Epilogue

"Well, here we are folks," Dave said, as he looked around the massive house.

"Yes, here we are," Emily said tiredly. "I hope the sheets are clean, because I'm exhausted."

"It's no wonder you're exhausted you're less then four months from giving birth now," Aaron said, as he came to his wife's side. "You couldn't seem to sleep on the flight, even though we flew first class."

"At least the doctor didn't forbid me from flying," Emily said.

"If she had, then we would have had to drive," Dave said simply.

"You mean Aaron and I would've had to drive," Emily told Dave who shook his head.

"I meant what I said Emily," Dave said firmly. "It would've taken both Aaron and I to drive the distance in any reasonable amount of time and while Penny is capable of driving she's pregnant as well, though not as far along as you are of course."

"Dave doesn't want me to drive any distance until after I give birth," Penelope explained. "Driving around town is okay, but not on the roads that are unfamiliar. He's afraid I'll have some sort of accident."

"It is possible you know," Aaron told Penny who nodded.

"I know that very well, though I think he's worrying over nothing, since there is always GPS. Still, I appreciate that he is kind of anxious, as this is the first kid he's ever going to have. At least you two had children before in your previous life, even if they died due to the influenza, but Dave never has."

"That's a point," Emily admitted, even as she examined the house.

"Well, let's go inside, shall we?" Dave said. Dave took the keys out of his pocket as they had stopped by the realty office before coming here.

Dave unlocked the door and pushed it open going inside with the others following.

"Well, this is really nice," Penelope said looking around the front entryway.

"The realtor would've fixed it up, just as we instructed," Aaron said. "They got a nice extra incentive for doing so, so there isn't much to do it at all. All that needs to be done is to build onto the original house, but I think that can wait a couple of years at least."

"No, we don't need to worry about it right now," Dave agreed. "There should be clean sheets on the beds as well, so we don't have to worry about changing them."

"Well, you just thought of everything, didn't you?" Emily said tiredly kissing Dave's cheek in thanks.

"I tried," Dave said. "I know it's not that late, but Emily at least probably need to go down for a nap.

"I don't normally take naps, but I'm so tired I'm willing in this case. The flight was stressful, especially for a pregnant woman," Emily admitted.

"Well then, let's go find the bedroom," Aaron said. "You can go down for a nice nap and one of us will wake you in time for dinner. The pantry and the new fridge that Dave had installed should be stocked."

Emily didn't protest when Aaron simply picked her up and headed for the stairs.

"Aaron will take care of her," Dave told Penelope who looked a little worried.

"I know," Penelope said. "So let's go look around the house some more I'm not as tired as Emily is."

"You're also not as far along," Dave said gently. "Emily's also been under a lot of stress. Getting away from her mother's influence was very important to her and that was causing a lot of it."

"I know," Penelope said. "Emily's mother really shot herself when she didn't pay her children any attention when they were growing up. Never even allowing them to have friends over, which is just ridiculous. I mean it's like Emily and her brothers were in prison instead of being children. Sure, they were fed and bought nice clothes, but that doesn't make up for not being allowed to have any good friends. They weren't even allowed out of the house without supervision. It was as if Elizabeth Prentiss was afraid that they'd kill themselves or something unless they were watched constantly or maybe she was afraid that they would destroy something expensive. I have no idea what Emily's mother was thinking or if she was thinking at all about the fact that children need other children to play with."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that thought never even occurred to her," Dave said soberly. "She was so busy running her business empire, that it probably never even occurred to her that children need companions that are the same age and sex they are. As for the father he was probably so busy being a politician that he never even thought about his children. I'm sure all he cared about was getting his inheritance."

"You're probably right," Penelope said looking sad. "It's no wonder Emily doesn't want anything to do with her mother now, if that's the case. I know they weren't always trapped in the house, but it was always on some type of supervised outing. There was no time, for freedom, time for just being kids."

"It happens way too often Penny, so try not to dwell on it. Emily's life is much better now that she's a grown up and I'm sure she'll relax now that she's away from her mother. Of course, that's not the only reason she's glad to get away from New York," Dave reminded his bride. "It's not even the main one really."

"I know," Penelope said softly. "I know very well that her mother trying to arrange a marriage for her a couple years before she met Aaron was the final straw. I have to agree that it showed a complete disregard for her daughter's feelings or her desires."

"People can get stuck in a pattern and from what we know Elizabeth Prentiss childhood wasn't a good one. It might even have been physically abusive if any of Emily's grandfather's children or his wife defied him."

