Although this remains my favorite of the stories I've written, I think this might be it for this story at least as a real story, I may try to do some one shots of different events in Ann and Zoc's life, but I'm just having no luck finding inspiration to fill in the gaps between major events. This chapter is actually stuff I've had written for years, probably since around the time I first started posting the sequel. It includes a few journal entries and a scene from a few years after the last chapter.

Wow, I didn't realize just how attached I am to this story, I'm literally tearing up after admitting it might be over. This was my first story, this is what took me from being the girl with learning disabilities so bad that in high school anytime I had a writing assignment they'd reduce it to just write a few sentences and now I love writing and actually have hopes of getting some of my original stories published, that never would have happened without this story to get me started on that road, it truly has changed my life.

Suggestions for the one shots are welcome.

February 25, 1832

I'm to be a mother soon, the look on George's face when I told him was priceless, he's so thrilled and keeps talking to the baby.

December 28, 1837

David is missing, he kept saying he wanted to go out and play in the snow yesterday and we told him he could go out to play sometime today. When we woke up this morning his bed was empty and the front door was standing open. It's been snowing all morning and we can't find any sign of tracks. Mama came to stay with Susan and Margaret while papa and Sarah search from the air and George and I searched the ground for several hours until George insisted I come back and check on the girls. They're now curled up at my sides asleep, both are missing their brother and don't understand why he isn't here, how do you explain a situation like this to one and three year old children?

Night

He's dead, my poor little boy is dead, George found him curled up at the base of a tree nearly half a mile from the house, frozen to death.

June 25, 1910

I think this shall be my last entry, I can feel that my time is coming and I will finally be reunited with my beloved George and the rest of my family. Since my children have all chosen to ignore their heritage I will have to lock these things away for safe keeping, away from the eyes of humans. Perhaps someday one of my decedents will remember their heritage and return here to uncover these or perhaps another of my kind will pass this way. Each of my grandchildren and great grand children have been given a pendant or ring with a piece of the dragon stone in it, when worn by a person of our heritage the stone will glow and guide them to these things.

The twins are 3 and Ann's pregnant again.

"Mama wake up, mama," May said shaking Ann's shoulder.

"What is it honey?" Ann asked drowsily as she rolled over to look at her.

"I can't find Walter, he's hidin somewhere," May told her.

"Isn't it a little early to be playing hide and seek?" Zoc asked lifting himself up on one elbow to see over Ann's back.

"We not playing, he's just not in bed when I woke up and I can't find him." May said.

Ann and Zoc both sat up quickly, "I'm sure he's just hiding from you." Zoc said a hint of worry in his voice.

"Let's go look for him." Ann said getting out of bed and putting her bathrobe on.

They quickly searched the upstairs, but found no sign of Walter, then headed downstairs. Ann froze as she came off the bottom of the stairs, "Oh my God, no." she whispered then ran to the front door that was standing a few inches open with snow blowing in through it. She threw open the door and could faintly see footprints, that had nearly been covered by the heavily falling snow, leading away from the house. She raced out following them and calling for Walter until the tracks disappeared where the snow had drifted and she couldn't find any more tracks around it.

"Ann you have to get back inside." Zoc said coming up behind her.

"No we have to find Walter." Ann said.

"You don't even have shoes or decent clothes on. You need to come back in the house." Zoc told her.

"But-" she managed before she reluctantly let Zoc lead her back into the house.

"Stay here with May and call John and Mary to see if they can come help look for him. His coat, cape and boots are gone, he wasn't kidnapped and he didn't go out completely unprepared, he's probably fine. You need to stay here with May, you're in no condition to be going out there, the last thing I need is for you to go into labor out there." Zoc told her.

"Alright." Ann agreed reluctantly as she grabbed the phone while Zoc ran upstairs to get one of the potions to make himself human and get dressed.

Ann waited impatiently as the phone rang several times before Mary finally answered, "H-hello?" she said drowsily.

"Mary can you and John come over here?" Ann asked.

"Its seven in the morning on a Saturday, why do I even want to be awake?" Mary asked.

"It's Walter he's missing, his coat was gone, the door was standing open and there were tracks leading out towards the woods." Ann said struggling desperately not to start crying.

"Oh my gosh, we'll be right over." Mary said before hanging up.

"Mary and John are on their way." Ann told Zoc as he came back downstairs and put on his coat.

"Good, don't worry we're going to find him, he's going to be fine." he told her, gently kissing her forehead before heading outside.

"Mama what's wrong? Where is Walter?" May asked from where she was sitting on the couch.

Ann lowered herself to the couch and pulled May into her arms, "He got lost out in the snow and daddy is going to find him and bring him back." Ann told her.

"Good I don't like him not being here." May replied, "Can we have breakfast?"

"Of course, honey." Ann replied, taking May's hand in hers and heading to the kitchen.

Once Ann had gotten May her breakfast she headed up stairs and got dressed. A little while later there was a knock at the door, "Which way did the tracks head?" John asked as soon as she opened the door.

