A/N: *collapses on the floor* I just, I have no words for how awesome you all are. I NEVER expected this story to gain over 2000 reviews (!) and I will be eternally grateful for all the encouragement and support. *hugs all of you* And here it is! The epilogue, the last of the last and I sincerely hope you enjoy :)

Dear Trogdor19, I hope you have the best nothing day of all nothing days and please know that I am so so so thankful for every day and hour that you are in my life, you are the best beta and best friend there ever was.

And without further ado, let's get this story complete!

Epilogue: Meet the Lobsters

I pull up outside of Elena's parents' house and park, and when I glance to my right, I smile. Elena is sound asleep, even though it's noon and the drive over here is barely an hour and a half. But alas, my girl is cuddled up in the passenger seat, the fingers of her left hand laced through my right one and her other palm snugly tucked into the crook of my elbow like my arm is some sort of teddy bear.

I reach over and lightly touch the tip of her nose, and she wrinkles it adorably but doesn't make any other sign of waking up.

"Elena," I sing-song, and nothing.

Time for Plan Fun.

I slip my hand under the skirt of her summer dress, smoothly massaging my way up the inside of her thigh and she moans and shifts a little, but her eyes are still closed. I lean a little closer to her and whisper a kiss against her lips, bumping my knuckle against the soft cotton of her panties, and her eyes finally open.

"Hey," she whispers with a smile, kissing me fully and hooking a hand behind my neck so I have no place to be but closer and I'm loving every moment of it. A growl rumbles out of my throat and when she moans and starts sliding her tongue across my bottom lip, I wrench my mouth away from hers and pull my hand out of her skirt, leaning back into my seat.

Her mouth gapes and I return the expression mockingly.

"You can't just-"

"I can just, unless you want to explain to Daddy why we sat in the driveway for twenty minutes before coming in the house."

She glances around and registers where we are, then looks back to me with a mighty scowl. Ooh.

"That was so unfair, and you're going to pay for that."

I snort. "You deserved it. That's what you get for turning me down this morning," I tease with a wink, but I'm pretty sure that only gets me in more trouble.

"We were running late, and it's not like we didn't have sex all night because you have been insatiable lately." She crosses her arms and lifts her stubborn chin at me, and I roll my eyes.

"That's not my fault. How am I supposed to look at you and not immediately want to get you naked?"

A smile tugs at the corner of her mouth, and she immediately looks out the passenger window to try to hide it from me.

"And we're not late, we're right on time," I add, pointing to the clock on the dashboard which she can't help but to peek at. And when she sees I'm right, she whips her head back toward me with a smug grin.

"Yeah, because we didn't have sex before we left the house."

"Congratulations for winning the award in causing sexual frustration. And just so you know, that means I can't be held responsible for anything I say or do."

"Don't provoke him, Damon," she warns, and I grin widely, getting out of the car.

Her dad and I have come to a pretty comfortable understanding. Mainly influenced by the fact that the first time Elena dragged me out to Wimberly to do the loudly protested Meet the Parents, he pulled me aside and showed me the arsenal of guns he keeps in his office. Not to mention the fucking cannon he wears strapped to his belt on a daily basis.

Once we were back in the living room and playing nice for the women, he laughed heartily when Elena told him that I've gotten her hooked on golf. He then insisted on calling me "hotshot" and informing me that he and I were going to play sometime, which we do fairly often now and honestly, it's not a bad arrangement. Grayson's laid back when he's not being nagged by his wife and daughter for eating everything he's not supposed to because his cholesterol is through the roof and according to his doctor, it doesn't matter how much he looks like Clint Eastwood, he's not invincible.

The whole Donovan family dynamic has taken a while to get used to because they all jibber and jabber over each other and it's really fucking loud, especially when her brother, Jared, is there. Probably because Grayson is always reaming him out for "mismanaging" the nursery, and when he stops his sermon it's only to point at me while yelling that it's not funny and if I don't stop smirking, he's gonna make my life a living hell. But despite his gruff attitude, when he's two seconds from blowing his top and I'm twitching like an epileptic because I'm still constantly restless, he and I duck out to his garage to work on the '56 Triumph TR3 he's restoring.

