New Life In Portland - Epilogue

Here we admire a small collection of some of the Eaton family's future years.

The first section of this, takes place 10 years after that last chapter.

Each section after that, is a time skip ahead a bit (I try to hint at their ages and time in their life, hopefully it won't be too confusing).

Also, per the many requests, even this epilogue is rated M. So beware!

-/-/-/-/-

~TRIS POV~

"C'mon Eli, you can do it!" Tobias shouts, cheering on our son as he rounds second base. He's looking straight ahead, determined to reach his obvious goal of third. I whistle and cheer as he makes it as he had hoped, just moments before the other teams third basemen caught the ball. Even from here, I can see his bright smile, full of happiness and relief. He's always been great at baseball, but during his last game, he didn't do so well. He was really disappointed in himself, so he was a bit bummed out. But today, he's doing fantastic (as he often does) and it definitely seems to be boosting his confidence.

Tobias looks to me briefly with a proud smile, then resumes intently watching the game. But I remain looking at him for a few moments more, admiring his handsomeness and the fact that not only is he such an amazing husband, but he's such a fantastic dad too. So supportive and encouraging of all three of our children and their hobbies.

Elijah's been enjoying little league for a while now, but he has several hobbies, keeping him quite active. He loves soccer, loves to ride his own little dirt bike with his dad, he loves to swim and surf, and of course enjoys his video games. He's also great with a paintball gun, thanks to Tobias taking him out for the first time during his last birthday. They even got me, Savannah and Natalie to play too. It was actually a huge blast.

As Savannah and Natalie began junior high and high school, they began to really get more into their various hobbies as well.

As a young teen, Natalie began volunteering at the local animal shelter. Mainly just to play and keep company with the animals, but she also learned a bit about helping nurse the less healthy ones back to a healthy life. She absolutely loves it and already says how she wants her career to eventually involve animals. But she also loves reading and has an extensive book collection. And loves art in many forms. She's amazing with practically all mediums, but she especially likes watercolor, oils, and colored pencils. She's actually won many awards at the county fair for her paintings and drawings. She's quite fantastic and inspiring. But still, her passion is primarily with animals. Especially as she continues to talk Tobias and I into get more and more pets.

Savannah loves the arts as well, but in various other forms. She leans more towards poetry, film and acting. She regularly gets big parts in school plays and always puts on an amazing show. Her passion for film has always been there, but especially ever since she saw Casablanca. So even at age 14, she's already appreciating some of the old classics with some of her favorite actors being Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Audrey Hepburn, and Gene Kelly. Which then started to bloom into some of the slightly newer talented actors/films as well. Not exactly the norm for many girls her age, but hey, she has mature taste.

"Here's your popcorn mom." Savannah says, breaking me from my thoughts as she and her friend sit beside us on the bleachers. As expected, she and her friend were excited to raid the snack bar during her little brother's game. So as requested, she brought Tobias and me some goodies as well. "And a hot dog with ketchup and mustard dad." she adds, handing him his.

"Thanks sweetie." I say. Tobias agrees and we sit back and enjoy our food. A little while later, I get a text from Natalie asking if she can stay the night at Abby's house, I reply with a yes. But just as I hit send, I'm jolted slightly by the cheers of the crowd. I quickly look back up to the game and see that one of the Meyer twins has hit a home run, winning Elijah's team the game.

The grin on Elijah's face is bright as day. He loves the thrill of a good game.

-/-/-/-/-

Yes! Yes! Yes!" I moan loudly as Tobias' fingers work me like no tomorrow. His mouth is leaving open mouthed kisses along my collar bone and neck as his hand disappears below my dress.

It has been a crazy week of work, errands and random to-do lists, along with the preparation of Evelyn and Phil's wedding. Yes, after all these years together they decided to make it official. However, even though it's just a small gathering, I still needed a dress to wear. The one I was going to wear, had a huge unfixable snag in it. And I was running out of time. So after dropping off the kids for their own individual plans for the afternoon with their friends, dropping off Tobias' suit at the dry-cleaners, and getting groceries, I decided I better run and grab a dress real quick. I originally was going to have Christina help with the search since I know she'd love that, but decided against it due to the lack of time since the event is tonight.

So thankfully, it was only a matter of minutes before I found not one, but TWO dresses that I really liked. But being that I didn't have time to try them on, I just bought them both. I figure, one is bound to be good. I'm usually always the same dress size. And if I don't like one, I'll take it back next week. If both are nice, great! I may as well have an extra dress. Once I got home it was 1 o'clock and Tobias was finishing up random house hold chores and mowing the lawn, but let me know he was going to head out for a run since he never made it to the gym as he had planned. We still had 3 hours until we needed to leave for the casual backyard evening wedding. So I gave him a kiss goodbye and let him know not to be too long. I proceeded to unload the groceries, switched the laundry and then remembered, I better actually try the dresses on now to make sure at least one of them fits well.

