Epilogue: Four years later...

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fosters.

AN: Finally... the end has come.

I know I said I would try to hit 55 chapters, but after much thought I realized that this story has run its course. This will be the final chapter.

I will be focusing next on my Jonnor/Walking Dead crossover "Hell", and continuing the rewrite of Shared. I will also be continuing my work on "Acceptance", and "Connor's Brother". I might also post various one shots to this site and my AO3 account, and some will be Jonnor, and some will not.

I can hardly believe this story is gonna be over. The first chapter of this story was posted May 5th 2015. It's now October 3rd 2015. Almost five whole months, 50 whole chapters, 212 reviews, 35,000+ views later, and it's finally coming to an end. I am literally sobbing so hard as I write this Author's Note. My masterpiece is finally finished.

November 18th, 2030.

Connor's POV:

Jude turned thirty today.

He is three full decades old today.

I took him out to lunch at his favorite restaurant, and bought him a silver pocket watch from a jewelers store at the Genesee Valley Mall.

It was twilight, and the house was empty except for Jude and I. Wally and Tim had both graduated from the high school with honors, and had moved out and into the dormitory at the University of Michigan, Flint Campus. Wally was going to school to be a detective, and Tim was going to school to be a surgeon. Jude and I couldn't be more proud that our sons were setting high goals for themselves, and working hard to achieve them. Both of them were at the top of their classes.

Tim was in a steady relationship with a boy named David, whom he met in his junior year in high school. After nearly giving up on dating altogether due to a string of failed relationships, Tim met David in show choir, a class that Tim took on a whim and never expected to like. The two of them hit it off immediately and became best friends. David made the first move. The two had plans to get married once they graduated from college and got steady jobs and a place of their own.

Wally was in a relationship with a girl named Dominique, and had been since about a week after we all managed to finally convince Riley to leave his house and return to Davison in their sophomore year. She was from a small town in France that I can't pronounce the name of, and she had moved to Michigan because her dad had gotten a new job here. She met Wally, and he immediately fell head over heels for her.

I gazed at my husband, sitting at his desk in the corner of the living room. I still have no idea, 17 years after our relationship began, how I managed to capture the heart of such a beautiful person.

I got up from my chair, little Minion following slowly behind me. It still surprised me that the dog was still alive. He would be ten years old next year, although if what I've read online is anything to go by, he could live to be as old as sixteen year old. His once near solid black fur coat was now turning grey, but he still acted like an imperious dictator in a poodle's body.

I walked over to where Jude sat and kneeled next to him. I gently took his chin into my grasp, and turned his head to capture his next breath in a deep kiss. We took turns stealing each other's next breaths. After seventeen years of doing this, kissing Jude still gives me the same butterflies in my stomach that it did when we were just two thirteen year old boys, sharing our first kiss bathed in the dim light of an electric lantern, within a cheap tent during a school camping trip with an uncertain future looming over the horizon.

We finally separated from our kiss with a soft pop, and I stared into his eyes lovingly, and he stared back. I caressed his cheek with the back of my hand.

"I love you." He whispered to me.

"I love you too, baby." I whispered back.

I leaned in and pecked a kiss on the tip of his nose.

He smiled. It was my favorite smile. The one where his teeth were on full display and his eyes were scrunched up into a squint. The smile I had long ago fallen in love with and made it my personal mission to cause and see at every opportunity I could manage.

"How does it feel to be thirty JJ?" I asked him.

"Same way it felt to be twenty nine." He said jokingly.

I leaned my head on his shoulder and sighed.

"I wish Uncle Evan was still alive to see it." I said sadly.

Flashback:

I was standing in the kitchen helping Jude make breakfast for Wally, Tim, and all their buddies, Riley was sitting at the table chatting animatedly with Aaron and Tim, and I couldn't help but marvel at how far the boy had come in only a few months. Not even a full year ago, he was a recluse, sequestered in a near permanent self exile to his home. After we all visited him at his house, he finally allowed himself to leave his house, accompanying Tim, Wally, Casey and Aaron to see a movie at the Trillium Theatre out by the hospital.

After that, he steadily grew more comfortable leaving his house, until he hardly spent a minute at home. Finally, not even a week ago, Riley asked his parents to re-enroll him at Davison High School as a full time student, finally putting the past behind him and allowing himself to look towards the future.

