Well, here it is. The real end. I must say, this is super bitter sweet for me. I've been sitting here, whining to my roommate for the past 20 minutes about how sad it is for me to post this up here. It means it's really, truly over. I even debated not posting for like, a while, just to keep it open. But then I realized that was selfish and childish lol. So here it is, the ending to my first finished story and first posted story. You guys have all been super great to me, I feel spoiled lol.

Special author's note at the bottom for EVERYONE, but without further ado (even though I wish I could postpone it forever)...

Ten years later

"Mama! Mama Jermy won't stop throwing mud at me!"

"I am NOT! She's lying mom!"

I grinned as I listened from the porch where I was kneeling, fixing a loose beam of the porch railing. If need be, I'd step in, but right now I was content with Natasha handling things. They were running to her after all.

"Jeremy, Megan, what is going on?" her sweet voice floated up to where I was kneeling and I subconsciously glanced at her. Even after all these years, I still got the same chills down my spine when she spoke; still got goosebumps at her touch. If anything, it only grew stronger every day.

Natasha and I married the day after she turned nineteen. Her parents hadn't been too pleased with how young she was but we had been together for almost two years and I was too anxious to call her mine entirely to put it off any longer. Finally, after lots of bribing and begging, they agreed and the date was set.

She was the most beautiful bride I had ever seen. I don't even remember anything of the wedding except the sight of her walking down the aisle toward me, her cheeks filled with blushing color and her eyes focused on me, and me only.

Right then my love grew tenfold.

The first year was rocky. Without her skating, Natasha had a hard time adjusting to everything. She had become used to its absence the first year after it happened but being married threw her out of her normal life and now the one thing she used to do when she needed comfort was no longer available.

So she began cooking.

She took over Emily's role as mother of the pack. Every meal, without fail, she had prepared and ready for us when we came in from patrol. Sometimes she went a little overboard but no one ever said anything. It was her way of coping and the few containers of leftovers in the fridge were the small price to pay. Besides, they only lasted a couple hours before someone finished them off anyway.

Natasha finished her homeschooling while she was still doing her physical therapy. We had a small celebration among the family and then the real dilemma came: Natasha didn't know where to go next. Her whole mindset had been on skating and she had never thought about what she would do if she didn't have it anymore. She didn't particularly want to go off to a college somewhere, but she didn't want to be a housewife either. She opted to take a few classes at a community college nearby so she could stay at home. She took basic classes in the hopes that something would stand out to her.

Five months into our marriage, I came home from evening patrol to find Natasha waiting for me in the living room.

"Baby what is it?" I asked as I nestled down next to her on the couch, pulling her into my lap. She looked at me with half joyful, half worried eyes. It scared the hell out of me.

"Um..." she said as she looked down at her hands in her lap.

"Natasha, what is it?" I asked more forcefully and she looked back up at me.

"I'm pregnant," she said quickly, so quickly it took me a minute to comprehend what she said. She took my pause for displeasure. "You're not happy," she stated as she stood up and walked into the kitchen.

"Wha-? No! No Natasha this is great!" I finally was able to say as I jumped up and ran after her, pulling her into a tight hug and kissing her. She looked up at me with a smile.

"You're really happy?" she asked and I nodded, grabbing her face gently in my hands and lowering my eyes until they were looking straight into hers.

"Of course I'm happy. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked and she shrugged.

"It's so soon, I don't know if we're ready or not," she said truthfully and I smiled, kissing her again.

"We have nine months. We'll make ourselves ready," I told her and she smiled, pulling me in for a hug.

In truth, I was just as worried as she was. Was I ready to be a dad? Up until now, I hadn't thought about it seriously. Now however, it was staring me straight in the face and I had no choice. Thoughts of my father made me even more nervous. What if I was just like him? Sure he was a bastard, but I had not questions about where I got my temper. What if my attitude toward my kid was the same too?

During the times when I started to get the nervous feeling and began to question my abilities as a father, I would just look over at Natasha and all worries would be gone. I had her and I knew we would be perfectly fine. Every time I mentioned my thoughts about my father, Natasha would shoot my worries down with a kiss.

"Paul Ballard, you are most definitely not your father," she would tell me with a sigh. "Just the fact that you worry about turning out like him shows that you're different. You won't be like him, I promise."

Deep down, I knew she was right.

Our son Jeremy Ivan Ballard was born on July 17 and Natasha went through hell to bring him into the world. I was such a nervous wreck, none of the guys wanted to even try to comfort me.

