she was to hear it Em tugged on her hand and sat her down under the awning. "You know I want to, but I'm not ready yet. Not because I'm not sure or anything like that, just because I promised myself I wouldn't until I had myself sorted properly. I'm nearly there, Blondie. I've done the course and actually passed," he chuckled. "That's more than I've ever achieved before. But I need a job and I know that if I stay with you tonight I'll never leave and get one."
"That's not true," Rose began to argue but he silenced her with a swift kiss.
"Yeah it is," he huffed against her lips as he pulled back. "It's taking everything I've got to keep my hands off you now. If I stay I'll just lie around and go back to doing fuck all. I need to find a job so there's somewhere I need to be during the day while you're working. I need that or all the self discipline I've been trying to master won't be for shit."
"I'm so proud of you," she whispered against his lips.
"Thank you," he said earnestly. "That means the world to me. And you do too, that's why I gotta go, Rosie."
"When will I see you?" she asked in a rush as he stood.
"Can I take you to dinner next Friday night?" he asked hopefully.
"But that's a whole week away," she whined, disgusted with herself but unable to help it.
"I know, Blondie," Em told her softly as he ran his thumb over the apple of her cheek. "I've got job interviews every afternoon this week. If I manage to snag one of them we'll celebrate Friday night, alright?"
"Alright," she said sadly. "Good luck then," she whispered and leaned in to him for another kiss.
Em left then. His resolve was shot to hell at the sadness in her voice so he knew he had to get going or he'd totally crumble.
As Emmett drove back down the mountain that night he was sure he was going about things the right way. His balls said otherwise, but they'd ruled him for long enough he thought with a chuckle. Time for his brain to have a shot at it.
After that all the pieces fell into line for Emmett.
After three unsuccessful job interviews he cracked it on the fourth. He went to the fifth but took the position offered at the fourth.
The certificate he'd shown Rose from his graduation didn't show the results of his practical and theoretical exams, it just said that he passed. But Em hadn't just passed, he'd blitzed the course.
He'd finally found something that not only held his attention but also made him think in a way that didn't depress or bore him to death. Em was a certified powder monkey and he'd gotten his first grown up job out of it.
His lease ran out on Friday, the same day he'd promised to take Rose out to dinner, so he packed his things and said a tearful goodbye to Mrs Carstaires. He promised to keep in touch and to come by once a month to do any jobs or repairs she needed seeing to.
He bundled everything he owned into the boot of the Toyota and made his way up the mountain in good spirits.
He used the time while he drove to think on his conversation with Edward the night before. That guy had really cracked it, Emmett thought. Married and living the dream. Or nearly living the dream anyway. The guy had plans up the wazoo and his woman was right there beside him every step of the way. Emmett was sure he was close to having that, at least he was as close as he'd ever come to it anyway and that was plenty far.
Though they'd talked every night as usual Emmett hadn't told Rose about his job offer. He broke the good news to her over dinner in the pub on top of the mountain. Her ecstatic smile told him how happy she was for him.
He was to start his new position in just three days time, bright and early on Monday morning, like a real man. He'd work five days a week, Thursday through Monday with his days off being Tuesday and Wednesday. That sounded odd to Rose until he explained that fireworks displays were most often set to go off on weekends.
He'd be setting up and testing displays during the day Thursday and Friday, and then at night he'd be there, with four other guys in his team, to set them off. Saturdays and Sundays were busy days in the fireworks business too he told her, and that Mondays and Tuesdays would be more about designing displays and ordering and receiving the explosive components to make the following weekends displays go off with the requisite bang.
He told a rapt Rose that the money was good and that there was plenty of work around. Sporting groups, opening ceremonies and even jobs for local government kept the crew pretty busy, so his new boss had told him.
Rose told him how brilliant he was going to be at it and promised to be at as many of his displays as she could over the weekend when she wasn't hosting functions at camp. That made Emmett smile widely.
After they'd finished their meal he slid three of the four travellers cheques he'd bought when he'd cashed her cheque across the table to her and told her that was his first repayment for the loan. She was stunned into silence at the amount.
Em had lived frugally since leaving camp. Apart from the Toyota and his rent he had no real expenses and he'd grown fond of eating properly and not drinking, so he hadn't needed to cash the last of the cheques. He was proud to give them to her and she was proud of him for being able to.
They ordered dessert that night; both of them were avoiding the elephant in the room that was where he was going to live.
With everything else in his life on track and making him happy he decided she was the last piece of the puzzle that was a complete Emmett McCarty. His sister liked her, the jerk thought she was hot, smart and funny – for which he'd gotten a smack to the back of his head – and Emmett himself was so in love with her that he couldn't see straight. Ed and Bella adored her, Jasper and Mary Alice never ceased singing her praises and she never stood for any of Emmett's bullshit. She was fucking perfect and it was time to man up and let her know he knew that.
He drained his glass of juice like a man returning from a decade in the desert and steeled himself for the conversation ahead. He reached for her hand across the table and rubbed his thumb over it in tight circles.
"I love you Rosalie," he said simply. He wasn't a hearts and flowers kind of guy so he just said what he felt. "I've loved you a long time, probably from the first time you told me not to call you Blondie," he chuckled nervously.
"I love you too, Em," Rose replied without any hesitation. "Maybe not that early on, but pretty soon after," she giggled.
She giggled!
That's when he knew it was all right. Everything was right and he had the world in the palm of his hand.
"I don't want to be apart anymore," he told her seriously. "I know you don't want to live away from camp and I know you need to be on the grounds most of the time just in case some dickhead like me blows up a shitter or something," he grinned as she burst into laughter. "So I was wondering if you'd consider having me as a permanent roommate?"
