Thank you for the reviews for the previous chapter, they are very gratefully received.

So, this is the last chapter and the epilogue for When Childhood Ends. I hope you enjoy where the characters end up and I hope it's not too confusing as some things are mentioned 'in passing' to help give an idea of where other characters end up. Hopefully it will make sense when you read it!

5/1/18 - I totally meant what I said above when I originally posted this on 31/12/17, but during the week I woke up in the middle of the night and realised I didn't write about what happened to Giovanni Rossi and it's been bugging me ever since! So, I've added in a little bit toward the end about what happened to him and also added in some additional reflection from Alison etc.

Now this is most definitely the last update I promise! (And thank you for the lovely comments people left after I posted the epilogue originally).

August 2036

Alison Greene watched her daughter from the doorway as she unpacked the numerous boxes in her college dorm room. How was it possible that Lola was in college? It seemed like only yesterday that she was holding her baby in her arms and looking into her soul for the first time. Now she was an adult?

"You ok, babe?" Michael Greene asked his wife - the love of his life- as he approached her from behind and enveloped her in a hug.

"Yeah" she replied in a choked voice as she peered up at her husband "It's just...where has the time gone?"

Michael followed his wife's gaze to watch his adopted daughter as she unpacked. It seemed like only yesterday that he had met Alison and her then 5-year old daughter for the first time. He had never believed in love at first sight until he had met Alison McCord, but as soon as he had met her he had known she was 'the one'. 13 years later and with 3 kids between them they were still going strong.

"I know, but do you want to hear some good news?" he asked his wife in a conspiratorial tone.

Alison turned to look at her husband expectantly, excitement fluttering in her stomach.

"We got it?" she asked hopefully.

"We got it" he confirmed with a smile.

Alison flung her arms around her husband and kissed him passionately, before remembering where they were and reluctantly pulling away.

"When can we start work?" she asked.

"James is going to the ranch on Monday to firm up the quote for the conversion into a rehabilitation and respite centre" Michael confirmed happily.

Alison sighed in contentment as she wrapped her arms around her husband's waist and rested her head against his chest, the sound of his beating heart soothing her like it always did. She felt the familiar comfort as he returned the embrace and she resumed the survey of her daughter as she once again started reflecting on her life.

The media furore after he had been found guilty had been insane. After the verdict she had waived her right to anonymity and given a statement requesting privacy for her family - which the media had duly ignored. In the first few weeks after the verdict her parent's house had been swamped with reporters and no one could leave the house without having a microphone shoved in their face. It had felt like she had been a prisoner in her own home at times, until world renowned media personality, Carly Washington, had contacted Daisy and offered to come out of retirement for a one off TV interview. It was well documented that Carly had been a victim of incest and rape as a teenager, but despite her background she had overcome everything to become a respected journalist and media personality and owned one of the largest media corporations in America. Knowing that Carly could empathise with what she had been through she had agreed to the interview for a one hour long TV special that had been filmed at her parent's house in DC. She had even reluctantly agreed to have Lola in the final segment as both Daisy and Carly had thought seeing Lola would satisfy the public's curiosity. The TV interview had worked and the media furore had quietened down shortly afterwards, but the TV interview had had more of an impact on her life than she could ever have imagined.

Following the interview she had been amazed when the supermodel, Jade Martinez, had contacted her and revealed that in her early career as a model she had been a victim of Giovanni Rossi. Due to the length of the time since the attack Jade didn't want to report the crime, but she did want to do something to help support the victims of Giovanni Rossi and the idea of holding a charity fashion show had been borne. Jade had the contacts in the fashion and entertainment industry, and her mum had had contacts in the political world, and before she knew it Jade and she were organising the fashion show. The fashion show had been attended by the biggest stars, fashions designers, models, and political figures of the day and had raised millions of dollars which had been split between numerous rape survivors charities. However, to Jade and she it hadn't quite seemed like enough.

