A/N~ A little warning once again this is a bit of all over the place, including a reference to a couple of other fandoms if you squint. Thank you to all of the fans of this story and my own personal thanks for the words of encouragement over the years. Two and a half years and over 350000 words later. Thank you all and bless you all. ~A

Epilogue

Beacon Hills Family Day-Several Years Later:

After a successful mayoral campaign that had included the beautification of the downtown area. The repurposing of several industrial and abandoned buildings into apartments and low cost housing for families and young couples starting out. Thus attracting the attention of nearby San Mateo as a place for twenty and thirty-something's who were interested in starting their families in a more wholesome less materialistic environment.

The latest census had the local population up to 5000. The mayor whose re-election platform of change without changing the heart of the town, was now working to get a few larger green businesses to come to the area to increase employment and feed some much needed funds into the local economy. They were also discussing with the town council, the possibility of starting a local college.

In the meantime in celebration of the influx of families into the town, the mayor whose campaign and successful re-election had accomplished all this had arranged a family day. Carnival, games, arts and crafts, all for the families of Beacon Hills. The entire center of town was closed off to all but golf carts, bicycles and foot traffic. The Sheriff had brought in extra deputies from the surrounding towns for extra security for the event. Men he vetted himself as being unflappable, experienced, and capable.

The D.A. had reminded the local bars that the event was family oriented. Anyone who thought to serve minors or someone who was clearly already intoxicated ran the very strong risk of losing their liquor license. It was safe to say that not one booth that served alcohol for the event wasn't checking id's and also serving an equal number of non-alcoholic beverages for minors and those who didn't want to partake.

Many of the downtown businesses were also serving refreshments, the restaurants and cafes serving some of their specialties. Arts and crafts booths were also very popular. Although the event was for the locals, a lot of tourists and out-of-towners had come to enjoy a little fun.

Despite all of their precautions though, some things did slip through. A few pickpockets in the morning which the Sheriff and his men took care of easily enough.

A group of out of town kids who were tagging some of the local shops, that incident was actually taken care of by some of the locals who placed the kids under citizens arrest until the deputies could get there. The D.A. and her assistant were amongst them.

When the parents arrived about fifteen minutes after their children were taken into custody, there were more than a few mutters of where were they when the kids were misbehaving. When one of the fathers blustered and tried to intimidate everyone about being a lawyer, and threatening to sue. He continued about how they had no real evidence that their children were involved and how the graffiti could have been there before.

"I'm the DA, this is a picture from the area outside of the shop that your son and his friends vandalized." she said showing a print out of the area without graffiti. Before the man could open his mouth, she added, "And this is the one of your kid and his friends breaking the law." The man stared at the picture for a moment, the detailed image showed his son and two others spray painting the side of the building. He shut up after that.

After the sun went down, people were more attentive, well most were. Of course when you were young and in love the only thing you were really attentive too was each other. Thus it was that a young couple found themselves in the alleyways of the carnival set up being accosted by a group of carnies that also happened to include a few werewolves.

"What have we here?" said the obvious leader of the group. Although he was trying to come off as cultured, there was no way to hide the Midwestern twang. "So cute, young love."

"They're just so gooey sweet, I could gobble them up," said the only female among the five. Dark hair that had obviously not seen mirror or comb in several weeks hung in the smiling face of the young woman. The smell of alcohol also reeked off of the quintet, so apparently someone had ignored the DA's edict, or they had their own stash of alcohol.

"They don't smell like this backwater town, so tourists. Nobody'll miss 'em." A shorter, skinnier rat featured man said to the clear leader of the group.

"Actually somebody already has," said a young woman's voice from behind the group. They all turned to see a dark haired young woman walking toward them a smile on her face. Her companion though wasn't smiling. Curly hair mussed casually, long and lanky body , you could almost miss the crossbow she carried and the fact that his fingers were tipped with surprisingly long and lethal claws.

The female of the quintet, while she eyed the clawed young man and dismissed the female said, "There's just the two of them and ones human," she shoved the two quiet ones forward and commanded, "Take care of them." Before she turned back to the young couple who were in the process of running back up the alley, the way they had come. "You stupid bitches you lost me my dinner," she screamed angrily and her eyes turned white as she turned back to face them.

"Oh a wendigo running with wolves, that's a little different," the young woman said with mild interest.

