Author's Notes: I should have been through with this a month ago. I had actually written this chapter a month ago and just couldn't stand it. It seemed so formal, so...blech. This fic was about not having the answers to everything, that sometimes you just have to find your way in life on your own terms and I think this rewrite depicts that.

I can't believe this is over. There might be a sequel, there might not be. I'm in a Smallville obsession right now and my Days fics have taken a backseat. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks of my vacation time.

I hope you enjoy this. I hope it comes across the way I want it to. Thanks for taking this journey with me.

Part VII - Forever:
Part B:

"Love, much like life, can be unexpected, unpredictable, and unavoidable. That's the kind of love the two of you share. A love that's unexpected but cherished, unpredictable yet the foundation of your lives, and unavoidable in the sense that it grips you and won't let go. You guys are special, your love is special, and I don't ever want you to let it go. Don't ever let it go."

Jason, the best man, raised his glass toward the bride and groom, and then shifted to the crowd gathered in the large dining area on his in-law's island estate. "I love you guys." - he told them with happy tears in his deep green eyes. "To the bride and groom!"

"To the bride and groom!" - the crowd responded, lively, and Mimi and Shawn kissed.

Sitting together at the large table comprised of their family and friends, Mimi and Shawn felt the day could have gotten any better. Their wedding had gone off smoothly. Just them, their parents, Jason and Samara, with Philip and Claire joined them underneath a waterfall as they pledged their eternal love to one another again. They'd invited Belle, saying that it was time to put the past in the past. That they all needed to move on and accept the future and whatever it held, but she'd declined the offer. Philip assured them both that he and Claire would be there. And with his daughter in his arms, the woman he loved in front of him, and his best friends beside him, Shawn remarried the woman of his dreams.

It was the perfect ending to the week they'd spent finding their way back to each other. Finding their way through the dark forest of lies and deceit to the place where they could finally be happy.

It was the perfect beginning for a life together.

Keeping in the 'untraditional' theme of the day, their reception was more like a 'roast' than a formal party. Many of their friends who had flown down regaled the crowd with stories of Mimi and Shawn from high school and how they weren't surprised that this is where they ended up.

"Together." - Chloe Black had flown down from London; more than a little shocked to receive Jason's call, but eager to see the nuptials having missed them the first time. "You guys belong together. I remember in high school - when Mimi and I couldn't stand each other…" - she pointed out to the crowd with a smile. "That the two of you…you had some weird connection. Shawn, you understood Mimi when no one else could. And she got through to you in a way no one else did. It wasn't glamorous, it wasn't showy, and it wasn't anything anyone would think to look at twice…but it was real and it was deep. That's the best kind of love." - she raised her glass. "I love you both very much. I wish you all the happiness in the world, no one deserves it more."

The crowd cheered and toasted along with Chloe. 'I love you', Mimi mouthed to Chloe as Shawn blew her a kiss.

Samara was the next to stand and she looked down at her two newfound friends with a bright smile. "I guess since I'm the matron of honor, I should say something. I haven't known you both very long, just a little over a week, but I feel like I've known you all my life through Jason." - she tossed a smile at her husband, tears glistening in her eyes. "You two have the most impeccable spirits. Through adversity, through hardships, through the blackest night the two of you fight to survive. You keep faith in something greater than yourselves. You love each other in ways that many people don't. Completely, unabashedly, and unconditionally. I am so proud to know the two of you." - she smiled after raising her glass to them and the crowd.

"I, uh," - Philip was saying as he stood. "I have something to say. I know most of you here already know what's going on in our family. So, you know…" - he looked over at Mimi and Shawn and smiled. "The two of you are the greatest friends I've ever had. We've not always seen eye to eye, we probably never will, but…through everything...the two of you have been a constant in my life." - tears streaked down his face as he looked at Claire in Hope's arms. "No matter where life takes us, I want you to know how grateful I am to have you both in my life. Shawn, you always challenge me and you never let me forget that just because I'm Victor Kiriakis' son doesn't make me a king." - he paused, remembering what a cocky kid he was and how he and Shawn clashed. "If it weren't for you, man, I would have never grown up. Mimi, you are the strongest person I know. You have a strength that is so deep and your faith in people…is remarkable. You are remarkable. I'm so happy that the two of you found each other."

Philip walked and kissed Mimi's cheek before hugging Shawn tightly, whispering words in his nephew's ear that no one else could hear. They had come so far and Mimi couldn't suppress the tears of joy that sprung to her eyes at the sight of them.

"I guess since I'm standing," - Shawn began. "I should make a toast to my beautiful wife." - he beamed down at her, tears in his eyes as her lovely face transformed to that of yesteryear. "I'm not going to say anything she hasn't already heard before, or that any of you haven't heard before. I love you. I love everything about you. You complete me.' - he told her with tears falling down his cheeks. "That's not deep or profound or anything but the truth." - the words he couldn't say, about what they'd been through, about Claire, about the future, she could see clearly in his eyes.

Mimi stood with him, tears in her eyes but a wide smile on her face. Cupping his face in her hands, she tried to convey all the love she felt for him. Words of the past and future need not be spoken when only this moment mattered. This one moment where they stood before each other as husband and wife with total love and complete honesty between them.

Everything else would come later.

And ever if it didn't, and they had more hard times to get through, they would always have this moment...to light their way.

"I love you." - Mimi said and then kissed him.

- The End -