A/N: Finally, here it is. My New Years gift to you. The epilogue. Hope you enjoy! It's more than 3 times as long as some of the other chapters :)

5 Years Later

Wanda POV

"Mommy! Mommy, look!" Jodi yelled as she kicked the soccer ball through the goal again.

I turned to face her as I shifted two year-old Wes in my arms. He was getting antsy and wanted me to put him down but Jodi was playing with Jamie and Wes just wasn't big enough yet. I'd let him down when I was sure Jodi would kick it softy and not complain about him picking it up with his hands.

I laughed as she kicked and struggled to retain her balance while Jamie turned the wrong way trying to block it. She noticed his half-hearted try and crossed her arms over her chest in a pout.

"Uncle Jamie, you went the wrong way!" she chastised. He just shrugged his shoulders as he retrieved the ball. He rolled it back to her and gave her an easy smile.

"I guess you're just getting to good for me," he teased.

This seemed to appease her and she resumed kicking the ball around the game room, kicking it a few yards away then running over to it like she'd passed it to herself. Her next shot at the goal was right into Jamie's waiting hands. She pouted for a moment her smile came through again when Jamie told her that with all of this practice she would have no trouble beating Max later.

Lately Max had been teasing Jodi pretty relentlessly, as boys were prone to do. Jodi had had enough and challenged Max to a soccer game a few weeks ago, stating that if she won then he was not allowed to tease her anymore.

Unfortunately, Max had beaten her fairly handily. Jodi hadn't realized that he had much more practice that she did, playing with his father and uncle on a regular basis while all she ever did was kick the ball around. She had been devastated by the loss and had challenged him to a rematch almost immediately. The date had been set and she had been practicing every second she wasn't sleeping or in school with whoever was willing to help. She had started out small with just Ian and me but she quickly realized that we were taking it easy on her. She then enlisted the help of Jamie and Kyle and they whipped her into shape quickly. She was now a soccer machine.

I enjoyed it quite thoroughly, as did Ian. At first Ian was concerned that I would be worried for her safety, and while I was always somewhat concerned that a ball could hit her too hard or too fast, soccer seemed fairly harmless. Plus, it tired her out so much that she and Wes were going to bed at the same time.

"I think you're ready, kiddo," Jamie said as he handed her the ball again. She had just kicked it past him and he put up a much more convincing dive as he let it by him.

"Well, I think that's enough for the day," he said as he turned to leave. "I need to go check on Crystal." He mussed Jodi's hair as he headed out of the game room and she followed him out with a dirty look as she smoothed it back down. That was one thing Ian and I were at a loss for where it came from.

Jodi was intensely concerned with her appearance. Even at 6 years old she was bathing every night she didn't "stink like a monkey" as she'd termed it. Not that she'd even seen or smelled a monkey. Apparently she decided she knew what they smelled like and didn't want that for herself.

Whenever I went out on a raid she always asked for me to bring her back something pretty. And every morning I had to do her hair for her, either tying it up in a perfect ponytail or braiding it in pigtails. And she let me know which one she wanted. It was also Jodi taking the reins and doing things the way she wanted. Occasionally it grew tiresome but mostly Ian and I love how precocious she was.

I finally let Wes down as Jodi came bounding over to me with the ball. She handed the ball to Wes, who practically squealed with excitement at finally being allowed to play, and wrapped her arms around my waist.

I hugged her to me and brushed her hair back out of her eyes. "Are you ready for dinner?" I asked.

She nodded and snatched the ball away from Wes in her hurry to leave. Her sudden movement and jerking motion caused Wes to fall backwards and hit his elbow on the ground. He let out an ear piercing scream and pulled his arm in close to his body as if it had been nearly cut off.

I rushed over to him, discovered he wasn't bleeding then turned my gaze to Jodi.

"Why did you do that?" I asked in frustration.

She just shrugged her shoulders. "I wanted my ball back."

I gave her a stern look and picked Wes up. Once I had him safely in my arms I held my hand out to her.

"Give me the ball," I commanded and watched as she slowly set the ball in my hand, staring at it longingly. We started walking to dinner, Jodi pouting and Wes whimpering all the way.

When Jodi saw Ian as we entered the kitchen she ran forward, leaving her annoyance for me behind.

"Daddy!" she squealed as he picked her up and spun her around, almost crashing her legs into the table with his food on it. He laughed as he held her in his arms and kissed her cheek.

"Hi, Sweetheart," he greeted her. "How was your day?"

Her eyes lit up and she went into an intense description of her soccer play with Jamie. When she finally finished she turned to look at me, hoping I wouldn't telling Ian what had just happened in the game room. She didn't want both parents disappointed in her, but especially Ian. She was a Daddy's Girl if I'd ever seen one.