More like I'm restoring while he asks me endless questions about work and how Elena's really doing and lecturing me over how he thinks I'm paying too much money for our house because the fucker couldn't stand to keep his nose out of my financial business, pulling some borderline illegal strings to get the scoop after I told him to back off.

But I can't really blame the guy for giving me a hard time, because I'm sleeping with his daughter, and he can't kill me for it. And for that he happily exacts revenge by getting me to freak the fuck out about shit that probably shouldn't bother me. Like the first time he called me son, and all the blood instantly drained from my face. After which he laughed and clapped me on the shoulder, telling me to stop being a little girl and to hit the damn ball. It probably doesn't help our relationship that I kick his ass every time we play golf. But then again, maybe it does.

I go around to Elena's side and open her door, and at least she doesn't protest when I take her hand and help her out of the car.

"For your information," I tell her as we make our way towards the front door, my arm draped around her shoulders and hers around my waist like always, "he always starts it."

"Grow up," she mutters, and I snicker.

"Don't wanna."

I ring the doorbell, and after I press a kiss into Elena's temple that gets me back in her good graces, for some reason the sight of the large oak front door and the calm, steady beat of my pulse makes me think about one of the few times when I've crossed this threshold feeling anything but relaxed.

I pull up outside of Elena's parents' house and park, blowing out a breath. Her mom immediately sits up and peeks over her shoulder to smile at me, one hand buried in her beloved garden and the other flicking dirt off her purple glove as she waves.

I get out and flip my keys around my finger as I stroll over to her, my heart thundering away at a speed that steadily contradicts everything I'm letting show on my face.

"Morning," I drawl with a smile.

"Hey there," she says sweetly when I stop beside her, Miranda sitting back on her heels and wiping at her brow. "You and Grayson have something planned today?"

"Actually I just wanted to grab a word. He in his office?" I ask, and Miranda tilts her head at me, the corner of her mouth perking up.

"Yeah, he's in there. Probably eating the tacos he smuggled in when he thought I wasn't looking."

"Thanks," I tell her with a smile and step away, but I stop when she softly says my name.

I pivot and glance back at her, and she's all lit up and red. Woman needs a hat if she's gonna work outside in this heat.

"You want me to get you some water or something?" I ask, and she takes a breath like she always does before telling me something that makes my throat clamp closed.

"Good luck," Miranda tells me, and I swallow at the touch of pride and affection in her voice.

I manage to nod and she winks at me, going back to tending her garden. I continue making my way into the house, blowing out another breath when I shut the oak front door, telling myself to suck it up.

I've been in this house on dozens of occasions, and I haven't been this nervous since the first time I was here because even though I've got a pretty good idea of how this is gonna go down, and I know how I need this to end, what I want doesn't mean dick.

Grayson's office door is closed and when I rap my knuckles on it, I hear a sound like he's crumpling up foil paper.

"It's not a crime to eat a taco!"

I snort and open the door, just enough to poke my head in. "You would know," I say dryly, and he cocks an eyebrow at me.

"Damon," he says flatly and waves me in, and I step into his office and shut the door. He clears his throat and leans back in his massive leather chair behind his power desk, that way I'm all nice and intimidated by him. Too bad it fucking works. "Do I know why you're here?"

"Yep," I tell him and plop down casually in the wingback across from him, my elbow on the armrest so I can lean my temple against two fingers like I'm about to give him a lecture for once. Because maybe then he won't notice that my damn hand is shaking, but I doubt it. The man sees everything.

He narrows his eyes a little and my stomach flips. "Didn't take you long."

I barely resist rolling my eyes. "So is that going to be your issue with this? The time? Because if that's the case then we can skip right over that non-existent issue and I'll take my 'congratulations' and be out the door."

He suddenly sits forward and with the look on his face, I'm more than a little worried over whether he's wearing his gun.

"My issue is that you're acting like a cocky little shit when you're trying to marry my only daughter, instead of showing me some respect after you barge into my office with no warning."

I lock my jaw closed, refusing to lower my gaze even though I want to.

He stares me down until I clear my throat, then I finally sigh.

"Sorry," I say quietly and he nods, then leans back in his chair once more.

"Great," he says, smiling tightly. "Now, you want to try that again?"

