Alas, the story has come to end... I had an awesome time writing this thing and I hope you all have loved reading it! From the bottom of my heart, I thank everyone who favorited, alerted and reviewed this story. It means a lot to me :) Also, if you want to draw any of my OCs (I'm not picky on who you want to draw. Anyone's good actually.) then have at it! Just PM to give me a heads up. Thanks for reading this ridiculously long fic and I hope to see you all comment on other fics I have planned on in the future!

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Transformers' or the music, movies and products featured in this fic. However, the OCs, poetry and various places belong to me.

Love is a Lake

(A 'TFA' fan fic romance)

Epilogue

(One year later – late May: the Preston residence, Greenvale, Upstate NY)

The pudgy little hand reached for the clouds that drifted across the sky. Big ruby eyes gleamed in the bright and warm sunshine as the infant stared intently at the tiny white apple blossoms. The eight month old child's hands opened and closed like a flower and she cooed softly. Some drool dribbled from her mouth.

"Zhat's a flower," her father told her.

He grabbed a low hanging branch and pulled it down. Mr. Riese plucked off a dainty flower. Lydia studied the flower in awe, taking in as much beauty and greenery her impressionable and sponge-like mind could.

A cardinal twittered in a pink rhododendron bush right next to them, making her jump in his arms. There was so much to hear, see, feel, taste and smell during the late spring. Every day was like a new adventure.

The proud parent tucked the apple blossom behind her ear. A microscopic cloud of pollen from the flower tickled her nose. Her face distorted and she sneezed.

"Bless zhou, sveetheart." He kissed her forehead. "Zhou are one lucky girl to live in a marveling and ezhereal place such as zhis."

The woods surrounding the house were lit up heavenly with a mixture of different hues of bright and dark greens. Birds of all different kinds of species called out to their mates. The aromas of rhododendron flowers, tulips, daffodils, roses and irises lazily wafted through the balmy air. The grass on the ground was a vibrant and healthy emerald. The dew that was on the blades of grass around dawn had all but evaporated away as the threat of summer encroached. Within a few months, the apple tree would be ready to distribute its spoils to its Human friends.

Blitzwing sighed contently: it was a good day. This was his second May living here in Upstate New York and he remembered it was just as beautiful as it was the first time. He had become an admirer of this second rank Eden. He and Cynthia had taken long excursions into the woods when they happened to be home together and not kept apart with work. While she was still pregnant during this time, he couldn't wait until the baby would be born so he could share the beauty and simple splendor with them. His wait was over now.

"Zhou vill understand and appreciate it more as zhou grow older, Lydia," he said. "Right now, zhou are too little but I can see it most certainly has zhour attention."

He sat down on a wooden bench beneath the apple tree. Lydia still had the blossom behind her ear.

"Zhere isn't a cuter baby!" Random said proudly. He placed one hand over his face. A few seconds later, he removed it. "Peek-a-boo! I see zhou!"

Lydia laughed and smiled, displaying two little teeth on her lower jaw.

"Da…" she tried to address him.

"Yes," he tried to encourage her to speak, "I'm Daddy. Dada."

"Da!"

"Zhat's good enough for now," said Hothead. "As long as zhou can speak a little, I'm not vorried."

"Da!"

"Yes." He laughed at her. "Are zhou going to give me a heart attack again by nearly putting zhour finger into an outlet? Zhou're quite a handful already. But I love zhou too much to be mad at zhou for too long." He kissed his daughter's plump and rosy cheek. "Zhou have my heart, Lydia."

Towards the front of the wooden house he could hear Helen speaking enthusiastically. In particularly, it sounded loud and happy: it was her greeting voice. That could only mean one thing.

"Vell, it looks like zhour Aunt and Uncle are back from zheir business trip in Maine," said Icy. He got up from the bench. "I'm sure zhey are dying to see zheir niece, Lydia Rachel Riese, my little apple blossom…"

Lydia was much too focused with listening to the birds' serenades. Her father laughed warmly and he left the sanctity of the backyard. He walked over to the wide open French doors that served as the gateway between the backyard and the house's interior then entered.

"Oh, there you are!" Cynthia nearly bumped into her husband when they both rounded a corner that led to the den at the same time. "I should've known you stole our daughter away from everyone like you always do." She was smiling as she said this. "You know, she wasn't engendered from you."