I didn't say anything, just smiled and Ian and moved to start getting food for Jodi and I. Ian wasn't having any of that and took the plates out of my hand and nodded his head toward the table where he had set his plate. There was already a high chair waiting for Wes. I smiled at him and leaned in to kiss him lightly before I made my way to the table.

We sat around, eating our dinner while Jodi was getting progressively more nervous. It came to a head when Melanie and Max walked in.

Max strutted over and stood in front of our table. "Ready to lose?" he asked Jodi.

Mel smacked him in the back of the head as she made her way over to us. She didn't hit him hard, just enough to know that she meant business. It wasn't something that I agreed with but it seemed to be working for her.

"Don't be mean," she warned. "That's what got you into this in the first place."

Max sulked for a minute before dashing over to the doorway when he saw Jared walking in carrying the twins. Even though JJ and Freddie were still less than a year old they were wiggling around and Jared looked close to dropping one or both. Mel noticed this and rushed over, pulling Freddie into her arms.

She pulled two more high chairs over while Jared got them food and when he took his seat the table was packed. We ate quietly, all keeping up the air of competition between Max and Jodi. Though the outcome didn't really mean anything (Mel had had enough with Max's teasing and wasn't going to put up with it anymore), we would let them think it did.

We were just finishing as Jamie and Crystal strolled into the kitchen, hand in hand, staring at each other as usual. When Ian and I were first together Mel would always make the comment that we were too sweet for our own good. Last week she mentioned that we weren't half as bad a Jamie and Crystal. Every time they separated you'd think they were never going to see each other again. I guess it just goes along with being young and in love but it was starting to get old.

Crystal made a move to grab a plate but Jamie wouldn't let her, grabbing it from her hand. She gave him a pouty face and he smiled at her and moved his hand to her stomach as an explanation. Crystal was pregnant and Jamie was babying her. Though she didn't quite need babying just yet. She was only about 2 months pregnant, not even showing yet, but Jamie made a big show of not allowing her to do anything. I thought it was cute until I remember how frustrating it had been when Ian never allowed me to do anything when I was pregnant. Then I felt for Crystal a little.

Crystal plopped down in a seat next to me while Jamie got her food for her. She was grumbling something about not being an invalid and I had to chuckle. I remembered this very well.

"Auntie Crystal, when you have the baby where is it going to sleep?" Max asked her. She turned to look at him thoughtfully.

"You know, Maxxie, I'm not really sure," she said with a hint of a devious smile. "You should ask your Uncle Jamie when he comes to sit down."

I wasn't sure what exactly Crystal was planning but I was pretty sure she was in the process of guilting Jamie into getting them a bigger room. The room they were in now was barely 4 feet wide and though it was very tall there was barely enough room for a twin mattress, let alone adding a crib to the mix. I wasn't sure if she was trying to get him to widen their existing cave or just find them a new one, but she was nagging him about something. Jamie took it all in stride as he sat down.

"Uncle Jamie, where is your baby going to sleep?" Max asked curiously.

Jamie gave Crystal a look letting her know that he knew she put Max up to this. He shrugged his shoulder and looked at his food as he answered.

"I don't know yet, Max. But if your Auntie Crystal isn't careful we may end up in the storage cave," he joked.

I rolled my eyes at him. Apparently Crystal had been nagging quite a bit. Good for her. She needed a place to put the baby and it would take Jamie that long to widen the cave. He needed to get to work.

When we were all finished eating Jeb led the way to the game room, giving Jodi and Max all the pomp and circumstance they could stand. When we arrived it appeared that just about everyone had turned up to see the outcome of this game.

Kyle and Sunny were standing off to the side playing with three year old Anthony while the rest of us took our seats around the field of play. Mel and I sat next to each other, putting the younger kids in the playpen we kept in the game room. Ian and Jared stood behind us and I felt a loss when Ian removed his hands from my shoulders to back up and talk to Jared out of our hearing range.

"Care to make a little side wager?" Jared asked Ian quietly, thinking Mel and I couldn't hear. We leaned our heads together closely, pretending to be deep in conversation while eavesdropping. We didn't know what the stakes of this wager would be but we were fairly certain we wouldn't like them at all.

"What did you have in mind?" Ian asked.

"Loser takes the kids tonight. All the kids," Jared replied, knowing exactly how much all of us wished for a night alone.

Mel and I made eye contact, knowing just how much both of us wanted to win this. I silently prayed Ian would accept even though I had begged him to give up gambling of any kind after he lost the Great Latrine Cleaning Bowl 2 years previously. He'd smelled like urine for a month. I had no problem with Ian making this bet. Not only did I desperately want some time alone with him, but I was confident we would win. I knew Jodi would come out on top.

"You've got a deal," I heard Ian say, shaking Jared's hand.

Mel gave me a devious smile then got up and whispered something in Max's ear that caused him to come running over to me with a wide smile on his face.