I tried on the first one, a coral colored knee length lace dress with capped sleeves. It fit perfectly. I was happy to be off to a good start, but for good measure, I tried on the second dress. A cream colored long sleeved dress, with large grey flowers and a wrap-style skirt. It looked great on the hanger, but once I put it on, I realized how short it was. Especially with the wrap-style bottom, I'd be bound to accidentally flash a panty shot to someone. So I'll be returning this one for sure. But before I could take it off, my phone rang and it was Christina. Although she and I still see each other about once a week, sometimes more, we usually end up talking on the phone at least once a day. Somehow I ended up getting distracted from my task at hand, and ended talking for 10 minutes as I gathered more laundry, still wearing this dress that needs to go back to the store.

But not long after, Tobias came home from his run. He had come into the bedroom wearing just a pair of basketball shorts and a T-shirt, but the T-shirt was quickly removed to wipe his forehead of its sweat, before tossing it into the laundry hamper. He started to say something about him taking a shower, but then he spotted me bending over in my dress and sauntered over. Just as I turn my head to look at him, I see a not so subtle glint of excitement in his eye. As I continued to listen to Christina and attempted, but failed, to wrap up the conversation, Tobias decided he rather like the dress, just the way it was.

I had tried explaining to Chris that I had to go get ready, but she kept ranting on about the stupid new person at her work. Meanwhile, Tobias had pressed me against the bedroom wall and let his hands explore my bare legs.

"Chris? Sorry, but Tris will have to call you back. We have something important to...attend to." he had said in the phone after snatching it from me, the lust in his voice giving away his real intentions of getting me off the phone.

All I heard was Christina's loud laughter as he ended the call and then tossed the phone onto the bed.

Then his hands found their eager destination up my legs even further and without hesitation, he had pushed my panties aside and buried his middle finger inside me. I can't even remember or explain the noise that came from my mouth as the pleasure immediately took over me. Not only from the way his skillful finger was working me. But also, the way he looks at me, his neediness, and his demand to have me. He took control and I was more than happy to oblige. Especially how sexy he looks all flushed and sweaty from his run. On other guys, it would seem gross. But with him, it just turns me on.

"Thank you for giving me head this morning, which was amazing." he says, still caressing my body.

"You know I like to suck you off in the shower." I remind him, and man oh man is it true.

He grins. "Now it's your turn." he says, two fingers plunging in and out of me as he pants against the skin of my neck.

"I like this dress." he adds against my ear before pulling away slightly to look me over again.

"It's much too short for me, especially for your mom's wedding tonight."

"But I like it, so you should keep it for our private date nights." He insists as he uses his other hand to creep up the back of the dress and squeeze my ass.

"Okay." I breathe out, happily giving in to that request if there is any chance this might be the outcome of me wearing it again in the future.

My head thumps back against the wall as he drops to his knees and pushes the front of the dress up with his face. He kisses me and teases me with his sexy lips and warm moist tongue. I urge him on, pleading "Yes! Oh my..." My breath hitches before I can even finish my sentence, because the waves of pleasure are too intoxicating.

After devouring me for a few minutes, he senses I'm coming down from my orgasmic high, and stands. Smiling cheekily at me.

"You like this dress too?" he asks.

I just nod and try to catch my breath. Then I again take in his appearance as he stands before me, hands resting on my hips. He's still in just his shorts, still sticky with sweat and his muscles contract with his slightly heavy breathing. His deep blue eyes are full of desire as he helps turn me to walk me towards the bed.

"How long til the kids are home?" he asks.

"They're hanging out with friends, but I told them to be home by 4 o'clock to get ready."

He looks at the clock and sees it's about 3pm.

"So I have an hour to have my way with you." he says with as he turns me to face the bed, and slowly unzips the back of my dress. He kisses my bare shoulder, then down my back as the zipper comes down.

Once it's dropped to the floor, he turns me to face him again and I smile as I reach and drop his shorts. My core throbs for him as I see his hardness outlined through his boxer-briefs.

I run my hands up his muscular bare arms before trailing them down his chest and to the dark golden hairs at his lower abs, leading to where I desire to touch him most right now. I push down his boxers, finally freeing him. His breath increases as he playfully pushes me back onto the bed, then claws at the sides of my panties to yank them off. Then with a matter of what feels like a millisecond, he's on top of me and delightfully pushing into me.

-/-/-/-/-

"Do you like this one here?" I ask Natalie as we currently shop desks. It's a simple design, but it's cute in a dark espresso finish and seems quite functional.

She comes over to inspect the desk I'm referring to, eager to leave the store with one today. She's heading off to college soon, got a scholarship for UC Berkeley. And I promised her since she got such good grades her senior year (and all through high school), that we'd go on a shopping spree to get stuff for her new apartment that she will be sharing with her friends Hannah, Abby and a third girl she has yet to meet. She's been looking forward to this shopping trip since she graduated, so we made the trip into Portland this afternoon, to the nearest IKEA.

"Yeah, I think that will be good since it's not too big." she replies, pulling open the couple drawers to look it over.