I bite the inside of my bottom lip, completely dumbfounded about what he wants from me.

I decide to go with the truth.

"I love her, Grayson. I don't know what else you want me to say."

"If you don't know what to say, then it's no surprise you don't know what my answer is," he taunts, and my temper flares back up.

"You know, this is total bullshit," I snap and his eyes widen. "I know you're screwing with me and-"

"Damon," he warns, and I ignore him.

"You want to shoot me? Fine. I know I'm not Matt and I'm sure he did this better, but I am not him, no matter how much you wish I was. So you better be aware that despite what you say I'm still going to ask her, because I'll be damned if I fail to give her everything she wants. But you and I also both know that she's going to want your blessing because your opinion means everything to her. So what's it going to take to get this done?"

He tilts his head at me, and now that I've shut the fuck up and my brain is racing to file all the shit that just came out of my mouth, I can't believe that I just went off on him today of all days. I must be out of my goddamn mind, but at the same time, it doesn't even surprise me because it never fucking fails: I try to be nice and then he pisses me off and then I explode and after he's done threatening me, I have to apologize, and it's the worst cycle of communication ever.

He doesn't say anything for a minute and I brace myself for a big fat "Get the hell out of my house, and by the way, no," but instead, he gets up and walks calmly over to his bookshelf. My brow furrows as I watch him pull out a few different volumes that are all Texas law and Federal law and law law law, then he reaches in and takes out a bottle of scotch he had hidden behind them. And when I see the label, I clench my teeth to keep my jaw from dropping.

He puts the books away without a word and my eyes follow him as he goes back to his desk, sitting with a tired sigh and taking two crystal tumblers out of a bottom drawer. He's still silent as he fills one glass with a generous two fingers of Glengoolie Blue, but then he sets the bottle back down and leaves the other glass empty and that, right there, is my answer.

My eyes close and I lean forward with a groan, my hands clasped in front of me in every prayer I can make although it doesn't even matter, because I just blew it. I have no idea how I'm going to tell Elena that I was a dick to her dad and that's the icing on the cake as to why he's not exactly thrilled about the idea of us getting married. Devastated and disappointed and pissed the hell off won't begin to cover it. Thank Christ our couch is comfortable, because I'm seeing a long lasting relationship with it in my future.

"What is with you today?" Grayson suddenly asks, and I huff.

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but I'm trying to conquer a mountain with a pogo stick."

"Hmm," is all he says, then pauses like he took a sip. "I think you and I need to get something straight."

I sit back up, blowing out a breath as I wait for it.

"No one expects you to be Matt, and I, for one, am glad that you aren't."

My eyes widen and Grayson doesn't move, just staring me down in the way that makes me feel like he just busted me trafficking cocaine through his house or something.

"And I loved him like a son, mind you," he adds strongly and I nod, because I know he did. "But he was a little too soft in my opinion. I wouldn't have bet on that boy in a battle with a yard bird, but I know that you can handle yourself, thanks to your high school disciplinary record." He smirks, and my eyes flare.

I can't believe he had the nerve and the balls to dig up—

"It makes it easier not to worry as much about Elena when she's so trusting of every stranger on the street," he continues before I can stick my boot back in my mouth, and I make myself stay quiet. "And even though you need to be thoroughly whupped, and more often than I can manage to do it, she seems happy with you. I also know it's not entirely your fault that you're such a pain in the ass. You've…you've had a tough ride, son."

I swallow and shift in my seat, but he doesn't call me on it.

"But then again, we all have." He shakes his head and takes a drink from his glass, and I lean my elbow on the armrest, pressing my fist into my mouth.

I need to backtrack this conversation so we can get down to business, but we've been on this carousel long enough that I know I need to let him say whatever he wants first. And the more I let him drink, the better chance I have of it coming out in my favor.

But really, it's bugging the shit out of me that I'm always such a jerk to him when he's been the closest thing to a father I've ever known. It's not like I do it on purpose, but I'm battling the instinct that I can't show any signs of weakness around him because I want him to trust that I can take care of Elena, and that makes me short tempered and defensive and not the best version of me. Which he knows, and then calls me on. And usually after he lets me know that I need to straighten up, he segues into something else I did recently that I didn't even think mattered, but for some reason, it made him proud. And that just makes me feel worse.

