EPILOGUE

Life was never easy for them. It kept throwing them curveballs, but together, they were always able to manage.

Their three children grew up beautifully.

Kenzie remained a troublemaker for many, many years. She only calmed down when she was done with veterinary college and started working with Carol as a vet. She took over the business a few years later, when her aunt retired. She wasn't in a hurry to find a guy and start a family. Family life had never really been her favorite, even though she loved her own family dearly, it was simply not something she was in a rush to have on her own. Once again, she mirrored her Uncle Merle a lot in that department.

Jess didn't change too much, either. He was the quiet kid, who always had a smile and kind words for everyone. He was a bit of an old soul. Nobody in their family had been surprised when he'd had his first girlfriend at age 16 and ended up marrying her only two years later. He was like Daryl. He'd met this girl and had just known she was the one for him. Daryl knew what that felt like, but he had still objected to this early marriage, just like Teddy. In the end, Jess had gone through with it anyway, and after a couple of years Teddy and Daryl had had to admit, that it must have been the right choice, since Jess' marriage was just as strong as their own. He'd had no ambitions to go to college, instead he had started working at Billy's and Daryl's garage, making a good living and supporting his family from early on. At age 24, he and his wife Anna gave Teddy and Daryl their first grandchild, a little girl named Sunny.

Angel turned into an incredibly smart, young woman. Teddy and Daryl had always put their cards on the table with her, being open and honest about her being adopted and how she had come to join their family. There had been a bit of a dark period when Angel had been older and had struggled with her identity and with coming to terms with having been abandoned as a baby, but with the help of her parents, especially Daryl and his own experiences, they had gotten through that rough patch together. Angel followed in her mother's footsteps. She had been accepted into medical school in New York and had started working in a New York hospital as a surgeon. Like Kenzie, her career came first for her, and she didn't start a family until later in life. Due to her own roots, she chose to adopt instead of having her own babies. She gave Teddy and Daryl a grandson from Somalia, named Korfa and a granddaughter from Asia, named Ming-Mei.

After their reconciliation, Billy and Maggie were able to keep their marriage alive for the rest of their lives. Billy had always kept his promise, to put his family first. He was involved in the lives of his three sons and helped shaped them into good young men. Johnny studied business, Sam studied marine biology and Ben became an engineer. Therefore, all three of them had left home pretty early and lived all over the country. The first few years of being so far away from their kids hadn't been easy on them, but once Billy had retired, they had been free to travel and had visited with their boys regularly.

Ironically, life was pretty uneventful for Merle, but he wouldn't have it any other way. He had lived through more than enough stuff before he had started working on the Greene farm and had begun to settle down. Carol had completed him and their marriage was kind of an easy one. She knew how to deal with him when he got out of line, which thankfully, didn't happen too often. She was that kind of lady, a guy wanted to be a better man for, and Merle had been able to do it. Most of the time, at least. When Maggie and Billy had moved out of the farmhouse after Hershel's death, him and Carol had moved in. Kenzie had taken over Merle's cabin on the farm. Merle was in charge at the farm now, together with Shawn. He was getting old, so now it was his turn to give another young rebel a second and maybe a third chance, and a shot at a good life, like Hershel had done for him so many years ago.

Teddy and Daryl were happy. It had been weird with the kids out of the house. So quiet and boring, they'd had no idea what to do with themselves. They had acclimated pretty quickly, though. With both of them retired and no children to worry about, they had all the time in the world for each other again. Even after so many years of marriage, it was something they valued and cherished. They had gotten a new dog and took him out every day for long walks in their woods. Life was finally quiet and they were back to where they had started, just the two of them, in their own little bubble, still happy that they had found each other. And it would remain that way, until each of them would draw their last breath.

The End.

Thank you for reading.

Gosh, I'm crying so hard, I can't even see right. I'm pathetic, I know, but for many reasons it's depressing and unbelievably hard to say goodbye to them.

Which is why this chapter turned out completely different, than I had so meticulously planned. It just didn't turn out right at all, so in the end, I had to scrap my plans and do this Epilogue.

I know you were expecting a "real" chapter, and that had been the plan, but it simply did not work out. Sorry for that. But I think the end of last chapter was the best "current" place to leave them, with their children surrounding them and everybody being happy.

Thank you to everyone who ever read this and to all the wonderful people who shared their thoughts with me. I will miss writing this story so much, I'm physically hurting right now, but it's just time.