The first time I held that small bundle in my arms, I nearly melted right there. He had Natasha's nose and I knew he'd have her eyes as well. As for his hair, it was already looking like mine, dark and unkempt. He would be a heartbreaker when he grew up.

Natasha stopped classes so she could be a full-time mother. It wasn't her first choice but I know it helped her handle the problem of not knowing what she wanted to do with her life. She was such a determined person, she wanted to do more than sit at home, she just couldn't figure out what and it was killing keep her mind off of the future, she took to caring for Jeremy, being the overly perfect mother in every way possible.

Our second son, Kyle Yuri was born a year and a half later and it took all of Natasha's time and energy just to take care of the two boys. I tried to help while I could, but when I wasn't running patrol with the guys, I was working at the shop in town, fixing cars for a decent wage. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough income to keep us well. Besides, with the closeness of the Quileute community, we didn't need a ton of money to get by.

Jared and Kim became parents eight months after everything had happened. They had a little girl, Tiffany but they became parents for a second time around the time we did. They had another girl, Maria, and after Kyle was born, it wasn't odd to find Natasha and Kim in our yard, the three little kids on a blanket nearby, four-year-old Tiffany running around. Kim and Natasha loved talking about how cute it would be for Maria and Jeremy to end up together. Whenever this topic came up, Jared and I would just roll our eyes and look the other way.

Within the next year, patrols slowed down. The Cullens had left town, taking most vampire threats with them. Much to our dismay, Jacob followed them shortly after. We knew he wouldn't be able to stay away from his imprint, but it was odd knowing he wasn't a part of the pack anymore.

Embry settled with a girl who had moved to Forks a few months after Jacob left. We were all happy to see him imprint; we knew he had felt left out. The girl, Katy, was shy but nice. Natasha took her under her wing, helping her with the idea of a werewolf for a boyfriend, and in return Katy helped with the boys when Kim couldn't.

Leah drifted off, returning less and less frequently until one day she just never came back. She stayed in touch with Seth, letting him know where she was and what she was doing. It hurt him to have her gone, but we all understood why she did it. Without the imminent vampire threat, there was nothing worth putting up with Sam and Emily for.

Seth, Collin, and Brady took the loss of vampires harder than the rest of us. We were ready to get on with our lives while they wanted to stay wolves forever. Because of this, we let them run any patrols that were needed, making us have even less time in our wolf forms.

Despite how happy we were, Natasha was still restless. Often I would come home to find her flipping mindlessly through the channels on TV or agitatedly reorganizing the refrigerator shelves. I hated to see her like this because as much as she loved the kids and me, this just wasn't the life she saw for herself. It wasn't the life I saw for her either.

When Natasha was 23, she got a call from her old trainer, Andre. He was retiring after 30 years and was looking for a replacement. She said yes immediately and I couldn't have been happier. This was what she needed and this was what she had been waiting for. I think that if he had called any sooner, it wouldn't have worked, but as it happened, it was perfect. It had been six years since the accident and she was ready to go back to the ice. I was ready to see her back at the ice.

Although she couldn't skate, she was able to coach from the sidelines, training her new students to become the amazing skater she had been.

Chris was still at the rink, skating with his new partner Kelli. Over the years his anger at Natasha and me thawed. Although their friendship was never completely rekindled, Natasha and Chris talked, and she even invited him and Kelli over for dinner a couple times. The tension was still there, but I put up with it for Natasha's sake.

Megan Irena was born after Natasha and I had been married for five years. Both of the boys treated her with equal amounts of love and dislike. I think the idea of another girl around the house annoyed them, yet they were excited about a new baby.

Now that Natasha's sister was thirteen, we trusted her with babysitting the boys while Natasha and I were gone. Tyler went off to school at Ohio State University. We only saw him on holidays, but the boys loved him. He spoiled them rotten.

Natasha's parents took care of us like the perfect parents would. When Natasha came down with pneumonia shortly after Megan was born, her mother was right by her side, taking care of the kids while Natasha rested. I was thankful for that, because I don't know what I would have done without her mother's cool head. I was a bottle of nerves until Natasha was 100% better. She was my life, and I wanted her to be perfectly well.

So here we are, ten years later. Ten years since we met for the first time. Ten years since we fell in love. Ten years since I risked my life for her. And ten years since I knew we would be together forever.

"Jeremy please don't throw anymore mud at your sister. Megan, please don't be a tattletale," Natasha told both children before turning and walking back to the porch. I smiled as I glanced down at her already swelling stomach.

So much for just two kids.