"Yeah and now you get to be dinner, since you scared my meal away," the female said her sharp teeth showing as she smiled.

"I'm not as in to the cannibalism as you Cara." said the werewolf who had originally spoken.

"Fine you can have the girl I'll take him," was the response.

Issac inhaled lightly he could already smell how rank they were and didn't want to inhale too deeply because of the odor but he made the announcement, "They have no Alpha, they're just a bunch of Omegas, causing trouble."

"Yeah Emmy says they smell bad and they need to be put down," Liam said as he walked down the alley toward them. Hayden walked by his side her eyes glowing a pale gold. She was still rather young in her werewolf powers but was beginning to enjoy them. "She also said to tell you that being a werewolf or a supernatural doesn't exclude you from good personal hygiene."

"Yeah, you know its bad when a tree tells you, you stink." said a voice from the top of one of the buildings that formed the alleyway.

"I didn't even know that trees could smell," said another voice and by this time the Alpha-less Pack were losing track of telling where all the voices were coming from.

"Course she can," said a voice from the entrance as several new individuals entered the alley. The many pairs of red and blue glowing eyes were the solid indicator they were in trouble. Then they noticed the symbols all of the people were wearing tree symbols. Some were wearing jewelry, some T-shirts and some were wearing armbands with the symbol of what appeared to be a black oak tree on a green background with a red circle around it.

Two stood out though, the one with a dark beard and ruby red glowing eyes stood in the front with a dark eyed younger looking man. It was him who had spoken and when he came into the light of the few bulbs that illuminated the alley, they saw that his eyes weren't just dark they were a bottomless black as he continued speaking, "How else do you think she can tell when something like them comes into her territory?"

It was the wendigo who answered and nearly everyone in the alley cringed as she spoke, they could tell she was too long without food and was nearly feral as she said, "Whoever the bitch is bring her on, I'm hungry. So you have Alphas, Alphas only get in the way, and humans are food they have no say." With that she made the fatal mistake of attacking the dark eyed male.

To be truthful the appearance of several actual wolves in the alley at once did more to freak out the others than the wendigo. The female had gone feral and was not thinking at all except for food, the others were more rational and turned to run only to face the werewolf, the human huntress and a werewolf the size of a mountain.

The female was torn to shreds in under a minute, the males were trapped and unable to run amok or escape. The alley was suddenly filled once more with bodies, naked females and males.

"You know guys I could have handled her?" There was that voice again, only this time it was put upon and yet affectionate.

"We know but the Pack Mom shouldn't have to," a short brunette said as she nuzzled against the males cheek as she walked by. As she did clothing suddenly appeared on her body as they did on everyone who nuzzled the Pack Mom. The final one who shifted was the Alpha Male and he kept his face buried in his Mates neck as clothing materialized on his body.

As what was left of the body of the wendigo was disposed of, Stiles faced the remaining members of this wannabe Pack. His voice was stern as he advised them, "You have fifteen minutes to get to the edge of out territory. Don't worry you'll know it when you hit it, because it will hit you back. It will also remember you and won't let you back in. If you try to return it'll give you the same end as your girlfriend and if you're lucky that's all it will do. Several of the others follow the small group of interlopers t the edge of town.

~O~

Meanwhile the others went back to enjoying the festivities. The Spark saw the Mayor and the DA on the dais and dragged his mate in that direction. There was supposed to be a presentation later and Cora and Laura were already on the dais too setting things up.

The mayor and his campaign managers had worked hard on a series of plans for the small town. Refurbishing downtown and making their town a popular place for the twenty and thirty something's was just the start, or Phase One as the girls insisted on calling it. Phase Two was to establish a community/technical college. The building of which was already begun, the architectural duo of Stiles and Derek had designed the building and were actually providing part of the funds for the institution. Along with several other prominent members of the Pack.

The Spark gave his father and mother-in-law each a hug quickly but with a soft spoken comment, "The problem is being resolved as we speak. Have a good presentation." He told them all before leaving the dais to rejoin his mate. The two walked around the central square where booths and displays were set up. Some were just the regular activities for families test of strength, which Boyd and his wife Erica were manning.

Although the blond woman wasn't allowed t do any heavy lifting, at this stage in her pregnancy. Kira was able to tell the young couple that they were expecting twins just last month. The mom to be had been worried that she might pass on her epilepsy to one or both of their children. Only to be informed by Dr. Yukimura, after an amniotic fluid test that it appeared that both of the twins were werewolves. The pair hadn't wanted to know what the sex of the two infants were, so for now a baby shower was planned with yellow and green being the colors chosen.

