Epilogue

EPOV

1 Year Later...

"Bella, I think maybe we should just wait for Jasper to get here with the truck," I try reasoning with her, but she's having none of it.

"I am perfectly capable of helping you move this shit! It's not my fault you packed bricks," she says, indignantly.

"I know you're capable, but I'm afraid I'm going to actually lose a toe if another box gets dropped on my foot."

"Fine, then what can I do that won't be too much for my delicate feminine sensibilities?" She huffs.

"Sit on the couch and look pretty?" I ask her jokingly.

She cracks a begrudging smile, playfully shoving me. "Ass."

"But I'm your ass," I say, nuzzling her neck with my nose.

"Yes, yes, you are." She laughs lightly, scratching her fingernails against my scalp. I reach to kiss her, aware that we only have a minute until our friends get here to help us finish packing up my apartment. But when she opens her mouth to me, I can't help but take advantage of the moment. My hand finds its way to her ass just as the front door is opened and Angela and Ben walk in.

"Okay, you two, enough of that. Bella, do you guys have any food? I'm starving!" Bella's very pregnant best friend asks, already rummaging through the refrigerator.

"Ooh, Ruben sandwich! Yum!" she exclaims victoriously. I start to object, but the savage look she gives me makes me honestly fear for my life if I try to come between her and the food, so I keep quiet and avert my eyes.

Beside me, Bella giggles, whispering, "Smart boy."

"Come on, man, let's get started on the bedroom furniture," Ben says, quietly adding, "before Ange decides we have to go make a fried chicken run or something." I always thought that was a comedic exaggeration, but one look at Ben tells me that there's really nothing funny about a hungry pregnant woman.

Witnessing Angela go through this pregnancy has made me very grateful that kids are a very long way off for Bella and I. I'm not sure both of us would survive her all geeked out on hormones.

Bella asked me to move in with her a few weeks ago, and we've been moving my stuff over a little at a time. This weekend we're moving the last of it, including the heavy stuff we need help with. I think she was inspired to finally co-habitate with me after Jasper and Alice surprised us all with a wedding at their newly-purchased house. We went over for a housewarming BBQ; instead, we were met by a Justice of the Peace. The whole thing lasted ten minutes and then they were married. The party afterwards was relaxing and fun, which is exactly how they wanted it.

Alice comes a few minutes later, bringing boxes with her. She and Bella start packing the rest of the kitchen, while Angela supervises from the sidelines. Bella and Alice have gotten along fairly well since the day Jasper moved out of the apartment, and while there have been the occasional argument, and they don't seek each other out to spend time together, they're easily able to co-exist and interact. I think that's about as good as their relationship is ever going to get, so neither Jasper nor I push them.

Once Jasper arrives with the truck, the day passes in the barely-controlled chaos of moving, until everything is relocated to Bella's apartment, which is now our apartment. We feed our friends some pizza and beer, as a reward and thank you, before everyone disburses to go back to their regular lives, leaving us alone, sprawled out on the couch.

"God, I don't think I can move," Bella complains with a groan.

"Good thing this shit will be here for us tomorrow, huh?" I tease her.

"Don't remind me. I'm not sure where we're going to put half this stuff!"

I laugh, patting her leg in commiseration. "I'm going to go get the mail. Are you going to bed or staying up awhile?"

"I should probably write a bit before I go to bed. I'm going to shower and then take the laptop into the spare room. Fuck, something else to do tomorrow - we've got to get the office set up in there for you."

I scowl at her. "And you, Bella. You need space to work, too." We've had this conversation several times. I want her to quit her job at the restaurant so she can write full-time, but she insists on working until she's an actual paid writer. I have faith that she's going to make it; she doesn't have to have a paycheck to prove it to me.

She just shakes her head at me, refusing to comment. I lean down to kiss her quickly before hobbling down to the mailbox on the first floor of the building. A quick glace through the stack of envelopes shows a ton of junk mail for me already, but the only real mail is a large brown envelope addressed to Bella.