"Really, Aunt Wanda?"

"Really, what?" I asked, confused about what Mel had told him.

"If I win do I get to have a sleepover with you?"

I smiled and nodded.

"Yep," I replied. "But if Jodi wins then she gets to have a sleepover with you."

He laughed at me as he turned to walk away. "That's funny, Aunt Wanda. Like a girl could ever win."

Mel was sitting back down next to me and smacked him upside the head again. "Girls can win lots of things. Don't forget she's older than you," she reminded him. He just rolled his eyes as he walked away. He was going to be hell when he got older.

Just then Jeb cleared his throat. "Is everybody ready?" he asked, looking at Jodi and Max.

They both nodded excitedly and rushed forward, almost knocking Jeb over in the process. He laughed as he started describe the rules to them.

"Okay, we're playing to 5," he explained. "There's no pushing, shoving, kicking the other person, or anything that could be considered cheating," he warned sternly. They nodded and stepped back to allow Jeb to move off of the playing field.

"That's your goal," he said to Max pointing to the goal closest to the door. "And that one's yours," he added, pointing Jodi to the far set of lanterns. He set the ball in between them on the floor kept his hand on it. "Don't kick it until I tell you."

He lifted his hand and walked back to stand next to the playpen. Jodi and Max were looking at him impatiently waiting for him to give him okay.

"Go!" he yelled suddenly and they were off. Max got the ball first and after some maneuvering he got the ball past Jodi with little effort. This fortified her resolve and almost immediately she returned the goal, tying the score.

The cheering was intense for both sides, everyone making sure that both children had a large cheering section.

The second goal from each took a while. They were both working hard and constantly stealing the ball back and forth. It was almost 10 minutes before Jodi managed to score again, and in the glow of her win she gave up a goal.

Her determination showed again but it was obvious both of them were starting to wear out already. When Max scored his third goal I thought Jodi was going to drop over in exhaustion but she managed to keep her head and after a few minutes, tied the score once again.

Starting over after Jodi's third goal was difficult for both of them. They were both exhausted, not even running anymore, just slowly moving from place to place, casually kicking at the ball but rarely making contact.

Finally it got to be too much to watch.

"Can we stop this please?" I asked, turning to Mel.

"I thought you'd never ask," she said as she jumped up and put her fingers in her mouth. She let out the loudest whistle I'd ever heard and everyone turned to look at her. "I'm calling it a tie. These kids are exhausted."

Jodi looked relieved at first that she was finally done but then her look turned indignant.

"I don't want it to be a tie! I want to win!" she yelled, kicking the ball as hard as she could into the darkness behind her.

Mel smiled at her and called Max and her over to sit beside her.

"It's okay if you don't beat him, Jodi," Mel assured her. "I promise he won't tease you anymore."

"How do you know?" Jodi asked, crossing her arms over her chest and looking far for indignant than any six year old had any right to look.

"Because I'm his mother and I won't let him, that's why. If he ever does anything that you don't like, just let me know and I'll make sure he gets in trouble," she said, directing her gaze to Max to let him know that she wasn't joking.

Jodi seemed to accept this and drifted into my arms, drooping eyelids and all.

Max wasn't quite finished though. "But if no one wins, how do we know who we're sleeping over with?"

Mel and I looked at each other, each pleading with the other to take the kids for the night, when a light bulb went off in my head.

"Since no one won, you're all going to sleep over with your Uncle Jamie and Auntie Crystal," I announced loud enough so Jamie could hear me. Melanie looked very pleased with this arrangement.

Jamie whipped around and gave me fuming look, quite angry that we had just volunteered him to babysit.

"Oh, come on, Jamie," Mel pleaded. "You need practice taking care of kids."

He rolled his eyes at her. "I don't need practice with 5. We're only having one."

"That's what you think," Crystal said, cutting in. "It just so happens that twins run in my family."

Jamie's face went white and we all started laughing at how uncomfortable he seemed.

"Don't worry, we'll take them," Crystal guaranteed. Leaning in towards Mel and me, she continued. "Maybe this will help him understand that the cave is just too small." I smiled at her as she continued. "Plus, this just gets us out ahead when we need a night to ourselves," she said with a wink.

I couldn't help but laugh. She knew how to work people to get the things that she wanted. It was a trait I was starting to admire in her.

Ian and I brought Jodi and Wes back to our room and got them all packed to spend a fun filled night with their Uncle and Aunt. They were pretty exhausted and I knew they wouldn't give Jamie and Crystal much trouble.

When we got them out of the room, Ian closed the door and looked at me as though he hadn't seen me in months.

When I finally fell asleep that night I was exhausted too.

A/N: So that's it. As of right now I don't have any plans to continue this series, but never say never. Reviews are greatly appreciated.