After 25 chapters and a span of nearly three years, this story is finally coming to a close! Sorry this author's note is so long, but I owe many, many thanks. First, I want to thank anyone who has read, favorited, or commented on this story. Since this was my first fanfiction, it means a great deal to me. Next, I must thank Converse37 for inspiring me to get a fanfiction and write this story in the first place, and also for being a great help when I had writers block. Also, thanks are due to PB Teen for furniture inspiration for this chapter, especially the Lilac Collection, the Vintage Frame Pinboard, and the Rosette lampshade. This Chapter's title comes from the Beatles song "The End" which is worth a listen. Or two. Or ten. It has been fun writing this story, and though I can't guarantee a sequel, I have an idea for another story that I may begin to write soon. So enjoy this last chapter and thanks again for everything.

-Juliebean (Eliza)

Chapter 25: And In The End...

It was better than I had imagined. We slipped off our shoes and started to make our way through the perfectly decorated, yet homey living room. A comfy-looking cream sofa and love seat were arranged around a glass coffee table that was trimmed with wood and already holding a vase of flowers and a few magazines. All of this was situated in front of a gorgeous fireplace. The lamps on the side tables gave the room a golden glow that made the whole room brighter.

But that wasn't even the best part. While I was marveling at how perfect everything was, Nessie tapped me on the shoulder from behind and I turned around to question her. That's when I saw the baby grand piano on the opposite side of the room from a big bay window. My resulting scream had Nessie recoiling and I threw my arms around her. When I lifted the bench, I even found some of mine, and Nessie's favorite sheet music.

"How did you do this?" I squealed.

"I didn't. Edward, Bella, and Alice did it behind our backs. Edward and Bella arrived to help just as it was delivered. If they hadn't been there, I probably would have told the deliverymen that it was a mistake and to take it back," Nessie explained.

"That's amazing," I laughed with glee. We proceeded through to the dining room with an elegant yet livable wooden table that seated eight, and a dazzling chandelier, then to the kitchen that already had stools at the island and a few essential food items in the fridge. Jake was sitting in the adjoining breakfast nook at a round white table on a pale blue upholstered booth. He stood when we entered the room.

"I was going to ask you what you thought, but I think my broken eardrums say it all," he said. Nessie and I laughed as he pulled us both into a hug. "Now I feel like we can finally relax and be a real family again."

"I agree," Nessie murmured. After another moment we pulled apart and Jake pulled out a pizza box before I could continue my tour of the house. Only then did I realize how hungry I was, so I was more grateful than annoyed to bite into a cheesy slice of pizza.

"How did you do this so fast?" I asked after I took a sip from the water bottle Nessie had set in front of me.

"Alice mostly. She's been here almost 24/7. I actually felt kinda bad for Jasper because she was spending so much time helping us," Jake answered.

"Let's hope he's not too angry at us," Nessie said a little absentmindedly. "It's incredible how Alice transformed an empty shell of a house into this." She gestured around us. When we were finished, Nessie asked if I was ready to continue the tour and I nodded excitedly. Before taking me upstairs, she led me to the family room off of the dining room. A huge TV took up one of the walls and all of the furniture was facing it.

"This will go over well with the pack," I remarked. I could already picture them crammed onto the couches with bags of chips, watching football games like they usually did at Sam's tiny house. Nessie nodded excitedly; one of the things she missed about not having a house was entertaining.

"Let's go upstairs," she finally said after letting me test out the couches and examine all of the family photos lining the shelves.

"Yes, let's." I tried to sound collected, but Nessie could definitely see through it. She let me run ahead of her and I easily found the door with a pale blue letter "E" hanging on the outside. I glanced at Nessie, and then turned the doorknob.

My room was picturesque; the pale blue walls from the previous owner remained and the white furniture went with it perfectly. Everything had a slightly vintage look and it all matched, from the bed and nightstands, to the desk and even the mirror. A giant quilt that was covered in large multi-colored circles was draped over my bed and underneath were sheets that were teddy bear soft. The hardwood floor felt pleasantly cool on my bare feet.

