So here we are at the actual final chapter.

I couldn't find anywhere to really mention it in the story but I'd like to point out that Tawny's favorite book at this time in her life is Interview With the Vampire because it makes her feel like she isn't the only "pathetic" vampire out there, even if that other "pathetic" vampire is just a literary character. David, if he knew, would surely chastise her.

Also, if it wasn't very obvious, the names I chose for this story stem from Peter Pan. You know, just to keep with that whole theme.

Anyway, I want to thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed this short story. I know I enjoyed writing it. Thanks again! :)

In all honesty, walking out that door was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I wanted so badly to stay but for a reason unclear to myself, I didn't. Listening to David bang on the door of my mother's house, pleading for me to come out the following night didn't make things any easier. I knew I couldn't stay in Santa Carla. It would be too hard. So once again I headed back to Oregon, this time for the last time.

This time I didn't watch David or John or Lily. I knew hearing their voices and seeing their faces would be too painful. I wasn't going to torture myself. I was already tortured enough just being away from them. It was hard not to look in on them. I often found myself wondering about them and I was entirely tempted to just take a peek but I knew if I did, I'd go running back to them in an instant.

I don't know why that seemed like such a terrible thing at the time, but it did.

Four miserable years went by without them. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I could barely feed. I was depressed and I was certain that life was going to drag on and on. Forever was going to seem so much longer than it needed to. That was about the time I started seriously considering just taking a boat out into the middle of the ocean so I could jump off and float around and wait for the sun to come up. There'd be nothing left of me.

Those types of thoughts began to consume me. After all, I'd never wanted immortality to begin with. Death began to seem even more like the best option for me. It was either that or spend eternity in my own personal hell.

Thankfully, something came along to change all that.

I was home alone one night. My grandparents had gone to a movie and I was once again in my room staring at the ceiling thinking deeply on what way would be the best way to rid the earth of myself. Mine was a pathetic existence. But there came a sound in my ears that pulled me from my depressing thoughts and startled me to my core. The doorbell rang. I climbed out of bed and looked at the clock on my bedside table. It was almost eleven o'clock. Nobody should be coming to anybody's house that late at night.

I made my way to the front door and pulled it open but there was nobody there. Just the rain.

Irritated, I closed the door and started back toward my room when the doorbell rang again. I turned back around and pulled the door open again and still nothing. It happened again, three more times before I decided to just stand there with my hand on the door knob, ready to jerk the door open and catch whoever thought this little game was fun. The doorbell rang and I yanked the door open but again, nobody was there. My frustration was growing and I was done playing games. I stepped outside into the rain and looked around furiously. "What!? What the hell do you want!?"

"I was hoping your grandparents would answer." David said from behind me, standing in the doorway. "I knew if you answered, you wouldn't invite us in."

"David!" I shouted before his words registered in my head. "Wait, 'us?' You mean the kids are here? Where!?"

"They're in the car." David replied. "I wanted them to wait there in case you were mad about us coming here. I mean, you specifically told me not to look for you and-"

Before David could finish his sentence, I bolted forward and threw my arms around him. "I'm so glad you found me!"

I could hear him laugh softly as he returned my hug, wrapping his arms around my waist tightly to lift me off the ground. "I'm glad you're glad."

"Where are they?" I asked as I pulled away and wiped the tears from my face, thankful for the rain to hide the fact that I was crying. "I want to see the kids."

"You will." David said with a nod. "But there's something I need to talk to you about first. Can I come in?"

"Of course." I said, pushing David backward into the house. I was anxious to see the children. Whatever he wanted to discuss, I just needed for it to be over with. "What's going on?"

"I'm going to assume you haven't been keeping an eye on us, otherwise you'd know." David said, brushing the water from his hair with his fingers. "The kids and I are moving in a few months. We're leaving Santa Carla."

"You are?" I asked. For some reason the idea made me want to cry. "Why?"

"You were right. A young single guy raising kids who only come out at night is starting to attract the attention of the neighbors." David shrugged and sighed. "I should have listened to you. You always know best."

"So why don't you just return to the cavern?" I asked curiously. "There's no nosy neighbors there."

David shook his head quickly. "There aren't any neighbors but the kids deserve to have a real home. The cavern was all good and well when it was just me and Johnny but with Lily and Moira-"

"Moira?" I asked, blinking in shock. "Who the hell is Moira?"