"I know," Penelope sighed.

Penelope wandered away and looked at all that had been done to their specifications.

"The realtor did a really good job," Penelope said finally when she had wandered in and out of several rooms.

"Our stuff won't be here for a few days," Dave said.

"I know," Penelope said. "It's mostly just clothes and personal items. We all left the furniture at our places since we were buying all new stuff."

"I'm sure somebody else will appreciate a fully furnished apartment, so they don't have to go furniture shopping," Dave suggested.

"That's true," Penelope agreed. "Of course, they can if they want too, but the furniture we left is nice and will last for a long time."

"How's Emily?" Dave asked as soon as Aaron entered the room.

"She's fine and sleeping deeply," Aaron said. "She needs to sleep as much as she can she's been under a lot of stress lately."

"That's something that Penny and I were just discussing," Dave agreed.

Dave told his friend what he and his wife had been talking about and Aaron nodded.

"At least now she doesn't have to worry about her mother interference in her life, as Elizabeth Prentiss has no influence here in Albuquerque," Aaron said.

"Which is the reason you chose it," Penelope said knowingly.

"Yes," Aaron agreed simply. "Elizabeth Prentiss probably won't live more than another 20 or 25 years, as she's already in her late 60s, 30 at the most and then Emily will finally feel completely free."

"Once her mother is gone we can move somewhere else, as we really shouldn't stay anywhere more than 20 or 30 years," Dave said.

"We need to move around constantly, because we don't age. I mean we can make ourselves look older, dye our hair or wear a gray or white wig, for example." Aaron told Penny who nodded.

"That might give us a few more years in one place, but eventually, people will begin to notice that we move much more easily than most older people do. It is not even that's a sure indication that we haven't aged, but it's still better to be cautious," Dave added.

"I understand," Penelope said. "I doubt my parents will be around in 30 years either, though they are a little younger."

"The realtor did a good job," Aaron said. "At least from the rooms I've seen."

"She wanted that extra commission I offered," Dave said with a smirk. "She knows that everything needs to be perfect or she won't get it. So far I'm very pleased, as the furniture she picked out looks sturdy, but comfortable. Also the paint and everything else is perfect."

"Well, it looks like the lady realtor is going to earn her commission," Aaron said smirking in return.

"Yes, she is, just as soon as Penny and I look at the rest of the rooms and we also haven't had a chance to see the outside yet, where the pool is," Dave said.

The pool had came with the house and that had pleased everybody involved.

"Still, everything looks really good so far," Dave said.

All three of them continued the tour of the house while Emily was sleeping and all were very pleased.

"Emily will love this place," Aaron said with certainty. "She liked it even before the finishing touches were in place, fresh paint added to the walls, new furniture bought and so forth, so I have no doubt she'll like it even better now once she wakes and has a chance to see all the rooms."

"Yeah, she will," Penelope agreed. "I certainly do and we share a lot of the same taste. I know that all of us will be happy here for many years and will watch our children grow, before we move on."

"There's a fruit gift basket in the kitchen," Dave reported. "It's from the mayor welcoming us to Albuquerque."

"Well, that was rather nice of him," Penelope said.

"Well, we did buy one of Albuquerque's most expensive properties, which is probably partly the reason we got it, I'm sure," Aaron said. "I mean the property was several million that Dave and I split between us, so that it became equally both of ours."

"Maybe he thinks that we'll play a part in the government once we get settled in and wants to gain our favor. Wealthy people are usually influential," Dave said.

"That might be part of it," Penelope agreed.

"I better go check on Emily, as she's been sleeping for an hour and a half now," Aaron said looking at his watch realizing they had been talking for longer then he'd thought. "If she sleeps anymore she's not going to sleep tonight."

"I'm going to start fixing dinner, as it's around that time anyway," Dave said.

"You go ahead and wake up Emily, I'm going to help Dave prepare dinner," Penelope said and Aaron left.

