Epilogue – 1941

Sookie sat on the beach and looked out at the ocean. For June, the weather was lovely. And despite everything that was happening in the world, things were peaceful in Santa Barbara California. This afternoon she would drive down to Los Angeles with Eric and go to the premiere of The Reluctant Dragon. She was excited. She loved Disney movies. She'd cried at the end of Snow White. Eric had teased her for days, crying over a cartoon princess. He still chuckled whenever anyone mentioned Snow White.

"Peggy! That's not fair!" Sookie's son shouted as his cousin held the ball up above her head.

Sookie had named her oldest Jason, although he looked nothing like his namesake. He looked exactly like his father with Sookie's slightly curlier hair and fuller lips. He was an extremely good-looking child. Pam was already talking about putting him in films. Sookie refused. If he wanted to be an actor when he was older it was fine, she had told Pam, who had raised an eyebrow at Eric, who had, in turn, shrugged putting the final decision back in Sookie's hands.

Peggy, on the other hand, was the spitting image of her father. Thank the Lord, because Sookie did not think she would have been able to stand it if she had looked like that worthless tramp Crystal. Peggy had lived with her aunt and uncle since she could walk. Crystal had asked them to watch Peggy while she took a vacation to Buenos Aires and had never returned. Sookie had tried to reach her. Had even flown down to Argentina to try and find her, but had not been successful. Whether something had happened or Crystal didn't want to be found, Sookie didn't know or care. It didn't matter. Peggy was, in reality, their oldest child.

They had buried Jason on a gorgeous sunny day that was everything that Jason had loved about California. Reporters had to be kept away from his funeral. Everyone was anxious to interview Sookie about the death of her brother. The "robbery" and Jason and Eric's heroic efforts to subdue the "burglar" had been a media sensation, which was almost funny considering the real scandal was never uncovered – if only they'd known. The story they told was that Sookie and Eric had simply been there, waiting for Jason to finish work, when Andre broke in desperate for money. Ocella had simply been there too – he was never really mentioned in the papers anyway. No one ever knew that Andre was Sophie Anne's child. It was easy to make him the patsy.

Jason would have loved his funeral and his heroism. Sookie liked to think he was sitting up in heaven laughing himself silly. Eric smiled whenever she said it. It was such a Sookie thing to say and he had liked Jason.

"Mama!" her son whined at her.

Sookie just laughed. "Enjoy it while you can Peggy. He'll outgrow you soon." At two years older, Peggy was taller now, but Jason was already gaining. Peggy giggled and ran down the beach with Jason in pursuit.

She turned slightly to watch them and saw Eric walking down the beach holding their youngest, another girl, Grace. The baby was waving her arms and reaching for Sookie, who reached up and took her from her father. "I'm to tell you that Lupita fed and changed her. She napped for 98 minutes. Lupita put the kitchen timer on."

Sookie raised an eyebrow. "The kitchen timer?"

Eric smiled settling down next to his wife and shaking his head. "I know." She was still so very lovely. She could act constantly if she chose to. As it was, she acted some. Maybe two movies a year. He acted rarely. At close to 40, he preferred to run the studio. He was less interested in being in the spotlight now that he no longer needed it to protect him. "Our children seem to have an over-abundance of care whereas we…"

Sookie turned to look at him narrowing her eyes slightly. He still made her heart beat a little faster. "We've done alright for ourselves."

He grinned and leaned in to kiss her. Peggy giggled in the background. They had returned and Jason was now holding the coveted beach ball. Jason gave them a disgusted look and tugged at Peggy's arm. "C'mon, I'll race you for the ball." He handed it to Eric to throw.

Eric threw the ball and watched it bounce down the beach, children scrambling after it. "There are papers at the house for you to sign."

Sookie sighed. "This is why I didn't want Victor's share of the studio Eric. I'm not interested in running a studio and I'm always caught between you and Pam. I'm selling to Sam. We know we can trust him." Victor had fled when a warrant was issued for his arrest. Eric and Pam had claimed they had no idea what Victor had been doing with the books, but that they would clean up the family business. It had all been orchestrated from the beginning. Victor had been found dead two years later.

Eric raised an eyebrow at her. "You say that every year, but you never do it."

Sookie stuck her tongue out at him before leaning her head against his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head. "You can't sell to Sam now. He doesn't know anything about the business and you know everything is about to change anyway."

Sookie closed her eyes. He was talking about the war in Europe again. Everyone was saying the U.S. would enter the war soon. Roosevelt had flown Eric and several other studio heads to Washington to talk about creating movies that focused on morale. Eric was certain the U.S. would enter the war. He said you could see it in Roosevelt's eyes when he spoke. Sookie didn't like to think about what that would mean for their family.

They'd gotten a letter from Belinda saying that Danny was obsessed with learning to fly a plane and Eric was not to offer to pay for flying lessons. Sookie suspected that Eric would do it anyway.

"I don't want to talk about any of that," Sookie mumbled into his shoulder.

He slid his thumb under her chin and raised her face to his. "It doesn't matter what happens. We can handle it." He looked into her eyes. She would always be the person that set him free. Gave him something that made freedom worth having. For a man that had spent the better part of his adult life pretending to be a romantic hero, he was probably the least romantic man he knew…and yet he loved her in a way he thought very few were lucky enough to experience. Years of reading scripts full of passionate words and he couldn't have described it if he tried, not that he was interested in trying. He and Sookie understood each other.

Sookie felt like her whole body melted just a little as she looked at him. "I can handle anything with you. It's always been that way. You make me stronger."

"You're strong anyway. The strongest person I know."

"It's easy to be strong when I know you'll love me know matter what."

Eric did not reply, but thought that she was right, knowing that you were loved no matter what did make it easy to be strong.

Change would come. It always did. Things would happen that would make them happy and sad. And they would face them together, fighting for one another because together they were better than they were apart and that was worth holding on to.

Thanks to everyone that has given their time to this story! All the readers, the people that have read and reviewed and those who took time to chat about it with me! Also, everyone who recommended it, especially SeaStarr08 for including it in a blog post about historical fics! And a very special thank you to Chiisai-Kitty for being a wonderful beta. And to PeppermintyRose for debating character motivations with me.

I have really loved writing this story and am sad that it is over, but I wanted to post the last three chapters quickly since they are really meant to be read together. I hope you have enjoyed reading this half as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Historical Note: The meeting with FDR that I mention did take place, but not until early 1942. I moved it up in the timeline because I didn't want the US to have entered the war already in this epilogue. I wanted the characters to have enjoyed a few years of peace between their struggles with Ocella and WWII.