Thank you to all who reminded me of the name of the Fic I referred to in my closing note. TheFicChicK is a pretty amazing story teller, and I should have taken the time to look it up! Still a brilliant line!

"No, Mommy, you have to click there." My thirteen-year-old daughter, Sydney, pointed at the computer screen as I attempted to set up my Facebook account.

After discovering the fake Facebook account she'd set up when she had been at a friend's house, we determined it was in our best interest to allow Sydney to have one we could monitor. The conversation was full of tears, hers anyway, and anger, both her dad's and mine. I was so glad I found out because the picture of a 20-year-old bombshell she'd chosen as her profile picture put the fear of God in me. We agreed that she could have the account, but we would have the passwords, and that she better believe we'd use them. I was not messing around. I had also received an email from Maggie telling me she was on Facebook and that lots of our college friends were there as well. I figured that I could monitor Sydney and maybe find a few friends I hadn't seen in the more than fifteen years I'd been gone.

"Thanks, Baby Girl, but I think Mommy needs to just play with this for a little while. Unless I get used to it, I'll never remember any of it."

She huffed and rolled her eyes before she said, "Mom, I want to check my Facebook, so can't you just finish later?" She tried hard not to sound annoyed, but the teenage hormones made it impossible.

"Yeah…no!" I said, trying to hide the grin. I had always believed it was a parent's prerogative to irritate their children as often as possible. "Last I checked, you didn't buy this computer and you certainly don't pay the internet bills, so you can check yours when I'm done," I said.

My philosophy was if you didn't piss them off five or six times a day you just weren't doing your job, so when she stormed off and I heard her bedroom door slam, I just grinned bigger.

After finishing the setup, I located Maggie, purely by luck. She was online because she immediately accepted my request to be friends. Sydney had shown me how to look through other people's friends to find some that I might know, so I started scrolling through Maggie's friends, sending requests to those I knew.

I was lost in looking at photos of old friends when the dog barked, startling me out of my Facebook trance. The front door opened and my nine-year-old came barreling in, followed by her dad—my life, my love.

"Mommy! Mommy! Guess what?" The excitement was radiating off her, not that it didn't always. Where Sydney was my serious child, Mykel was my hyper, fun-loving one.

"What, Sweetie?" I asked trying to mirror her tone and excitement level while Garrett kissed my cheek as a hello, knowing it would be a while before he got a word in edgewise.

"We learned to do headers today, Mom! Coach Riley thinks I am a natural!"

After the long-winded retelling of every minute of the day's soccer practice concluded, I started fixing dinner-Facebook friending long forgotten, much to Sydney's delight.

I met Garrett a few years after I arrived in Seattle. We had a few mutual friends and ended up thrown together quite a bit. At first, I made sure to keep my distance, not thinking I would ever be ready to trust another man with my heart. However, alcohol, a low-cut top and a game of pool one night bridged that gap, and the rest, as they say, was history.

Life wasn't always easy for us. He spent too much money, and I over-committed myself to the kids more often than not, but we loved each other and realized that Disney lied: there is no such thing as perfect, so we worked together to make our life successful. We learned we were worth it, and I am grateful every single day that he didn't let me push him away all those years before.

We cuddled on the couch after dinner, watching Overhaulin. It's one of those compromises we learned to make. I didn't bitch when he watched car shows, and he didn't buy project cars anymore. Well, he didn't buy them without discussing it with me, first.

After Chip Foose did his big reveal, Garrett kissed me goodnight and headed for bed. In order to help more with the girls, he took the opening manager's slot. He was able to tote the girls to and from the various practices because he got off work at 2:30—of course that meant he had to be in at 5:30 in the morning, so he went to bed while I still had to clean up after dinner and make sure the girls were ready for the next day. After I finished the daily chores and got them into bed, I sat down in front of the computer, exhausted, but a little anxious to see what else awaited me.

After I logged back in, I noted I had fifteen friend requests, thanks to Maggie's announcement. Since I'd moved out west, I hadn't ventured back to the southeast, so the thought of reconnecting with old friends was exciting. Of course Maggie and I spoke once in a while, but life had gotten in the way of maintaining any other long distance friendships. As I scrolled through the list, I tried to place the faces of yesterday with the 'new' faces that graced my screen. Some names had changed and some names had long been forgotten, but the common theme with some of them made my heart skip a beat: high school.

After approving all the requests, I clicked on Alice's profile. She'd gotten married and had three kids. I hated that I had let her slip away from me; we'd been friends our whole lives. But as I scrolled through her pictures and giggled at the antics of her family, I realized years and miles didn't change people as much as you'd think. As I'd done with Maggie's page, I started looking through Alice's. Memory lane was brightly lit as I scrolled past old friend after old friend, clicking the request button on each one.

I glanced up at the clock and cursed when I realized it was after midnight, but before I could log out, I noticed the next name: Edward Cullen. I didn't expect the feelings that arose in that moment. It was the same fluttering in my stomach and anxiousness that made my blood run cold. I hadn't felt this way that since the night I last saw him, but just like that, I became that broken girl all over again – just by seeing his name.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to rid myself of those feelings, and then I felt guilty. How could some tiny blip from my past cause me such distress? I loved my husband and we had a great life together. I realized that the reaction was probably only because I hadn't let myself think about him for so long. Taking a deep breath, I chalked it up to surprise and decided to let myself be curious. We had shared something that was good at one point.

I clicked on his name, wondering if I could see anything on his profile if we weren't friends. I scrolled down the page, past the memes touting his love for a hockey team I'd never heard of, and there he was. Where I once knew a boy, I now saw a man. He was still handsome, but the initial panic I'd felt didn't return.

The next picture showed a family: a blonde woman, a young girl, maybe nine, with Edward's hair color, and a little boy about five—a mini Edward with blonde hair. They had been at Disney World, and the kids looked hot and tired, but their eyes had the gleam of happiness that the Magic Kingdom tends to bring. Edward and Kate looked happy, and I didn't break at the thought.

I debated over clicking the friend button for a minute, but clicked log out, choosing instead to curl up in bed next to Garrett.

I had wished for so many years that Edward would come back to me and realize he had made a mistake.

Right now, at this moment, I was grateful for unanswered prayers. Had they come true, my life would be so different. I would have missed Garrett, my life, my love. Sydney and Mykel wouldn't be here, and the life I love wouldn't exist.

A/N

My short Epi is finally here. I wanted to make a few personal comments about the story-because the story is personal. I honestly started writing this after hearing the song "I Got the Boy" by Jana Kramer. www . youtube watch?v=rNJwu-YkQlc The chorus lyrics-I got the first kiss and she'll get the last-she's got the future; I got the past-I got the class ring; she got the diamond and wedding band-I got the boy; she got the man— really took me back to that first love—sweetness and heartbreak.

When the HEA contest came about, I decided to push the angst level in the story. Yes, a lot of this story is based on my first love. Yes, Bella was an idiot, just not quite this big of one. Edward was an ass, but not quite this bad. The truth of the matter was neither of us was ready to let go of something that wasn't there anymore. We tried to hold on too long and hurt each other more in the process.

Edward and Kate got their HEA and Bella and Garrett got theirs. I believe they all deserved it. I read a fic recently, Objects in the Mirror Are Closer than They Appear by The Fic Chic, but in it, Bella asked herself how she could hold the man accountable for the sins of the boy. Poignant words.

Thank you to Sunflower Fran for her eyes and skills!

Thank you to Gee for pushing me!