After the fashion show there had been a huge demand for the clothes that had been modelled and somehow Jade and she had come up with the idea of designing a clothing line where all of the net profits and royalties were donated to a charity for rape victims. That way they would have control over how the money they raised was used however, it meant that not only did they have to set up a company for the clothing line, but also a separate charity foundation too. This had all happened whilst she was a Sophomore and Junior in college. In fact, her Senior year project had been the clothing line that had eventually gone on to be sold in Macy's, where their clothing line was still exclusively sold to this day.

Once she had obtained her bachelor's degree she had made the decision to move to LA to be closer to the company's HQ, as running a company across a continent had proved extremely challenging at times.

The week after moving to LA she had met Michael Greene.

Michael was a Business Consultant at the time and Jade had employed his services to help them expand the company. By the end of their first meeting with him she had known there was something special about Michael, in retrospect, she would say that she had even fallen in love with him during that meeting. He was serious and passionate, kind and funny, patient and compassionate, yet his own life had been impacted by rape. On their first date he had explained how his best friend from college had been drugged and raped on a night out and how he had not been able to live with the shame of being a straight man raped by another man. The rape had plunged his friend into a deep depression and he had ended up committing suicide. It was why Michael had agreed to donate his time as a Business Consultant for free at the beginning - now he was the company's Head of Strategy and the business and charity had gone from strength to strength under his management. The charity had set up numerous counselling centres nationwide for rape victims and they had also opened a residential rehabilitation and respite centre for the victims of rape. The ranch they had just finalised the sale on today would be their second residential rehabilitation and respite centre.

"What are you thinking about?"

Alison was broken from her reverie by the sound of her husband's voice. "Nothing...everything" she replied distractedly. She looked up at her husband and smiled at his confused expression.

"I was just thinking about everything that's happened since I moved to LA"

"It certainly has been a crazy 13 years" Michael returned with a smile as he bent down to give his wife a reverent kiss.

"Ewww! Guys, I'm right here!" Lola Greene exclaimed as she stared at her parents in dismay, although secretly she was happy to see them being so in love. Her mum deserved to be happy after everything she had been through.

From a young age she had known that she was different. She was the only one at pre-school who didn't have a dad, and when she'd asked her mum why, her mum had frozen on the spot. It had been her nana who had explained that her biological father had done something bad to her mum and that he was in prison because of it. She remembered how she had burst into tears thinking that meant she was bad, but her mum, nana, and pop-pops has assured her that she wasn't bad, she was good just like her mum, nana, pop-pops, Aunt Stevie, and Uncle Jason. She had believed them - mostly - but knowing her biological father had done something bad and was in prison had left a mark on her. She'd always wondered if she would end up bad like him.

Her mum and she had moved to LA once her mum had finished college, and to her 5 year old self it had felt like her world was ending. Her mum had taken her away from her pre-school friends, her grandparents, Miss Janie, and the only house she had ever known. Things had gradually gotten better though when she had started kindergarten and started making friends, but she still felt left out not having a dad in her life. Some of her friend's parents were divorced or had split up, but all her friends knew who their dad was, yet she still didn't know anything about her dad except the fact that he was in jail – something she didn't want her new friends to know about. Although she wanted to know more about her dad, she hadn't wanted to ask her mum anymore questions seeing how upset she had been the last time she had asked who her dad was. Every Christmas though she remembered writing that she wanted a daddy at the top of Christmas list.

One year her wish came true when her mum had brought Michael home.

She'd liked him right away as he was funny and kind. He would play games with her, have tea parties with her and her mum, and he did the funniest voices when he read her a bedtime story. One day not long after her mum and Michael had gotten engaged she'd asked him to be her daddy and he had said "yes" before wrapping her in a hug and crying. The day after her mum and Michael had gotten married he had adopted her and she had officially become Lola Elizabeth Greene.

When she was 9 years old her sisters – twins, Emily and Madison - had been born and she'd loved being the big sister. It was like having real life dollies to play with and for a few more years things had been good, until she'd found out the truth about her biological father.