I carry it all upstairs, dropping the junk into the recycle bin and walk to the bedroom to find Bella on the phone. I silently ask her who it is and she mouths 'Dad' before turning her attention back to him. They talk every couple of weeks, both of them making the effort to repair the damage that was done. I still think the guy is an ass, but as long as he doesn't hurt Bella again, I can be polite. I'm pretty sure he feels the same way about me, so it works out.

I go to the living room to give them some privacy.

After a few minutes, Bella comes out of the room, stopping to give me a quick peck on the lips and bends over to grab her laptop. Before she picks up the computer, though, I hand her the envelope.

"What's this?" she asks, sounding almost nervous, though I have no idea what that's about.

"I don't know. It was the only mail we had besides advertisements."

She swallows thickly before ripping the top flap off and pulling loose a stack of papers, one of which looks like a contract of some sort. It's my turn to look at her questioningly. But she doesn't notice as she scans the pages. I notice tears in her eyes, and it worries me.

Before I can even ask any questions, she sighs out a laugh and plops down on the couch. "I...I had no idea! This is crazy! Right? Yeah, this is definitely crazy!"

"What's crazy, Bella? What's in the envelope?" I ask, starting to feel exasperated that she's not filling me in.

Her eyes snap to mine and she looks momentarily guilty. "Well," she says, swallowing thickly. "Do you remember you telling me I should call Professor Laurent?"

I nod, remembering that particular fight when I suggested to Bella that she was capable of so much more than just being a waitress. We went round and round about where she'd live and how she'd make ends-meet, and for every objection she raised, there was me with an answer to her. I had even suggested she contact the professor she had in college with the publishing contact he had offered to introduce her to back in college. It had pissed her off to no end that I was pushing her. Eventually, I had dropped it, knowing that I wasn't going to make anymore headway if she was angry. "Yeah, but I didn't think you'd made a decision."

"Well...I had pretty much decided as soon as I got what you were saying. I emailed him, showing him the changes I've made to the manuscript and asking his opinion. He didn't just read it for me, he mailed it to his friend..." she trailed off, sounding like she was on the verge of breaking out laughing.

"You're killing me! He mailed it, and?" I ask her, trying to contain the happiness and pride bubbling inside my chest.

"And I'm gonna be a published author! They even want first rights to the rest of the series!"

I scoop her up in my arms and twirl her around the room, laughing loudly with her, while she vacillates between disbelieving laughter and staring off into space with a goofy grin on her face.

"You know what this means, right?" I ask her. "No more restaurant."

She giggles. "Yep, no more restaurant."

A/N: And that's all she wrote! I hope y'all enjoyed the little bit of fluffiness before we bid RtF a final farewell. :) A few people have asked for a JasperPOV outtake and I may try to do something like that at some point, but otherwise, I have no plans to write anymore for these guys.

Once again, thank you guys for all your kindness and encouragement. You've made writing this story so much fun!

RtF is up for a couple of SunFlower Awards: Best Edward and Best Lemon Pie. Thank you so very much to whoever nom'd it! Just being on the list is a huge honor :) Voting starts 5/4 thesunflowerawards(dot)blogspot(dot)com

Even though I'm saying goodbye to these characters, I'll still be writing! I have a couple of things in the works. In the next couple of weeks I'll be posting a possibly funny, definitely odd o/s that was inspired by Charlie's porn-stache, called "Cops and Bobbers." I'm also writing something for Fandom For Sexual Assault Awareness, possibly the JasperPOV, if I can make it work in time.

My next multi-chap is called, "Feels Like Years"; it's an expansion of the o/s "Here Comes the Sun". It'll start posting this summer sometime. Summary: Bella has always done exactly what's expected of her, until a chance meeting makes her question the cost of living to make everyone else happy. Will she be willing to lose everything for the chance to gain so much more?

If you'd like to keep up with what I'm working on, put me on author alert or follow me on twitter (at)morethanmyself :)

As always, thanks to Kas90, Sammielynnsmom, and KrisScott. You girls rock my world.

I still own nothing. For the last time this story (*sob*) ~Kimberly