Then came all of the personal touches. The bookshelves were lined with all of my favorite books, my laptop sat on the desk with a pair of speakers on either side, and a pinboard hung on the wall behind the desk, already covered in pictures. I giggled at the picture from the wedding of me making a face at Alice that was next to a picture from that same day where I looked like a model. All of the Cullens and the pack appeared at least once in the picture. Alice had left just enough room to pin up a note on my personalized stationary that said simply, "You're welcome." I rolled my eyes at her certainty.

"What do you think?" Nessie asked, distracting me from examining the rosette covered lampshade on the lamp on my bedside table.

"I love it," I replied.

"I'm glad. I actually had a great deal of say in this room."

"So you did this?"

"Well, I did the bedding and the books and I picked the pictures that are hanging on the wall over there." I looked over to where she was pointing and gasped. Next to a canvas that looked like an old piece of sheet music, were three photographs in simple frames. The first was one of my favorite baby pictures with my eyes shining and an adorable smile stretched across my face. A family photo was in the next frame. It was from about a year ago, but I looked about nine. Jake, Nessie, and I were all wearing pale blue and smiling up at the camera.

But it was the last picture that was my favorite. It was a candid picture from Carlisle and Esme's vow renewal. You could tell it was nighttime, but there was a glow in the photo. I was sitting in Seth's lap laughing, and he was looking at me with a smile on his face and the classic imprint look in his eyes.

"I love this," I breathed.

"I'm glad," Nessie replied, pulling me into a hug. "Alice will kill me if you don't check out the closet, so you might as well do that now." I pulled open the door to the closet, and was met with perfectly color-coded rows of clothing.

"There's no way it's going to stay this neat, but I could definitely wear this stuff," I said as I examined the different pieces. All of them were brand new, gorgeous, and obviously expensive. Luckily, Nessie pointed out a few drawers of plain t-shirts, sweats, and running shorts that she snuck in for me. Alice had also bought me a bevy of adorable shoes for practically any occasion.

After a minute more of examining my new wardrobe, I walked across the room to peer into my own little bathroom. It didn't matter that it was so small since I was the only one who would use it, and Alice had decorated it with more pale blue accents and a bit of a floral making an appearance in my shower curtain. I turned back into my room completely satisfied by my new room.

"So is there anything else you wanted to see? My room, or the office, or maybe the sun room…" Nessie asked.

"No I'm good." I pulled my laptop off the desk and took it with me to sit on the window-seat.

"Alright. Well if you need anything, I'll be downstairs with Jake," she said as she walked to the door.

"Actually, can you get me a bottle of water?" I asked before she could leave.

"Sure. Just make sure you use a coaster or something so it doesn't wreck you nice new furniture." Nessie left the room, and I was alone in my new room for the first time. I wasn't doing anything of consequence on my computer, so I wasn't annoyed when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Jake walked in with a water bottle and coaster in his hand.

"Where do you want this?" he asked.

"The bedside table is fine."

"So, what do you think?" I just smiled up at him and he pulled me into a bear hug. "I promise everything will be okay after this. You will always be able to come back here if you need anything.

"Thanks, daddy," I said into his shoulder. Jake melted a little when he heard that and he kissed the top of my head.

"I'll leave you to enjoy your room while Nessie and I finish up a few things," he said and he walked to the door.

"See you in the morning," I replied, as he stepped out.

"Oh, wait!" He dashed back into the room and tossed a rectangular black object at me. It was the house phone. I looked up at him, confused. "You might want to call Seth," he explained.

"Right! Thanks. Does he know our new number?"

"I told him this morning."

"Awesome."

"Love you, kiddo."

"Love you, too." This time he left for real, closing the door behind him. As I waited for my computer to shut down, I dialed Seth's number.

"Hello?" he said after only two rings.

"Hi," I replied simply.

"Eliza." I could hear his smile through the phone.

"Yes sir."

"So how's the house?"

"Flawless, of course. Especially my bedroom. You should see it. There's this picture that Alice took at the wedding of you and me hanging on my wall and it is absolutely perfect. And we have a family room with a huge TV that will be perfect for parties for the pack."

"That's awesome Liza! I can't wait to see it tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?"