She'd been 13 when it suddenly occurred to her one day that she could simply do a Google search to find out who her biological father was, after all, she was the granddaughter of the recently retired President of the United States so there was bound to be something on the internet about who her father was. It had been a boring summer holiday afternoon when she'd typed in "Alison McCord baby daddy" and been stunned by the results.

Her biological father was Giovanni Rossi – a convicted rapist.

Suddenly everything about her life clicked into place. From a young age she'd been curious about what her mum did at work, and over the years her mum had explained what she did and how she helped people. As she had gotten older her mum had explained what rape and sexual assault was, and had one day admitted to having been raped when she was a teenager.

The penny suddenly dropped. She was a result of that rape.

She felt so stupid for not having figured it out earlier and she felt her innocent, happy, world come tumbling down around her. It was why her mum wouldn't speak about her biological father. It was why there was no name in the father section of her birth certificate. It was why there were no pictures of her biological father. It was why when her nana had been President she had passed harsher penalties for those who committed sexual assault and rape.

She was a rape baby.

Once she had discovered the hundreds of articles and news clips on the internet about Giovanni Rossi and her mum she couldn't stop reading and watching them. She'd found a picture of her father and realised she had curly dark hair and olive skin, just like him. Although everyone told her she was a spitting image of her mum she'd always felt there was something a little "off" with her face, something that made her look a little different from the other members of her family. After much scrutiny in the mirror she'd realised, with horror, that she also had her father's eyes.

She was devastated. How could she not be bad when her biological father had done that to her mum? How could her parents love her when she had been conceived from an act of rape?

Michael – her real dad as far as she was concerned- had found her crying on her bed with her i-Pad thrown haphazardly across the room and had soon found the web search. He'd insisted that she wasn't bad, that she was loved by everyone, and that Giovanni Rossi was the only one who was bad. But it hadn't helped. The feeling of never being quite sure if she was good overwhelmed her and she was overcome with darkness and anger.

She had been lied to her entire life.

It had been the start of a year of intense rebellion. She'd started skipping school, started dappling in drugs and alcohol, shaved her head, and would frequently run away from home. It was only when she'd had her own close call with being sexually assaulted at 14 that things started to change. She'd been at a party and had passed out drunk. She'd come to with someone's lips pressed on hers and her hands pinned above her head - she'd never been more scared in her entire life. She'd tried to remember all the self-defence techniques the Secret Service had taught her when her nana had been President but she had been too drunk to think clearly. She'd struggled beneath the guy, but he'd been too heavy and she'd been pinned beneath him. She'd pleaded with him not to hurt her, all the while promising herself that if she was saved then she would do anything to be good again. It was as the guy's hand had grabbed her breast that the weight had suddenly been lifted from her body. She looked up to see her dad looking absolutely livid, and heartbroken, at the same time. Her dad had somehow found her and she'd never felt more relieved or happier to see him. He'd wrapped her up in his coat and carried her out to the car; she'd spent the rest of the night crying into her mum's arms, apologising for everything she had put her parents through and promising she would be good again.

She'd told her mum how she felt about finding out she was a rape baby and her mum had finally talked to her about her rape. Through tears, she had assured her that she never regretted her decision to have her. She explained how she'd focused on the biological miracle that her body had created, rather than the act of how the sperm had got there to make that miracle happen. Her mum assured her she loved and cherished her just as much as she loved and cherished Emily and Maddie. She believed her mum because her parents had never given up on her when she was rebelling. The fact that her dad had found her that night was proof that they loved her. Her parents would always look for her when she ran away or went to parties, they had never given up on her.

That night had been a turning point in her life. She'd started counselling, and was surprised when it actually helped. She'd started talking to her family and hanging out with her old (good) friends again. She'd worked hard at school, and with the help of summer school, had finally managed to catch up on her missing year in just six months. She'd started to feel good again.