"Really?" she asked even though she'd just gotten everything her heart desired. "You're okay with living in my little cabin?"
"What else do we need, Blondie? If you're in it then that's where I want to be. The cabins got you a bed and a bathroom and a TV. What else do we need?"
It was then that Rose knew that he was truly okay with living at camp, where she needed to be. She'd suspected he was just offering to stay there to appease her, but hearing him speak so emphatically about the tiny little cabin meant she could trust that he was willing to live there with her for the right reasons.
He wasn't looking for someone to mooch off. He didn't care whether they lived in something small or big, on the mountain or in the suburbs. All he needed was a bed, bathroom, a TV and her.
He was willing to live with her in her poky little cabin at her camp because he believed that's where she needed to be. Now she could trust that he was on the level about it. Now she could trust that his reasons for wanting to live in the cabin were sincere.
And that meant she couldn't let him do that.
"We don't need anything else," she assured him as she squeezed his hand a little tighter. "That parts true. But we don't have to live in that tiny little cabin, Em. I've got a proper house. A bigger one I mean, because the cabin is a proper house I suppose," she mumbled, unsure that she was doing very well making her point.
"You have another house?" he asked incredulously. "But you need to be at camp, like actually at camp. If we lived in your other house you'd be constantly going back and forth. The cabin will do us, honestly."
"I'm so happy to hear you say that," she told him truthfully. "But my other home is much nicer. There's veranda's all around it and these huge windows that look over the gardens and a couple of other bedrooms we could use for other things. And it's close to camp, still in the grounds actually," she grinned smugly.
"Huh?" Em asked, at his most inarticulate.
"Did you ever go on any of the scheduled walks while you stayed there?" Rose asked with a laugh. When he shook his head she grinned. "I didn't think you had. Up behind the private guest cabins there's a path that leads to an old vineyard. Bella and Edward went there once, but that doesn't matter," she said shaking her head. "Anyway, about fifty metres beyond the vineyard is my house. It sits right on the top of the hill and looks out over the back side of the mountain on one side and down over the camp on the other. We could take a look and if you like it maybe we could live there?" she asked hopefully.
Em stared at her long and hard after that. "You have another house?" he asked and after her swift nod he creased his eyebrows and stared at her some more. "You have another house, a bigger one, with shit tonnes of room and brilliant views and shit, but you live in the little cabin at camp? Because why?" he asked, his grasp of the English language, and all his grammar lessons flying out the window in his bewilderment.
Rose shrugged. "I do live in it sometimes," she sighed, thinking on it. "When I first bought the camp itself I lived in it full time. But it's too big for just me and it's too quiet too. I sort of rattle around in it I guess. And even as close to the camp as it is I was always running back and forth and I hated going back to it alone," she admitted.
"I'll be there," Emmett said without thinking but he meant every word. "You won't come home to it empty ever again if I can swing it," he assured her, his decision made. "Will you show it to me?" he asked before tipping his glass up and drinking the last of his juice in one swallow.
"Now?" Rose chuckled, watching him gulp at his drink. "I guess it's now," she laughed as he stood and hollered a thank you to the barman.
They ditched the Toyota at the front of the camp. Emmett gave the Bentley a fond pat as he went by it and gave Rose' tiny little green machine another and then he grabbed for her hand and they fairly raced along the paths, past her cabin and all the other private ones, out onto the playing field and along the uneven path that led to the vineyard and the house beyond.
There were lights on and that seemed odd to him. She said she didn't stay there often but the whole front of the house was lit by a dozen bright white lights that shined down the short path that stopped at a wrought iron gate.
Emmett stopped at the gate and stared at the house, his thoughts racing, his palms sweaty and his mouth dry. Rose, at his back, gave him a moment. She had no clue what he was thinking as he stared at her neglected house but she was nervous herself and so she let him be.
When he turned his face was drawn, a crease had erupted between his brows and he looked worried, scared even.
"What is it?" she asked carefully, suddenly consumed with worry that he'd changed his mind already.
Em reached for her wrist and watched their entwined hands for a moment before taking a deep breath and returning his eyes to hers. "Do you need to be married to me? For this?" he asked, nodding over his shoulder at the house behind him.
Her smile was breathtaking as her nerves settled. "No, I don't," she told him truthfully. "Neither of us is ready for that so why don't we just shack up like ingrates and see how it goes?" she giggled, hoping to diffuse a tense situation with the kind of humour he loved so much.
Relief and a twinge of disappointment ran through his system as he stared at her. She was right, they weren't ready for marriage, at least he wasn't. But there was a part of him that wanted it. Perhaps not now, but in the future.
He kissed her then. Long and slow and deep as they stood by the gate to her house.
"One day, Blondie," he whispered against her lips. "One day I'll come home from work and you'll be here and we'll sit down and eat a meal we made together and I'll ask you, I promise."
"And when you do I'll say yes," she whispered back.
He gave her a decisive nod by way of reply and then shoved the gate open with his hip. He let her past so she could unlock the front door and as he made his way inside his new home he swatted her on the ass with his open palm. "I have no problem shacking up like ingrates," he chuckled at her indignant scowl, "but I'll have to insist on freaky, monkey sex I'm afraid. Otherwise it'll all feel just a little bit too domestic for me, babe."
"The bedrooms down the hall and to your left," Rose called after him as he skipped past her before she could swat him back. "You've got a ten second head start, monkey boy!"
A/N: Thank you for reading.
There will be snippets of Emmett and Rose in amongst the other epilogues because they play a part in everyone else's lives as they unfold too.
I hope you like the new Emmett and I hope you like the softer Rose I've painted.
Next epilogue will be Angela/Ben, Jessica and Tylers stories all in one.
Please review.