"Jake told me he invited the whole pack for a housewarming party."

"Oh really? I haven't heard anything about that, but I guess it doesn't really matter you guys would show up a my house tomorrow whether I knew about it or not"

"That is true. I wish we could talk longer, but I need to get some sleep cause I have an early patrol tomorrow."

"Alright," I sighed. "Sleep well and I will see you tomorrow."

"I'm counting on that." I couldn't help but smile when he said that.

"Goodnight, Seth."

"Goodnight." A click on the other line told me that he had hung up, so I set the phone on my desk and walked over to the bookshelf to pick a book to read before going to sleep. Many of the books were brand new, but a few of the ones that were kept at the Cullen house previously had made there way onto the shelf. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green was beckoning me, so I pulled the brand new book off the shelf.

For about 10 minutes I read, taking in the smell of the new book. At about 9:00 I found some pajamas in the closet, pulled my hair back into a messy bun, and shut the lights. A string of lights covered in colorful woven spheres remained on, illuminating the room with a dim, but colorful glow. That was something I could get used to. Sleep overtook me pretty quickly and I had a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

It was precisely 7:48 when I woke up in the morning. No sunlight came through my windows, but I could not hear any rain. After a minute of attempting to get up, I climbed out of bed and walked over to my bathroom and started to get ready. I thought about changing into nicer clothes, but I preferred to marvel in the fact that this was my house and I could wear pajamas as long as I wanted to. When I finally made my way down to the kitchen, I found Jake and Nessie finishing their breakfast already.

"Good morning, Liza. There's a mug of tea on the counter for you," Nessie said.

"Thanks." I grabbed the mug and poured myself a bowl of cereal.

"Did you sleep well?" Jake asked.

"Yes I did, actually," I replied after a bite of cereal.

"Good. We kinda forgot to tell you yesterday that the pack is coming later for a house warming party," Nessie said a little sheepishly.

"That's ok. I already knew about it."

"Oh?"

"Seth told me when I was on the phone with him last night."

"That explains it. I need to do some serious grocery shopping, so I'm going to leave you two here. I trust that you will behave yourselves," Nessie jokingly looked Jake and me as though she thought that we were going to tear the house down in her absence.

"I promise that I'll keep this one in line," Jake replied, lightly elbowing me.

"Please," I scoffed. "If anyone needs to be babysat while you're gone, Ness, it's Jake."

"Whatever, Liza. We'll just see what happens when Nessie get's home and you're the one with the metaphorical blood on your hands." I rolled my eyes.

"But seriously, I think you guys will be fine. I'm going to get out of here. I love you both," Nessie interjected. She kissed me on the cheek and kissed Jake passionately on the lips for a little longer than necessary, and then walked back to the little mudroom to grab her shoes and out the door.

"You done eating?" Jake asked.

"Yep." I pushed my bowl toward him, and to my surprise, he took it to the dishwasher for me.

"Did you know that there's a Wii in the family room?" he asked as he loaded the dishwasher.

"Seriously? You did that, didn't you."

"Of course I did. You wanna go play Wii Sports?"

"Why not?" Jake beat me to the family room and turned on the Wii. Both of us had our advantages; I was best at tennis, while Seth was best at boxing. We were evenly matched at bowling and baseball though, so there were many interesting rounds of us trying to one-up eachother. And of course, we played some pitiful rounds of golf.

"Do you thing we'll ever get the hang of golf?" I asked Jake.

"Ha ha, no," he replied just as he hit an almost perfect shot.

"What was that?! How did you just do that?!" I exclaimed. He looked down at his controller.

"I have absolutely no idea." The back door opened and Jake paused the game before rushing to help Nessie unload bags upon bags of groceries. When the groceries were away, I helped Nessie make a few quick sandwiches so we could start to get ready for the party. We set bowls of chips and crudités and other appetizers on the kitchen counter and the dining room buffet, and Nessie started forming burgers in advance.

"Eliza, you better change out of your pajamas because people will be showing up in 10 minutes," Nessie told me. I followed her advice and dashed up the steps, skipped through my room, and started looking through the clothes in my closet. There was a coral lace dress that I had seen yesterday that had caught my eye, so I pulled that and an oatmeal sweater and changed into that, throwing my pajamas in the hamper.

