Disclaimer:
All characters and known situations belong to their respective owners. Everything else came from my own mind- scary place that it is sometimes. In no way shape or form have I made or intended to make a profit from this story…. All rights still belong to Stephanie… though it's a shame she never did anything more with the wolves… ah well.. There's always fan fiction
Authors Notes:
Hey you guys, this is the end. There were a few chapters through this along the way that I honestly thought were really weak, but I hope I did an overall decent job of it. Fanfiction isn't my strongest suit since the characters have already been made . I have my originals that I would much rather toy with lol.

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Epilogue

Bella hummed and made her way out to her back yard with a tray of lemonade and a batch of sugar cookies. She grinned when bodies started swarming around the table. They were setting up for her daughter's 14th birthday party while Jacob took her to the mall to pick up a new outfit or two. It was a tradition that had been put in place by the two of them ever since she was two years old. A little boy with bright grey eyes and a head full of black hair made his way in front of everyone else to stand right next to her.
"Hey Asher. When did you get here?" Bella asked him sweetly.

Asher grinned and hugged Bella before reaching up to take one of the offered cookies. "Mom just dropped me off out back. She said she had to go kill dad really quick. Uncle Seth is here though too!"

Bella ruffled his hair and turned toward the man in question. He was currently playing referee to his 13 year old twins, Harper and Harry. She shook her head and made her way over to them. Placing her hands on her hips, she cleared her throat. When that didn't work she sighed and shook her head at the ever quarrelling siblings.

"Harper Lynn and Harry Joseph! WHAT is going on?!" Bella had to hide her grin when Maggie marched over to them. The two were scared of their mother when she was angry.

"Harper told Caleb, Connor and Bentley that I liked Savannah!" Harry whined.

Harper grinned smugly. "Because you do! Why else would you always hang around her and try to be as close to her as you can?!"

Harry pulled a face. "I do NOT!" He huffed, his temper flaring again.

"Ok, ok, come on kids. Harry, why don't you go find Caleb, Connor and Bentley? I think I saw them take off inside to play a video game." Bella said breaking up yet another fight. "Harper, Savannah and Hailey are down by the pond. I told them I'd send you down there when you got here." She said.

"Thanks aunt Bella!" Harper grinned and dashed off in between the pack and their kids. She was the spitting image of her mother while Harry looked like a younger version of Seth. Bella was a proud aunt.

Seth sighed, his shoulders sagging. "Why must they always fight like that?!" He whined.

"Because they're siblings." Maggie told him sweetly.

"Yeah, but I was never that bad with Leah!" He huffed.

It was Bella's turn to smile. "They're twins they're going to fight." She shrugged.

"Your boys don't. Paul's twins don't. Hell, even Collin's boys are well behaved!" He huffed.

Maggie and Bella grinned. "They're twins." It was the only explanation he was going to get. He rolled his eyes when they walked off and went off himself to greet the pack.

He passed by Brianna and Levi with their hands laced together sitting on a bench swing hanging from one of the trees near the edge of the yard and shook his head. Somehow he'd seen that one coming from a mile away. He still teased Sam and Paul about it. They had been floored when it was announced that Levi wanted to start dating Brianna.

Levi Lahote had his mother's temper and Paul's boyish charm. It had roped in sweet little Brianna Uley as soon as she was old enough to show interest in the opposite sex at age 13. Now a year later, she had Levi chasing after her and her alone- even if he was a year older than she was.

"Hey Sam. Guys." Seth greeted. He nodded to Jared and Embry as well.

Sam grinned. "Hey Seth. Where are the twins?"

"Ugh! Don't get me started. They're already fighting, and it's only 11 in the morning!" He huffed.

His friends merely laughed. "That's your kids for you. I think they got Maggie's fighting spirit. Remember that one girl in the mall when you guys were like… 22 or something?" Jared teased.

They were interrupted by a loud splash of the pond followed by boys laughter and girls screams. They turned to watch as Hailey Call, Harper and Savannah Cameron raced up the grassy mound away from the pond. It was enough that the adults were quietly chuckling when they saw the girls' drenched clothes.

"Oh here we go." Sam muttered.

Embry sighed and looked out at the yard. Bella and Jacob had worked hard over the last 17 years to turn their little corner of the reservation into a small piece of paradise. It may not have been sunny all the time, but Bella had simply worked around that and bought flowers that loved the wet and rainy climate. Instead of clearing the large old trees outright, Bella had cleared around a great number of them, only adding to the beauty of it.

Seth only groaned when he saw the boys scampering off. Jared and Embry shook their heads with Seth at their daughters' outrage. It was quelled quickly when they stomped over to them. "Hey princess, what's wrong?" Jared cooed to Savannah.

Her eyes flashed dangerously, reminding him so much of her mother it was uncanny. "Caleb and Ryan is what's wrong!" She screeched.