"Out that way, they disappeared right outside the woods." Ann told him, pointing out the place where the tracks had been and where Zoc's tracks were still barely visible.

"Alright, don't worry, we'll find him." John told her before heading towards the woods.

"Are you alright, well as alright as possible under the circumstances?" Mary asked.

"No, I just want to be out there helping look for him." Ann replied.

"It's not safe for you to be out there alone, especially when you could go into labor any day now. They'll find him." Mary told her.

"I know, but what if-" Ann glanced towards the kitchen and lowered her voice, "What if he's not alive when they find him, my aunt lost her oldest son out in those woods when he wandered off in winter." she said tears beginning to run down her cheeks.

"Oh Ann," Mary pulled her into a tight hug, "Don't even think about that, I'm sure they'll find him in time." Mary told her.

"But Mary it's already been an hour, we have no idea how long he's been out there and it's so cold." Ann said.

"All you can do is pray and try to stay calm, I want to go out and help look, but I can't do that if you stress yourself into labor and I have to stay here to deliver the babies." Mary told her, "Now what is Elnora's phone number? I'm not going to leave you to sit here and wait alone."

A little while later Elnora showed up to stay with Ann and Doreen and Lucas had been called and arrived to help look.

"Don't worry Ann, Walter is a strong and smart boy, he probably found a hollow tree or someplace sheltered to wait, they'll find him and he'll be fine." Elnora said wrapping an arm around Ann's shoulders as they sat together on the couch.

"Walter wasn't too smart going outside when it's cold out." May said from where she was sitting on the other side of Ann with her cheek and hands pressed to Ann's stomach to feel the babies kick. "You think they'll be boys or girls, or one of each like Walter and I?" she asked.

"I don't know, we'll just have to wait and find out when they decide to come out of there." Ann replied gently running her hand over May's hair and antennas.

Three hours later May had fallen asleep on the couch and Ann and Elnora had moved into the library.

"He's going to be dead, it's been over four hours, he's so small and it's so cold." Ann sobbed as Elnora held her and tried to comfort her.

"Shh dear, you've got to try to stay calm for the sake of the two you're carrying." Elnora said.

Nearly half an hour later the front door slammed open as Zoc ran in carrying a small bundle wrapped in his coat.

Ann ran to his side, "Is he-" she started.

"I don't know." Zoc said as he set him down on the couch and began to unwrap him as Mary came in carrying a medical bag.

Ann fought back a sob when she could finally see his face, his lips were a whitish blue and his antennas were unnaturally stiff. As Zoc continued to unwrap him she could see his legs were stiffly curled up against his body and his arms were curled up against his chest, too stiff to allow his coat to be removed.

Ann turned to bury her face in Elnora's shoulder as she began to cry.

"I'm not getting any sign of a pulse." Mary said sounding as if she might start to cry as well.

Elnora let go of Ann as Zoc came over to them then pulled Ann into a tight embrace as tears began to pour down his face as well. Elnora quietly left the room to give them a little privacy and to start a pot of water to make hot drinks for the no doubt chilled searchers while Mary stepped out onto the porch and rang the large dinner bell to signal John and Doreen to come back to the house.

"Mama why is Walter so stiff?" May asked.

Ann and Zoc looked up to see May poking one of Walter's antennas.

"May honey why don't you go help grandma make some hot coco?" Mary suggested as she walked back into the room.

"But why is he so stiff and why does his heart sound so quite I can barely hear it?" May asked.

Mary looked like she was trying to figure out what to tell her or if she should let Ann and Zoc tell her when Zoc stepped forward and knelt in front of May, "You can hear his heart?" he asked almost urgently.

"Yeah, it's really quiet, like the babies hearts when they were really little and me and you and aunt Hope were the only ones who could hear them." May told him.

In a split second Zoc was running up the stairs leaving a trail of discarded clothing behind him. A minute later he came back down, now back in ant form and knelt next to Walter, letting his antennas rest on his chest. A moment later he stood up and pulled Ann into his arms, "He's alive." he told her.

"But I couldn't detect any heart beat at all." Mary said.

"He's hibernating, since the nest is usually heated it rarely happens, I've only seen it happen a couple times before because we usually try to avoid going out in the cold. Once we get him warmed up he should wake up and be fine once we get a healing potion on the frostbite." Zoc explained.

"Thank God." Ann said dropping onto the couch and pulling Walter gently into her arms, tears of relief pouring down her face.

"Try to get his antennas warmed up, it may already be too late, he didn't have anything covering them and if he completely lost blood flow to them and we can't restore it quickly he could lose them. The healing potion can't work without at least a little blood flow to the area." Zoc said before leaving the room.

Ann carefully cradled Walter's antennas with her hand and blew warm air onto them. A moment later Zoc came back into the room and set a healing potion on the end table next to Ann, "As soon as they start to feel a little less stiff carefully rub that onto them. After that just hold him and let him warm up slowly, I'll be back shortly with more healing potions." Zoc told Ann, gently kissing her forehead, "He's going to be alright." he assured her before leaving.