"I swear, these kids are going to be the death of me," she said with a sigh as I stood up and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I walked her over to one of the porch rockers, pulling her down onto my lap and planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Ew gross!" Kyle exclaimed as he walked out the screen door. Natasha and I laughed as I pulled her tighter to me.

"Just give it a few years, you won't think it's gross anymore," I told him and Natasha laughed harder. Kyle just shook his head and jogged down the steps, running in the direction of his siblings.

Natasha and I both sat there, watching the kids in silence. After a while, she turned and picked up my hammer.

"What were you doing?" she asked as she motioned to the hammer in her hands.

"Fixing the railing. The one beam was loose," I told her and she grinned.

"You mean you were fixing something without me asking?" she asked in mock shock. I rolled my eyes as I pulled the hammer out of her hands and gave her another kiss.

"Shut up," I mumbled against her lips and I felt her smile. When we broke apart she leaned back so her head was resting against my shoulder. We watched as Jeremy, Kyle and Megan started up a game of freeze tag.

"I love you," she whispered to me and I smiled.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing I love you too," I told her and she grinned before leaning in to meet my lips with her own.

Life was perfect.

Well, there you go! :(

A/N- I have a favor to ask. Now that my story is over, I would love to hear what EVERYONE thought. I don't care if it's a one-word review that just says "awesome" or "great," I just want to see everyone's reactions now that it's over. Seriously, it takes 2 seconds to review. it took me FOUR MONTHS to write this. Isn't it the least I can ask for? Wouldn't it be awesome to get 100 reviews, JUST on the epilogue? Okay, I know that's A LOT, but I have 101 people who have this story favorited and 114 (I know there are overlaps) who get alerts when I update. Make me happy!!!!!! Please??????

GreenEyes555- Yeah, as soon as I think of a main idea, I'll hopefully start something. All the ideas churning in my head would have Paul as more of a minor character...but he'll still be in it! lol Thanks for all the reviews!

sisicloud- Hopefully this chapter helped with the Natasha/Chris relationship. Yeah, they aren't perfect, but at least it's a little better. I'm glad you liked the ending and thanks for reviewing!

ParamoreDecoy- If I think of an idea, I definitely will! Thanks for the review!

twilightgal4life- Does this answer your question lol? Thanks so much for all the reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Syler1510- Yeah, I'm upset it's over too. Here's the epilogue! Thanks for all the reviews!

CourageToStandAlone- I know, I'm sad too. I'm glad you think I ended it perfectly. Hopefully you feel the same after the epilogue. And your review made me blush lol. Thanks so much for saying I'm a brilliant author. It's nice to hear that lol. Thanks for the support in my sequel/no sequel decision. I still don't know what I'm going to do but either way, I'm glad you'll like it haha. Thanks for all the reviews!!!

honey- Thanks so much for the reviews. And thanks for saying I'm good lol. I'm glad you really enjoyed my story. Sorry it's over haha

laurazuleta18- I know, I can't believe it's over either. I'm like, so sad haha. Hope you enjoyed the epilogue! Thanks for all your reviews!

H20girl- I'm glad you liked the ending. Hopefully you enjoyed the epilogue too. Thanks for the review!

danie568- I hope you liked what I did with Natasha since she can't skate. I know it doesn't completely help with her foot injury, but it's still a step in the right direction. Thanks for reviewing!!!

eeyore-ft-tigger- Yeah, I'm teary-eyed too haha. I was thinking of that idea actually, but I don't know what the whole plot would be, just the characters and where in the future it would take place. Thanks for all your awesome reviews! They seriously always made me happy lol. See you on the flip side!!!!!

spannieren- Yeah, I didn't want it to end either lol. I know the part with Chris was sad, hopefully his small part in the epilogue made up for it. Thanks for all your reviews!!

Twilighter80- Thanks so much for reviewing. I'm glad I wrote it and glad you found it too haha. I'm also glad you thought the end was wonderful. Thanks!!

taybaybay- Thanks for your reviews. I'm glad you liked my story. I have a few other stories up my sleeve so hopefully I'll finish another one and have the courage to put it up here. Thanks!!!

random miss saranda clearwater- I'm sad about the epilogue too :( I'm working on a couple other stories (not Twilight-related) but idk what I'm going to do with them yet. We'll just have to see. Thank you so much for all your reviews!!!!

Well that's it then I guess...Gosh, I'm so sad this is over. I like, don't want to post this right now...*sniff*... I mean, I AM posting it lol. It's just sad.