Embry bit back the laughter that threatened to rise. "What'd they do Hailey bear?" He asked his own daughter. She and her sister both were his pride and joy.

"It wasn't just them daddy! It was Quil too!" She whined.

Seth rolled his eyes. "I should have known." He chuckled. He found his friends trying to hold back their snickers of amusement too. Seeing their daughters' looking so much like their wives was too adorable for them to not laugh at.

Harper narrowed her eyes at him with her arms crossed over her chest. "It's NOT funny! They found the biggest rock they could and landed it as close to us as they could! We're SOAKED and its NOT funny!" She stomped her foot for emphasis before she and the other two were dragged off by Paul's daughter, Gracilynn and Sam's oldest, Makenzii.

"All I can say is thank god I don't have any boys." Embry said with a small chuckle. Sam nodded in agreement.

Jared grinned. "I don't know. Liam is a great kid. When he's not talking about Makenzii at least." He teased.

Sam rolled his eyes. "I put the fear of god into Levi, I can do it to Liam too." He said gruffly. The entire pack knew that Sam was a pushover when it came to his women.

"Don't go too hard on my son. Kim'll have your hide for messing with her baby boy." Jared teased with a roll of his eyes.

Embry and Sam snickered. "It's a wonder he didn't turn out to be more soft spoken. She's babied him since he was a newborn." Sam teased.

"Maggie does that with Harry. It drives me nuts sometimes." Seth nodded in agreement.

"See! At least someone gets it. They're boys! They're going to fall down and get hurt! Liam was in a cast by the time he was 5 for trying to fly off of the roof. I don't think I've ever seen Kim more panicked." Jared said with a chuckle.

Bella walked up to them then, having made the rounds to see all her friends. She hugged them all and then turned to Embry, Jared and Seth. They all shifted from foot to foot like scolded kids when she leveled her mommy stare on them. "You three are going to be in SO much trouble. Your wives just heard about what you did… or didn't do as the case may be." She finally teased.

"Come on Bells. That's not cool!" Embry whined not making direct contact with her. "There was nothing to be done! They were already soaked, its not like we encouraged the boys to mess with them!" He huffed defensively.

"No, what's NOT cool is laughing at your little girl. The boys have already been talked to. I was sent to talk to you three because apparently you don't listen to your wives. Sheesh. You know it's bad when I have to get involved. What's to be done with you three?" She huffed playfully.

Sam laughed. "Are the girls alright?" He asked after a few minutes.

"Yeah, I let them borrow some of Sarabeth's clothes. She's gonna be back soon by the way. Could you three help Collin and Brady try to keep the boys in line until then? I need to go find Quil and ask him the same thing. Oh and…Embry, Angela said she wants you to talk to talk to VI. She saw him and Hailey with their heads pretty close together when they thought no one was watching."

Embry huffed, his eyes flashing dangerously. Hailey was his baby. She was too young to be dating anyone! Bella rolled her eyes at the display. "Save it for Quil's son. Mine have already been talked to… by you and Quil."

Sam grinned. "You'll be related to them before you know it Bella." Jared couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Oh please. I'm already related to Seth and Leah. The last thing I need is MORE family in the pack." She said dramatically before they all shared a laugh.

"Would it be so bad?" Embry asked.

Bella grinned and looked at her back yard, overfilled with pack and their family. "Nope." She grinned. "Not at all."

"There you are!" Natalie grinned and moved to hug Bella. Her youngest son, Landon was by her side and looking around for a place to sit quietly.

"I'm here." Bella grinned. "Hi Landon." She said crouching down to offer him a hug. She smiled sweetly when he gave her a flower instead and only nodded his head.

"How's he doing?" Seth asked quietly.

Natalie smiled. "His doctor said he's getting better. The puppy we bought is almost done being trained." She told them. "We'll have him by the end of the week. Landon and Collin are going back tonight for the final training session before we can take him home."

Bella smiled. "Do you like your dog, Landon?"

Landon nodded but didn't say anything. He buried his face into Natalie's jean covered leg and whined slightly. Bella smiled and gave him an understanding nod. "We'll get you there sweetheart."

Sam smiled. He, like the rest of the pack had rallied around Natalie and Collin when they learned that Landon had autism. He had learned about service dogs helping children with autism from a customer in Jacob's garage, Wolf Boys Auto and Repair. It had been expensive, but they had allowed Landon to choose a gorgeous Samoyed to be trained for a companion.

"Hey, Landon, do you want to go find Alexia? I think she and Asher are watching a movie in the den." Jared asked him gently. He smiled when Landon nodded shyly. He didn't take Jared's hand, but he grabbed onto the leg of his jeans. It was progress. Sam grinned and walked off with him leaving Embry, Seth, Bella and Natalie to talk.

