Author's Note: This is it. I know, I'm kind of sad too... but it had to happen.

Now, a note for all who have reviewed, followed, favorited, or even just silently read the story. Thank you. Sincerely, thank you. When I began writing this, I didn't expect there to be a lot of interest in it. I'm so flattered to have been wrong about that. Anyway, this is probably the longest thing I've ever written, it's certainly the work with which I am happiest, and I credit you all for motivating me to keep this going and write it as well as I could.

Note Updated 11/30/13: This is the end of this novel. However, since finishing it, I've written many bonus scenes from this setting. There are also "AU of the AU" scenarios. These scenes can be found in my fics "Safe Place" and "Filibusters." And if there's any specific scene that you'd like to read, feel free to request it in a PM or my Tumblr.

Epilogue

Flynn sighed and leaned back against the molded seat of the hot tub. He peered out the floor-to-ceiling glass windows nearby and took in the breathtaking view of the valley. This mountain lodge was not built right on the side of the slope, but it was close enough. The view was exquisite anyway, and between that calming vista, the pleasant company of Rapunzel half-snoozing on the other side of the tub, and the steam itself, Flynn was feeling relaxed.

Frankly, he thought, he needed to relax.

After the overwhelming happiness from the wedding and the initial shock of the Stabbingtons' attempted attack had worn off, Flynn had given a lot of consideration to the fact that Conli's unit had set up a trap using his wedding—his and Rapunzel's special day—as the bait. It was cold and callous and showed no respect at all for the significance of the day to its principals. Furthermore, Conli and his bunch hadn't even told him or Rapunzel what they intended. Flynn could not help but feel that familiar sense of having been used and betrayed by the larger system, and it did not help that the scheme had almost been an unmitigated disaster. In his opinion, it did qualify as a failure that one of the three had escaped.

At least the others were caught, he thought. He tried to tell himself things like this to keep from giving in to anger about what had happened, but it was difficult. It was difficult to avoid being angry at a system that, as he had said to Rapunzel at their very first dinner several months ago, apparently regarded individual people as disposable, nothing but tools to be used for other people's ends and discarded when they were no longer useful.

He sighed and sank deeper into the tub, trying to immerse himself in the sensations surrounding him rather than indulging these kinds of bad memories and resentful, bitter thoughts. His movement created a small wave that crashed against Rapunzel's body, jolting her out of her half-sleep or reverie or whatever it had been. Her eyes popped open.

"You okay?" she asked him, peering across the tub at him. A look of concern came over her face.

He looked up. Apparently his expression had given him away. He shook his head. "Not really," he said. "I was thinking about what happened on our wedding day, the fact that they used it as bait in a trap. They used us, Rapunzel. As if we were nothing. It just... reminds me of how I felt shortly after I..." He trailed off, looking at her with a somewhat ashamed expression on his face.

She slid over next to him. "They did use the event," she agreed, "but they didn't see us as nothing, Flynn. They did make a serious effort to bring them in, and they did protect us while doing it. They could've done a better job and they could've warned us... but if we were really nothing to the system, they could've blatantly put us at risk, unprotected, and there would be no consequences to them if anything bad happened."

He finally managed a tiny smile in spite of himself.

"Besides," she said, curling up against him, "even if some authority figure didn't think people mattered, so what? Individuals have worth whether others acknowledge it or not."

The small smile on his face broadened. His morose mood seemed to lift. "You're right," he said. He wrapped an arm around her and leaned over to nuzzle the top of her head. "I wish I could have had you in my life years ago," he murmured.

She chuckled. "Well, you have me now... and for years to come."

It was a chilly night in late winter, and a late-season coating of snow blanketed northern Virginia and the DC metro area. Flynn had turned up the heat warmer than he was comfortable with, though Rapunzel had insisted it was fine and he was just hot-natured. He wasn't sure about that, but he hadn't complained about the heat in either case, because he had to make sure that their little daughter would be warm enough in her bassinet. He had just kicked off the comforter on his side and fallen asleep under only sheets. However, his sleep was interrupted that night by a soft, but increasingly unhappy, mumbling and whimpering. It was coming from the bassinet next to the king bed where he and Rapunzel slept.

It was dark, but the lights of the city gave the room enough illumination for him to see without turning on a lamp. He gave a quick glance at his sleeping wife next to him. Her dark hair fell over the pillow unkemptly, and he could tell by the way her eyelids were completely still that she was in a very deep sleep.

Another whimper, this one slightly louder, rumbled across the bed from the bassinet.

Flynn tossed his legs over the side of the bed and quickly, but quietly, pattered around to the other side. Rapunzel was exhausted these days, dealing with a tiny four-week-old baby that by rights should still be gestating. He could not let her wake up. No matter how tired she was, if she woke up, she would still insist on attending to whatever Katherine needed. Flynn couldn't let that happen. She needed the sleep more than he did.

Flynn reached into the bassinet and scooped up his daughter. She was so tiny, though not as tiny as she had been when she was born. He picked her up and cuddled her. Closing the door silently behind him, he carried her out to the kitchen. She continued to whimper and complain.

"Shh," he said softly, stroking her on the head and holding her close to his chest for warmth. Her hair was dark and thick, darker than Rapunzel's but not quite as dark as his. However, it would probably end up that shade. It was definitely more like his hair, in any case. It was too early to tell what color eyes she would have.

He took a bottle of milk out of the fridge and warmed it up. It seemed vaguely repulsive to him to think that he was heating up human milk, but Rapunzel had been very particular about this point, making a supply of bottles for those times when she couldn't nurse. Like now, for example, but also later, when Rapunzel started going back to work in the mornings.