And true to form, the next thing to leave his mouth is, "And you've made a lot of changes in the last few years, Damon. You've worked hard for you and Elena to make sure she's taken care of in the manner which she deserves, and you've handled on your own the stuff that a man should be able to get done, whether it's fixing a busted pipe or building on that ridiculous back porch she wanted. You also check in often so we're involved in your lives instead of you two just running off and disappearing, and that hasn't gone unnoticed. Or unappreciated. And just to clarify," Grayson continues after taking another sip, "for as by the book as Matt was, he never said a word to me. Elena just strolled in with a ring and gave me a time and place of where I was supposed to show up."

"Wow," I say in pure shock, because as much as we've talked about her and Matt, she never told me that.

Grayson raises his glass to me, taking a long pull before he sets it down on his desk.

He looks pointedly at me for longer than I'm comfortable with, and then I hear a very loud thunk when he takes his gun from his belt and sets it down on his desk. His hand lingers over it and I swallow, and his eyebrow quirks in a threat before he goes to pick up the bottle of Glengoolie Blue. He glances at me and then splashes a bit into the second tumbler, and everything twisty and unsure in my stomach dares to loosen in dumb crazy hope.

He picks up both glasses, getting up and walking around to hand one to me without ever saying a word. I take it with a nod of thanks and he leans back against his desk, crossing one ankle over the other and peering down at me.

"So," he says and takes a sip, "let's talk about what you're not going to do once I let you marry my daughter, and then we can go from there…"

I'm reaching for the doorbell again when the front door swings open and Miranda immediately squeals and then tugs Elena in, hugging and fussing over her as I roll my eyes and know Elena's probably doing the same. It's not like we aren't here at least once a month.

"Hi Damon," Miranda says warmly, but still barely manages to let go of my wife for two seconds to hug me with one arm and kiss my cheek after I shut the door. "Grayson's in the garage," she tells me and I nod, lightly squeezing Elena's hip before making my way back out of the house.

Grayson's half-buried into the engine of the Triumph when I find him, not even looking up when he says, "Grab the socket wrench. And I've got a bone to pick with you."

"Got one to pick myself," I tell him, grabbing the requested tool and taking it over to him. But when I see what he's doing to the engine, I nudge him out of the way to take over.

"Is that right?" he says, and I snort.

"Yeah. You couldn't teach her how to drive a car? Really, Grayson?"

He chuckles and when I'm done tinkering with the part he's probably been messing with for an hour, I straighten and hold the socket wrench out to him with a smirk.

"What did she do now?" he asks and crosses his arms, and I toss the wrench onto the table of tools against the wall. "And where's your car? I didn't hear you pull up…"

"That's the bone I'm picking. Your little angel managed to grind the entire passenger side of my Charger down one of those concrete poles at the bank while going a whopping two miles an hour. After which, she calls me completely hysterical, telling me that she's been in a wreck and that the car is totaled."

Grayson grimaces at the first part and then laughs loudly at the second, and I scowl at him.

"It's not funny. She scared the shit out of me."

"Is the car totaled?"

"No," I mumble, scrubbing a hand over my face because it might as well be. "But it'll be in the shop for damn near a month. Thanks for that."

"Sounds like you need a beer," he tells me, and after he claps me on the shoulder, he heads toward the second refrigerator he keeps in here under lock and key. That way Miranda can't clean it out like she did a year ago when it was discovered that we weren't drinking vitamin water like the girls thought.

I clear my throat. "Can't."

He pauses and glances back at me, an eyebrow arched incredulously. "What do you mean, 'you can't'?"

I sigh and lean back against his car, and when he pointedly snaps at me, I straighten with a roll of my eyes. "I mean Elena and I cut a deal, and my end of it was that I'd stop drinking beer because it's not fair-"

"You hardly drink!" Grayson gasps.

"But it 'encourages you when I do it,' and it's all teamwork and family harmony," I say and fist pump.

He snorts and grabs two beers, popping off the tops and coming back over to hand one to me.

"What they don't know won't hurt them," he says with a grin, tapping his bottleneck against mine. I turn to peruse the tools he has laid out for today, and I take a long swig.

