Chapter 85 - Epi

"Are you nervous?" I asked Edward as I fixed his tie. Today was his first day at his new job. He would no longer be trafficking drugs, unlike Emmett. He was going to work for the CIA to be a Crime Consultant. Edward had worked hard over the past few years to get to this point. It hadn't been easy on any of us and I was under no illusion that our lives would become any less dangerous because of his new job. It wasn't as if the CIA were clean. Hell, I wasn't even supposed to know that was where he was going to work. He had only confessed the fact in one of our shower conversations. Yeah, there had been a lot of these over the years. Our first was supposed to have been our last, but it wasn't. He had kept me in the loop when he could.

As far as I and anyone else were concerned, Edward had a new job at some big business cooperation. To say my mom was relieved by his change of work was an understatement. I think all of my friends were happy that we were turning our lives around. Not that I was as close to Emily, Sam and Rosalie as I once was, but that was okay. I could understand them not wanting to associate with criminals, and I was a criminal by association. Jacob had also kept his distance over the years, but that was okay too. It was understandable.

"Not nervous, relieved," he said, placing a kiss on my head once I had finished with his tie.

"I better go downstairs and save you some food before the kids, Randall and Felix eat it all." I left him in the bedroom and went downstairs to the kitchen. Where I found the four of them sitting at the kitchen island fighting over the breakfast I had cooked earlier. "Save some for Edward," I said as I smacked Randall's hand who was reaching for seconds. He smiled sheepishly before lifting his coffee mug and taking a drink. We had grown close to the of the guards. They're more like brothers to us, and uncles to the children. I couldn't believe I had ever been so reluctant to have them in the beginning. They had kept us safe more times than I cared to count over the years. I was so thankful to have them in our lives.

Edward walked into the kitchen seconds later and grabbed a piece of toast before pouring himself a coffee. "Is that all your having?" I asked. I had gone to the effort of making a big cooked breakfast for his first day.

"It's all I have time for," he said, taking a bite of his toast. On that note, the others wasted no time tucking into the food that was left. The children included. Olivia and Jackson were getting so big now. Olivia would soon be finishing elementary and Jackson was already in middle school. They were growing up too fast, but they had turned into well rounded children, considering everything they had been through. I was just so thankful that our shit hadn't affected them like I had feared.

"At least it won't go to waste," I mused.

Edward came over to me and placed a big, wet, sloppy, toast filled kiss on my lips. "I'll see you when I get home." I watched him say goodbye to the kids before I went about cleaning the kitchen up. I would see the kids off to school before I went to my office to check through emails. I had set up the Olivia-Jackson Foundation shortly after our lives had settled down. The foundation helped local families in need. It could mean paying their bills, help buying food or simply providing them with someone they could talk to. I didn't want anyone to ever find themselves in the situation we had. I didn't want anyone ever to feel alone, isolated like we had.

So this is our lives. It was far from perfect, but we were making the most of it. We were together and we were happy. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

The end.

A/N: A huge thank you to Sherry! I love this woman something fierce and would be so lost without her. She does so much for me, more than just looking over my stories. She kicks my ass when I need it, feeds my muse and helps me plot n plan. Without her I am sure there would be no StillDreaming85.

A huge thank you to all of you too for your continued support, story after story. I wouldn't be here without you either. Thank you for reading/reviewing/following/faving The Rub. It took me longer to complete it than I would have liked, but we got there in the end. I plan to finish Alpha next and then back to working on TTTB xx