"Okay, I'll mark down the item number and we'll grab it before we check-out." I say, using the little pencil to mark down the item of choice.

"Let's go look at the pictures and decorations." she says with a big excited smile, hooking her arm with mine and dragging me in that direction. I'm so glad she grew out of the faze of not wanting to be close and affectionate around her parents. Not that she was ever that against it, but I think now that she's getting ready to move to another state, she's been especially clingy to Tobias and I. She puts on a tough front, but I can tell she's nervous with this big step in her life.

We end up spending at least an hour gathering a few posters and decorative items, boxes and bins for her to organize her space, a bean bag chair, a mirror, a hamper, and other odds and ends. Before leaving, we each get an ice cream cone and then head to the car.

After our fairly long drive home of singing along ridiculously to loud music, we pull into the driveway. We open the trunk to unload just as Savannah pulls up behind us driving Tobias' truck. She gets out, just as he gets out of the passenger seat. She's squealing in excitement as she runs to hug me.

"I got it! I passed! I got my driver license!" She exclaims, holding up the piece of paper that is her temporary license, until the actual one arrives in the mail. I hug her back and kiss her forehead.

"Congratulations baby! Tell me all about it." I say, snatching her paperwork to look at it.

While we were in Portland today, Tobias had taken Savannah to the DMV to take her driver's test. She's been anxiously awaiting getting it, and was very confident up until this morning when it was officially the big day. She was so nervous, actually almost cried about it at one point. But obviously the worry was for nothing as she proceeds to tell me the details.

"I only missed 1 on the written exam. And I got a perfect score on the behind-the-wheel test." she says as Tobias comes to join us. He pecks me on the lips in greeting and smiles back proudly at Savannah. Natalie comes over to see too and Tobias gives her a hug in greeting as well. She leans on his chest as Savannah continues to explain.

"I don't know what I was thinking taking dad's truck as the vehicle to use for the test, what a pain in the butt it is to parallel park. But I did it!" she says with a big smile.

"Well, I knew you'd do great. I'm proud of you. Should we celebrate tonight, go out to eat?" I suggest.

"Actually..." she says, pulling her phone from her back pocket to look at it."My friend and I were thinking of going out for pizza, then to the movies. Is that okay? I can finally drive all by myself, I'd really like to go." she says, a hopeful look on her face.

"Yeah, that's fine. But who's going? What friend?" I ask.

At this, I see her eyes avoid Tobias as she mumbles it under her breath.

He must notice this too as I notice his eyebrows furrow.

"Who? You mumbled." he points out, waiting for her to answer appropriately.

"Justin" she says timidly, now finding her cuticle of her fingernail quite interesting as she obviously doesn't want to ask her father if she can go out with a boy.

"Who's Justin?" Tobias asks.

"Justin Miller. You've both met him a few times." she tells Tobias and I. "Tall, dark hair. I've known him since freshman year. He's been in Drama class with me since last year, we're just friends." she clarifies, but knows she needs to explain more. "But, yesterday he asked if he could take me out for pizza to celebrate this evening, since he knew I'd pass my drivers test."

"So, it's just the two of you? Like a date?" Tobias asks.

Natalie and I share a small smile, holding back our small chuckles at the conversation that is now pretty much just happened between father and daughter, as if Natalie and I aren't even here.

Savannah just shrugs in response. "I don't know, he didn't say specifically. But he did say it would just be us. I mean, I kind of hope it's like a date, I've never been on one, and I'm 16 now. But I don't want to get my hopes up in case he doesn't mean it that way. Either way, can I please go? You know I'll be responsible, and I'll be home by curfew." she pleads with her not so subtle puppy-dog face.

He sighs and looks at me for my opinion. I know he wants to say no, but knows that would be unfair. We've always discussed letting our kids enjoy their youth and normal teenage experiences, but sure to also teach them morals, responsibilities, good judgments.

But he hasn't really been put in this predicament before. Natalie enjoyed going out with friends, but was pretty much always in a big group of people when guys would be involved. She's been more focused on her education, determined to get good grades and get into a good college since she eagerly wants to be a veterinarian. In fact, she only went on her first official date a few months ago, but ended up saying it was a waste of time. He was boring and she said since she's just leaving for Berkeley soon anyway, she didn't see the point in leading him to think something could become of them as a couple. And she hasn't been one of those girls eager to lose her virginity or fool around randomly, unlike many of the girls that recently graduated high school with her. So this has all made our parenting quite a bit easier when it comes to the topic of boys or possible boyfriends with our eldest daughter.

Although Savannah gets good grades too, she has been a bit more social in comparison, and she has shown a little more interest in boys over these last couple years. And as her mother, I know I've overheard her and her friends discussing this particular Justin kid. Plus, as I helped her with a particularly hard assignment last week, she got bored and I caught her doodling "Justin" in a heart. I chuckled and teased her for a moment, but dropped the subject quickly so she wouldn't get too embarrassed. It's her first crush, and I think it's adorable. Plus, I want her to feel comfortable talking to me about him, or any guys, if she wants to. So being that I know she's liked Justin for a while, I'm sure she's probably quite excited he asked her out, even if it was casual.