Another booth run by Argent Arms was being run by Allison and her father. As a joke rather than the usual ducks and so forth they had werewolves, wendigos, kanimas, ghosts and other nightmares of the old tales. That were nowhere near as frightening as the real thing. They were using BB guns but if any of the participants showed any sign of being out of hand with the admittedly tame weapons, Issac merely stood there looking threatening. The older Argent had taken over the booth when the Spark had detected the dangerous intruders to their Family Day.

The arms manufacturer was one of the first companies to return to Beacon Hills and had already reopened their factory and were working on new avenues of revenue that didn't involve increasingly unscrupulous hunters. In the last year the Pack had needed to fight off an invasion from the Calaveras Hunters because they had taken in several orphan cubs from other Packs that had been decimated by Hunters.

Liam and Hayden had walked by with the reassurance to the Alpha Pair that everything had been taken care of. The duo were home from grad school, but were planning on being teachers. They were also running a media outlet all their own out of the old video store when they were home. Keeping people informed of the goings on in their little hamlet. They had teens from the high school who worked there when they weren't there.

Hayden had to be turned by Scott after a particularly hard fought battle had ended with the young woman seriously injured and on the brink of death. She had already known about werewolves having figured out things from hanging around the boy she still had a crush on and the friends he had made. He Alpha Mates highly approved of the pairing and had informed Liam's Alpha that if he didn't turn the young woman, Derek would.

Scott was still an exasperating idiot. On the one hand he would still do his very best to convince everyone including people who knew better that he was neither a werewolf or an Alpha. Let alone a True Alpha. Then turn around and in the next breath insist that he should be obeyed without question because he was the True Alpha. He was also not adverse to using his werewolf powers in his practice.

Deaton had taken on the younger vet as soon as he graduated from school and the True Alpha wasn't above using his Alpha powers to calm agitated animals, and take pain away from wounded ones so they didn't go into shock. To say that he and his best friend had nearly come to blows over this aggravating duality was a fact that had led to a somewhat strained relationship between the pair.

The fact that Melissa was missing most of the time now and therefore couldn't be there as a stabilizing influence on the young man was also a bit of a problem. Kira unfortunately was a bit too much of a pushover in the pairs relationship. Melissa however was still the mom, the disciplinarian. Medical school kept most of her attention now though, the fact that she and Decaulion were also dating, didn't sit well with the younger man who had been the man of the house for so long.

Stiles sighed lost in his thoughts, Derek as ever in tune with his mate gave him a one armed hug wile kissing his temple as a show of unconditional support. They were about to continue looking at the various booths when the announcement was made over the loud speakers that the presentation by the mayor was about to begin. Everyone who was able gathered in the town square to watch as the mayor showed a media display of the proposed future efforts of his office.

John Stilinski with the help and tech support of his campaign managers, went over the past, present and future that he had in mind for Beacon Hills. First of course was the Refurbishment Project, Second was the creation of more homes for the twenty and thirty something's who were coming from San Jose. Bringing in money and more stores as well to accommodate the needs this new population growth would have. Third and most important right now was the creation of the college, which was already under way.

The college would begin training the students who graduated from Beacon Hills High and a select few others to take the jobs of large businesses that Cora and Laura Hale were even now recruiting if his younger sister-in-laws ear being glued to a cell phone at this very moment was any indication. Of course knowing her husband it could just be Jackson calling to whisper sweet nothings in his mates ear.

Jackson Whittmore had taken after his adoptive father then exceeded the old man. His father had given Jackson a backwards, losing money, chemical plant. The young former lacrosse and swim team captain had with the help of his wife turned the company into a bio-fuel producing money maker. Using money from a trust he received when he turned twenty-one, he had then purchased several bio-chem and technology companies. JaxCo named after he and his beloved young wife was now on the Fortune 500 Forbes List and were moving their headquarters here to Beacon Hills.

Following the trend set by their friend and "partner in crime" Lydia Martin. Lydia and now Sheriff Jordan Parrish were life partners. Which Stiles still shook his head over, the Reaper had always preferred more modern descriptors to what she called outdated, male dominated mores. In other words she wanted to keep her private life, private and her significant other protected from her cut-throat business dealings.

