Welcome to the epilogue! After this, I'll be taking a break from posting for a while as I write my next fanfiction. In the meantime, leave me a review telling me what you think! Happy reading!

"No."

"Absolutely not."

Ben glanced helplessly at Jay and Carlos, who turned away and pretended like they weren't listening. Traitors. While he was king, Ben was powerless when faced with Mal and Quinn. The two had a dynamic that, quite frankly, terrified him. No matter what he was discussing, he knew he would lose the moment they agreed with each other. Apparently, that applied for his bachelor party too. "It'll be fun," he pressed, "We'll play Tourney, get some food, play some party games, it's going to be great!"

Rolling her eyes, Quinn looked up from the flower arrangement she was working on. Raising an eyebrow at Mal, she sighed. "I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head, "I swear, I'm trying but I can't for the life of me figure out what you see in him."

"Yeah, right now I'm asking myself the same question."

"Oh, come on, what's wrong with Tourney and dinner and party games?"

"Maybe the fact that while you're having a blast, the others will be fast asleep?" Evie stepped into the room, Harry following tightly behind her. She, and everyone else in their close-knit circle of friends, were well aware of Ben's plans for his bachelor party. If one could call it that. She smiled sweetly at the king as she passed him, giving a ribbon sample to Mal. "Sure, in ten years that'll be great for a night out with the guys," she continued, "But you're twenty-two, not sixty, and planning to party with guys from the Isle."

Mal and Quinn gave him triumphant smiles and Ben knew he had lost.

While the boys were out, Ben had finally conceded control to Carlos, the girls were gathered at Evie's house. "So, explain to me why we basically forced the guys out while we're having a night in for Mal's bachelorette," Jane said, accepting a champagne glass from Quinn, "I thought we were supposed to party all night and… is this non-alcoholic?" The redheaded healer nodded, earning surprised looks from the gathered girls. "But why," Fairy Godmother's daughter asked, frowning, "What's the point of…" She trailed off, eyes widening comically as she stared at the three most likely candidates. Audrey was single, Uma hadn't gone that far with her boyfriend yet, and Jane knew she herself wasn't viable. Which left the daughters of Hades and Evie.

"Don't look at me," Quinn quipped, "I'm the medic here, I know how to prevent it." It was a bait, and the guilty party fell for it immediately.

"Hey, we knew how to prevent it too," Evie sniped, "We just forgot one time." She paled when she realized what she had done. Seeing the stunned faces of her friends, bar Quinn and Mal, she went from sickly pale to deeply flushed in seconds. It really had been an honest mistake. While neither Evie nor Harry had expected it to happen so soon, they were overjoyed when Quinn came to them with test results and a whole list of things to stay away from. "I'm due in March," she said, suddenly feeling very shy, "Quinn won't tell us the gender though."

Another minute of silence passed before Evie was engulfed in loud, squealing hugs. Even Uma participated. Mal chuckled with her sister before clearing her throat. "I thought it would be unfair for the rest of us to drink the night away when Evie couldn't, so I asked Quinn to get non-alcoholic drinks for us," she explained, "We figured we could have a sleepover kind of bachelorette since none of us have ever really had one before." Audrey and Jane nodded excitedly and began listing things they always did on sleepovers when they were kids.

Meanwhile, Uma sidled up with Quinn. "Baby's due in March, huh," she asked rhetorically, "Honeymoon?"

"Harry was pretty freaked out," the blood-haired girl confirmed, "I would've tried to convince him that it wasn't probable that it happened so quickly but… well, it did." Her bond-brother had scared her half to death when he rushed into her shop in the middle of the night, ranting about how Evie was late and that they suspected that maybe she was pregnant and that Quinn needed to get her behind to Auradon to help them confirm or deny. "He's really happy though."

They shared a smile, joining the name-discussion when they were asked.

"I don't understand women," Ben lamented, dropping his head onto the bar top, "Aren't they supposed to like, not want us out with endless opportunities for debauchery?" Jay's beer went down the wrong pipe, Carlos patting his back roughly to help the coughing. "What?" Harry was halfway out of his seat, wheezing with laughter and even Gil seemed to find him amusing. "Oh come on, what did I say?"