I shrug at Tobias in answer to his silent question, but also offer a smile and nod.

He sighs but nods in agreement.

"Okay, fine. You can go with Justin. BUT, by Oregon law, you can't drive together yet since you're within your first 6 months of getting your license. And I'm sure he is too, assuming he's about your age?" he asks and Savannah nods, seemingly more happy as he continues to okay her to go on the date. "Yeah, he got his license a month ago." she says.

"Alright, one more condition. I want him to come here to the house first, meet us and say hello before you two go out." Tobias adds.

"Okay, no problem. I'm sure he won't mind." she says as she grabs her phone again and texts away with an excited smile.

Tobias sighs and gives me an uneasy smirk. He's very afraid of the 'b word' (boyfriend) as he calls them, when it's regarding our daughters.

"Alright peanut, so what did you get today? I'll help you bring it all inside." Tobias says, bringing his attention to Natalie, who he still calls 'peanut' after all these years. It all started when he first commented that she was like a little peanut when we first saw her sonogram. It was just cute and it stuck. Thankfully she's never corrected him or shied away from the nickname.

"Mom let me get so much stuff." she says with a wide smile, pulling out the two big blue bags of items she picked out. Tobias reaches for the slender but large heavy box containing her desk. I help by carrying in the bean bag chair and smaller box containing the small end table. We stack all the stuff inside the house near the front door, as we'll just be loading it up to move the day after tomorrow anyway. She continues to tell him what she got and how excited she is to go set up and decorate her new place. Meanwhile, Savannah sits near us on the lower stairs, smiling down at her phone as her thumbs click away.

"Okay, he said he will be here around 6 o'clock." she informs us as she stands up and rubs her hands on the sides if her jeans. I can tell she seems excited, but also kind of nervous.

"So your date will be here in an hour?" Natalie asks her younger sister after glancing at the clock.

"Um, yeah..." Savannah says looking down, contemplating her attire. Which consists of some simple blue jeans and a black T-shirt.

"C'mon, let's go get you ready." Natalie's says, taking Savannah's hand and dragging her upstairs. Savannah followed, looking over her shoulder at us with a big grin, obviously excited her awesome big sister was going to help.

"I'm glad you said yes to letting her go, she's liked him for a while now." I tell Tobias as we head toward the kitchen together.

"She has?" he asks, pulling out a cutting board and a knife. He begins dicing up a handful of the heirloom tomatoes that we picked from our garden yesterday.

"Yeah, and he's a sweet kid." I say, taking a seat on a barstool at the counter as I watch him pull out the small food processor, and drops the diced tomatoes into it.

"He better not try anything." he says, clenching his jaw after thinking about what this boys intentions could be. He goes for the handful of cilantro he had put aside and tosses a bunch of it into the food processor, along with salt and a few jalapeño peppers.

"I don't think he will. She wouldn't go out with anyone that would be too pushy. And if he ends up being, you know she can hold her own. You've taught all our kids self-defense quite well." I remind him as he adds a little onion to his mixture, then pulses the processor to bring it all together.

"I know, I just don't like it. I don't think I'll ever get used to the thought of a boy entering the picture. I guess I just want her to stay our young sweet little girl." he says, turning off the device and giving his concoction a taste. He nods to himself, reaches up to grab a bowl, then pours the mixture in. Then goes to the pantry and grabs a bag of tortilla chips, which he dumps into a larger bowl.

"I know, me too. And she's still our sweet young girl, she always will be. But it's natural for her to want to go on a date now. She's just turned 16. We just have to help make sure she picks good boys, and that she makes good decisions." I say as I grab a chip and dip in it to taste what he's made. I already know by the look and smell, I'm going to love it.

"Wow, the 'uncomfortable, worried, over protective dad' side of you makes really good salsa." I say, going for another chip.

He laughs and nods in agreement as he chews his next bite. I smile at him and go in for more.

"You think I'm being over protective?" he asks, leaning on the counter.

"Yeah, a little. But it's cute." I say.

"So I shouldn't be polishing my gun when he arrives? Because that was my plan." he says, chuckling. But I know he's probably actually half serious.

"Probably best to keep your gun locked away. I think you'll be intimidating enough as you are." I say with a small laugh,

His eyebrows raise in question expressively and he tilts his head slightly. The looks he gives me, sexy as ever. I lean over the counter and kiss him. He kisses back and I taste a little of the spice from the salsa we ate.

I pull away slowly, smiling at him, as I sit back onto my barstool.

"Now how about you help me make me some tacos to go with this salsa. I started marinating some carne asada last night." I say, getting up to go to the fridge for it.

"Garlic lime marinade?" he asks hopefully and I nod as I pull out the big zip-lock bag of it. Then I start up the gas burner on the stove top.

Not long after, the girls come down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Ta Da." Natalie says, revealing Savannah as if she's a showcase prize. "Make-up, done. Hair, done. Cute outfit, done."

