Author's note: Thank you to ZabuzasGirl, Rasha007, NotMarge, Shelllee24, NicoleR85, partygirl98, anonymouscsifan, kmj1989, PlaceOfDreamsAndNightmares (I literally went "aw!" when I read your review), Cloudcity'sBookworm (seriously blushing right now, thank you. Right now I'm not too sure about revisiting this world. I'll have to get back to you on that), and Bamboozled for the reviews!

Today's the epilogue, and you'll probably notice that it's written in present tense as opposed to past tense. Basically, this entire story has been a flashback for Hank, and now we're back in his present time. I have more to say, but I'm going to wait until the bottom to get it all out. Plus, I need to go get a box of tissues. There's something in my eye...

Epilogue- 1981

"Dr. McCoy?"

I blink, coming back to the present from my trip down memory lane rather abruptly. On a day like this- a culmination of so many things- it's easy to get a little lost in my own head, remembering.

"Sorry, Mr. President," I say sheepishly. "I got sidetracked for a moment."

The recently sworn-in President Ronald Reagan smiles genially, though there is a hint of concern in his eyes. I'm sure he's wondering if his newly-reappointed Secretary of Mutant Affairs is still up for the task.

He will be the third president I've served under. Presidents Ford, Carter, and now Reagan have all called on me to represent mutant issues within the government, providing a voice for my kind.

It's been hard, challenging work, but truly fulfilling.

And today, February 20, 1981, has seen the fruition of almost seven years of laborious effort on my part. President Reagan just signed the Mutant Rights Act, officially making it illegal to discriminate against American citizens based on their genetics and giving mutants equal protection under the Constitution.

It's also the thirteenth anniversary of the day I first saw Zoey, the day I took the first step towards realizing my own potential. Without her love, her support, I never would've come this far.

I feel compelled to explain my distraction to the president.

"Today's the anniversary of the day I first saw my wife," I tell him. "You signing this law today just reminds me of how I wouldn't be here, sitting across from you, if I hadn't met her."

The president's smile is more sincere this time. "She sounds like quite a woman."

I grin.

Dr. Zoey McCoy, CEO of Dubois Enterprises since the age of eighteen, has single-handedly guided her company from a four-factory business into a national corporation that rivals the size of DuPont- all while being a mother to three children and wife to the happiest husband in the world. She's also found time to coauthor two books on mutant genetics with me.

"Quite a woman" doesn't even begin to describe her.

"That she is," I agree.

It's evening by the time I arrive home for the night, carrying blue primroses and a bag of Hershey kisses for my lady, and Reese's for the kids.

"I'm home," I call out as I set down my gifts and take off my shoes.

There's a roast in the oven and a spongecake on the counter, but otherwise the kitchen is deserted. I listen and hear the giggling of the children, but not the laughter I consider the most precious. My suspicions are immediately raised.

"Kids-?"

"Daddy, Daddy," my daughter yells.

Soleil Marceline, all of three and a half years old, comes running into the kitchen carrying a resigned-looking Sydney around his middle to greet me. Lucie and Charlie prance along behind her, following like little shadows.

My daughter is the child I wistfully envisioned when Zoey and I first talked of starting a family. Her hair is dark brown, like mine used to be, and her eyes are Zoey's beautiful emerald green. According to Marceline, Soleil is the spitting-image of Brigitte Lemieux, her maternal grandmother.

Except for Soleil's quirky eyebrows. Those are from me.

Unlike the rest of us, Soleil's completely, one hundred percent human. It's something that happens occasionally, when both parents are mutants.

When Soleil was born Zoey and I made the difficult decision to not enroll our boys at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. We want our daughter to never feel excluded within her own family for being the only non-mutant.

Once she's old enough, she'll go to the same school as William and Edward, and I have no doubt that she'll do just as well as they do. At six years old, my sons are already in the fourth grade.

"Hey, sunshine," I say, kneeling down to her level. "Put Sid down, honey. He's getting old, remember? And besides, your daddy needs a 'hello hug.'"

Sydney gives me a grateful look, if that's possible, when Soleil drops him and runs into my arms. I scoop her up easily.

"Where's Mommy and your brothers?"

"We're playing hide and seek!"

Oh, dear.