"Between the photography studio, Landon and the boys… I'm honestly surprised I don't have a head full of grey hair yet." Natalie mused.

"Collin would still see you as the most beautiful woman alive. Same as any of us." He grinned.

"You're just kissing up to me so I'll give Maggie a good report." Natalie teased.

"Hey it's worth a shot! You see her more than I do in the day." Seth grinned.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Only because she works with her."

"And you see my husband on a regular basis too. That doesn't mean I suck up to you so he'll remember to do nice things for me." Natalie quipped.

They all shared a laugh at that before heading back over to where the majority of the people were gathered. Leah had finally made her presence known and was giving her nephew a stern talking to about how to treat his sister a little nicer. She then moved on to Natalie's twins. Everyone knew from the looks on their faces that they wouldn't dare toe the line anymore tonight. Their auntie Leah was a scary woman when she chose to be.

"Hey mom!" Bella smiled and turned to see her eldest walking over to her, his hand clasping Cheyenne Call's hand gently.

"Hi sweetie. Hi Cheyenne." Bella grinned and hugged the girl briefly.

Cheyenne smiled. "Hi Mrs. Black. Hi daddy." She grinned and hugged Embry tightly before stepping away."

"Hey princess. We thought you two weren't going to show up." He teased.

Cheyenne rolled her eyes. "Sorry we're late. Mr. Kersey gave us a killer English essay to start writing. Aiden refused to write his. He said he'd do it next week, so I made him do at least half of it."

Cheyenne may have only been 16, but early on she had shown that she had inherited her mother's smarts. She was bumped up a grade and would be graduating with Aiden at the end of the year. Even though she was a bookworm like Angela, she had a tendency to be extremely crafty and sneaky like her dad- something that made Embry swell with pride.

Bella grinned. "That's a good girl." She crooned. "At least I know my son is taken care of." She teased causing Aiden to blush and roll his eyes.

"That's so not cool mom!" Aiden whined.

She only chuckled. "Do you know where your brother is? Or better yet, have you seen him at all today?" Bella asked.

"He's probably with Ashleigh. The last time I saw them they were in the tree house to get away from the little br- kids." He changed what he was going to say quickly when he saw his mother's eyebrow raise. She may have been shorter than he was now, but she was no less scary.

"Alright. Go on you two. And stay out of trouble!" She huffed before stalking off to the tree house to track down her sneaky child.

Embry chuckled. "You want some help?"

"No… if he's doing what I think he's doing, it'll be embarrassing enough with me calling him out on it. He doesn't need any of his uncles to see it. And Ashleigh will also be almost as embarrassed."

"Are you kidding? Quil's daughter? Embarrassed? Not likely." Embry crowed.

Natalie shook her head and went off in search of her husband and her kids. Embry chuckled and walked over to where Angela and Kim were talking with Rachel and Emily. He mentally chuckled and sat back to wait for the show. It was sure to be good.

The closer she got, the more her eyes narrowed. The noises coming from the tree house were nothing less than incriminating. She closed her eyes and wished not for the first time that she had let Jacob stay to get Sarabeth's birthday party organized while she took her out shopping. There were certain things a mother just did not want to deal with, hearing her child have sex… well that was high on the list.

"Anthony William Black! You get your rear end down here NOW!" She huffed. "You too Ashleigh Ateara." She said sternly.

"Oh shit! How the hell did she find us THIS time?!" Anthony hissed.

"It was probably your brother Tony! I TOLD you not to piss him off!" Ashleigh snapped.

"He's gonna GET it!"

Bella shook her head and rolled her eyes. It was all too easy to get those two to incriminate themselves. She took a deep breath and waited while they both climbed down the fraying rope ladder. She made a mental reminder to tell Jacob to replace it. It was one of the most well loved attractions for the kids when they visited.

"Hi mom." Anthony smiled sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. He reminded Bella so much of Jacob when he did that.

"Do you two want to tell me something?" Bella asked with a raised eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Um….We uh…." Ashleigh gave up and hid partially behind her boyfriend, her hand gripping his tightly. Bella was a scary woman when she chose to be.

Anthony sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you. You'd lay into me and then dad would later. All I can say is we're sorry it was somewhere so open."

Bella smirked inwardly. It was almost too easy. She kept up an aggravated front and pointed towards the house. "I'll accept that. Go on. And Ashleigh… you might want to go freshen up." She warned cryptically.

Ashleigh paled and nodded. The last thing she needed was to be around her dad right now. The kids had all grown up with the knowledge of the pack. Their dads were all wolves and their moms were all married to them. It never bothered them in the slightest.

"Thanks… o-of course Mrs. Black." She placed a kiss to Anthony's cheek and hurried off into the house. Anthony was quick to follow. They wouldn't dare try anything that close to the pack again- not for a while at least.