"Mom, necklace or no necklace?" She asks, holding it up, still unsure about accessorizing.

"I like the necklace." I say, making her twirl after putting it on. I smile at her approvingly.

"So, I look okay?" she asks grabbing her purse and tossing it on her shoulder to complete the look.

"Perfect." I tell her as I admire her cute but modest taste in clothing. She's in black leggings, a loose gray sweater and light weight scarf, along with her brown shoes and matching long strapped purse. "I wanted to keep it casual, since I don't know if it's officially a date, and it's just pizza, not a fancy restaurant." she explains with a shy smile. She then looks up to Tobias, silently asking for his opinion as well.

"You look beautiful." he tells her with a smile and gives her a playful tug on her hair that hangs down beautifully in loose curls. I agree with him, she looks gorgeous. Effortlessly beautiful, just like her sister, who now sits on the counter near us in her similar leggings and a deep blue and white designed knit sweater, her hair in a bun, munching casually on her dads homemade salsa.

Just then, the doorbell rings. At that simple noise, Tobias' whole body language changes. Just a moment ago, he was leaning on the counter looking at his girls, relaxed and carefree. Now he's standing up straight, crossing his arms, exuding intimidation and seriousness. Right now he's not just Tobias, he's in Four mode.

Savannah asks us to wait here, then she runs off towards the front door. We hear her give him a quiet greeting, then she emerges into the kitchen with a tall boy following behind her. He's not as tall as Tobias, but he's close. He's got shaggy brown hair, with a slight curl to it. Dark brown eyes, and a nice smile. He currently seems both excited and nervous to be here.

"Hi Justin, it's nice to see you again." I say. He reaches to shake my hand and I return it. "You too Mrs. Eaton." he replies.

"Please, you can call me Tris." I say kindly.

He nods with a bright smile, then turns to Tobias and reaches to shake his hand too. "Hello Mr. Eaton."

Tobias returns the gesture of his hand shake, but his facial expression is hard still.

Justin tucks his hands in his pockets afterward, rocking back and forth on his heels. He's obviously a little shy and awkward, not knowing how to handle Tobias' cold demeanor.

"So Justin, where do you plan on taking my daughter tonight?" Tobias presses. Natalie and I share a look, I just smirk and I can tell she's biting the inside of her cheek to keep from chuckling.

"Well Sir, if it's okay, we were going to go to Tony's for pizza, then to the 8 o'clock movie." he explains, looking to Savannah briefly to see if that's still okay with her and she offers him a small smile. Then they both look back to Tobias.

"So you should be home by 10 o'clock?" he asks, but Savannah speaks up.

"The movie is long. Like two and a half hours. And we don't have school tomorrow. So I'll be home by 11 o'clock?" she says, more as a hopeful question than a statement. She looks back and forth between me and Tobias, waiting for the a-ok.

He looks to me briefly to mentally ask for my input, then looks back to her and Justin.

"Okay, 11 o'clock. No later." he says. She smiles and hugs him in appreciation. "Thanks dad." she says.

After hugging her back and kissing her on the top of her head, she pulls away to hug me next. Tobias goes back to crossing his arms, a stern look on his face.

Savannah smiles and waves to Natalie who remains on the kitchen counter, giving her younger sister an encouraging wink.

"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Eaton, I'll see you later." Justin says as Savannah drags him out the door.

After the door clicks closed, Tobias lets out a big breath that I didn't realize he was holding.

"Wow, it's been a while since big tough badass dad has come out." Natalie says.

"Hey, watch your language. And I'm always big tough badass dad." he says with a chuckle.

Natalie playfully rolls her eyes and laughs, as do I.

Then we hear the door open and Elijah joins us in the kitchen, going straight for the fridge to chug some orange juice.

"Hey, how was Ethan's house?" I ask.

"Ew, please use a cup." Natalie says laughing at her little brother as he drinks from the carton. He then rolls his eyes as I hand him a cup.

"It was good. He got the new Call of Duty, so we've been playing it for a few hours." he explains.

"Nice." Tobias says. "I heard it's a good game."

"Mmhmm." Elijah agrees downing his glass of OJ.

"You hungry for dinner?" I ask him. He nods as I hand him and Natalie a plate so that they can fix their tacos with the toppings of their choice. Of course, Elijah being the growing boy that he is, he fills his plate with 6 overfilled tacos.

I look at my son and almost can't believe my eyes. His appearance is obviously changing a bit, it seems like each day his facial features slowly change and make him look more mature. More like a young man, rather than a young rambunctious shaggy blonde haired boy. And I swear, he looks more and more like his dad every day too (but that's definitely a good thing). He's still slender, but is getting more muscular, his shoulders are broadening and at the rate he's growing in height, he might even outgrow Tobias.

We all sit at the dinner table and continue talking a bit more about our day, and about our trip to UC Berkeley in a couple days.

But at one point, Elijah gets a quizzical look and asks. "Where's Savannah?" As if it just occurred to him that she wasn't home with us.