As soon as the others got back Doreen ran over to Ann's side, "Is he alive?" she asked sounding afraid of what the answer would be.

"Yes, Zoc said he just got cold enough that he's hibernating, but he should wake up and be alright once we get him warmed up." Ann told her.

"He's lucky he's not completely human, I don't think a human kid as young as he is could have survived this long, not as cold as it is. I don't know if I could have lasted out there that long without breaks to come in and warm up." Lucas said walking over to kneel in front of Ann then reached out to take Walters icy cold hand in his, "You're sure he's going to be alright?" Lucas asked concern evident in his voice.

"That's what Zoc said, he said there was a chance he could lose his antennas if he completely lost blood circulation to them, but he will live." Ann told him as she rubbed the healing potion onto Walter's antennas.

A short while later Zoc retuned with the healing potions, "How is he doing?" he asked walking over to Ann.

"His antennas are warmer and I put the healing potion on them about five minutes ago, but I haven't noticed any other changes." Ann told him.

"Let me see him." Zoc said carefully taking him from her then sat down on the floor with him cradled in one arm while he used a finger to flick one of his antennas, when there was no sign of a response from Walter, he tried again, a little harder but still received no reaction.

Ann felt her heart break at the thought of her son losing his antennas, it would no doubt be painful and he would lose his sensitive hearing, although at least with the human like ear canals that lay just under the skin on the sides of his head he'd still have some hearing.

"Mary, do you have a syringe?" Zoc asked.

"Yes." Mary replied grabbing her medical bag and pulling one out.

"Good, fill it with some of the healing potion." Zoc told her.

"Okay, got it." Mary said a moment later.

"Good, now I want you to insert it into his antenna, if he reacts inject the potion." Zoc told her as he tightly rewrapped the blanket around Walter's body so that his arms and legs were tightly bound in it, then wrapped one arm around his chest and the other over his forehead and braced him back against his chest.

"Are you sure about this?" Mary asked as she knelt in front of them.

"It's the only chance we have of saving his antennas." Zoc told her, "Do it."

Mary carefully started to insert the syringe into Walter's antenna but didn't get any reaction; she continued to push it in without so much as a flinch from Walter.

Ann watched praying desperately that it would work as each second seemed to last hours as Mary slowly continued to insert the syringe, then suddenly Walter's whole body jerked and he began screaming and trying to wriggle out of Zoc's grip as Mary injected the healing potion, then quickly removed the syringe from his antenna.

"Do the other one quickly." Zoc told Mary.

Walter now fully awake began screaming and struggling even harder when Mary pulled out a second syringe and filled it, "Mama, mama, don't let her hurt me!" he wailed.

Tears ran down Ann's face as she fought the instinct to comfort and stop the pain her son was feeling. She knew if they didn't do it he would suffer far worse, but that knowledge didn't do anything to ease the ache in her heart as he screamed and begged her to help him.

May ran into the room and jump onto the couch next to Ann, "Mama why are they hurting him? Make them stop." she begged.

"He's going to be all right, but he's hurt really badly and they just have to give him a shot to make him better." Ann told her as she hugged her tightly when Walter let out another blood curdling scream as Mary injected the syringe into his second antenna.

As soon as Mary removed the syringe, Zoc loosened his grip and Walter slipped free, running as fast as his still partially numb feet would carry him then jumped on to the couch pushing his way between Ann and May and burying his face in Ann's side, "Why'd daddy and aunt Mary hurt me?" he sobbed.

Ann wrapped her arms around him and held him, "You got hurt really badly while you were out in the snow, you're antennas could have fallen off and you would have never been able to hear right again. The only way to stop that from happening was for daddy and aunt Mary to put the healing potion inside of your antennas so they could heal from the inside out." Ann told him.

"But it hurt." Walter whimpered.

"Well you were pretty stupid going outside, mommy and daddy always say not to go out without them. You deserve to hurt, you scared me and mommy and daddy and made mommy cry and you probably even upset the babies." May told him.

"May you're not being very nice." Doreen said.

"Yeah, you're bein mean to me and I hurt." Walter said.

"But it's true." May replied crossing her arms.

"She's right, he scared all of us, he could have died out there, if he's old enough to get out of the house on his own, he needs to know the consequences of sneaking off like that." Ann said.

"I made you cry?" Walter asked looking up into Ann's eyes.

"Yes you did. It's so cold outside you could have frozen to death and I was afraid I'd never get to hold you again and that the babies would never get to meet their big brother." Ann told him.

"I'm sorry mommy, I'll never go outside alone again, I promise." Walter said hugging her tightly.

"Good, because I love you so very much and I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you." Ann told him gently kissing the top of his head.

"I love you too, mommy." Walter replied.

"Do you still love me?" Zoc asked.

Walter hesitated a moment, "My antennas really would have fallen off?" he asked.

"Yes, they would have." Zoc told him.

Walter climbed off the couch, walked over to Zoc and hugged him, "I still love you daddy." he said.

"I love you too." Zoc told him holding him for a long moment, "Now, let aunt Mary check to see if you have frostbite anywhere else." Zoc told him.