Here we go!

Last chapter... Enjoy!

Epilogue

August 18th

Dusty walked into the bride's dressing room, her midnight blue matron-of-honor dress swishing around her legs as she strode confidently into the room. She looked around as she entered, expecting a lot more people than she presently saw. In fact, she only saw Sana sat at her dressing table, staring very seriously into the mirror, fiddling with one of her make-up cases as she did so. Dusty had been sent in by Sana's mother, who had said that Sana seemed worried about something, but now Dusty now suspected that that was only half the story, and the other half having something to do with Sana freaking out, and telling everyone to leave while she had a moment alone. She spoke quietly.

"Well, Sana, the wedding's about to begin, are you ready?" Dusty asked gently. She carefully straightened her white sash, and pulled a strand of short hair out of her eyes. She'd had it cut for the first time in a very long time, to just past her shoulders. It was quite a change for her. A sign of moving on. Sana sighed in response to her question.

"I don't know, Dusty. I was so sure yesterday that everything was going to go swimmingly and nothing was going to go wrong. Yesterday I was so excited. Now I'm not so sure," she said, sighing again with a slight tremor and sat back in her chair, a look that was very similar to abject terror on her face. Dusty smiled and walked toward Sana.

"Worried that something will go wrong?" She asked, coming and standing behind her, putting her hands on her shoulders. Sana shrugged, nodded and shook her head all at the same time.

"I – I don't even know! I mean, I've only-" She cut herself off, and pause, putting her lips together and turning away slightly, the corners of her mouth trembling.

"Would you like me to drive you home?" Dusty asked softly. Sana looked up, surprised.

"What?" Sana's voice was almost shocked, and it startled out of her tears.

"I know that right before I was married, I felt the same way. Sometimes after I was married I wished that I'd gone home." This wasn't technically a lie. During the days after Rachel's death, and Bruce's onslaught, she had truly wished at least once that none of the marriage, engagement, or even moving to Gotham had ever happened. But afterwards, it had all resolved itself. But now was the time for sympathy, not rebuke. Sana shook her head.

"But what about all the good times you had? The way that you pulled together, even when Watson was after you, and even after me? He rescued you, and I know that he loves you. You have both tried so hard to make it work, I'm sure that it was… worth it," Sana paused, realizing what she just said. She smiled, suddenly realizing the point. Dusty put her hand on her shoulder.

"As long as you try to do the best that you can, to love him as much as you can, and to work with him just like you've always done, there's nothing you can't accomplish. He's human, just like you are, and you'll have problems, but as long as you are willing to always give him a second chance, there's nothing that can't be resolved." She bent down close to Sana and looked into Sana's face, "He's a good guy, Sana, and I know he loves you as much as you love him. Probably more." Sana sniffed.

"But what about all the doubts? And the feeling that I might be making the biggest mistake of my life?" Sana said. Dusty looked down, momentarily unsure how to answer. Then, slowly, the answer came through to her.

"We make choices in our lives, Sana, based on what seems to be the best course of action at the moment. Some are hard, and some of them aren't. I think if you choose the best you can, and be willing to deal with the consequences, or at least be prepared to deal with them, you can't go far wrong."

"But what if I do?"

"Then you simply keep trying. The only way to fail…"

"…is to give up." Sana finished. "But it's not very reassuring. How can we know that everything is going to turn out okay?"

"We don't," Dusty said bluntly, "There is no way to know. But by doing the best we can, we greatly improve our chances."

Sana sighed. "I just wish I knew how this was going to turn out."

Dusty restrained herself from laughing, "I think all of us can sympathize with you, Sana. Now, do you want me to take you home?"

Sana thought for a long time. Dusty anxiously watched the clock. Ten minutes, five minutes, two minutes, one minute. Sana had an intense expression of concentration. Finally, she spoke.

"No. I said yes to James, and by goodness, I'm going to get married today."

Dusty walked town the aisle in front of Sana, carefully measuring her steps as she moved. It was the longest aisle Dusty had ever seen; the carpet that Dusty walked on a pure, cloud white that Sana had specifically ordered for the wedding, much to the distress of the cleaners. Finally, she made it to the end, and stood in her place, as she turned to see Sana, resplendent in one of her own creations, coming down the aisle. Dusty snuck a look at James, and Bruce behind him. James looked awestruck at his fiancée, who was positively glowing by this time as she walked down the aisle. Bruce winked at Dusty as they both stood there as the bride and groom's best couple. Dusty smiled back. Then Sana walked up the steps, and soon she was concentrating hard on the wedding.