"On a date." Natalie says wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

Elijah sports an amused smile and looks to his dad with raised eyebrows, looking for his reaction. We all chuckle as he lets out a silent laugh and tucks into his meal.

***A FEW DAYS LATER***

"Wow, that drive was so long." Natalie says as she pulls open the car door.

"And we made it in good time." I tell her, looking at the time on my phone. I hold in my sigh as it sinks in that it's 10 1/2 hours from our home in Oregon, to my babies new home for the next few years.

We both stand and stretch our limbs as Tobias, Savannah and Elijah pull up in the parking space next to us in his truck, which has a full bed load of Natalie's stuff. We all decided to join in the journey to move her to her new apartment in Berkeley, California. Tobias and I both wanted to be a part of helping in the move. And although Savannah and Eli were happy about that too, they seemed to look at it more like a mini vacation as we'd planned on staying in the California Bay Area for 3 or 4 days. Not only to help Natalie get settled, but to hop over to San Francisco to see Caleb, Susan and Alyssa since it's not far from here.

I drove Natalie here in her packed-to-the-brim Honda civic, full of mostly just clothes. The plan was to leave her civic here with her, so she can get back and forth to school, as well as the part-time job she said she wants to get to start building her resume. So the rest of us will take Tobias' truck home later on the week.

Natalie looks up toward her new apartment complex. It's a bit older, but seems well-kept and safe.

"I'll text Hannah and Abby. They should already be here." Natalie says, pulling out her phone.

"So this is it." Tobias says, approaching us, also yawning and stretching from the long drive.

"I like all the trees and plants, feels like Oregon." Savannah says, admiring the garden area of the complex.

Elijah lower the tailgate of the truck and begins to unload a couple boxes.

"Wow, you're eager." I say.

"I'm hungry. I assume the sooner we move her in, the sooner we eat?" he asks. And we all laugh.

Then we hear squeals of excitement and I turn to see Hannah and Abby joining us, going in straight for a hug to Natalie. They jump up and down for a moment in utter joy, still connected in their group hug. Then they turn to us and greet us as well.

I'm really glad they're here with her. And I know she is too. It really helped encourage her decision to move here. She had a group of 4 girls she was especially good friends with growing up through junior high and high school. Two of the others went their own ways for college endeavors, but she was ecstatic when Hannah and Abby agreed to apply for UC Berkeley as well, and even more ecstatic when all three of them got accepted. They were then determined to find a place that the three of them could live together. Which is when the apartment hunt began. We were all a bit skeptical since we just had to go by pictures online of the place. But as they lead the way into the upstairs 3 bedroom unit, it's thankfully just as good as the pictures.

"Here's the kitchen, and the living room, and the dining room." Hannah says, twirling in a circle to point out each area. Since the space is so small, none of us had to walk or move around to see.

"And this..." Abby begins as she leads the way to the short hallway. "Is your room, Nat." she says pointing out the small bedroom between the other two, directly across the hall bathroom and linen closet.

"I like it. Do you like it?" I ask Natalie, even though I'm sure she does by the big smile on her face.

"I love it, this is going to be so much fun!" she says.

"Alright, let's get you loaded in then, make it feel like home." Tobias says.

He and Elijah lead the way back down to the parking lot and begin to carry in the small amount of furniture they brought in the truck. Primarily consisting of her single bed, the ikea desk, desk chair, a night stand, beanbag chair, and a lamp and storage chest. The rest of us grab all the clothes, shoes, school supplies and other odds and ends.

Once we get it all in the apartment, we call to have a pizza delivered. We stay and help get her situated. Tobias and Elijah spread out on the floor and build the desk, while I set up the bed and put sheets and bedding on it. Meanwhile, Natalie, Savannah, Hannah and Abby, put away clothes, hang pictures and posters, and do any other random decorating.

I smile as I look around at us all participating in this, and happy Natalie hasn't shooed us away. I'm sure they wouldn't prefer their weekend spent with her parents and younger siblings, but being that it's move-in day, and she won't see us for a couple months, she doesn't seem eager to cut our visit short.

"So, how was your date the other day?" Natalie asks her sister as we all eat the freshly delivered pizza. Savannah blushes slightly, but smiles as she picks off a piece of pepperoni and pops it into her mouth.

"Good." she says.

"That's it? Good?" Natalie presses.

"Really good. He's really sweet." Savannah replies.

"How sweet?" Tobias asks.

"Dad." Savannah says slightly embarrassed.

"Did he kiss you?" Natalie asks as if it just dawned on her.

I try to hold my smile as I already know the story of how her evening went with Justin, as she had told me all about it the following morning.

"Maybe." Savannah says, her cheeks getting rosier.

"A boy kissed you?" Elijah asks again with his eyebrows raised, a laugh at the cusp of his lips. He looks to Tobias and nudges him with his elbow. "Hear that dad?" he asks with a teasing grin. Savannah glares at her brother, but it just makes him laugh more.

