Epilogue

. . . . . . . . . .

It was always nice coming back to New York. Though we hadn't spent much time here over the past three years, it would always be home. We always looked forward to coming back here for a bit though, and we did for most holidays.

This wasn't for a holiday, but Bella had caved when mom had asked for her help to organize this year's charity. I think she was just ready to come home.

We had really needed the time, the distance from it all, to help find out who we were. There had been so many bad memories here, just like in LA. We'd kept the house, and lent it out to family whenever someone went down or when we visited Marcus, but it wasn't home like New York was.

The apartment was where it had all started.

It had been amazing though. We'd spent the last three years travelling the world. After our small wedding, and our vacation at the resort in Belize with our family, we'd stayed in Italy until Christmas. Then we came back for a month, just relaxing, spending time with the others, and getting to know our god daughter.

Then we went to France. Home for a couple weeks. New Zealand. Home. We spent six months sailing to the Caribbean.

Then we came back for the birth of my sister's first child. Damien was a little shit disturber. He was barely two, and I swear, that kid was more destructive than Titan had been as a puppy. And that dog had destroyed about a hundred K in shoes in his first year with us.

Only mine though. They never touched Bella's shoes, the little demon just liked to taunt me. He could do no wrong in his mother's eyes. After a couple months though, we had hit the road again.

We liked our personal space, we liked our quiet.

There had been plenty of places to explore in the US.

We'd visited all of the seven wonders of the world, though my wife swore she would never touch the desert on the other side of the world again. The bugs had been too much for her.

Japan had been beautiful.

As had Australia. And Rio.

When I found out Bella had never been on a roller coaster, we spent six months doing just that. We went to every large amusement park in the world.

Honestly, I don't know where we hadn't gone. After our first year of marriage, the press had finally given up, and backed off. We didn't need security to go out in public anymore, which was awesome. The fans still got a little crazy, even though neither of us had done any work besides charity projects since Marcus' movie.

Even the two screen plays Bella had written, most of her proceeds she had donated and divided amongst her charities.

I think though, now, we were ready to settle back down. Get into a more steady sort of lifestyle. Renee and Damien were getting older, and Rose and Emmett had their second on the way.

Bella was planning to start up her classes again. I told her I would help if she wanted, because I was pretty damn good. I had the best, hottest martial-arts instructor in the world.

I wasn't really thinking of doing anything myself. My music and my books kept me busy, and I knew my mom would put me to work if we stayed. Bella and I were working on our own screen-play together now as well.

We could do anything, and just that thought had me smiling as I tried to find my wife.

The turnout was impressive, and I mean very impressive. They'd built a damn carnival, but I couldn't help feeling a little uneasy.

Bella had filled me in on the stats, explaining why my mom had wanted to do this this year. The amount of children that were crammed together in those overcrowded orphanages, foster homes, and group homes, was heart breaking. I'd seen their budgets, the shapes the facilities were in, how over-worked the employees were. We were more than willing to help, and by the looks of the turn out, we were helping out a lot. I'd done a few campaign videos, but this fair was going to bring in the big numbers.

I was excited for the piece that Bella and I were doing together later during the outdoor concert, but after the last hour of signing autographs and weaving through crowds, all I really wanted was to find my wife, and find somewhere quiet to sit and have something to eat. I wasn't used to all this crazy anymore.

I stopped in my tracks when I caught sight of her. She was even more beautiful than the day I met her. She got more beautiful every single day.

That wasn't why I stopped though, I was just a little surprised. She had her big sunglasses on, wearing her tight pale jeans, a white sleeveless blouse, and her black, strappy Jimmy Choos. On her left lying in the grass were Zeus and Titan, but it was her company on her right that had my attention. He couldn't have been older than five, with messy, dark-brown hair, and bright green eyes. He was wearing a pair of old jeans and a threadbare black t-shirt with a faded Batman symbol on it.

He seemed to be trying hard to scowl, but his eyes kept flickering over to my wife curiously over his ice cream cone. Bella was talking quietly around hers, and my stomach rumbled.

I walked over.

"Where'd you get the ice cream?" I asked hopefully, and Bella grinned at me.

"A guy went by with one of those cart things, he's long gone though," she said with a teasing grin, laughing when I groaned.

She gave me hers.

"God, I love you more every day," I said dramatically, giving her a hard kiss, before I looked down at her neighbour.

He was staring at me with wide eyes.

"Hey," I said with a nod and a smile. "What's up?"

He stared, wide-eyed for a moment, then it looked like he forced himself to scowl as he looked down at his sneakers.

"Hi," he mumbled. His eyes kept flickering up to me though, just like they did with Bella, but he didn't say anything else. I looked down at my wife with a smirk, raising a questioning eyebrow.

