If I lay here, if I just lay here
Would you lie with me, and just forget the world.
Forget what we’re told, before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s bursting into life.
- “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol

---

Epilogue

Aurora stood silently, staring out the window with a shadow of a smile upon her face. It was a beautiful summer day outside, but far too hot for her delicate condition. Such good weather was rare where they lived. As much as she wanted to go outside and soak up the rays, she didn't want to risk getting any warmer than she already was. She placed a gentle hand on her protruding stomach as her head tilted to the side in thought.

"Hey, whatcha up to?"

She smiled at the sound of his voice, but didn't turn to acknowledge him. He chuckled slightly, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I was just thinking," she sighed wistfully. She could feel his chest pressing up against her back.

"About what?" he asked.

"Just... stuff..." she said, turning her head to look into her husband's chocolate brown eyes.

She and Eric had been through a lot, and still, their relationship wasn't perfect. But then again nothing's ever perfect. They were together for a while after she became human, until he went to college, and Aurora began to doubt their relationship.

She had decided to finish whatever highschool education she had left. Although she didn't learn much from school, seeing as she knew more than the average person by then. During their time apart, they starting meeting other people. They both got jealous and chose to take a break from their relationship. That only lasted two days.

"What kind of stuff?" Eric whispered huskily, resting his cheek against her hair.

"Names," she said. "What kind of names do you like? How about Odysseus!? I always thought it was a very appealing name."

He let out a low, masculine chuckle. "Odysseus? Aurora, you're kidding, right?"

She rolled her eyes and turned around to look at Eric. "Did you actually think I wanted to name our boy that?" she questioned. "All the kids would make fun of him..."

"You've suggested weirder things," he shrugged. "Like, you wanted to name our boy Kylene."

"I like that name..."

"Kylene is a girl's name, Aurora," Eric sighed. "Even then, I wouldn't name our girl Kylene either..."

She turned and raised her eyebrows. "Where'd your shirt go?" she questioned, running her fingers across the warm skin of his bare chest.

"I took it off," he said simply. "It's so goddamn hot!"

"Eric, watch the language," she berated, glancing at a large pile of pillows on the couch.

He looked at the pillows too and pursed his lips. "Sorry," he chuckled. "Anyway, did you hear? We reached a record high temperature. In all my twenty-six years, I've never felt this kind of heat before. No wonder it feels like I'm melting."

"Oh, you're melting?" Aurora said incredulously. "Try living through this heat with something growing inside of you." She sighed and leaned against his shoulder. "Especially now that I have all these weird cravings and I'm eating more than ever. I'm starting to get food sweats... sort of like meat sweats..."

"I can see why, now that you're pretty much eating for three people," he smiled, placing a hand on her tummy. "Speaking of which, how do you like the names James and Katherine. Simple names, yes, but easy to create nicknames from. Like Jim and Kate, or Jimmy and Katie, or maybe even Jimbo and Kat."

She giggled. "I think they're perfect, except for maybe the Jimbo part," she said with a smile. "And speaking of names... did Lorna tell you what they're naming their daughter?"

"Hm?"

"She's naming her Dawn, in honour of my name," she told him. "Isn't that sweet of them?"

He chuckled at the idea. "Dawn Flash? I don't suppose that sounds too... bright." The two of them heard a childish giggle emanate from the pile of pillows on the couch.

Aurora laughed too. "Yeah, I guess it does. But you know Dario... He's got a funny sense of humour."

"Oh yeah, they invited us over for a barbeque next week. Along with a hundred other people and their kids. It's gonna be chaos," he said before kissing her cheek. "And my brother's going to be there. He finally got back from his honeymoon, after a whole month! Our honeymoon lasted like three days..."

"How's he feeling now?" Aurora asked, leaning against his shoulder.

"Better, much better," he stated. "Since he finished chemotherapy, he's been great. He's starting to act like his old self again."

"And now that he and Gina are married, he'll be even better than before!" she said. "Four weeks at an island paradise... I'm happy for Jayden and everything, but I wish we could have that. A nice, long vacation... one that we can't afford."

Eric wrapped his arms around her and kissed the side of her forehead affectionately. "We will one day," he muttered. "When I'm president we can go anywhere in the world. And we wouldn't have to worry about money management!"

"We're not so bad off now..." she sighed again. She'd been so tired lately, worrying about everything and everyone. They were struggling with money, and were a bit behind on their bills. "Well, now that you have a nice job at that practice, things will start to look up from here. Even if we are a bit short on cash at the moment..."

"Ugh, I hate working for those lawyers..." he groaned. "I just wish I could run for governor now, before I forget everything I learned in all those political courses I took at UW." He could basically hear her rolling her eyes.

"You can't possibly forget everything you've learned," she said. "I remember everything from school... That's why I got 1585 on my SATs. And that's even after I had a year off from school to guard you. College was too easy to get into."

"Yeah, then you decided you didn't want to finish college," Eric said with a smile, burying his head in her dark raven hair. "But that's okay, you don't need a degree in anything to prove your intelligence. And you have an IQ of 170 anyway..."

"I couldn't finish college because I got pregnant with your baby," she muttered as he started kissing her neck gently. She leaned into his embrace, revelling in the feeling of his lips on her skin. That's when they heard a distinct giggle come from the pillows again.

Eric pulled away from Aurora slightly to glance over at the couch. "Hm... whatever could that be?" He strode over to the couch and prodded the pillows with a curious expression. It began shaking and laughing. "Who could this be?" With a wide grin, he flung a few pillows aside to reveal the top of a platinum blond head.

The boy raised his head and peered up at Eric. "Boo!" he giggled, rolling around in the pillows.

"Ah! Come here, silly," Eric chuckled, scooping the boy up in his arms. "Whoa, you're starting to get heavy, kiddo."