Fuck, that's good.

"Ah-hem."

Shit, that's not good.

I peek over my shoulder and Elena is leaning against the doorway, arms crossed as she arches an eyebrow.

"Damon," Grayson says like he's scolding me, and when I look at him, pure mischief passes over his face and his beer has mysteriously disappeared. "I told you twice: there's tea in the house."

"What the fuck?" I burst out, and Elena immediately screeches my name. "Elena," I whine, and I don't get much further while Grayson continues to snicker beside me.

"Hush up," she tells me sharply, and I do as she says because I damn well know better than to open my mouth when she's in one of these moods. "Daddy…" she says sweetly, and Grayson smiles at her. "Mom wants you in the kitchen." Her gaze turns to me and I shift my weight. "And I need to have a word with my husband."

"Sure thing, angel," he tells her, shaking his finger at me while he walks out, but he still stops to kiss her on the top of her head when he passes by.

Talk about the king of traitorous bullshit.

"Elena…" I start when Grayson closes the door behind him, and she tilts her head at me. "I told him no and he didn't listen so this isn't my fault because it's rude to say no and you're always telling me to play nice with him and it's just a damn beer and-"

She cuts me off with a warning finger, making her way towards me.

My brow furrows when she stops in front of me, and instead of lecturing me about solidarity and respecting her wishes, she smiles and then stretches up to kiss me.

"Why aren't you pissed?" I ask warily when she pulls away, and she takes my beer and sets it down on the counter of tools behind me.

"Feel this," she breathes happily, placing my palm on the left side of her stomach. I wait a second, and then there's a flutter like bubbles popping and I instantly forget all about revenge on my sadistic father-in-law, everything important in my whole world standing right in front of me. "Hiccups," Elena tells me and I swear, I don't understand how I got this lucky.

"Is it just-"

"Yeah," she says quietly, then places my other palm on the lower right side of her stomach. "Righty's asleep. Finally," she says, and then yawns like she hasn't slept in weeks and my brow furrows.

"Still sleepy?" I ask her quietly, and she nods.

"Both of them kept me up all night. As soon as one stopped kicking the other one decided to run a marathon down my ribs, and it never ever ended."

"So it wasn't just me," I say with a grin, then flinch when Righty's foot kicks at my hand on Elena's stomach.

"Damon! You woke him up…" She pouts, and I wrinkle my nose at her.

"Sorry."

She laughs lightly and shakes her head, then puts her hands on her lower back and arches with a wince. Honestly, I don't know how she doesn't complain more. At six months pregnant with twins she is all beautiful belly since there is nowhere else on her petite little body for those babies to go but out. And aside from the morning sickness which gave me a guilt complex that could be rivaled by an entire Catholic congregation, she has claimed to love every second of me knocking her up. I, on the other hand, keep kicking myself because we should've done this years ago since I don't think she's ever been happier. Or looked better.

And I know it's selfish and that I need to let her get more rest, but I can't help it. Seeing her all soft and round is doing wicked things to my already wild libido, and I've officially been bumped from Mach 3 to Warp Drive every minute that she's around. Which is wonderfully a lot more since she permanently retired her headset a few weeks ago. I had figured she'd go back to work a few months after the babies were born because she still loves talking to people so much, but resigning is what she said she wanted to do and besides, it's not like she can't change her mind later. As long as she's happy, it's more than fine with me.

I drape her arms around my neck, and she hums with a smile and rests her head on my shoulder when I start to massage her lower back.

"Feel better?" I ask quietly, and she nods. And with her stomach bumping against mine I can still feel Lefty's hiccups as Righty's foot continues to kick at me.

"Thank you," she says softly, and I shake my head.

"Thank you."

"For what?" she asks, and I smile.

"For marrying me. For them. Take your pick."

She laughs quietly, and I rest my cheek to her hair.

"Elena, Damon, lunch is…" Miranda suddenly starts in when the door opens without warning, but her voice trails off when she sees us. I smile at her without pausing in Elena's back massage, and Miranda melts a little, her voice dropping to an almost whisper. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's great, we'll be there in a second," I tell her with a wink, and she nods. "Oh, and nice of you to let Grayson get that Ducati."