Wally was sitting next to Dominique, who laid her head gently on his shoulder with their hands linked. Wally caught my gaze, and offered me a small smile. I grinned at my son and his girlfriend, and Dominique, ever the shy one, buried her face in Wally's shoulder, causing Wally to giggle and hug her.

And then phone started ringing.

I didn't look at the caller ID as I picked it up and answered it.

"Hello?" I had said, picking up the phone after motioning to everybody to quiet down.

"C-C-Connor?" The voice on the other end stammered tearfully.

"Dad? What's wrong?" I asked, immediately on alert.

"I-I can't believe I h-have to t-tell you this, buddy. B-but..."

"Dad?" I asked, now scared out of my mind, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Your Uncle..." Dad croaked, before bursting into tears on the other end.

"Dad? DAD? What happened to Uncle Evan?"

"H-he's... h-h-he's g-gone." Dad stammered brokenly, "He d-died last night in h-h-his s-sleep. Brain aneurism."

My grip on the phone slackened.

The phone hit the floor and broke.

I sank to my knees.

Jude rushed forward and knelt at my side.

"Connor? Baby what's wrong?" He asked worriedly.

"Uncle Evan's dead." I said, and immediately burst into tears.

Simultaneously, the whole population of the house, sans me of course, gasped. Wally and Tim leapt to their feet and leapt into the huddle on the floor, and the whole family sat there and wept.

The day was August 5th, 2027, and it was the day that Evan Stevens passed away at only 45 years old.

Not even four hours later we were all on a plane back to San Diego, something that we all thought we would never do, having sworn against ever returning.

The funeral was held a week later. It was a private affair, or as private as you could get when the man it's being held for has so many friends. The whole of the Adams-Foster clan was in attendance, as well as the entirety of the Stevens family.

Albus and David were barely keeping it together. According to Albus, David had nearly drank himself to death the night after Evan's death, while Albus took comfort in his friends and their open arms. I honestly couldn't blame them for being heartbroken. They had lost a husband and a father.

The funeral was the first time I had ever seen my Grandfather cry.

"No parent should ever have to bury a child."

That was what my little brother Andy said, as we sat side by side watching my sobbing, shaking grandfather leaning over the coffin to place a final kiss to my beloved uncle's forehead.

Andy was handling this remarkably well for an eight year old. He did not cry during the entire funeral.

As Evan's casket was being lowered into the Earth, I asked Andy why he didn't seem as sad as everybody else. His eyes drifted to gaze upon the casket as it descended into the ground.

"He's been called home." Andy said softly, grabbing my hand and holding it in both of his little hands, "And the place he goes to is far more peaceful than the one he leaves. He spent his whole life fighting. Fighting for a good life for himself. For his family. For you and Jude. For all of us. He has peace now. He was able to leave, safe in knowing that everybody he loved was safe and at peace. That's all he ever really wanted, Connie."

Andy always did seem wise beyond his years, and as my brother finished his short speech, the facade I had managed to maintain for the whole of the funeral up until that point finally shattered, and the first tear finally fell.

Twenty minutes later, as everybody was leaving, I kneeled before his grave stone.

Evan Edward Stevens.

Born: February 22nd, 1982

Died: August 5th, 2027.

"When death's shadow approaches,

Ask yourself if you've lived a life

You can leave behind with pride."

I gripped the grass with both hands, and the tears fell harder.

"I'm g-gonna miss y-you, Uncle E-Evy." I whimpered, "Without you, none of us would be here. You were a far better man than I could ever hope to be. Thank you... so much. For everything. I'll see you on the other side... I know I will."

I felt a pair of arms surround me, and in Jude's embrace. I sobbed harder than I had ever sobbed before.

END FLASHBACK

(Sorry don't kill me for what I just did. That has been planned since I brought him in as a character.- NukeRose)

I shook myself out of my memory, and wiped away the tear that had managed to escape my tear ducts. Jude grabbed my hand.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. I just miss him." I said to him, "Still hard to believe he's gone. Even after three years. I always thought the stubborn old bastard would outlive all of us."

"I miss him too, Con." Jude said, hugging me tightly, "I miss him too."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that I got a call from James while you were out." Jude said.