Aurora smiled at the sight of Eric and her son together. It was moments like this that made her think she could never be happier. She waddled slowly over to the two of them. "It's amazing, everyday that goes by, Damien looks more and more like you, Eric," she said, brushing back her son's hair.

"But he has your beautiful eyes," he replied, looking into his son's shining blue eyes.

"Mommy!" Damien cried, reaching out to Aurora. "I want a cookie!"

"No more cookies," she said with a small frown. "I ate them all... God, I'm gonna be huge..."

Eric laughed and kissed Aurora on the cheek. "It's alright, honey." After placing Damien on the floor, he ran a hand across her stomach. "You're eating for three, remember? You'll be able to lose all that weight after the twins are born. Besides, you're gorgeous no matter what, you know that."

"No, that's not what I was worried about," she told him. "How am I going to be able to fit in the car when I go into labour? I barely made it in when I was pregnant with Damien..."

"Don't worry about that, I'll buy a minivan just for you."

"Why? Are we planning to have more kids?"

"Yes, let's have ten children!"

Aurora's eyes widened at the prospect. "Oh God no. I might die! Again..." She smiled, kneeling in front of Damien. "This little tyke is enough to deal with. Let alone nine more."

The little boy looked up at her sadly with big blue eyes. "No more cookies?"

"Not right now kiddo," Eric stated. "But if you and your mom head into the kitchen right now, you can probably bake some for you to eat after dinner."

"What? Why do I have to do the baking?" Aurora moaned. "I'm exhausted as it is."

"Don't you want more cookies?" he asked. "I can't bake them as well as you can. I'm brainless when it comes to baking."

She pursed her lips before taking Damien's hand and standing up. "Yes, brainless when it comes to the SATs too," she giggled, leading her son to the kitchen.

"Hey, what? You only beat me by five points!" he scoffed. "And I'm still way above average."

"But I'm still smarter," she taunted as they got to the kitchen. It was a quaint little kitchen, with a small table that could only sit four people and a few food stained counters. Their house was old and tiny, with a few bedrooms and a basement, but it was enough for now.

Eric sat at the table and folded his hands together. "You may think so, but I'm the one who's going to be president one day," he said with a mock air of arrogance.

"But you wouldn't be here if it weren't for me," Aurora stated, going to the cupboards for ingredients. She rolled her eyes one last time before helping Damien onto the counter. Eric watched her try to teach their son how to make chocolate chip cookies, making one hell of a mess in the process.

Eric chuckled, getting out of his chair. He walked across the kitchen, grabbing a clean dish towel from the sink. Damien grinned up at him as he approached. "Cookie?" Damien offered his handful of cookie dough.

"No thank you, I'll wait until they're finished baking," Eric said, using the dish towel to wipe flour from the little boy's cheeks. Damien smiled and began eating the raw dough. "Ugh, don't eat that. It's bad for you, kiddo. With the raw eggs and everything..." He cleaned the dough off Damien's hands before turning to see Aurora putting in the trays in the oven.

"There we go..." Aurora said with a satisfied sigh. "They're going to be perfect."

"I guess none of this would be here if it weren't for you," Eric stated, taking her hands in his. "I'm so lucky to have you."

"Yes, very lucky if I do say so myself," she said with a smirk. "You– Oh, ow..." She flinched, placing her hands on her tummy.

"Oh my God, what's wrong?" Eric asked, taking hold of her shoulders in case she fainted. "Aurora?"

"I think they both kicked at the same time," she giggled, standing upright again.

He grinned, putting a hand on her stomach to feel. "We've got a couple of fighters in there," he said.

"Oh! I want to see!" Damien cried, swinging his legs back and forth in anticipation. Aurora smiled, going over to the excited four year old. He put his ear up to her stomach and giggled. "Helloooo?" The babies kicked again in response.

Eric grinned at the sight of his family together. Money was tight, and they didn't have much, but he couldn't have been happier than he was now. All he needed now was his family. "I love you both so much," he stated, kissing Aurora tenderly on the lips.

"Aww, we love you too," Aurora said.

"Yup," Damien smiled up at Eric.

"I'll always love you, Aurora," Eric muttered as she leaned on his shoulder gently. "No matter what happens."

She smiled vaguely. "I know, Eric. You tell me everyday."

"Just making sure you remember," he chuckled. He knew things were going to be hard for them. They would struggle with his destiny to become president. Life was going to be tough, but things would work out in the end. They always did.

"How could I possibly forget?" Aurora looked up at Eric with wide blue eyes. She smiled knowingly. He was worried about what the future had in store for them, she could tell. "Ours is a forever love." She knew there was nothing to really be concerned about, everything was going to be alright. They would have their happy ending.

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A/N: Hello all! Sorry, I've been pretty much off the radar for more than a month now. I've been so busy, but when I discovered I was nominated for an award, I thought it would be nice to finally write that epilogue I've been thinking about in honour of the nomination. It took me a while, but here it is! Just a little something to get out of my head, I hope you all enjoy! I know the epilogue wasn't really required, but I just thought it would be nice to give a glimpse into their future.

Everyone who reviewed: Super special thanks for all your guys' support. I hope you liked it all!

Twinkle Star Bell: I added another shirtless Eric scene for old times' sake :D

I am currently looking into writing a sequel, I suspect the main character will be Damien as a teenager. Wild parties, and balls (of the formal dance variety), as a crazy First Son. Thanks to all for reading, please review if you have a chance. And if you have an extra second, vote for me under best fantasy/sci-fi at: Some Kind of Wonderful. If you're wondering, the link is in my profile. Big hugs and kisses to who nominated me, and those who vote! Hehe, it's so excited! Until next time.

xoxo, Little Miss Angel