"She likes zhe outdoors, vhat more can I say?" he grinned at her. "I vas vorking all day yesterday vhile zhou and zhour mozher vatched her. I missed my child, zhat's all."

"You always come up with that excuse." She kissed him on his lips. Their lips remained together for a few seconds before they broke away. "I think you love her more than me."

"I must confess I have two loves: zhou and her."

"There's nothing wrong with that. I happen to find fatherhood sexy." She noticed the apple blossom behind her daughter's ear. "Aww, did Daddy do this to you, Lydia?"

"I did. Doesn't she look precious, Mommy?"

They showered her with affection. Lydia howled with laughter as her mother tickled her belly. The pigtails that her dark blonde hair was styled in were becoming undone as she flailed around in her father's arms. Blitzwing held her protectively, determined to not drop her at any cost. However, he had a peaceful grin on his face while doing this.

"Oh my goodness! She looks so precious!"

Amanda managed to come to her sister and brother-in-law first. Cynthia looked at her and immediately, felt as if Mandy had changed since she last saw her in early May wedding. The eldest sister quite couldn't put her finger on it but to her, it seemed that she had matured in such a small space of time. She guessed it was due to bounty hunting she and Lockdown did all along the north eastern tip of the country.

"I swear, she grew up so much since I last saw her three weeks ago!" Mandy beamed.

Lydia buried her face into her father's chest. She preferred the warm familiarity of her grandmother and parents. She didn't see her aunt as often as she did during her early infancy because of the semi-nomadic lifestyle Amanda had adopted to support herself.

"Zhat's no vay to treat zhour aunt, little one," the fiery persona lightly scolded Lydia. "She loves zhou and she's no stranger. Zhou're safe."

"No, it's fine," Mandy smiled. "Babies are usually clingy to their mom and dad, right? Her parents better not neglect me though!"

Cynthia and Amanda embraced. Then the blonde broke the hug and relayed the same gesture of affection to Blizwing. She snuck a kiss onto his cheek and then kissed Lydia on her cranium before backing off.

"Well, you look great, Cyndi!" she commented. "How have the first three weeks of marriage been so far for the both of you?"

"We already felt like we were married before we did it just to keep people from raising their eyebrows," said Cynthia. "I never cared for jewelry but I love this ring." It was a modest but still charming engagement ring. "But yeah, things are going along perfectly. We're happy as can be."

Blitzwing glanced at the plain golden band on his finger. He didn't mind getting married in a Human fashion. He smiled at the ring.

"You're still working at that antique shop and Blitzy's still a mechanic at the garage?" Amanda further questioned them.

"Yes," he answered, "ve'll still be vorking part time so ve can take turns being vith Lydia. I cannot vait until ve have enough money to have our own home…"

"Isn't Wes going to build you two a log cabin as an act of penance?" Mandy laughed. "He is a mountain man after all."

Blitzwing's mood spoiled when she mentioned Wes Larkson. He still wasn't fond of that man. Shortly after he and Cynthia left Detroit, Mrs. Preston hired Wes to help out with the handy work around the house. Since the two needed jobs and had a baby to worry about, she found less time to do chores around the house in contrast to the effort she could put in if she lived home alone.

Once again, Wes tried to make amends with Cynthia for his past cruelty to her in grade school. When they reunited, she was much more merciful towards him. Currently, the two were on speaking and friendly terms with one another. Yet Blitzwing still disliked and mistrusted him and he was often wary of his kindness towards Cyndi. Neither did he want Wes remotely near Lydia. Over time, however, he learned to tolerate the woodsman's presence and made somewhat of an effort to be affable at Cynthia's urging.

"How humble of him," Hothead said spitefully. "I vill provide for my family, not him. I vill build a cabin for zhem before he does!"

"He still hates him," Cynthia exhaled. "He thinks Wes is on a mission to steal me and Lydia away from him."

"I don't think he'd do that," said Amanda. "If he did, Blitzwing would rip his head off with his spine still attached."

Blitzwing smiled triumphantly at that comment. The scenario played in his head and he loved every minute of it.

"In speaking of men," Cynthia looked over her sister's shoulder, "where's your man at?"

"Mom's harassing him again," Amanda rolled her eyes. "She keeps on telling him she wants him to marry me. I'm twenty going on twenty-one next month! I think I'm a little too young for that."

