Okay. Here it is. The epilogue of Solstice. It's pretty short, but it's supposed to be. Well, I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own the lyrics to the song used in this chapter.

EPILOGUE

THE REAL HAPPILY EVER AFTER

"I have nothing to wear," I complained, loud enough for Evan to hear halfway down the hall.

I heard footsteps, and then Evan popped his head through the door. "What do you mean, you have nothing to wear? Didn't you just go shopping for a dress?"

"Yeah, but I don't like how it fits." I shifted anxiously in the skintight navy blue strapless number.

"Didn't you try it on at the place?"

"Yes, I tried it on at the 'place,' but it looks different now." I twisted my mouth into a frown as I examined my reflection in the mirror. The dress clung to me, accenting my curves, and I had to admit, any supermodel would kill for my body. It didn't hurt that I could eat whatever I wanted, too. Still, it was a little more revealing than I would've liked.

Screw it. Every single guy on the Quileuete rez had seen me naked, so why did it matter if the dress was low cut?

Evan noticed the odd expression on my face and raised his eyebrows. "So you're wearing it?"

I shifted a little more. "Yeah, I guess so."

He walked towards me and wrapped his arms around me. "Good," he murmured. "You look beautiful."

I smiled. "Okay, now get out. I still need to do my hair and everything, and…" I glanced at the clock. "Oh, shit. We're going to be late."

He leaned over and checked the alarm clock himself. "Yeah, we are. Hurry up."

I looked him over. He was dressed crisply in a tux, his hair gelled back. "You look like a yuppie," I said, grinning.

Evan frowned, looking over his outfit. "A yuppie?"

"A sexy yuppie," I corrected myself solemnly. "A very, very sexy yuppie."

"Not helping." He brushed my hair out of my eyes. "And you look like a sheepdog. You need to cut your bangs."

"I'll just pin them back." I grabbed a barrette from the dresser and clipped the chunk of hair off my forehead. I recoiled, the remark fully digested. "A sheepdog?"

"A sexy one." He grinned and kissed me gently.

"Careful, you'll smear my lipstick." I picked up the tube and reapplied. Twice. Then I picked up the silver jewelry set I'd gotten for my eighteenth birthday and put that on. Two bracelets and a necklace—from my father.

"Are you finished?"

I checked my reflection in the mirror once more. "Yep."

"Well, you look fantastic," he said, putting his arm around my waist. I grabbed my sweater off the bed and tossed it over my left shoulder.

"Ready for the wedding?" he asked quietly, whispering in my ear. "I mean, it's…Sam. And Emily. Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." I squared my shoulders, as if I were preparing for a physical battle. Evan grabbed the keys off the little table of our rented house and we walked out the door, into the inevitable rain of Forks, Washington.

***

The wedding was held in Forks' only church, which surprised me. Emily always said that she was going to have her wedding somewhere on the beach, with everyone in swim suits. She was just that kind of person. But Sam had probably wanted a traditional wedding, not that he would force her into doing anything that would make her unhappy.

The usher led us in to a seat in the second row of pews. Fancy, shmancy. This definitely wasn't Emily, but I had to admit, it was nice. Beautiful white peonies adorned the edge of the pews, and a live pianist sat near the edge of the platform where the minister and Sam was waiting. It didn't bother me that Emily had chosen her sister, Morgan, to be the maid-of-honor. Jacob stood beside Sam. When he saw me, he grinned and winked.

The pianist began the wedding march, and everyone turned to see Morgan walking down the aisle, her black hair trailing down her back, dressed in a simple white gown with a bouquet of flowers in her right hand.

I felt Evan's hand on my back. "Morgan. Emily's sister," I whispered to him. He nodded.

The wedding march continued, and everyone oohed and aahed as Claire began her walk down the aisle, giggling and sprinkling flower petals all over the place. Quil finger waved to her and she blushed—cute and creepy at the same time.

The wedding march morphed through a bridge and played a different tune for a while before returning to the tune. We saw Emily begin her trip down the aisle and everyone stood up, craning their necks to see the bride. Her hair was tied into two braids and secured with a small peony in the back. The rest was flowing loosely down her neck. A crown of flowers held her veil in place. She was wearing a simple, ruffled white gown.

She was beautiful, despite the scars that marred her obvious perfection. It gave me a brief stab of jealousy, of longing—I should have been the bride. It should have been my wedding day.

Yeah, in a normal world, without vampires and werewolves and imprinting. But then again, if it weren't for that, I never would have met Evan. And my life wouldn't be complete.

