"Who can say, 'I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin'?"
Proverbs 20:9
Epilogue
Choosing a place to live wasn't all that hard. Alex loves the snow and Justin loves the diversity of a big city. So they pick Chicago.
They don't get married. Not that they don't want to. It's just that they can't.
But he buys her a ring before they leave New York.
00000
The first year was hard. Really hard.
She misses telling their mom about her day. He misses learning things from their dad.
They do keep in contact with Max, he is, after all the one that helped them with all this. He calls them once a week.
00000
Justin gets a job teaching at a middle school.
Alex transfers to Roosevelt and works part time at a restaurant.
Chicago isn't New York. But it slowly becomes home.
Alex loves Navy Pier and the Magnificent Mile. Justin prefers the Art institute and the Field Museum.
00000
On Fridays they go to Uno's with their friends and wait forever in line.
It doesn't take them long to figure out why everyone loves Chicago style pizza.
00000
The years pass and their friends begin to start families.
Justin tries to ignore the wistful look in Alex's eyes.
00000
Alex gets into a funk again.
She knows it's wrong but she really wants a baby.
Just one.
00000
It becomes their new argument.
Whether or not to have a baby.
Would the baby be okay?
00000
It takes a lot of convincing but Justin finally agrees.
He gets really tired of hearing, But those German siblings had four, I just want one.
And truth be told, he really wants one too.
00000
They have a baby boy. Max flies to Chicago for it. He uses his magic to keep everything secret.
So the doctors never suspect a thing.
They name him Zachary Brandon Russo.
Zach for short.
00000
She marvels at their baby, counts his tiny fingers and toes, softly touches the black tuft of hair on his head.
00000
He grows so fast and looks more like Justin every day.
Soon he's smiling, laughing, and crawling.
00000
Justin beams at his son when he comes home one day to find him raising his chubby arms and calling "dad" in his soft baby voice.
00000
Her son doesn't know his grandparents and can never have siblings. No matter how much he pleads.
She and Justin still fight about the dumbest things, she still teases him mercilessly and he still rolls his eyes at her few ditzy remarks.
But they have each other. And their beautiful baby boy.
So, she tells Justin one night, it may not be happily ever after, but it must be pretty damn close.
-fin-
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. I was seriously debating giving them a much more realistic ending, but I prefer the happy ones. Thank you so much for all the reviews. And I have to specially thank Mikelann. For putting up with all my rambling about this story. And reading the chapters while they were in progress. And for pushing me to finish it.