As part of her counselling she had undertaken a course of art therapy and had loved the acting part of the course. It had inspired her to try out for the school play, where to her surprise, she had been cast in the lead role. It was during the school play that she discovered her passion for acting, and because of her love of acting - and after a lot of hard work - that she had won a place at Carnegie Mellon's drama school.

"Ok, ok..." Alison relented as she broke away from her husband and moved over to one of the boxes in her daughter's dorm room. "I guess we better help you finish unpack. Michael, grab that box..."

For several hours the threesome continued to cram the contents of the boxes into the small room, a happy, teasing atmosphere building as Alison and Lola teased Michael as he complained about the number of shoes, belts, bags, and clothing Lola had brought with her to college.

"Damn it!" Michael exclaimed in annoyance as the full trash bag he had been lifting promptly split discarding its contents across the floor of the dorm room.

Alison and Lola laughed at Michael's irritated expression.

"Come on. I'll hold this open whilst you gather the trash" Alison stated helpfully as she opened up a new trash bag and calmly held it open for her Michael to fill – again.

After several handfuls of trash she realised her husband had stopped filling the bag. "Michael, come on!" she exclaimed as she shook the bag. "It's almost dinner time and I'm sta…"

The words died on Alison's lips as she saw the object Michael was holding in his hand.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he yelled angrily at his daughter. "Did you think we wouldn't notice when you came home at Thanksgiving sporting a huge bump?"

Lola turned and stared at her dad in confusion. "Um, dad, what are you talking about?"

"This!" Michael exclaimed angrily as he thrust the hand holding the positive pregnancy test in his daughter's direction.

"That's not mine!" Lola exclaimed in defence as she looked at her dad in shock.

"Don't give me that! Whose else would it be? I can't believe you've been this reckless when you've…."

"It's not!" Lola interrupted.

"Michael…." Alison called softly as she rested a hand gently on his back.

"No, Alison. This needs to be said" he exclaimed hotly as he turned briefly to look at his wife. He was just about to resume yelling at his daughter when something in his brain stopped him. There was something about his wife's expression….

"Alison…?" he whispered in disbelief as he turned to look at his wife.

Alison turned to look out the window, aware that both her husband and daughter were staring at her in confusion and shock. She couldn't believe this was happening again. 19 years after her dad had discovered her pregnancy test in the bin, now Michael was finding her pregnancy test thanks to a weak trash bag. She must be jinxed.

"It's mine" she whispered as she turned to look at her husband through tear filled eyes.

"But…but the doctor said you couldn't have any more children?" Michael stated in a confused tone.

Alison lifted her shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. "I guess they were wrong" she replied with a sheepish smile.

She'd had a difficult pregnancy with the twins, and if the physical stresses and constant sickness hadn't been enough to deal with, the pregnancy had triggered her PTSD. She'd had intense night terrors involving Giovanni Rossi attacking her and her family from the moment she had found out she was pregnant. By the end of her pregnancy she'd been having panic attacks if she was left alone for too long, fearful that he would find her, which was completely illogically seeing as Giovanni Rossi had been jailed for 32 years - 25 years for the rape and 7 years for assault.

In the end it had been almost losing her babies that had ended her PTSD episode. She had suffered a placental abruption when she was 8 months pregnant and it appeared that the fear of losing her children had overcome her sub-conscious' fear of being attacked again. She'd had an emergency c-section and then haemorrhaged severely. She'd come close to having to have a hysterectomy – and dying apparently – but the doctors had managed to save her womb, although it was so damaged and full of scar tissue they had told her she would not be able to have any more children. Michael and she had not used birth control after the twins and she'd never had a pregnancy scare in the past 9 years, until today.

Michael stared incredulously at his wife, then the positive pregnancy test that said his wife was '10-12 weeks pregnant', and then back at his wife. "You're…you're pregnant?" he whispered in disbelief.

"Apparently so. I didn't realise until today that my period was 2 months late. I just assumed that it was because of the stress of buying the ranch, but when we were in the store earlier I saw the pregnancy test and something told me to buy it. I took it whilst you guys were getting lunch, and well…" Alison replied hesitantly, unsure as to how Michael would react. After the twins they'd never even discussed having more children knowing that it wasn't a possibility for them, but now here she was, pregnant at 37.