Emily smiled a blinding smile, and I saw Sam's face glow with a kind of fire that made me know that there was no way their marriage, their unity, would ever falter.

It gave me hope for my future, too. Someday, I vowed, I would be up there at the altar, saying my vows to Evan.

Emily and Sam stood across from each other, their hands linked together. The ring bearer, some toddler that I didn't know, handed Sam the ring.

As I listened to their vows, I didn't look at them. I looked at Evan. As I stared at him, I tried to make him understand that as they spoke, I meant every word that they were saying—to him.

And I knew that he meant those same things to me, too.

I turned back just in time for the kiss. Sam leaned over to Emily, dipping her slightly over the pews, and kissed her, chastely but passionately. When they were finished, the crowd stood up and clapped, and, amongst applause and whoops, I saw Emily crying.

I was a little choked up, myself. I was a tiny bit regretful, too, especially since I suddenly had an urge to wear a white dress, but other than that I was…happy. Incredibly happy. Just like I'd promised myself.

"Everyone's leaving," said Evan, prodding me in the back. "Come on, let's go."

The reception was held in a large hall connected to the church. The guests flowed smoothly through the large oaken doors, to a place that I could only imagine as a fairy kingdom. A billion candles were lighted all over the room, and flower petals flowed down from an unknown source in the balcony above. The tables were covered with white tablecloths and delicious looking food. In the very center was a dance floor, surrounded by a high-tech looking speaker system.

Most guests crowded around the dance floor; others headed straight for the food. I dragged Evan through the throng, determined to see the bride and groom's first dance.

The speakers started playing some Celine Dion song, and Sam and Emily began to dance. Sam had never been much of a dancer, but it seemed like he improved; the couple flowed smoothly across the floor as if their shoes had tiny wheels.

"Why are you crying?" asked Evan. "It's happy, right? Or…?"

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, the mascara blackening it. "No, no, I'm happy. Just…nostalgic-happy." I smiled.

"You don't wish it were you?"

"Just a little," I said. "But just replace Sam with you."

"Well, that's reassuring." He put his arm around me and pulled me to him. "I love you, you know."

"I love you, too."

The song ended, and Sam and Emily retreated from the dance floor, into a crowd of sobbing family members.

"I should go," I said. "I need to congratulate them, too."

"I'll come," said Evan, linking his arm through mine.

I frowned. "Are you sure?"

Even before he knew him, Evan had never liked Sam. He hadn't said it in so many words, but his actions had made it pretty clear. I didn't know that his feelings had changed as of yet.

"Yeah. It's about time I grow up, too." He chuckled.

I stepped on his foot with my heel, and he grimaced. "Just proving my point," he said with an angelic grin.

I shook my head and exhaled fake irritation as I dragged him through the crowd of people to where Sam and Emily were standing, looking flustered by all of the attention. Geez, you'd think they'd be expecting attention on their wedding day.

"Hey! Hey, Leah!" called Emily, waving me over and looking grateful for an escape from the crowd of people that she probably barely knew. I hurried quickly over to her, pushing past old ladies with handkerchiefs still dabbing at their eyes.

"Hey, Emily," I said, leaning over to hug her. "You…congratulations."

She smiled. "Thank you." I noticed that her mascara had also begun to drip down her cheeks and had blackened the back of her hand.

"If only makeup-wearing occasions weren't so tearjerking, right?" I said, indicating her smeared mascara.

She laughed. "Yeah, I know." She took a deep breath. "Oh, but it's so fantastic."

"What, being a bride and all that?"

"Yeah." She glanced nervously at me, seeing if I would be bothered by her gloating. I smiled a reassuring smile.

"Well, you look beautiful," I said, adjusting her veil so that it sat perfectly poised on the top of her head.

"Thank you," she said, sniffling. I could see more tears already beginning to form, so I leaned forward and crushed her in a hug. "Thank you for coming, Leah. I know it probably isn't the way you wanted to spend your Saturday."

"No," I disagreed wholeheartedly. "It was perfect. I'm glad I came."

We disengaged ourselves and stood back. I glanced over at Sam and Evan, who were staring at each other, firmly rooted to their spots with identical, stony expressions. I bit my lip to keep from laughing, but it was really hard to keep from cracking up.

"Sam, you remember Evan, right?" I said, trying to break the awkward silence.

He nodded. "Of course."

"And Evan…"

"I remember," he said sharply, cutting me off. Had there ever been a situation this awkward? I answered my own question: no. There had not. Not even in the world of mythical creatures.