The strawberry blond hadn't always been so aggressive, until her first foray into the business world. She had spent several years in New York, working for a company named Hammer Tech. She had been hired as a designer right out of MIT, things were going well until she discovered that HammerTech, or more precisely it's owner were trying to patent her designs as their own. With Talia and Decaulion's help she had sued the company and Justin Hammer himself for the potential earnings of those designs that she could prove had been stolen from her.

Turned out that with his sorry investment capability and the fact that his own designs were crap. It was discovered that Hammer not only couldn't afford to pay her, his gutted company couldn't afford to pay the staff they already had. When Hammer himself in front of news cameras had made a production on the courthouse steps of claimed poverty on his knees and begged her to drop the suit, Lydia had smiled and said, "I know more dogs in the "dog eat dog world" than you ever will, Justin. You tried to take my imagination from me, seems only fair I take everything from you."

That's exactly what she did, over the next several months with Talia suing Hammer for everything he owned. Lydia and Decaulion arranged with the employees of Hammer Tech to work a sort of buyout, with her ending up being the primary shareholder with the money she acquired from her lawsuit. Now she was arranging to bring the home offices, appropriately renamed Banshee Enterprises to Beacon Hills.

The two former high school sweethearts still managed to work well with each other and were helping to do some philanthropic work here in town as well. Brett Talbot now Alpha Talbot of the Ito Pack, had staked out the area around the old Oak Creek Internment Camp. Which they later claimed to uncover, the ensuing scandal did not bode well for the Army or some of the old guards who were still living. As they had purchased the land fair and square they did not entertain any offers from the government.

Nor did they stay there though, Alpha Ito had expressed often her desire to take her Pack back to her home in Okinawa. She had a large plot of land there she had kept as a sanctuary. Sanctuary sounded desirable to the remains of the Buddhist Pack. Three of the aforementioned cubs had already been taken into the Ito Pack.

The Pack themselves had a memorial built with a statue of a female warrior, sword raised defending an entire community against an unseen enemy. The names of all the interred both living and dead after the massacre were listed on the memorial. If the statue looked like the eternal Satomi Ito only those who knew her recognized that and the eternal flame in the front of the statue was never allowed to go out. Around the circular pediment that served as the base of the monument were the Japanese characters that were the haiku Bret had written for his fallen Alpha.

The English translation was in a smaller script beneath the haiku, specially spelled by the Spark as were the grounds of the former internment camp.

always remember

those who fell and yet remain

forever defend

No one but the Packs knew the secrets of those words or the truth of the now hallowed ground. The bodies may have been laid to rest but the souls still sough justice and revenge and despite their efforts at laying them to rest Stiles suspected they always would.

A few hearty historians and adventurers made the trek to the sight, even fewer examined the erected monument. None could deny the sorrow and creepiness that still hung like a pall over the sight or the chill wind that would frequently wend through the fallow field, even on the hottest summer day.

Then came the night a young Omega female had unknowingly run into the field to escape the trio of hunters who were chasing her. The moon was near full and the girl hadn't been able to hide her nature. She hid behind the monument, the only structure able to hide her in the open moonlit field. What happened next no one could say for sure but alerted by their own heightened senses the Pack had found the girl and the grisly remains of the hunters.

The Omega was nearly catatonic and the bodies of the hunters were mere strips of flesh and bone and blood on the ground around the monument, their livers arranged around the eternal flame like some sort of sacrifice. When the State threatened to tear down the monument after the incident they were politely informed by the legal representatives of the owners that they could do no such thing, as the properties legal owners wouldn't allow it. Stiles merely lowered his head and gave a blood thirsty smile.

As for Boyd and Erica when they weren't running fair booths, they and the twins ran a motorcycle design and repair shop. Right now though the quartet were putting the finishing touches on a specialized engine. One that eventually could be expanded to run automobiles instead of just motorcycles. What was so special about this engine, it could run on salt water and a small amount of corn oil. The engine would need to be serviced every three months.

The servicing would only cost two dollars and would be required to remove two canisters and replacing them. One held salt, which could be sold and/or reused, the other a small amount of blackened grease like substance which was surprisingly a natural additive for cosmetics and perfumes, rather similar to ambergris in the old days.