Tobias' eyebrows furrow as he waits for Savannah to explain. Natalie, Hannah and Abby are just smiling sweetly, seemingly proud of the younger sister for having what sounds like a lovely date.

"We went out for pizza, went to the movies, then helped made sure I got home safely since we couldn't drive together. He walked me to the door and asked me to go out again next Friday night." she begins and everyone eagerly awaits her to continue. "When I agreed, he squeezed my hand and kissed me on the cheek. Then he went home." she says. "That's all." she reassures Tobias.

"Awww..." Natalie, Hannah and Abby say in unison with big smiles.

Tobias seems relieved, but still not liking the whole idea of his little girl having a boyfriend.

"So, Eli- are you excited to start high school next week?" Savannah asks her brother, obviously changing the subject.

-/-/-/-/-

"You ready?" I ask my husband as I straighten his bow tie.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Tobias replies with a sigh, but a smile plays on his sexy lips. As I can tell that although this is a big step for our daughter, he is very happy for her. And he's more than ecstatic to be the one to walk her down the aisle.

"You look beautiful by the way." he tells me. "Doesn't she?" Tobias asks Elijah who's waiting patiently nearby, also in a tuxedo.

"You do mom, you look very pretty." he agrees.

"Thank you my handsome men, you both look very nice too." I say as I attempt to fix a wild piece of Elijah's hair, then adjust his bow tie as well. And yes, I said my handsome men, as our Eli is now already 19 years old.

I smile and lean up to kiss Eli on the cheek, then lean up and kiss Tobias quickly on the mouth.

"The rest of the guys ready yet?" I ask them, as that was my original intention when seeking them out a couple minutes ago.

"Yeah, they're on their way down. Give them 3 minutes, that should be plenty of time." Tobias says.

I nod, peck him on the lips one more time, and then head back to the dressing area.

First I see Savannah, who is her maid of honor. Then her bridesmaids; Hannah, Abby, Avery and Peyton. They're bustling around with the last minute details, such as putting on their high heels, spritzing a little perfume and putting in their earrings. Natalie still stands there in her gorgeous long white strapless dress, looking utterly breathtaking. She's obviously completely ready and simply waiting for her sister and best friends to finish up so she can finally go get married to her man.

She and Dylan met in their sophomore year at Berkeley where they shared a couple chemistry and biology classes. They've dated for the past few years, and just after graduation he proposed. She happily accepted, and now here they are, getting married here at Canby Chapel. Just recently, they moved back up here to Oregon. Not only because they knew that's where they wanted to settle down, but because Natalie will be attended OSU for their veterinary program. Although they live in Corvallis near school, it's still much closer than California. So we're quite pleased to see her (and her soon-to-be husband) more often.

"The guys should be ready any minute. Everyone got what they need?" I ask as they snatch up their bouquets and tuck in little bits if tissue in various areas just in case the tears decide to come.

Savannah comes up to me in her deep red bridesmaid dress, her hair in the intricate bun at the base of her neck. She gives me the 'how do I look?' look, like she's always given me.

"Beautiful." I tell her with a big smile.

She smiles as she and the girls begin to filter out.

"Ready baby girl?" I ask Natalie as she makes her way to the door too.

She takes a deep breath and nods. I can tell she's slightly nervous, but mostly just excited. Just like me on my wedding day.

"You look breathtaking Natalie. So beautiful." I begin, willing the tears not to fall. She swallows hard too and bites her lip, just like her dad does. "I can't even explain how proud and excited I am for you. Dylan is so sweet and wonderful, and he's a very, very lucky guy to be marrying you." I add as I hug her.

"Thank you mama." she says, hugging me back.

"Thank you Auntie." she says to Christina who is adjusting her dress train behind her.

"Of course sweetie. And your mom is right, you look amazing." Christina replies with an encouraging smile. Natalie grins. "Now let's go get you hitched!" Christina adds.

The smile on Tobias' face as he walked Natalie down the aisle, mirroring the one on her face, was something I'll never ever forget.

Seeing the love in her eyes as she recited her vows, will also be something I'll never forget. I remember that look, when Tobias said his vows to me, and I'm sure I appeared similar as I said mine to him.

Over the years, we seem to have been successful in raising our children to be good people, and I'm extremely proud of all three of them. They've had their hiccups, like any kids. Their spats and arguments and occasional bad decisions. But they've grown into such amazing wonderful people.

We've sought to teach them our core values - be brave, be smart, be selfless, be honest, and be kind. We've encouraged them to do whatever makes them happy, whatever route in life brings them joy, go for it. To just live and be happy. And along the way, be open to the prospect of love. After all, Tobias and I weren't exactly looking for love or a relationship, but it snuck up on us. Once we acknowledged it, we became whole. We became one. And although we taught our kids about the importance of love, there is only so much you can teach your kids specifically about romantic relationships, as a lot of it just has to come from we simply tried to remind them to be respectful, to be honest, and to be loving. And we'd be there for questions or advice whenever they needed it, and of course tried to set the best example we could. Which if I do say so myself, we did a pretty damn good job of considering during the almost 25 years we've been together as a couple, it's been incredible. Tobias is still that amazing, romantic, sweet guy I fell so deeply in love with, and it only seems to grow each and every day.