And I knew that look in her eyes when she looked at that little boy. I knew what it meant, because I knew her so well that we rarely had to even talk to communicate anymore.

"Edward, this in Masen."

"Nice to meet you little dude."

"I'm not wittle," he grumbled, and scowled at me. I laughed, until my wife shot me a warning look.

"Okay, my bad. Are you enjoying the fair?"

He shrugged.

"Why aren't you like, playing with your friends or something? There's tons of rides."

"Because my fwiends are assholes," he mumbled, making me laugh.

Bella didn't though, she just watched him worriedly, and it was then that I noticed that his face had paled, and he looked like he was scared, shaking slightly.

Shit. I did not like that kid looking at me like he was scared of me, and as my mind raced with the possibilities of why he may have reacted like that, a tight soreness started to spread in my chest.

Bella sat back, and the kid seemed to relax, seeing her look so calm and relaxed herself.

"I'm sorry to hear that Masen," she said softly, then gave him a wicked smirk. "Unfortunately, a large percentage of the human race are assholes. There are good people out there though, sometimes it just takes a while to find them."

He gave her a shy, tentative smile, which she returned with a bigger one.

"I couldn't agree more baby," I said, and I saw that look in her eyes again. That hopeful, wanting look. I watched that hopeful expression on her face, and knew my mind was already made up. I turned back to Masen again.

"Hey Masen, wanna play fetch with me, Zeus, and Titan? These guys know some pretty awesome tricks."

He looked up at me warily, but there was a flicker of hope in his eyes too.

"Weawwy?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm Edward, by the way." I held out my hand, and he shook it tentatively.

"You were Kellen," he said, a bit of curiosity in his expression now. "I saw you on the TV wast weekend."

Damn, that lisp was cute. I could tell he was trying pretty hard to sound older though, tougher.

He looked way too young to have watched that movie, but I refrained from saying that.

"Yup, that was me. You know my wife here, she was in that movie too."

His eyes went wide before he looked up at Bella with a giant smile.

"Weawwy?"

"Yup. I was a stunt double. That girl with the brown hair? I did all the parts where she was fighting."

"Cool! You can do all that stuffs?"

"Yup."

His eyes were hopeful, and yet… they looked so sad, scared.

"I bets that it'd be hard to hit you," he said quietly. "If you can do all that stuffs."

"You bet it is, this woman is practically a ninja. No one messes with her."

"Not even you?" He asked, sizing me up and watching me warily. It put a lump in my throat.

"Especially not him," she said with a smirk. "He might look tough, but he's just a big teddy bear," she said in a loud stage whisper. That seemed to comfort him a little bit.

"Can you… can you teach me?" He asked quietly, looking so damn hopeful. Bella looked up at me, her eyes pleading, and they watered when I gave her a small, inconspicuous nod.

"Sure, I'll teach you whatever you want to know," she promised.

He gave her a hopeful smile, and I cleared my throat.

"So, who wants to play catch?" I said with a smile. Both of the dogs jumped to their feet excitedly, barking, and Masen gave me a hesitant smile before the five of us got up and walked through the park together. Bella was smiling, and wrapped herself around my arm when Titan ran back with the tennis ball, dropping it at Masen's feet and barking excitedly, making him giggle happily.

. . . . . . . . . .

Well guys, it hurts my heart to put an end to this. I had so much fun writing this story, and I'll miss it, but I still have Bella's to work on! That's right, I haven't abandoned her story. My life is just hectic right now and I don't have the time.

I want to give a really big thank you to every one that read my story, but a bigger one to those who have left reviews. Writing these stories takes a lot of time. About one percent or less of my readers take the time to leave a review, and it means a lot to get your feedback. It's the only payment I get for this. There are a few faithful reviewers that I want to specifically thank; FAXalltheway, shaz308, Edwardsfirstkiss, sujari6, acw1, Cullenmeadow, madisonbelle, crackupmonkey, nix 69, MaryMary123, melissamary55, GorGirl, posses45, MDtwiwriter, Nissa-Cullen, (I'm sorry if I missed anyone!) and every single one of you other guys, guests included, that took the time to give me your thoughts! (If you don't want your name on here for some reason, just let me know and I'll take it down, but I love all you guys! You kept this story going.) And thanks to everyone who helped out, pointing out errors for me. I really appreciated the time you took to help me make this story better. I've gone through and tried to edit out more of my own errors and typos as well, for all you guys that said you wanted to read it again.

I hope all of y'all that say they wait until a story is complete before you review follow through ;) I want to know what you thought!

If you liked my writing, follow me! I have almost a dozen other stories on the go right now. Here are some of the titles so you can keep an eye open for them!

Silver Linings and Beautiful Lies

Break My Silence

Fated

Finders Keepers

Well, take care lovelies. I miss you already. It's been fun!

-Kitty