Carlos pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to hold back a smile of his own. "Endless opportunities for debauchery," he replied, clearing his throat to stop the laughter from escaping, "We're still in Auradon, for one, so those opportunities are pretty slim." He took a sip of his own drink, shaking his head slightly. "Not to mention that all of us are pretty dedicated to our partners," he added, raising his glass in a toast with the others.

"Which is a nice way of saying that we're whipped," Jay translated, clasping Ben's shoulder, "And they know it." It went without saying for all of them. Harry and Jay had been enamored with the same women for years, and once Doug met Uma for real he was a goner. Gil found an adventurous soulmate in Aziz, a union that surprised absolutely no one considering the tally of injuries Quinn kept on the two. They were reckless and spontaneous and perfect for one another. Of course, Ben was the one getting married, which said it all. "Come on," Jay continued, sliding another glass of beer in the king's direction, "We've been permitted to be stupid, I say we take advantage." They all cheered and drank, celebrating that Ben was finally getting married.

Contrary to his own words, Jay paced himself. Not only had he made a pact with Harry to keep an eye on Ben, at the behest of their significant others, he had something else he needed to get done. Under the cover of night and the general lack of sobriety in the group, the former thief snuck away from the bar. The whole world was still, most of it asleep in the late hour, and Jay took the time to breathe in the fresh air and wake himself up a little. After traversing it so many times, the road to the Isle seemed much shorter than he remembered it being the first time they'd crossed the bridge that life-changing day four years prior.

If the night had seemed dark, it was nothing compared to the blackness that engulfed him as he reached his destination. Only the flickering, blue flames of Hades' hair lit up the cave, something that Jay suspected was intended to intimidate him. While he would never say it out loud, he was far more frightened of both daughters of Hades than of the God of the Dead himself. "Sir," he greeted, nodding respectfully, "Wonderful night, isn't it?"

"Boy-who's-sleeping-with-my-youngest-daughter," Hades greeted in return, "I don't know if I'd call it wonderful, it's the only thing standing between my daughter being my daughter and my daughter being someone's wife." He was happy for Mal. Technically. As happy as a father could be at the prospect that his daughter somehow had become a grown woman. It wasn't an issue he'd had with Quinn, he'd seen her grow up. Mal, on the other hand, had gone from baby to teenager to engaged before he ever had the chance to catch up. And before him stood a man who wished to take his youngest away from him. So what if both of them lived on the Isle? "What do you want," he asked grumpily, fully aware of the answer, "Night is my me-time and you're cutting in."

Clearing his throat, Jay let out a shaky breath. "I… wanted to ask you something," he said, trying not to sound too nervous, "About Quinn." The god raised his eyebrow disinterestedly, and Jay got a distinct feeling that he was being tested. He hoped that what he had to say would enough. "I've loved your daughter for the better part of six years," he admitted, unable to keep the smallest of smiles off his face, "And I hope you know that I respect her and that her wish will always be my command."

"Out with it."

"Do I have your permission to marry your daughter?"

Hades studied Jafar's son closely. Of course, he'd been aware of Quinn's romance with the boy from the get-go. He'd also been aware of the heartache she'd gone through because of it. Unfortunately, he knew two things to combat that. First, he knew how happy the boy had made Quinn since they got back together. Second, as reluctant he was to admit it, he had no power over his daughter. He could easily tell Jay no. But Quinn was likely to be furious with him and he didn't want that. Hades heaved an internal sigh. "I don't know," he replied, seeing Jafar's son deflate, "You'll have to ask her."

Jay's breath caught in his throat.

"Just take care of her, okay?"

The former thief nodded and shook the hand held out to him. "Always, sir."

The girls woke up the next morning and headed downstairs for breakfast only to find their men, and Gil, sprawled over various surfaces in Evie's living room. Laughing quietly amongst themselves, they got started on the food while Quinn, shaking her head in amusement, set about preparing the hangover-remedy she'd perfected since they first were allowed to start drinking.

"Good thing you wanted to get married under the stars," she whispered, bumping Mal lightly with her shoulder, "We've got all day to get things ready." After a moment of consideration, Quinn wrapped Mal into a hug. "I'm happy for you, big sister."

Mal hugged her sister back. "Thank you," she whispered, feeling her eyes grow watery, "I'll be happy for you when it's your turn." She pulled away to find Quinn with a rosy blush on her cheeks. It had been a little weird at first, seeing Jay love her sister as intensely as he did. Mostly because she hadn't been there to see the buildup but also because he'd never shown anywhere near as much affection for anyone else. Not to mention that he was dating her sister, and that was always going to be weird. "He's going to propose, you know," she stated, seeing the doubt flicker in Quinn's gaze, "I think he's taking so long because he doesn't know if you're going to say yes."