David looked to me with a sheepish smile then, placing his hands on his hips. "You really haven't been watching, have you? Look, you can't get mad. Just hear me out..."

I looked to David skeptically. "What did you do now? You turned someone else, didn't you? Is she supposed to be your lover? A mother to the kids?"

"Come with me, Tawny." David said, taking my hands in his own to pull me toward the door. "Let me show you."

And I wanted to protest against him but I thought that it was best I just hear him out. After all, getting angry at him without letting him explain had only caused trouble in the past. I let him lead me from the house and back out into the rain. I walked with him still clutching my hands around the corner to where his car sat parked. He released his hold on me then and walked over to the car, opening the back door to reach in and grab something.

Meanwhile, John and Lily burst out of the car and were running toward me, throwing their arms around me in excitement.

"Tawny!" John shouted as he embraced me with a wide smile. "We missed you!"

"I missed you guys too." I muttered, pressing my lips to the top of his head before kissing the top of Lily's and trying my hardest not to cry. "How've you been?"

"Good, except now we have to move because some stupid jerks found us!" Lily said with a huff. "But that's okay because Dad took care of it."

"Dad?" I asked with a half smile, cocking an eyebrow up at David who was still shuffling around in the back of the car.

When I next saw his face, he was smiling nervously at me. In his arms he held a fluffy Saint Bernard puppy with a pink ribbon around her collar. "This is Moira." He said, approaching me slowly. "Cute, huh?"

I reached out and scratched the dog behind the ears, admiring how absolutely adorable she was, but I was still skeptical. "A dog, David?"

"I figured you were right about what you said. Everybody has to learn about loss and pain at some point. So I got the kids a dog." David said, shrugging as though it was as simple as that. I knew it wasn't.

"Mmm hmm." I replied with a nod before crossing my arms over my chest. "Now, why don't you tell me why you really got a dog? And what's this Lily was telling me about having to move because some jerks found you?"

David sighed then and handed the puppy into John's arms, looking at the kids expectantly. "You guys put Moira back in her crate and then get back in the car. You don't need to get your clothes drenched from the rain." He stood beside me and watched as they did as they were told before he clasped my elbow and pulled me away from the car. "I didn't want to say anything. It's not a big deal."

"David, enough with the secrets. Enough with the lies. Tell me everything." I demanded. I looked up at him impatiently and began to tap my foot. I could see he was hesitant to tell me what I wanted to know but he finally spoke.

"Those guys that killed Marko and the others; they got to sniffing around again and found out I'm still alive." David said with a sigh. "They went to the cavern looking for me and I knew it was only a matter of time before they came looking at Max's place. I couldn't let them hurt the kids so we stayed at your mom's place for a bit but I knew we weren't safe there either. We had to get out of Santa Carla or this was all going to be for nothing. I know those guys aren't gonna quit looking, though, so in about a year when Moira will be big enough to protect the kids, I'm gonna go back to Santa Carla to throw those guys off the trail."

"David, that's insanity." I said quietly. "You don't need to go back. Just take the kids somewhere nice and desolate. Somewhere you can't be found."

"I already have a place in mind." David replied. "Up in the mountains near Lake Tahoe. It's supposed to be beautiful there. And the great thing is that Max left so much money behind in his safe, getting a nice place should be no problem. I was thinking a four bedroom house, maybe with an office."

"Four bedrooms?" I looked up at David, curiosity tugging at me. "You planning on getting another kid or is Moira going to have her own room?"

"The fourth room is for you, Tawny." David said matter-of-factly. "I can't... no, I won't take no for an answer this time. I'm not going to spend the rest of eternity at odds with you. I know we've had our problems and we'll probably always have problems but we're going to work it out like fucking adults and stop this childish game of tag. Now, you have two options. You can either come with the kids and me to Tahoe or you can make room for us here but one way or another, we're not leaving here without you."

I stared up at David. The rain trickling down on us was beginning to disperse. I could see his chest heaving in anticipation as though he was ready for a heated argument which normally would have followed any time he demanded I do something. But I was tired of fighting. I wasn't going to argue or complain. I was ecstatic at the thought of laying down my stubbornness and joining the three of them, I just had to play it cool.