Before dealing with my messy hair, I plugged speakers into my laptop and put some happy music on. Just as I was figuring out what hairstyle to do, I heard the doorbell, and then Quil and Embry's voices traveling up the stairs. Suddenly there was a knock at my door and I jumped up to get it.

"What is that awful sound coming from those speakers?" Embry asked when I pulled open the door. I rolled my eyes at his ignorance.

"Please. It's called music. The new Passion Pit album to be exact," I shot back.

"Never heard of them. Why don't you put on some normal music?" Quil jumped in.

"Get out of my room," I sighed.

"Whoa! Are you kicking us out?" Embry said with mock disbelief.

"Oh, chill out," I said, following them down the stairs and into the kitchen. Sam and Emily were sitting at the island talking to Nessie and Jared, Colin, and Brady were all examining the food.

"Hey, Liza." Emily turned when she heard us approaching. She patted the stool next to her. "Are you enjoying the new house?"

"Definitely. How much have you seen?" I replied.

"Only the downstairs so far."

"You should see the upstairs. I can give you a tour if you want," I offered.

"Why not. I'll be back in a few minutes, Sam." She followed me up the stairs and I showed her the office, the sunroom (which was still brightly lit despite the clouds outside), then the guest room and bath and master bedroom, and finally my room. In each room, Emily commented on Alice's decorating skills, using terms that I didn't recognize to describe different pieces of furniture.

"I love this room, Liza," she said when we were in my room.

"Thanks! I wish I could take the credit, but again, this was mostly Alice. Though it was inspired by me, so I guess I had some influence," I replied.

"Let's go back downstairs. I'm sure that Nessie needs help making dinner." Just when we reached the bottom of the steps, the doorbell rang and I shouted toward the kitchen that I would get it. Emily didn't wait for me, and headed back to the kitchen.

"Hey, Eliza," Leah said when I opened the door. She gave me a one armed hug since she was holding a flower arrangement in the other.

"Thank you for coming!" I replied enthusiastically. "Jake and Nessie were in the kitchen last time I checked." I pointed her in the right direction, and only then did I turn my attention to Seth, who was waiting impatiently for me to pay attention to him. As soon as he had the opportunity, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a hug.

"No wonder you were so happy on the phone last night. This house is awesome, Liza," Seth said as we walked through the house and into the kitchen. By that point, everyone was there and Nessie was flipping burgers in a very large grill pan. The moment each burger was done, it made its way onto a bun and into the hands of someone in 10 seconds flat.

It was great to settle into our usual routine of the guys devouring most of the food in their reach and bantering and the ladies chatting and preparing more food. Seth and I sat next to eachother in the breakfast nook with Brady, Jared, and Kim, eating burgers and potato chips. When everyone was well fed, we moved to the family room to watch some baseball.

"Didn't you say that you wanted to show me your bedroom?" Seth asked.

"Let's go now." I nudged Nessie and said, "We'll be back in a minute." Seth followed me out of the room and up the stairs and to the end of the hall. He waited for me to open the door.

"I like it, Liza! It's very you," Seth said after glancing around the room. Then he examined the pictures hanging on the wall, spending extra time looking at the one of us. "Do you think I could get a copy of this?"

"Of course. Alice will be pleased that you like it," I replied, sitting on the loveseat where I was on the phone with him the night before. He sat down next to me and pulled me into his lap.

"Now everything's back to normal," he said.

"Not normal. This is better than normal."

"I think I might actually have to agree." We stared into each other's eyes for a moment.

"I really don't know how I could have gotten through this mess without you."

"Hey, it's my duty and my pleasure." He leaned in just so our noses touched.

"I love you," I whispered. His lips met mine in response, softly moving against my lips in a way that caused my heart to flutter. But it ended too quickly when we realized that we had to go back down to the party. We walked back down to the family room to join everyone as they watched the Mariners lose a baseball game. It didn't matter that I didn't care too much for obsessing over sports. My family was in that room and after all we'd been through, their love was all I needed in the end.