Bella sighed. This was her life. She was and always would be part of the pack and therefore was always surrounded by friends and family. The kids all listened to her and all loved her dearly. She was a godmother, an auntie, an aunt and a mom. She turned her head to the sky and smiled.

It had taken three years after they finished school for their bistro to be opened. The Pack's Place was now a favorite spot for teenagers to go to after school as well as one of the best places to buy coffee in the entire area of Forks and La Push. It was still run by Bella, Kim and Emily, though Makenzii and Liam worked there as well on the weekends and during school holidays.

Angela, Nicole and Rachel had gone a different route. They had opened up The Wolves Den childcare center on the reservation. The intake of kids had been small to start, but over time, it had grown no thanks to the amazing reputations of the girls who ran it.

Behind all of them taking pictures for advertisements or as wall art, were Maggie and Natalie. They pooled their money together to open a modest studio on the border of La Push and Forks. A Wolf's Eye View made an amazing profit within it's first year of being open. The girls were nothing if not professional at work. They loved what they did, and it showed.

So too did Seth, Collin and Brady. They realized too, that their skills could turn profit and so created a website to start selling small pieces of carvings. When the demand for larger pieces was made known, Seth broke down and created a shop from the money he had saved. 'Carved with Care' seemed to be a friendly enough catchphrase, because each of their pieces was unique. No two were alike.

Jacob opened his own garage and hired the pack to help him with it. Wolf Boys Auto and Repair was now more successful than the garage in Forks had ever dreamed of being. Sam, Paul and Jacob were well known to be steady with their hands and each of them had a keen eye and ear for catching minor issues before they became big problems. Jacob never overcharged, and they always had a smile on their faces for whoever walked through the door.

Jared worked out of the garage as well. He upgraded and replaced sound systems, earning him a reputation as an amazing electrician. Embry helped him sometimes, but he mainly worked the books for the shop as well as being an office manager. Quil, on the other hand, was known for his amazing car art- as Embry sometimes called it. He took his skills in art and design and transferred it to car paint and body work in Jacob's garage.

All in all it had been successful for them. She was pulled from her thoughts by the arrival of Claire. She had just gotten home from a book signing in Seattle. The girls all swarmed around her to offer her hugs before she was swooped into Brady's arms. Her books were among some of the national best sellers now, even if she used a pseudonym instead of her own name. Accalia was definitely in popular demand. It was always nice, however, when Claire was home. Her laid back personality had been adopted by her daughter, Alexia- for which they were all happy.

Leah and Tristan had come home as well. Though, it was to two years of hardship, trying to open Leah's private practice. Tristan got his wish, working with troubled kids from the reservation and surprisingly, Forks and sometimes Port Angelas. Asher was their miracle son, and Tristan couldn't be more fond of the boy. Leah suffered through two nearly full term miscarriages before Asher was placed in her loving arms. Bella had dropped to her knees when she saw her nephew and cried. She thanked the spirits for allowing Leah to become a mother- she was amazing.

Jacob's arms wrapped around her waist then, startling her from her memories. He smiled and kissed the mark on her neck, a husky chuckle coming from his lips. His love for her had never faded, even when she complained that the twins gave her grey hair, or that she wasn't as slim as she was as a teenager. He never saw that. He simply saw his amazing mate.

"Hello gorgeous." Jacob whispered.

Bella smiled and turned to place a kiss to his lips. "Hey. How'd shopping go?"

"We have a problem." Jacob huffed.

Bella giggled. "We do?"

"Uh huh. Sarabeth is growing up too fast!" Jacob grizzled. "She had teenagers panting after her the same way I did with you!"

Bella's laugh erupted from her throat causing the pack to shuffle closer out of curiosity. "She's supposed to be growing up, Jake. It's what kids do." She said sweetly.

"Not my little girl!" He huffed.

She smiled. "Jake, I'm sure most of your brothers feel the same way. But it's a fact of life. I dare someone to try and hurt her or break her heart. She'd have not only you and her OWN brothers to defend her, but she'd have her uncles and THEIR boys too. Think about it. She may grow up, but the girl is smart. She'll be fine."

Jacob sighed. He turned to meet the eyes of each of his pack mates. Their subtle nods let him know what Bella said was true. Their kids, all of them, were the most precious thing any of them had ever had. They'd fight to their last breath to defend them- all of them. Before he could say anything else a high pitched squeal echoed through the back yard. He turned in time to see his daughter being thrown into the pond by her brothers. He cringed knowing that even though it was almost June, the water was still a little on the chilly side.

Bella sighed. This was the life she had chosen. This was her natural path. Jacob had been right. It was simply put, as easy as breathing. She loved her family, her friends, her pack. She never had to change who she had chosen to be and she was thankful for that. With a smile and laughter in her eyes, she made a vow to thank the spirits who had opened her eyes and allowed her to tell Alice Cullen no when she had been so determined to see her say yes.