"I can't believe this!" Lola exclaimed in disbelief. "I'm just about to start college and my mum is pregnant! Do you know how this is going to make me look?"

"Lola, enough!" Michael exclaimed in a tone that no room for argument, before he approached his wife and gathered her in his arms gently. "Are you ok?" he whispered, overcome with concern.

Alison had been so ill both physically and emotionally when she'd been pregnant with Emily and Maddie. He'd felt so helpless as he'd watched her fight her demons in her sleep, and even more useless when he'd seen his wife come to the point of almost losing consciousness when having a panic attack. He'd tried his best to help Alison - holding her when she felt ready to be held, counting with her as she tried to control her breathing, working from home as often as he could in the later stages of her pregnancy - but he'd felt impotent and powerless to truly help his wife. The anger he felt towards Giovanni Rossi and the mark he had left on his beautiful, loving, kind-hearted wife was beyond words. He knew that if he were to ever meet Giovanni Rossi that he would cause him serious harm.

Yet he hadn't noticed anything different about his wife over the past couple of months. She been sleeping soundly, there was no morning sickness, no desperate craving for pancakes, no panic if they didn't see each other all day. She'd been her usual amazing self.

Relief washed over Alison as Michael embraced her and she couldn't help the sob that escaped her as she felt the love and care in Michael's tender hold. Michael always protected her and made her feel safe and loved, she felt invincible when he was by her side.

"Hey, it's going to be ok" Michael assured his wife as he felt her sob against his chest. "We're going to have this baby and it's going to be amazing"

Alison peeked up at her husband. "Are you sure? You're not mad?" she asked nervously.

She was still struggling to comprehend the fact she was pregnant, but she already knew she was keeping the baby. It was no different than when she found out she was pregnant with Lola: this baby was a part of her and she was keeping it no matter what. She just hoped that the pregnancy wouldn't trigger another PTSD episode. Giovanni Rossi had died in prison two years ago from a heart attack. He'd died a poor man having lost his fortune trying, unsuccessfully, to defend himself against the numerous other rape and sexual assault cases that were brought against him both in criminal and civil court. She hoped now that she knew there was absolutely no way he could come back to hurt her that her sub-conscious could finally release the terror she had felt that night. She wanted to enjoy at least one of her pregnancies and she thought that Michael deserved that too.

Michael smiled lovingly at his wife. "Shocked, in awe, worried about you and the baby…but not angry at all. What could be better than having another Lola, or Emily, or Maddie in the house. It's our little miracle" he assured his wife as he gently wiped the tears from her cheeks before resting his hand low on her abdomen. Now that he knew she was pregnant he could feel the firmness of her bump beneath his fingers, even if it was not visible yet. A wave of fierce love washed over him. "We made a baby, Alison" he stated in disbelief.

"We did" Alison replied in the same tone as her hand came to rest beside her husband's.

Lola looked at her parents, who were clearly in their own little world at the moment, and she couldn't help the loving smile that formed on her face. Their happiness was infectious. Whilst it was gross to know that her parents were still having sex, she knew how much Michael and her mum loved each other and just what great parents they were.

"I suppose it won't be so bad having a new sibling, just as long as I don't have to give up my room" Lola stated good-naturedly. "Maybe it will be a boy this time, you obviously haven't had any morning sickness like you did with the twins and I".

Alison turned to face her daughter with a loving smile on her face. "Maybe. But are you sure you're ok?" she asked her daughter with concern, remembering her daughter's initial reaction.

"Yeah" Lola replied with a shrug. "It's not like I'm going to be home much anyway".

A stab of pain shot through Alison's heart as she was reminded that she would shortly be leaving her first born at college on her own.

"Don't say that" she stated emotionally as she broke away from her husband and gathered Lola into a fierce hug.

"Mum! Mum!" Lola cried frantically as her mum held her tightly.