"He what?" she gasps and turns around to stomp into the house, screeching her husband's name.

I chuckle proudly and Elena huffs without lifting her head. "You're gonna be in so much trouble for that."

"Serves him right, and I'm always in trouble."

"Mm-hmm."

"Speaking of trouble, I finally figured it out."

"How to drive a woman insane? Honey, you've had that figured out for years…"

"Names for the boys," I tell her without bothering to comment on anything else, and she lifts her head. "Spark Plug, and Fan Belt. Perfect, right?"

"Oh God," she groans and pulls away, but tangles her fingers with mine to keep me with her as we start to walk into the house. Immediately being blasted by the sound of Miranda bitching out Grayson over the bike that he's not allowed to buy. Score for the son-in-law.

"I only test drove it," he tells Miranda and I snort, making sure Elena is in front of me when we reach them in the living room.

"You're not even supposed to be looking at it!"

"Miranda…"

"What's next? You going to dye the gray out of your hair and trade me in for a twenty-year-old college student?"

"Oh shit," I says and snicker, and Elena glares at me over her shoulder.

"See what you did?"

"Hey, this was not my-"

"You," Grayson growls at me, and I shrink down a little behind Elena.

"Stick your stomach out and protect me, woman," I stage whisper, and she swats at me.

"Way to use your children as a shield, Damon," she deadpans, and Grayson points at me.

"Step away from him, Elena. You found a second husband so you can find a third, because this one is meeting his unmarked grave."

"Grayson!"

"Hey!" I yell at him when Elena immediately bursts into tears, because it takes all of nothing to get those up-jumped hormones to bolt off the fucking charts.

She whips around to hide her face in my chest and I instinctively wrap her in my arms, hiding her body with mine as I run a hand down her hair. Meanwhile Grayson looks like he has no idea whether to be more concerned about his wife smacking his arm and shoulder, or at the probability of me attempting to kick his ass for making mine cry.

"I can't believe he said that. You can't be in a grave, Damon…" she chokes out, and I shake my head at her father.

"Elena…" he starts apologetically, and I flare my eyes at him to cut him off.

"Elena," I whisper, and she sniffles. "I need you to calm down, sweetheart. It's not healthy for you to get this upset." I glance up at Grayson and he crosses his arms guiltily. "Even though it's entirely justified."

Elena nods and takes a deep breath, and I unclench one of her hands from my shirt and place it on her stomach, both of us just feeling our new family together in the way we always do before we go to sleep. It works like a charm and when she's almost calm, I press a kiss into her forehead and then jerk my chin at her father.

"Jokes about me are one thing, but she doesn't need you bringing Matt up when she's feeling needlessly guilty about eating meat." I lower my voice, my tone infinitely more gentle. "Despite the fact that I keep telling you he would understand, so there's no reason to flog yourself over a hamburger patty or a pot roast. And I know I didn't tell you this, but I went to his grave and he agreed with me."

"You did?" Elena asks shakily, and I nod.

"Yep."

"I love you so much," she breathes, and I smile.

"She's eating meat?" Miranda gasps, and I roll my eyes.

"She wouldn't stop craving it, so I'm temporarily a vegetarian." I squeeze Elena lightly and she sniffles, her fingers hooking through my beltloops and pulling me a tiny bit closer. "Some kind of weird You-Eat-My-Cows thing she picked up from a TV show."

"Joey and Phoebe from Friends," Elena tells me softly and I can't help but to smile. She's such a dork, but if it makes her feel better, it's fine with me. Only three more months and then it's gonna be steaks and pork chops and bacon galore and I can't fucking wait.

"So that's why you've had that stick up your ass?" Grayson asks, and I glare at him.

"Maybe it's because you keep making her cry."

"I'm right here!" Elena shouts into my shirt, and I grimace.

"Sorry."

The front door suddenly opens and her brother walks through it, a big ol' smile on his face as he stops beside me and he's not supposed to be here…

"Hey, Damon," he says lightly. "Hey, Sis, wow, you look huge…"

I narrow my eyes at him because the men in this family are so insensitive they make me look like a Care Bear, and he falters a little and then tries to recover.

