A/N:
yay! epilogue! yay! It's kind of short guys, but it's just some cute fluff to insure that yes, Lightning and Hope are okay! I hope you like it!
And thanks to the 12 reviewers I had for the last chapter!
busard: I don't really think I understand Lightning fully either…but hey, that's the mysterious character for ya. And yes. Not looking forward to the next 40 years of my lie T_T but at least I'll be making money?
Andrea Ye: well I hope you like it!
Divine Wolfe: happiness and love are my middle name :D glad you enjoyed the past chapter!
HopelessRomanticist: I'll keep trying on my H/L stories! There aren't a lot, but I want to finish off the rest of my stories too (which you also review, so double thank you!)
zenbon zakura: I'm updating! And also thanks for reviewing my ff7 story (really, thanks a lot :D)
Devil's Earl: yay! Thank you!
Xinyii xo: do you want to see an epilogue? Maybe I'll write…oh wait! Hope it lives up to your expectations! And so glad you enjoyed the whole story!
mellombror: I agree, epilogues are nice :D and I'll brainstorm more ideas for Hope/Lightning! They're too much fun to stop writing here. But let me catch up with my other stories first, haha.
Merely a Dark Lord: I'm glad you liked the chemistry, that's always important (especially for a romance fic). And sorry for the clichés! I'm a little bit of a sucker and could no way really make either of them unhappy!
Chelsirooni: AWW. Thanks for calling my story beautiful! That's super sweet!
Nada1224: Glad you story alerted! Because now it's complete. Instant favorite? Awesome. Glad this fed your fanfic appetite!
H-thar: Aw I'm sorry! That was jutst my cruel, sick joke. I'm glad you got to read the real end though! (and hopefully this too!)
And here's the end of Four Years in the Making
"ONE, TWO, THREE!"
The white flash made him blind, but he quickly blinked, trying to refocus on the people in front of him. When the sun spots disappeared, he couldn't help but smile. There was Lightning, holding the small baby in her arms, trying to get her small hand to wave at the camera.
"Ready for another one?"
Lightning sighed and repositioned the baby, "Really, Hope? That's like the tenth one."
"One more." He couldn't get the smile off his face. "Really, smile now, Light."
"I'm not?"
Hope just counted again and snapped the photo. "That was a little better."
Lightning sighed and held out the baby, "Hold her, okay?"
He dropped the camera on the nearby sofa and took the baby. "I haven't really seen you smile."
"That's a lie." Lightning combed through her pinkish hued hair and then sat down on the couch next to the camera. "When we first…"
"You weren't really you when we first kissed."
Her blue eyes gleamed a bit, "That's not what I was going to say."
"Oh." Hope just nodded and placed the baby down in the nearby playpen. "I guess I should be glad about that."
"And then when I heard you say you liked me."
Hope laughed a bit. "I thought you were mortified."
"Mortifyingly smiling." She laid down on the couch after Hope sat down, resting her head on his lap. "She's beautiful, isn't she?"
His green eyes glanced from the baby and then back to Lightning, letting his hand stray through her hair. "Yeah she is."
They sat on the couch for a while, perfectly content. Hope couldn't have thought of a better time, just relaxing, with Lightning, everything peaceful and calm. He wanted to close his eyes, to drift off to sleep if only to prove that he wasn't dreaming. He felt her short, deep breaths rise and fall on top of him, and it made him so insanely happy. "Light?"
"Hm?" She looked up at him, blue eyes looking uncharacteristically curious.
"I…"
The door then swung open, Snow leading Serah back into the house. They seemed to look around carefully until they caught Hope and Lightning on the couch. "Well, how cute. Look at Sis and Hope."
Lightning immediately got up at the sound of Snow's voice. She sat up awkwardly and patted her hair down, now tangled from Hope's hands.
"Can you help me put Eira to bed, Snow?" Serah picked up her baby and kissed her husband on the cheek before turning back to Hope and Lightning. "And thanks again guys for babysitting."
Hope gave a slight smile, "Anytime, Serah."
"Glad you could come out again, Little Bro." Snow ruffled Hope's hair and made him immediately blush at the nickname. They weren't exactly family. Not yet. But Snow had still insisted on the new name, much to Lightning's chagrin.
As the married couple went back up the stairs, Lightning fell back down, making Hope immediately smile again. He was happy that so far, everything had worked out. Hope was free to attend a college in Bodhum, allowing him to see Lightning as much as he wanted to. And that seemed to be a lot recently.
"What were you going to say, Hope?"
He had practically forgotten, concentrating too hard on his memories. "Oh…nothing really." He glanced back down at her, "I just thought of a way I could make you smile."
Lightning sniffed, "What? More pictures?"
"No." His hands went back through her hair and then rested softly on her cheek, feeling her pale warmth radiate against his hand. "I love you."
He expected her to be silent, and she was. But Lightning slowly moved back up, looking Hope straight into the eyes and then kissing him soundly on the lips. A rush of energy seemed to fully consume him until she pulled back, her face in a perfect smile. It was the only answer he needed.
A/N:
Short but sweet, right? Hopefully.
I'd just like to mention that there may also be a doujin made of this fic and people should message (or review) if they want any updates! I'll let you know more as soon as I contact the author and see if it's okay if I'm shamelessly publicizing like this :P (ahh hopefully you won't mind!)
Thank you all guys! It was a lot of fun writing this story. Thanks for bearing with my bipolar updates and writer's block, and I hope you all become a fan of my other and future stories too!
Byebye guys :D
-ASX