A knock at the door disturbed mother and daughter as Lola pulled away from her mum to answer the door.

"Hey Lola, are you ready?" the guy at the door asked.

"Lola?" Alison asked inquisitively as she took note of the stranger at the door.

"Uh...mum, dad, this is Jordan. I met him whilst I was getting us drinks earlier. A bunch of us are going to the local diner to get pizza. You don't mind, do you?" Lola asked at the crestfallen expression on her mum's face.

"But I thought..." Alison began before being cut off by her husband.

"That's fine, go have fun with your new friends. Your mum and I will swing by in the morning to take you out for breakfast before we leave to pick up the twins, ok?"

"Sounds great!" Lola exclaimed as she came to hug her parents.

"I'm so proud of you" Alison whispered to her daughter as she held her close.

"I'm proud of me too" Lola admitted with a smile as she started to release herself from her mum's iron like grip.

"And I'm hoping for a brother" she whispered into her dad's ear as she hugged him.

Michael couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his mouth at her daughter's wish. "I guess we should know by Halloween" he replied as he released his daughter from the hug. He couldn't believe the little girl he had met 13 years ago was all grown up and officially at college.

"I love you and I'll see you in the morning, ok" Alison stated as she smoothed her daughter's curly hair behind her ear.

"Love you too" Lola replied as she hugged her parents one last time before following Jordan down the hallway, Alison and Michael trailing behind.

"She's really gone" Alison whispered as she watched her daughter walk away towards the diner, sure that her heart was breaking as she watched.

"Hey, she's going to be fine, babe. You did good." Michael assured as he took his wife in arms and felt her grip him tightly.

"You did good too, Michael. Thank you for being her father" Alison replied earnestly as she stroked her husband's cheek tenderly.

"It's my honour to be Lola's dad. And don't forget, we have the twins at home, and this new little one, to keep us busy"

"True" Alison replied fondly as she thought of her young daughters. "I wonder whose worn out who the most?"

Her parents were babysitting the twins at the horse farm whilst Michael and she took Lola to college. Tomorrow they would meet her parents in DC to collect the twins.

Michael laughed heartily. "Oh, I say Emily has worn your mum out on the horses and Maddie has worn your dad out playing chess"

"Probably" Alison replied in a melancholy tone.

"Come on, babe. We're still in Pittsburg for one night, let's make the most of it" Michael soothed as he kissed his wife tenderly and smoothed his hands down Alison's back in a way that he knew always turned her on.

"What did you have in mind?" Alison replied flirtatiously as she felt goosebumps erupt on her skin despite the warm night air. Michael was a very skilled loved and always took care of her when they made love, always had right from their very first time. The thought of Michael surrounding her tonight as they made love and falling asleep in his arms sounded wonderful. Maybe those 'romantic' pregnancy hormones she had heard so much about were kicking in already.

"Oh, I don't know. Room service, candle light, maybe a massage... " Michael whispered into his wife's ear as he pulled her hips closer to his. "We have something to celebrate after all"

Alison beamed up at her husband. "That we do…."

I posted the first chapter of this story on 1st January 2017, so it seemed only fitting to post the last chapter on the 31st December 2017! I can't believe the story has taken up a whole year of my life!

Thank you to all those who have reviewed, favourited, given suggestions, provided advice, and followed this story. Also, congratulations for making it to the end!

The idea for this story was very different to how it turned out (it was going to be 5 chapters long!), but the more I read about rape survivors and their children the initial idea changed drastically and this is what resulted. I have learnt so much from writing this story and I have enjoyed writing it. I wanted to try to explore how not only the rape victim is impacted by the act, but their friends and family too. Even though it is the last chapter, please let me know what you think as I would be interested to know if you like where the characters end up.

I also have to admit this is probably going to be the last story from me for a while as I'm about to embark on a part-time degree in the new year. Fingers crossed in 5 years I will have my degree and will hopefully be able to change my career to one that I enjoy!

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2018!

DB.