"Huge-ly awesome. Um, have you lost weight?" he says and I reach over to smack him upside the head.

"What are you doing here?" Grayson asks, and Jared looks over at him with a fake pout.

"I'm not welcome home anymore? Where's the love, Pops?"

"Why aren't you at the nursery?" Miranda asks, and I lean down a little closer to Elena, my voice so low it's just between us.

"Boys, pay attention, because this is how you make Grandpa lose his shit."

Elena laughs quietly and hugs me a little tighter with one arm, her other hand on her stomach moving mine to the opposite side so I can feel that Righty now has the hiccups too.

"Maybe because I fired everyone," Jared says nonchalantly and my eyes widen as his parents' mouths both gape. "What's for lunch?"

"What do you mean you fired everyone?" Grayson yells, and I snort.

"You were really watching during all those episodes of Friends?" Elena whispers, and I nod.

"You didn't give me much of a choice."

"I mean I caught them growing pot in the back greenhouse," Jared says with a shrug, "so I nixed the employee roster."

"Does that mean you're my lobster*?" Elena asks me, and I have no idea what that means, but I know that tone of voice and what my answer is supposed to be.

"You betcha, but only if you're mine," I breathe playfully.

"I'm totally your lobster," Elena tells me sweetly, and I drop a kiss to her hair.

"How could you let them grow marijuana in the back greenhouse?" Grayson shouts and when I glance to my left, Jared crosses his arms.

"Maybe so I could sell it and make some decent moola. Then it was getting rid of the dumbasses that grew it so I could cut them out of the profits. Easy peasy."

"Nicely done," I tell Jared, and he fist-bumps my free hand when I hold it out to him.

"What?" his parents screech simultaneously, and I flinch.

"I'm joking! Why do you think I fired them?"

"Then who's running the store?" Miranda asks, and I close my eyes because I already know the answer.

"No one, the nursery is closed. Which is why I was able to come over and you got to spend the day with your precious baby boy. Ta da!"

"What the fuck, Jared?!"

"Grayson!"

"Miranda!"

"Dad!"

"Cover your ears, Mrs. Lobster," I tell Elena and she nods, then does as I asked.

I whistle loud and harsh, all of them wincing at the sound before they finally shut up. Jared is barely containing his laugh, Miranda is about two seconds from tears and Grayson looks like he wants to tear the whole room apart.

But my wife has finally stopped crying and her arms are wrapped around me again, our identical baby boys nestled between us, and in the end, that's all that really matters.

FIN

*In the episode of Friends: The One With the Prom Video, the character Phoebe Buffay states that lobsters mate for life and can often be seen walking around their tank, holding claws. Which was an adorable metaphor that she applied to Ross and Rachel, the "Delena" of that show.

Later in the series in the episode titled: The One With the Fake Party, Phoebe, who is a vegetarian, becomes pregnant through surrogacy and starts craving/eating meat, to her infinite dismay. One of the "friends," Joey, agrees that he will stop eating meat while she's pregnant so that she can eat the animals in his stead and therefore no animals would suffer, at least, no more than normal. (Which is still a little fucked up, but it appeased a woman who was pregnant with triplets, and in the end, that's what was most important.)

A/N: *wipes tears* I can't believe it's done! Again, so many thanks to you all! Now, there have been quite a few requests for a sequel, and believe me, I love these characters and this world just as much as you guys do, but this will be the end of their written story. (As far as I can tell, but then again, Blinded was a one shot and then With Eyes Wide Open happened and yeah... lol) SO, make sure you hit that follow author button because the muse never rests, and it's having a lot of fun hanging out in the AU/AH land and coming up with some new scenarios for a different Delena-y couple. *cough wink cough* Love you all, have a wonderful weekend and until I see you again, stay safe and be kind to one another. *blows kisses*

*Side note TROGDOR19, aka Michelle Hazen is AMAZING and her OF Novel Forsworn is entered into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest and she is a QUARTERFINALIST! GO MICHELLE! But, we need your help to help get her into the SEMI FINALS so go download a preview of her novel and review it for how amazing it is! The best way to find it is to search Michelle Hazen Forsworn at Amazon and read and review and thank you all for taking the time to do this!

-Goldnox