John had just awoken from a nap when Helen returned a few hours later with James snuggled in her embrace. "I thought you wouldn't mind a visitor," she said with a grin as she sat on the bed with him. "Ashley said that she'll be up in a bit; she's doing something with Henry in the lab."

"She's becoming herself again, isn't she?" John asked.

Helen smiled. "I hope so. I think we just have to be patient a little bit longer." James cooed, looking toward his father. "You feel up to holding him?"

"I'll never be too tired for that," John replied. She gently transferred their son to his embrace and the tiny boy quickly settled down. "This was all for you," he whispered to the baby. "We're going to find a way to give you 'happily ever after'."

Helen smiled. "Or at least as close as anyone ever gets in reality," she amended his promise, reaching to let her son hold her finger. As she did, John noticed something on her hand.

"What's that?" he asked.

Helen looked down and smiled somewhat shyly as she fiddled with the engagement ring on her finger. "You don't recognize it?"

"Oh, I do," he assured her. "When did you start wearing it again?"

"Today…Do you have any objections to that?"

John shook his head. "None. I suppose the next thing we need to do is set a wedding date."

"I was thinking we could keep the same date as what we'd planned on 120 years ago," she suggested. "At least we know that neither of us will ever forget it."

"True…" He was silent for a few moments, thinking about what they'd been through a century earlier, and all the things that had happened more recently. "Do you realize that we did everything completely backward this time?"

Helen cocked her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, instead of getting engaged, conceiving a child, and then having me descend into madness, we did it all in the reverse order."

She laughed lightly. "I suppose doing things the conventional way would be out of the question for us…Is there anything from this second go that you would change?"

John shook his head. "Nothing. The final outcome is perfect."

FIN.

A/N: Again, thank you to everyone who came along for this wild ride, and especially to those who sent feedback (it's not too late to join that club!) I've been kicking around ideas for a sequel, if anyone's interested in seeing that. Comments and/or storyline suggestions are welcome. :-)