I swipe the primroses off the counter and carry Soleil into the family room, where William and Edward are using the furniture, light fixtures, and stair railing as a jungle gym.

Their monkey-toed feet have become as dexterous as mine- as can be seen now, as they jump through the air and catch onto the chandelier I reinforced into the ceiling a long time ago, back when I realized this would become a regular past time.

Their powers, too, are much the same as mine, except for the fact that our golden-eyed, blue-haired boys are flame-proof. And I consider that a blessing, considering the pyromania they inherited from their mother.

I now keep our matchbooks in a locked safe because I don't want the house burned down. I tried to hide them in a tall cupboard once, but that's useless when your kids can climb faster than monkeys after a banana.

"Hey, Daddy!" Edward calls out as he bounds by me with his claw-tipped hands held out wide.

I know exactly what he's doing- trying to find the nebulous ball of heat Zoey's hiding as.

"Any luck?"

"No," William pouts. "Daddy, you find her!"

"I won't need to find your mother, son," I chuckle, holding out the flowers as a lure. "She'll come to me. Fireflies love flowers."

William scrunches up his nose. "Daddy, bumblebees like flowers. Fireflies are the bugs that have big glowing butts. Livie says it's so they can get girlfriends."

I sigh.

Olivia, now in her last semester for a degree in journalism at NYU, loves telling the boys little factoids like that just to watch me want to pull my hair out.

She often stops by when she's in town to visit her mother, who remarried four years ago and moved back into the Dubois family home after time had healed her heart. Chloe turned the mansion into a modest bed-and-breakfast, and it's quickly becoming famous for serving the best Sunday brunch in Westchester County.

A warm whisper of air breezes by my face at that moment.

Ah ha. There's my Pyralis.

I snatch Zoey up just as she regains solidity, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her in while she lets out a playful shriek and giggles.

"But this firefly can't resist primroses," I say in satisfaction. I lean in and give her a kiss before offering up the flowers.

"Your father's right," Zoey laughs, accepting the blooms and sniffing them delicately. She stands on tiptoe to give me another kiss. "Thank you. How was your day, darling?"

"Fantastic," I reply. "The president- ooph!"

I'm interrupted by William and Edward scampering up my back to perch on my shoulders, saying "eeeew!" and making kissing noises while Soleil giggles.

"You've been spending too much time with Uncle Alex," I mutter disapprovingly.

Marriage to Gwen hasn't raised Alex's maturity level much in that regard, though he's definitely come a long way in others. Sean and I have mostly retired from the X-Men to focus on our families (and in my case, my political career), but Alex has remained at Xavier's to train the next generation of X-Men. Leadership sits surprisingly well on him.

I know Charles and Moira are quite proud of Alex- of all of us, really. The "first class" of X-Men.

"Hey. I can kiss your daddy if I want to," Zoey teases. And then she gives me another.

The oven timer goes off then, so she excuses herself to go check on dinner and put her flowers in water. I carry all three of our children like a pack mule over to the powder room to make sure everyone washes their hands.

Before long all five of us are sitting at the table eating dinner. Zoey and I handle this with well-practiced ease by now, helping the kids manage their silverware.

"What were you saying about the president before, Hank?" Zoey asks.

"He signed the Mutant Rights Act into law today," I reply, grinning.

She knows how hard I've lobbied to get this bill passed. I've fought hard every time challenges to mutant equality came up over the past few years. It's been difficult because there hasn't been much of a legal basis to fall back on when someone discriminated against mutants. We simply weren't protected by an existing law before.

But now we have it: legal equality. It raises my hopes for the future of mutants everywhere.

Zoey beams at me. "Hank, that's amazing!" she crows. "After all the work you've done- wow. I'm so proud of you!"

She reaches out and squeezes my hand fiercely. I can't help grinning back and bringing her hand up to my lips for a kiss.

"What did Daddy do?" Edward asks.

"He helped pass a law that officially makes it illegal for people to discriminate against mutants," Zoey explains.

He still looks puzzled, so I elaborate. "Son, do you remember when Bobby Caldwell's dad ordered your school to put Bobby in a different class from you and your brother because you're mutants?"

Edward nods, frowning.