It went smoothly, and soon they were dismissed until the reception that afternoon. Dusty and Bruce followed Sana and James. Pictures took a while, but luckily Sana was quite savvy as a model, and the numerous shots that were taken were beautiful. Bruce and Dusty mostly watched, though for a few pictures they were brought forward to have their pictures taken alongside the bride and groom. Mostly it was Sana's mother and Father, plus James's family whose pictures were taken.

After the pictures were finished, the reception zipped by in a flurry of pictures, shaking hands, hugging friends and catching up with people long unseen and missed. The refreshments were delicious, even through the lack of punch, and soon, it was the last dance of the evening before Sana and James left on their honeymoon to Milan, Italy, Dusty's present to Sana, with permission from the bride's parents. Bruce and Dusty walked onto the dance floor, hand in hand. As they started to slowly sway, Bruce whispered into her ear, "We beat Sana and James."

Dusty pulled back, confusion written clearly all over her face. "What do you mean?"

Bruce smiled mysteriously, "Well, I was thinking about how long we knew each other before we got married, and how long before they got married, and we have them beat by a whole month." He said.

"So…we rushed into marriage? Is that the point you're trying to make?" She said, a small, rather impertinent smile on her face. He thought about it, mock seriously.

"No, I think it just means that you were more cooperative that she was."

"What can I say? Running for your life helps you make up your mind," She said, her voice matter of fact. Bruce laughed, and kissed her forehead, and then just held her as they swayed back and forth. As the song drew to a close, he leaned forward and whispered into her ear.

"I love you," He said. She smiled, and before she could say anything, he continued, his cheek pressed against hers, "I'm so thankful for you and the things you have taught me. You are the best thing in my life."

Dusty smiled, and then pulled back to look into his eyes.

"So this is it, then," She whispered. He tilted his head to the side, a peaceful smile on his face.

"This is what?" He asked. She smiled blissfully.

"Happily Ever After."

The End

Whew... That's a rush...

Thanks to InceptionErection, ChuddleyCanons, Were-girl19, Lady Wesker, and ChristianBale Girl 2010 for reviewing.

Sorry Bryt, for not getting this, of all chapters, to you... I forgot earlier this week, and I'm chomping at the bit here, so... yeah. :D Love you... I'll post Sana and James's one-shot first!

Alrighty, now we get into the fun part.

Casting. I am going to shock you all, and say that this was a mild self-insert. I'm not twenty-eight, but I am five ten, have green eyes and at the time of this story I did have long brown hair to my waist. However, I am also not a ninja. So. Go figure. Oh, and I don't have Dusty's issues. Hence the *mild* insert.

All movie casting stands, though I see Rachel as Katie Holmes more than Maggie Gyllenhaal. Sorry Mags, and everyone that supports her. I just saw Katie first.

Richard is actually unknown, but Haley Joel Osment in the Sixth Sense kind of had the look I imagined. Watson is based off of Viggo Mortensen's look in Eastern Promises (which I haven't actually seen, by the way) Montague is Ben Barnes, Selina is Sharon Den Adel, who is the lead singer of Within Temptation, the artist of what I consider the theme song. Sana is based on Bryt, Judy is rather like a cross between Amy Adams and Simone Simons from Epica, and Damon was somewhat based on Tom Felton. Tell me your thoughts and who you envisioned as these characters! I'm excited to know!

Now, stats. I feel kind of nervous about doing this because it feels like I'm bragging, but... okay I am. As of right now, I have almost forty-two thousand hits. I have 243 reviews, and the story in Microsoft Word is 301 pages long. I started this story on November 6th, 2007, and I finished writing it on July 10th, 2009. It was 288 pages and 62 chapters at the time of completion, but through my editing, the combining of chapters and rearranging of a few scenes, it grew 13 pages, and shrunk to 59 chapters. Rick's kidnapping was the central threat to Dusty at the beginning, and the big hoorah at the end of the story was supposed to be Bruce asking Dusty out on a date. I started writing SOMH on a plane from Madrid, Spain to Moscow, Russia at 2 a.m. local time, got back home, scrapped it and started over. And then it began. When I began I wrote about three pages, with an average of about half a page a day. By the end, I wrote the entire court scene in one day, and for over a week was averaging about eight pages a day.

And...I think that's all to know. I've grown up with this story for the past three years. Because of the success of this story, I've started my own original novel series and am almost finished with the first book of that.

Thanks for all you've all done to me. It's been a great ride.

~Sabre

P.S. What was your favorite part of the story. I do have 93 people on my story alert list - it's the last chapter, I'd like to hear from you. :D

Peace!