"What did the old man want?" I asked teasingly.

"Wanted to talk about us writing a book." Jude said.

"HA!" I exclaimed, assuming he was joking before catching his serious look, "Wait, you're being serious? A book about what?"

"Us." Jude said simply.

"Oh, so they want us to write our autobiography." I asked again for clarification.

"Pretty much. It's basically a memoir of our lives." Jude explained, "You're better at writing stories than I am, and you have a better memory than I do, so you'll probably end up writing most of it. Or you can say the words aloud and I'll put what I hear to paper."

"So it's gonna be the story of our relationship, written as a story from both of our points of view?" I clarified.

"Pretty much." He confirmed, "It'll be fascinating to hear the events happen from your point of view instead of how I remember them."

"Where do you want it to begin at?" I asked him curiously.

He thought about it for a second.

"The day we became us." He answered, "The day at the hospital after you got shot when we were reunited. When your dad finally let me in to see you."

"You can write that one." I told him, "I want to hear it from your point of view."

He nodded and picked up the pencil sitting next to the notebook.

"Why a pencil and paper?" I asked him.

"I'm gonna write out each chapter on paper first before typing it up." Jude said.

"Okay, if you say so."

He put the pencil to the paper, and paused before turning back to me slowly.

"What should I call it?"

"Life of War?" I suggested, "Our lives have pretty much been battle after battle, so it makes sense."

"What about something personal to us?" Jude asked, "Something special, that has been around since the beginning? Something symbolic."

I thought about it for a second. I took Jude's hand into mine, and caressed it gently. He had his nails painted again today, in their classic shade of blue. I smiled at the war paint...

And then the light bulb went off in my head.

Something personal.

Something special.

Something that had been around since the beginning.

Something symbolic.

"War Paint." I said, "Call it 'War Paint'."

Jude smiled widely.

"That sounds perfect." He said, and turned back to the paper and continued with his writing.

"War Paint.

By Jude and Connor Stevens Adams-Foster.

I smiled at him, and he smiled back as he began writing.

"Dedicated to our gigantic family, who we both love so much. To all members of "The Mafia", who we would still follow willingly into the depths of hell. And finally, to our guardian angel, who continues to stand sentinel over us from his post in heaven where he awaits our arrival. We miss you Uncle Evan."

"Think that's good enough for a dedication page?" Jude asked.

"More than enough." I agreed, "What are you gonna call the first chapter?"

"One thing I remember about preparing to go up to the hospital that morning," Jude recounted, "Is that I had had enough, and was done with a lifetime of conforming, and it was time for a bit of rebellion. How about 'Rebellion'?"

"Sounds good." I agreed.

Jude turned back to the paper in front of him and began writing.

"Chapter One: Rebellion.

Jude's POV: May 10th, 2014.

I woke up with a jolt, the memories of the last few days returning to torture me now that sleep wasn't there to keep them at bay. My mind immediately leapt to Connor..."

I smiled to myself as I stood behind my beloved husband, just watching him as he commenced the recording of our long life story to paper. Our relationship, our lives, had been one constant war. One battle after another. The fight to be ourselves, the fights to survive the acts of others, the fights against our own person demons, the fights on behalf of others, and the fights for our children. Now, I stand behind my husband, in the home that we built, in a town that we loved, with two wonderful kids in college.

A smile graces my face, and I lean my head on Jude's shoulder and wrap my arms around him, pressing a gentle kiss to the side of his head.

We were at peace.

Our war, had at long last, come to an end.

Finally.

END.

END OF STORY AN:

Thank you to all who read this story. Thank you to benjji2795, my all time favorite Jonnor author, who leaves kudos on practically everything I write and post to AO3.

Thank you to all the anonymous reviewers.

Thank you to the all of this story's reviewers who have accounts with the website:

piuder (the story's first reviewer).

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Ptite Mac.

m'j doom (thank you for all the help and suggestions, my dear friend.)

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All of your reviews mean the world to me, and this story, which I consider my masterpiece, would not have turned out as well as it did without all of you. Finally, a thank you to Gavin Macintosh and Hayden Byerly, without whom, Jonnor would not exist, and this story would have never have happened.

All my love to all of you,

-Evan.

Aka, NukeRose.