"So, Lily calls you Dad now, huh?" I said, taking a step closer to David. "And I suppose you want me to play mom?"

"It would help with the image." David said, anxiousness in his voice. He wanted a definite answer but I wasn't going to give him one right away.

"Image. Yeah." I said, nodding as I reached up to tug at a piece of David's hair. "You know, it's the nineties. It's been the nineties for nine whole years now and you're still rocking this bleach blond mullet of yours. You're so worried about image, a sensible haircut might help."

"Damn it Tawny." David said, grasping my hand to pull it away from his hair. "I didn't come here to talk about my fashion sense."

"Are you sure?" I said with a chuckle, reaching up to adjust his jacket. "I mean, these duds have been out of style for at least five years." I was driving him crazy with my lack of an answer, I knew that. But that was what made it so fun. I'd been away from him for too long. I missed messing with him. "Don't even get me started on those jeans. Nobody wears their pants that tight anymore. It's a shame about that though. You always had such a cute butt."

"Tawny, enough!" David shouted, his frustration bubbling over. "What's it gonna be?"

I stared at him for a moment, watching his face. He looked irritated but there was something different underneath it, almost like desperation. After a minute that must have seemed like an eternity to him, I shrugged and placed my hands on my hips. "We don't have to get married or anything, do we? Because I'll be honest, the idea of marrying you just grosses me out and-"

Before I could finish teasing him further, he wrapped his arms around me in the biggest hug he's ever given me. I laughed against his shoulder before pushing away from his hug. He ruffled my hair and grinned at me. "So you think my hair is out of style?"

"It's nineteen ninety-eight, David. Nobody wears mullets anymore." I nudged him playfully and motioned back toward my grandparent's house. "Why don't you pull the car around? I want you to meet my grandparents before we leave."

David nodded to me then and started back toward the car. I walked back to the house with a smile on my face, unable to contain my joy that I was finally letting myself put my pride away so that I could be happy.

David and the kids came inside to help me pack and my grandparents returned home soon after. As it turned out, they knew all along what had been going on with me. They'd had their own dealings with vampires in the past and had spotted the signs in me almost instantly. Despite their bad experience with vampires, they seemed to like David and they were happy to know that I wasn't going to be spending eternity alone.

We stayed much later than expected. I knew it was the last time I was going to see either one of my grandparents and that made it even harder to leave. As the sun began to come up outside, the four of us piled onto the bed in my room. It was the first and last time we all slept together as a family. It was a restless sleep full of elbows to the face, tossing and turning and even some snoring but it was the best sleep I'd had in the four years I'd been gone.

The next night, we said goodbye to my grandparents for the last time and started the long drive back to Santa Carla. A few months after that and we were headed to Lake Tahoe where David had purchased the perfect house, secluded and beautiful and everything we could have ever wanted. It even had UV proof windows that allowed us to be anywhere in the house safely at all hours of the day.

For the first time in a long time, life was good. Life felt right. I was with my family and I was happy. Days passed into weeks, into months, into years and I never once regretted going with David and the kids; though I admit it wasn't always perfect.

There were days when the kids lamented being stuck in the bodies of children, never growing up or experiencing adult life. There were days when David and I would get on each others nerves and bicker like bratty siblings. There were days when the two of us would sit on the couch watching MTV and complain about how much it had changed. There were days when it almost felt like David and I were still kids ourselves, sitting around and teasing each other like we always had, still best friends. And then there were days when it felt like we didn't know each other at all.

It was one of those days that I sat on the couch, watching him in interest. He'd eventually taken my advice about his appearance and had changed his hair, cut it and colored it back to his natural dirty blonde. Even though he was still physically eighteen, he looked so much older to me that way with the clothing and haircut of a thirty year old man. I watched him as he prepared dinner with Lily and John in the kitchen and it occurred to me that the very thing I'd accused him of all those years ago had turned out to be true. He had become just like Max.

But it didn't bother me. The way in which he had become like Max was all that was actually good about that monster. David had a house, he had a dog, he had the kids and now he had a Matriarch. He had everything Max had been after for so long but was never able to achieve.

I thought back on that night when I had first found David in the cavern after Max's death. I had been hoping that things had come around full circle. In my mind, that meant David killing Max and because he hadn't, I didn't think things had come full circle at all. Only now was I realizing that it actually had.

It just wasn't in the way I expected.