"Getting married at twenty-four is nice." She looked at Blitzwing. "Or when one looks like they're twenty seven too. That does sound like Mom…"

"I want you to marry her, she's a good girl!" Helen was hounding Lockdown. "I'm not saying right at this moment but in a few years! She's much too young! You're so precious together! Look at Cyndi and Blitzwing! Don't you want that?"

"Mrs. Preston, you're freaking me out." He laughed in good humor. The two were walking into the den where the others were congregated. "I do love her, don't get me wrong. We're going to take it slow, do some more bounty hunting and when we have enough cash, we'll figure out what to do from there."

"There he is!" Cynthia cheered. "Mandy just told me the news!"

"Cyndi," he waved at her, "uh, what news?"

"She's pregnant!"

"SAY WHAT NOW?"

"Just kidding. I just wanted to see the look on your face!"

"Oh… I almost died there for a second." He laughed. "How've you been?"

"Life's good for now." Like Mandy did to Blitzwing, she kissed her friend on his cheek. "And you?"

"Swell." He looked over at Blitzwing. "Mr. Rise, what's been up with you?"

"Zhis." He held out Lydia. "Zhis munchkin."

"She's a doll! Looks like she grew up since I last saw her at the wedding. She still has her daddy's eyes too. Is that alright if I hold her?"

"Of course," said Random. "Just make sure zhou give her back!"

He handed her over to her uncle. Lockdown took her into his arms, half uncertain of how he should hold her. The little girl looked at him, intrigued by his facial tattoos and the identical eye color he shared with her father.

"She's cute," he lost some of his apprehension as he looked at her. "But I bet you're deceitful. With you being your father's daughter, I know you will be handful if you're not already that."

Suddenly, she opened up her mouth and threw up on him. His eyes widened in shock but he remembered to keep a good hold onto the child. Blitzwing laughed heartily at this scene.

"See?" Lockdown observed the vomit run down his leather jacket.

"She likes zhou!" Random said encouragingly.

Lockdown returned Lydia back to Blitzwing. Her father pulled out a rag from his pocket and dabbed her face of the barf. Lydia smiled at this and cooed. Blitzwing laughed in his throat, absolutely in love with the baby. He was proud to have fought for her safety from Megatron and won. She was worth it.

A moment later, she was all clean. He kissed her cheeks which were flecked with barf not too long ago.

"Poop, barf, drool…" he looked into her eyes. "I love her no matter vhat. I alvays vill." He nuzzled her neck with his beard. She giggled in glee. "She vill alvays be my little one even after she grows up."

Lydia then grabbed his beard. With force, she tugged on it. Blitzwing yelled in pain. All everyone else could was laugh at her antics despite his momentary agony. Thankfully, she let go a few seconds later. He rubbed his chin but he was smiling.

"Zhat's my girl!" Hothead was practically proud of what she had done. "Just like me, she's unpredictable!"

"I don't know if that's a good thing or not," said Mandy. "Maybe we all better be scared."

"I can happily live with that," said Cynthia. "I didn't go through all the trials and times over the past two years for no reason." Her husband lassoed her with a free arm and held her close to him. "Every second is and always be worth it."

Amanda and her love held hands. He placed a soft kiss on the side of her head.

"Oh, God!" Helen exclaimed. "I love every single one of you so much! Please, let's all stay together as one big happy family!"

"I'm not going anywhere anytime soon," Lockdown smirked. "Even if you wanted me to leave, you'd have a hard time getting rid of me."

"Don't vorry, Helen," Icy rested his head against Cynthia's. "I love zhis voman and baby too much to leave. Besides, zhis is zhe first real family I ever had. I von't ever take zhis for granted."

"I don't think I'll ever leave you, Mom," said Mandy. "As soon as we're done with bounty hunting, I want to live a mile away from here…"

Cynthia felt no need to say anything. All she did was shut her eyes and lean back into her beloved's body. She felt him kiss her neck but she didn't look back at him. Lydia's tiny hand touched her mother's shoulder.

"Ma," Lydia said, poking Cynthia.

She was happy and that was that.

Oh, yeah. Can I ask you one teeny, tiny favor? I would appreciate it if you would check out a poll on my profile that I set up regarding a new Transformers fic. Once again, thank you! :)