"Well, now the school doesn't have to listen. They can tell him to chose to send Bobby to a different school or deal with it, because there's nothing wrong with you. There never was, and there never will be."

My son grins then, revealing his little fangs.

Zoey says that all of our children look just like me, but when I look at them I can only see the resemblance to her- their ready smiles, their mischievousness, and the genuinely kind nature that glows around them like a visible aura and first drew me to Zoey like a moth to a flame.

"I'm proud of you too, Daddy."

"Me too!" William adds.

"Me too, me too!" Soleil agrees.

My gaze meets Zoey's as my heart swells with pride. My wife's eyes are shining with happy tears as she gives me a knowing smile.

I have the love and respect of my family- a family I once believed I could never, ever have. What more could a man ask for?

At the end of the night- after cleaning up from dinner, and family time, and bath time- comes story time. Usually we pile into Soleil's room and read from the book of fairy tales Zoey bought for her "secret admirer" once upon a time, but today it's from the French copy of Beauty and the Beast I got her on this very day seven years ago.

Marceline, who basically acts as our nanny, insisted that we teach the children French.

"To hold onto their heritage," she said firmly.

She adores them all, and even though they see her here at the house almost every day, the kids love to go visit Gra-mere and Papa's because their doting Papa gives them silver dollars and the leftover baked goods from the cafe.

My kids, much like their mother, can't say "no" to sweets.

"Happy anniversary," Zoey says as we step into our room after story time.

The children have been put to bed, and now it's just her and I.

"Can you believe it's been thirteen years? We're getting old," she jokes.

"I might be, but you haven't aged a day," I tell her with heart-felt sincerity. "If anything, you're even more beautiful now."

Zoey laughs and blushes. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Hank."

"That's what I'm hoping," I murmur cheekily, kissing her neck and lightly trailing my claws down her arms. "I love you, Zoey. Always."

And then I sweep her up into my arms and carry her to bed, where her giggles soon become soft moans of pleasure.

After our lovemaking Zoey falls asleep snuggled against my side, but for a while I remain awake, marveling over the past thirteen years.

I've just changed so much. And yet, looking back, I don't regret it at all.

Changing yourself, taking risks and making difficult choices is frightening, but when you have the right motivation you don't even think about that. You just do it.

And Zoey, my love, she's been my inspiration. She's worth everything I've gone through, every change I made to keep her safe and with me. She stole my heart and in return she's given me a life happier than I could ever imagine.

Without her I would've never come this far. I would've stayed in my lab, empty and alone, and never experienced the joy of true love- and then later, never joined the fight for mutant rights. So in a way, Zoey's love and faith in me has changed the lives of mutants everywhere.

She is, without a doubt, my everything.

On this night, after I've just scored such a victory for equality, I'm more thankful than ever that I found her.

I'm thankful that I took a chance.

Author's note (again): I wanted to say that I purposely made Soleil a human, so we can see that Hank and Zoey would truly accept their children no matter what they were. "Reverse racism," I guess you could call it, is rampant in the comics. Graydon Creed, the founder of the FOH, is actually the child of Mystique and Sabertooth. When Graydon found out that his mutant parents dumped him for being a human, it jaded his whole worldview. That would not happen with Hank and Zoey's kid! They are really the embodiment of acceptance.

But anyway- there it is, THE END. I'm so sad that this story is over (I actually cried when I wrote the end, because I'm a sap), but at the same time I'm really proud of it. I've never finished a story before, and certainly never published one, but my amazing reviewers kept me going this whole time. I treasure every review, follow and favorite, but I want to give a special shout out to NicoleR85, partygirl98, Jinxofthe2ndLaw, and kmj1989 for reviewing from practically the beginning, and Rasha007 for helping me out with research! My biggest thank you is to NotMarge. She's the one I sent my first draft of chapters 1-25 to and convinced me to publish, even though I was terrified of other people reading my stuff. I'd only ever written to amuse myself, and now look. I don't think either of us realized how far this would go!

I hope I did ok wrapping this up- I really want everyone to get warm and fuzzies after reading Hank and Zoey's happily ever after. Thank every single one of you for reading. It means the world to me! Now please excuse me while I go wipe my eyes, buck up, and get back to writing Not Unless You Try. :-)

Love,

brigid1318