I reached over to shake Sam's hand, but he had another idea. He took my hand and leaned in to kiss my cheek, surprising me. That wasn't the only thing that surprised me. Compared to my flaming hand, his felt…cold. I saw Evan's fists clench as he drew away.

Sam must have noticed my odd expression, because he said, "I've quit."

He'd quit? How did he manage that? Maybe because we were all chummy with the vamps now and he didn't need to protect the rez anymore? Probably. But still…that lucky bum.

"Congratulations," I said stiffly.

And then Evan did something that shocked me even more. He extended his hand to shake Sam's—an offer. And then, just because I hadn't had enough shock in that single minute, Sam reached out and shook Evan's hand.

I almost keeled over, but when I recovered myself, I smiled. It gave me hope—maybe that relationship would be better in the future, too.

"Well, we should probably go," I said, turning to Emily. "We don't want to monopolize the happy couple and deprive you of talking to your, er, beloved relatives." I glanced back to the nose-blowing old ladies.

Emily laughed. "All right. I'll see you, Leah."

Evan couldn't have seemed more glad when I dragged him away from that particular conversation; he couldn't stop grinning as we made our way over to the dance floor.

There were already plenty of couples swaying slowly together on the dance floor; Quil had Claire in his arms and was talking to her as they danced. Seth had his arm around some girl's waist, and I winked at him as he spun by.

We had only just begun dancing when the first song ended and another one started playing. It had a long, soft piano intro before getting to the lyrics, which I paid more attention to than usual.

Some people live just for the fortune

Some people live for the fame

Some people live just for the power, yeah

Some people live just to play the game

As the music flooded through the room, I leaned closer to Evan, resting my chin against his chest. The moment was so perfect, so right, that even the couples swaying awkwardly around us couldn't ruin it.

Some people think that the visible things define what's within

And I've been there before, but that life's a bore

So full of the superficial

As the beat picked up, I felt Evan's lips brush against my forehead, and I leaned my head back so our lips could meet. He kissed me softly, slowly, and then drew away.

Some people want it all

But I don't want nothing at all

If it ain't you, baby

If I ain't got you, baby

Despite the song's grammar, something that usually irritated me, the meaning was…special. It was more than just those bubblegum-pop-popular-because-you-can-dance-to-the-crappy-synthetic-beat songs. It meant something—especially to me, now, in this perfect moment.

Some people want diamond rings

Some just want everything

But everything means nothing

If I ain't got you

"I love you," I murmured, not sure if he heard. But it didn't matter. Just the fact that I could say that again with such conviction meant enough.

Apparently, though, he did, because he turned my face towards him and whispered, "I love you, too."'

Hand me the world on a silver platter

And what good would it be?

With no one to share

With no one who truly cares for me?

I leaned my head against his chest, drinking in the moment, not willing to let the moment end, and yet savoring every second of it. Evan's arms tightened around my waist, pulling me tighter, even though every inch of our bodies were pressed together.

But everything means nothing

If I ain't got you, yeah

Said nothing in this whole world don't mean a thing

If I ain't got you with me, baby

The song ended, amidst applause and titters, and Evan and I disengaged ourselves slightly; he held me at arm's length.

"Everything means nothing," I murmured, more to myself than to him, quoting the song, "if I ain't got you."

***

"Well, that was quite a wedding," said Evan, as we stumbled out of the hall nearly three hours later, both slightly dizzy.

"That's an understatement," I said, laughing. "But it was nice."

"It was," he agreed.

"I never thought Emily would get married in a church," I mused. "She was always a beachy kind of girl."

"A beach marriage would be nice," he said. "But maybe a warmer beach than the ones on the Olympic peninsula."

"Agreed. But a beach wedding," I confirmed.

"Do you mean…for us?" he said, taking my hand as we began to walk down the block towards the bus station.

I nodded.

"That would be…very nice." He paused. "But don't tell me you're one of the people who's planned their wedding day since they were five?"

I laughed. "No, of course not. I did picture my life sometimes…I mean, I never thought that werewolves and vampires would be such a part of it, but I had a nice house somewhere near here…with two little kids."

"Babies?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah." I blushed. "Maybe it's just a girl thing. I mean, I don't see guys all stoked to have kids."

"I don't mind. That might be…nice."

"Marriage," I said, trying out the word, "and kids."

"Someday," he said.

"Someday," I agreed. "But for now, I'm happy…with you."

-sighs- The end…so sad. Thanks so much for all of your support throughout this fic. The lyrics are from Alicia Keys, her song "If I Ain't Got You." It's amazing. You should listen to it. XD Anyway, for the very final time, review!

--Breeze