Both Lydia and Jackson were interested in the technology, their old friends had created and were currently in a friendly bidding war for who would produce the tech. That is until Ethan and Erica had banded together and suggested that Lydia do the tech while Jackson do what he did best and would take care of the bio-fuel angle.

When they weren't working in the motorcycle shop with Erica and Boyd which was becoming more rare nowadays, the twins were involved in another venture with their respective lovers. A special agency which was originally thought of by Danny and invested in by Argent Arms. The Agency called Made Services was actually a specialty security agency for corporations and VIP's. Cyber and VIP

Security, they were capable of securing anyone's personal information per any electronic device but they also had retrieved kidnapped VIPS from companies that worked with third world countries, or less than ethical individuals although they did try to limit their contact with that element as much as possible.

It was becoming a very lucrative business and they were looking to expand their work force, using were's and other supernaturals of course. Especially since both couple were looking into adopting two more of the cubs that they had boded with while they stayed at the Pack House.

The presentation was winding down and the families were told to continue enjoying the booths and to remember that there was going to be a fireworks display afterward.

~O~

Several days later: Stiles once again greeted the dawn in his birthday suit. His lover still slept at least he was fairly certain that Derek was still asleep. Either that or the Alpha was developing a sonic weapon through his snoring that could potentially cause earthquakes, and in California that wasn't a good thing. Once again he made his offering to the Nemeton, with a tingle and caress of leaves being the response from the ancient tree.

He glanced over at his mate as the still young Alpha slept after their love making, both still bearing the mark and scent of the other. Memory being the fickle thing it was his own flitted about to the night of the Family Fun Day. The sight of the children playing, including their own additions to the din. The adopted cubs were settling into life with the Beacon Hills Pack nicely.

Stiles gaze warmed and gentled as he remembered hw good his Mate had been with the children. Answering endless questions, offering comfort to the occasionally frightened or injured, and occasionally discipline and control into those who were beginning to test their strength and powers, as well as the patience of some of the other Pack members. Derek though never lost his patience, and showed what am Alpha needed to be for his Pack.

It didn't prevent him from showing his wondering awe when he caressed the burgeoning tummy of his blond and pregnant Beta, Erica, or the flash of surprise when he felt the babies within respond to his voice with a kick or stroke of body moving under his hand.

He floated in mid-air in front of the trunk and felt rather than saw a branch reach down and caress his cheek gently.

"Make. Babies. Send. My. Babies. To. Other. Packs. They, Will. Become. Keepers."

Stiles looked around and sure enough he saw where there were several seedlings growing under the tree. He wasn't the green thumb his mother used to be but he could tell that for right now at least the seedlings were still too small and fragile to handle being posted and then he thought about the processes that the postal service used on their packages and wondered how well the baby Nemeton's would handle such transportation.

Of course he could use magic to transport them but they didn't always handle magic being used on them very well either. He explained using images as well as words the conundrum to the ancient tree. Although explaining the side effects of radiation from x-rays was a challenging endeavor, trees it turned out understood cellular mutation a lot better than one would imagine. Since they occasionally did that same thing on their own for protection or for fun at times.

As for the age and frailty of her young the Nemeton reassured the Spark.

"Babies. Are. Strong. Eager. To. Grow. Be. Ready. Next. Moon. You. Send."

When she said, you send, he knew she meant for him to send the young trees using magical means. Although he didn't doubt the magical trees knowledge of her own young, he really didn't think the tree could pack a years worth of growth into a months worth of time. Then too a being that could pack an entire conversation into twelve words wasn't someone you probably wanted to question in these situations.

"When. Cub. Has. Cubs. He. Will. Understand. We. Will. Be. Strong. Again." The Nemeton's voice resounded in his mind with pride. Whether the pride was for the seedlings or for Stiles, the young Mage didn't know but he chose to believe it was for both. He did his best to explain to the forest entity the inability of two male humans to reproduce in the normal way.

To which the tree showed him images to remind him that the Nemeton itself ha no mate to reproduce with and yet it had seedlings. Then it showed him a male tree the only one of its kind standing alone in a 500 mile desert. It showed that tree over centuries, at first in the middle of a jungle and then the others had died. Then it had been alone for so long. Finally a small tree began to grow from one of its own roots and grow. Until the pair were intertwined and soon a forest began to grow around them again of their young.

Sties smiled as a pair of warm tanned arms wrapped around him from behind, breaking him out of the tree's memory dream. "You and Emmy having a serious conversation?" asked the Alpha as he nuzzled his mates neck scent marking him at the same time.