"Of course I will," the blood-haired healer, "I just… still can't believe it's happening to me." At the frowns she received from her friends, she sighed and ducked her head in embarrassment. "We spent so long apart and I guess I kind of stopped… believing it would ever be something I got to experience." When she was given no reply, she looked up to find that Mal's green gaze had been exchanged with a brown one. Jay smiled down at her softly, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"If I thought Evie would let me get away with it I'd ask you to marry me now," he said running a knuckle along Quinn's cheekbone lovingly, "But I'm fairly certain that she'd get all snippy because it's Mal's big day and we can't take the attention away and all that." His girlfriend nodded, chuckling. Gently angling her face, Jay pressed a kiss to her lips, barely holding back a groan when the girls around them squealed. "Do you have—" he accepted the coffee cup that she gave him with a sigh of relief— "I love you."

"I love you too."

The tender moment was interrupted by the arrival of the other guys, who glared at the people in the kitchen. "Less noise, please," Carlos grumbled, almost missing Jane's cheek as he tried to kiss it, "It's still early." At least, he was fairly certain that it was still early. His vision was a little blurry and the clock on the wall wouldn't stop spinning.

"How much did you guys drink yesterday?" Aubrey had never been more relieved to be single than she was at that moment. The guys clung to their partners like babies and Gil had missed the bowl when he poured cereal. She was glad that she didn't have to deal with them. "You look like someone's run you over or something," she commented bluntly, earning noises of agreement from her friends, "What did you do?"

Jay, who had left the bar mostly sober while dragging the others with him, chortled. "Ben danced on a table," he revealed wrapping his arms around Quinn, "And Carlos made out with Dude." Harry started to laugh, only to freeze when Jay turned his mischievous gaze to him. The sheer horror on his face told the Tourney player that he'd taken Quinn's remedy and remembered most of the night. "Harry proposed to a bush, thinking it was Evie." Laughter followed his statement and Harry growled as he focused intently on murdering his toast. "Gil and Doug just kinda… fell asleep a lot."

"How would you know," Carlos grumbled, flushing deep red, "You disappeared halfway into the night and didn't come back until like, right before we left."

Eyebrows shooting to her forehead, Quinn turned her teasingly curious eyes to Jay. "Did he now," she asked, "Where could you possibly had gone?" It was Jay's turn to flush and duck his head sheepishly. He mumbled something incoherently, trying not to meet her gaze. "Look at me," Quinn said kindly, gripping his chin to turn his face to hers, "Surely it's not that bad?"

"I went to see your father." A stunned silence followed. "That's why I was taking so long," he explained, "I couldn't get away to talk to him without raising suspicion and I wanted it to be a surprise when I finally asked."

"Then ask her."

"Mal!"

"Evie, it's my day and therefore we're doing what I want," the purple-haired bride chided, smiling at her sister and future brother-in-law, "And right now I want Jay to propose to Quinn so we can all be put out of our misery." She raised her eyebrow expectantly at the couple. "Honestly, we've been waiting forever for this, so…"

Jay suddenly felt unreasonably nervous. He knew Quinn would say yes, he'd heard her say as much earlier. Yet there was something nerve-wracking about knowing that everyone else knew. Almost as though he didn't want to let them down either. Which was ridiculous. Jay took Quinn's hands in his, looking her deep in the eye. "I've loved you for a long time," he whispered, resting his forehead against hers tenderly, "It would make me the happiest man alive if you allowed me to marry you."

"That's not—"

"Shut it, Evie!"

"Yes," Quinn whispered, biting her lip to keep from crying, "You know I will." Jay swept her into his arms, spinning her around in a circle before kissing her deeply to the chorus of cheers and congratulatory words from their closest friends.

Hmm. Maybe that was it. Maybe their story didn't really begin until the moment she said yes. Maybe all the moments up until that one was the story of them all, as a group of friends who overcame prejudice and hatred that had festered for years. Whenever their story began, one thing would always be certain. Theirs was a love for the storybooks. She was a princess, isolated and cynical. He was a thief, who by pure coincidence ended up walking around with her heart in his hand.