And now Natalie has found her love, her husband, her soul mate. Dylan Roth. It seems surreal, she is now Mrs. Natalie Anne Roth.

I think Savannah has found the love of her life as well. Although she and Justin happily dated for a year in high school, they had decided to break it off when his parents had a nasty divorce and he had to move to Florida with his mom. But they still kept in touch regularly by phone, email, skype, etc., but only as friends. They didn't want to attempt the long distance relationship thing, especially since they were still so young. But neither of them could find the same connection with anyone else when they attempted to date others. So when he was just shy of 20 years old and moved back to Oregon, and specifically started attending Southern Oregon University where Savannah was majoring in theater arts (because she has decided she wants to get into film costuming), she was over the moon to see him again. They began dating again shortly after, and have been together ever since. Although there is no ring on her finger yet, they often talk casually how they'll get married one day. It's quite adorable.

As for Elijah, he doesn't currently have a girlfriend, just focusing on his career in minor leagues. He has been playing baseball since he was 6, and has loved it. Plus, he's just a phenomenal player. He's occasionally dated, but seems eager to just focus on his goals, which is to play ball well enough to make in into the MLB. His last relationship didn't last more than a couple of months, and again, says he's not sure why. He confided in Tobias to say he just didn't feel a spark, and that he had just agreed to go out with her because she was really pretty and he hoped they'd have a connection. But as time grows on, we continue to witness his blindness of the love we feel he has for his close friend Katelyn. He and Kate have been friends for years and were inseparable for many summers growing up. But as they've gotten older, Tobias and I have seen the way he looks at her, and she him. The way they find excuses to touch each other or hold hands. We've mentioned it to him, but he'll usually just get embarrassed and brush it off, saying it's weird, because it's Kate, and she's just his best female friend.

But as I dance with my husband at my daughter's wedding, I look over his shoulder at the other couples. I see Natalie and Dylan dancing, whispering things into each other's ears. I also see Savannah and Justin dancing sweetly. But then, to our left, I see Eli dancing with Kate. I can't help my grin, and I nudge Tobias to look too.

"How long you give them 'til they admit their feelings?" he asks in a whisper to me, a knowing smile on his face.

I see the sparkle in their eyes, their shy smiles, the way they're trying to act as if they're just casual friends.

"Although I think Eli may have finally admitted it to himself by now, he's reserved and quiet like you. So, I give it at least another month of two."

He laughs and leans his forehead against mine.

"How'd we get so lucky?" he asks a minute later as we continue swaying to the John Legend song.

"We really are. Aren't we?" I state, completely agreeing with his comment.

"I love you." he says, before leaning in and pressing his lips to mine in a long but publicly appropriate kiss.

"I love you too." I reply after, as he again rests his forehead on mine.

-/-/-/-/-

A/N -

Alright, thats it for "New Life In Portland"!

Hopefully the epilogue didn't disappoint. I really got indecisive with how to end it, so I chose to go this route with several smaller sequences throughout their future years. I wanted to share their future with you a little bit and show that ultimately, love is what brings them all together. Then it ended up being over 9,000 words long!

To those of you who noticed I started the story with Tris' POV, and ended it with Tobias' (in that last/final chapter), good perception! I wondered if anyone would notice that I purposefully did that!
I wanted it to kind of come full circle, like they were both lost, just aimlessly living each day, before they were pulled toward Portland to start a "New Life" (cue the title) and end up finding their happiness. Even though they didn't technically end up living in Portland at the end (instead, being closer to the Oregon coast), it's what brought them together. But with the epilogue, I wanted to bring the POV back to Tris, to see her side of their later years.

Also, I may eventually try and go back and fix/edit mistakes throughout the story and remove all my random authors notes. But besides that, before I sign-off on this story for good, I want to take a moment to thank you again.

Thank you SO SO SO much for the wonderful reviews and feedback throughout this whole story. I'm humbled that you've wanted to read what I thought would simply be a little short nothing-special story of mine. Your words are literally what has kept this story going and encouraged me to put the effort into it. I truly cherish all of you. You're amazing readers/fans and I have really enjoyed writing this entire story, it's a fun hobby for me. It turned out to be much longer than I expected at 64 chapters, and the turnout of views, followers, feedback, favorites, has far surpassed what I ever imagined. THANK YOU!

As we'll as an additional thank you to Ractre1127, my friend and proofreader. Thank you, you're amazing!

Lastly, I've started my new Tris/Tobias story, "Crash Landing". Feel free to check it out if you haven't yet. And/or stay tuned for the next chapter of it, which I'll be posting sometime in the next couple days.

As always, come check me out on tumblr! I will soon be posting picture collages to correlate with this update as well. And it's just fun to chat and share pictures of fun stuff.

My Tumblr username: madisonr1129

:)