He put the bottle up against Kate's mouth. Eagerly she took hold of it and began to pull. Smiling, Flynn contined to hold her close as he walked out to the living room and sat down in a chair with her. He glanced up for a moment, letting the collection of framed photographs on the mantel catch his eye. The old picture of Rapunzel with Pascal and Max in front of the Lincoln Memorial was still there, but the picture of her mother in front of the mountain cabin had been put into a photo album and replaced with the old photograph that her grandmother had given her of both her parents as teens. There was also a photo of his parents now—a family picture from when he was five years old—and a photo of the Kings. But in the largest frame, a new frame that Rapunzel had carved and painted, was the days-old photo of their own little family. Flynn smiled at the sight, but his attention was quickly distracted by the small bundle in his arms.

As he held the tiny baby in one arm and the bottle with his other hand, Flynn thought about how much he loved this little girl—and how terrified he had been, for her and her mother, that day when Rapunzel went into labor at 34 weeks. He had been more scared then than at any time before in his life, including the time that he was running from men who wanted to kill him. Then, he had known what he had to do, and it was his own life. When she went into premature labor, he had felt helpless, watching his poor young wife cry and sob in pain, and feeling utterly responsible for her and the baby that was going to come out too soon. He couldn't help but feel that he had done that to her. To this day he still didn't know how he had managed to drive her to the hospital. It was as if his body had functioned on autopilot. And then once the fear for Rapunzel's life had thankfully gone away that night, the fear for their child's life only expanded to fill the void. Kate had weighed only four and a half pounds when she was born. The doctors had said that the premature birth was probably related to Rapunzel being a small person and this being her first pregnancy, but that she also exerted herself a great deal and that might have brought it on. Flynn had not yet passed on that opinion to her; he didn't want her to blame herself. Instead he tried, even more than he had done before, to make things easier for her and not let her exert herself too much.

Fortunately, under the watch of modern medicine shortly after her birth and with a pair of very dedicated parents taking care of her after they left the hospital, Kate was growing normally and was in excellent health now. She was almost the size of a full-term baby. But she still seemed small and fragile to her protective father, as he held her and patiently nursed her with a bottle of her mother's milk at three in the morning.

A few days later, the little family was ambling through the Foggy Bottom area. A new coating of snow covered the city, though, as it was less than three inches, it was not quite enough to warrant a full emergency declaration, panic attack, and federal government shutdown. It was instead a "work-optional" day for government employees, and since a great many private-sector businesses followed the government's policy on snow days, there were fewer people on the streets, making for a pleasanter walk.

Rapunzel wore her new deep purple wool coat that Flynn had bought her for Christmas. She held Kate close to her chest. The baby was bundled up in layers of soft, warm clothing; her parents were still anxious about exposing her to cold. She mumbled and warbled little sounds, occasionally clenching her tiny fists involuntarily. Flynn carried a messenger bag—but this time it held baby supplies.

They were taking this walk partly just to exercise, but they also had just finished a lunch with Max and Pascal and figured there was no real reason to leave town just yet. It was quite picturesque with the blanket of white everywhere.

As they headed north, they passed an intersection. Rapunzel looked at the sign and turned to Flynn meaningfully, raising an eyebrow at him. She seemed to be asking him a question, or issuing a challenge, without words.

"Sure," he said, grinning. "It's the closest way to a Metro stop from here."

She chuckled and shook her head reproachfully, not buying this excuse, but this was something of a running theme with them. There was something almost sentimental about it. With a grin still on his face, Flynn placed his arm around her shoulders, turned the corner, and steered them onto K Street.

Since the federal government had not required employees to come to work, Congressional staff offices were, needless to say, mostly empty, but a lot of those individuals who made their living influencing them had still chosen to come to their offices. Planning, it seemed, was a full-time job. The sidewalks were not quite as full as they usually were, but they still bustled with well-dressed professionals, often covered up in winter gear. A few of them gave Flynn a second look, apparently recognizing him, but no one said anything to him until they were almost at the Metro stop.

A well-groomed young man in a dark gray suit, who looked to be heading for the same place, waited with them at the intersection, watching for the "Don't Walk" sign to change. He kept giving Flynn and Rapunzel looks and then ducking away. He was shorter than Flynn, and the effect of this was one of a nervous, overawed boy. Finally he mustered up enough nerve to speak.

"Excuse me," he said tentatively. "I couldn't help but notice—you look awfully familiar. Are you Mr. Rider?"

Flynn closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. Here we go, he thought unhappily. "Yes," he said in guarded tones, regarding the young man warily.

However, the young man burst into a smile. "I thought you were," he said excitedly. "Well, I just wanted you to know... I read your book. I work at Fergus & Partners... and anyway, we all really respect you for writing that. It must have been tough."

A faint smile came over Flynn's face. "Well, thanks. You work at a good firm," he added. "They were always very scrupulous and decent... which is why I didn't work there," he added with a dark laugh.

The young lobbyist looked uncomfortable at this comment, unsure how to respond. "Well," he finally said, "I expect you could work here now if you wanted."

Flynn chuckled again. "Well, it does make me pleased to know that... that other people out here feel the way I ultimately came to feel. And thanks for the vote of confidence... but I don't want to. I'm happy with what I'm doing."

The young man smiled. "That's understandable. You do have a lovely family," he said with a respectful nod to Rapunzel.

"Thank you."

The light changed, and the group that had gathered at the corner began to cross the street. The young man rushed ahead, apparently in a hurry to get somewhere. Flynn threw his arm around Rapunzel's shoulders again and gave her an affectionate squeeze right there in public. She glanced over at him and saw something that made her heart leap. He peered back at her with a smile on his face, but that wasn't what caught her eye or made her feel so happy all of a sudden. It was that his eyes seemed to gleam with an inner light, and there was a new spring in his step.