Dave and Penelope discussed what they were going to make for dinner and immediately decided on something simple, as they were both tired

The two started cooking together cordially working together in harmony and soon the meal was prepared.

~~~Dave and Penelope~~~

Dave handed the realtor a check. "This is for the excellent job. All of us are very pleased with all your hard work. So this is from both Aaron and I, as a way to thank you. Emily in particular was dreading having to buy furniture for this place, but you took care of all that. We are are grateful."

The realtor Gloria Swanson took it beyond pleased.

"What woman doesn't like the furniture shop?" Gloria asked.

"One that's heavily pregnant," Dave told her. "She doesn't need a lot of stress right now. Aaron has been trying to get her to slow down for at least the last couple of months as it is. Emily is something of a firebrand."

"I hear your wife is also pregnant," Gloria said.

"She is, but Penelope isn't as far along as her friend," Dave confirmed, "but there is no way she could handle all the furniture shopping by herself or even with just me and get this place outfitted in a reasonable amount of time, so I'm glad you took care of that task for us."

"If you need help contacting a construction company, when you want to build on then I can help you with that," Gloria said. "I can be very useful in getting the proper permits and everything, since you're new to New Mexico."

"Well, that's for later," Dave said. "We don't need to worry about that for at least a couple of years."

Gloria took the hint and dropped the subject. There was no point in annoying one of her best customers, as they might need her expertise in other areas once they were ready. It was rather unusual to have two families live in in the same house. The story she had gotten from Dave's friend Aaron, when he and his wife had come down to inspect the house to make sure it was in good condition, was that the two of them had been best friends for many years and were really like brothers. They had met their respective wives close together and so once Dave was married they had decided to move into the same house. The wives were also best friends Gloria knew. Apparently, according to Aaron's wife Emily, she was the one that had introduced her friend Penelope to David Rossi and they had started dating. They had fallen in love within a few months and gotten married soon after that. Apparently, both women had gotten pregnant on their honeymoons, which wasn't really all that unusual.

Gloria supposed it wasn't really all that unusual for people who were close to live together for companionship and if all of them were really such good friends, well, why not? Both Aaron Hotchner and David Rossi had split the cost of the estate equally between them, which indicated that they were indeed the best of friends, as that meant that they both owned equal shares of the estate.

Neither man could sale without the others written consent.

"Thank you for all your help Ms. Swanson," Dave said shaking the realtors hand. "If we ever need anymore help like for future construction then we'll make sure we contact you first."

"It was my pleasure," Gloria said sincerely. She had enjoyed going furniture shopping and choosing nice things that were also comfortable. David Rossi had made it clear that this was a home that was going to be lived in and that it wasn't just for show. They all wanted furniture that was nice, but comfortable to sit or lay on for a nap if one was so inclined. Gloria had taken his words to heart and kept that in mind when she gone shopping for the house.

Because of her forethought her clients were very pleased and she made herself a nice extra bit of cash.

Dave showed her out then watched her drive away before heading out to the pool where the others were.

"So Ms Swanson all taken care of?" Aaron asked as soon as Dave emerged out a side door that led to the pool.

Dave shed his clothes, as he had on swim trunks, underneath what he had been wearing.

"Yeah, Ms Swanson is all taken care of, though I hinted we might need her help when we decided on constructing a new part of the house. I told her we likely wouldn't need her services for at least a couple of years, as there is no point of building on a new section of the house when the ladies first children aren't even here yet."

"No there is room for each of us to have two children apiece, since there are six bedrooms," Aaron agreed, as they watched their wives play in the pool.

"Well, I think I'm going to join my beautiful wife in the pool," Dave said smiling.

"I'll join you," Aaron agreed smiling, as he rose from the lounger, where he had been laying in the sun. "Playing in the water with my beautiful pregnant wife sounds like heaven. It's not something that I've ever had a chance to do before, since there was only a river to bathe in the first time around. A nice hot bath was unknown to either Berenice or I back then. Now, it's one of life's simple pleasures, that I will never take for granted."

"You're very lucky my friend. You're lucky to find the love of your life again. Treasure her and make up for her childhood," Dave told Aaron who nodded in complete agreement

"I will," Aaron swore. "I'm going to try anyway to make up for her loveless, friendless, lonely childhood."

"That's all you can do my friend," Dave said, even as he dived into the pool.

Aaron took what Dave said to heart, as he had no intention of making Emily regret the two of them finding each other again. He would treasure her for the rest of his very long life, spoil her and any children they had rotten to show he loved them. So far the future looked brighter than it had in a long time. Dave and he would see their friend's project completed when Taro was ready to head back to Chicago, but that wasn't for a few months at least. Right now, the future was endless, but with plenty of time for enjoyment and hopefully spontaneity.

Aaron dived into the pool following his friend and the four of them played together for sometime before heading into the house to get it to dry clothes and have an early night. This was the way life should be.