"Yeah you might say that. Something about babies, biology, and maybe even taking over the world…" the Spark said leaning back into his lovers arms. Secure in the knowledge that Derek would hold him safe as he gazed up at the other mans face.

Derek worked well to hide his expression at the mention of babies but the Spark still saw the yearning in the Alpha's eyes at the mention of babies. Still his werewolf snorted in amusement into the side of his neck causing a distinct tickling sensation that had Stiles give his own little chuckle as the Alpha said with amusement, "Oh so just the normal gossiping then." His hand covered the clasped hands that covered his own abdomen and simply hummed in agreement.

The next month the Pack Mom returned to the clearing that held the Nemeton Sure enough the seedlings once only a couple of inches high were now a foot tall and had leafed out branches showing. The mage knew exactly who to send the first sapling to. In his pocket resided a plain brown wrapped box with an address inked on the return portion of the mailing label.

Mary Cassidy

413 Sanctuary Hill

Boston MA 02109

Inside the package was a "potion" that guaranteed the Spark would become pregnant from his wolf after their next sexual encounter at least as long as he was on the receiving end of the coupling.

His mentor and her Pack had more or less returned to their old stomping grounds and resumed custody of their territory with a minimum of fuss. The potion itself was something that Mary had created for a member of her Pack. A young man who had been having a relationship with the former Pack member Rhys.

The young male had been despondent because he and the elder wolf had discussed using a surrogate t have their child only their hadn't been time before their fight for the werewolf to make a deposit at the sperm bank they had chosen in Los Angeles. He did mention that they had relations within just a few hours of the battle. Which had gotten the female Alpha Mate thinking. The result being a little copy of the deceased Beta and his curly haired sister were both now running around the sleepy suburb of Sanctuary Hills like a pair of hellions.

Stiles smiles as he cupped his hands ever so gently over the base of the still very young trees. Using his power to sense where the roots extended to and making certain to extend the bubble of protective energy to encompass every rootling, branch and leaf from the individual sapling before sending it to his waiting mentor. Mary apparently already had the perfect place picked out for the tree, in the center of their personal oasis in the center of the birthplace of American Freedom.

The Spark already had one picked out that he was going to plant near the monument for the internment camp. He figured the ghost in that place wouldn't mind a little added power for their own protection of the area. He had also already reformed a connection with Bret Talbot and that would be the second place he was sending one of the young trees too. Okinawa Japan.

Jackson and Lydia were already ready in both London and New York to plant the saplings he was sending them before they made the transition back to their home town. Jackson had made friends in his previous timeline in the ancient township in England. He had reacquainted himself with them and now they were going to act as the Keepers for the fast growing nature entity. Although more leery Lydia had arranged with a local Pack in New York to do the same for the very centrally located young Nemeton.

Once he was done sending he trees to the Cascade Rainforest and the jungles of South America, the tired Spark leaned back against the trunk of the tree, cracking open a bottled water. He spilled some on the ground around the roots of the ancient tree as was his want before he spoke aloud to Emmy.

"Liam will be here soon to say goodbye. He and Hayden have already promised they'll be back for summer break, don't worry. You should really talk to him if you want him to be your emissary, don't worry I won't take it personally. Lydia is already making inroads to other wolf packs that Talia trusts to be the hosts for more of your little ones."

"Once things settle down a little more, Derek and I will do some more research into what we need to do to help heal your mate. What idiot really thought sealing a Hellmouth would be a good idea. I mean haven't they ever heard of Vesuvius, Mount St. Helens, Tungusku Siberia and we won't even get into Atlantis, please." the young man said shaking his head as he took another drink from the still cold water."

"Whoever this Watchman is that is protecting the site I'm sure he can be reasoned with. Personally I can't wait to meet him. Whoever he is he must be pretty powerful in his own right to keep the site from already starting to turn California into another Grand Canyon or something." Stiles said as he stood back up and poured the rest of the water out around the roots of the tree, before sealing the bottle and patting the trunk.

"See you tomorrow Emmy." he said before patting the pocket that held the precious package to assure himself of its continued safety, before mumbling to himself, "Derek's in for a hell of a surprise when he gets home tonight."

"My. Keepers. Will. Be. Ready. Soon. We. Will. Be. Together. Again. Beloved."