A/N: Okay, epilogue time! This is the LAST part to this story, so kids, if you want more naughty smut from me, TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE! Pairings, settings, genres, character traits...anything! I have no brilliant ideas right now, so help me out, or I'm not going to be able to write anything until I come up with something. Weeks, MONTHS: who knows?

Lot's of time skipping here, so pay attention.

The wind rushed through her open window as she raced along the road, her elbow resting on the heated plastic of the door. Alice reached up and pushed her sunglasses onto her face, just a little firmer, ensuring they didn't slip off with the minimal moisture that was collecting on her powdered nose. The radio played a song for her gently, filling her body with a little relaxation. Too bad she was still nervous as hell...

And her mind swam with an ocean of thoughts. How much longer, pet? He demanded, his voice trapped in her head.

Not much longer; now stop pestering me, I'm thinking... She responded lightly, smiling.

Very well, but let's not make this more painstakingly long that it needs to be... She simply nodded. She knew he was watching her. He was always watching her...

Reaching over to the radio, Alice gently fiddled with the knobs, changing the station to something a little less...fifties. She liked the oldies, but she wasn't in the mood today. She wanted something a little newer to seep through her speakers.

And her mind continued to drift, thinking about her life, and how much it had changed...

--

"Why won't you stop cryin'?" She demanded, sounding close to tears herself, bouncing a small, newborn baby in her arms. Said baby had been screaming at the top of his lungs for the past two hours, and she had no idea why. She had checked his diaper and he was dry. She had attempted to feed him, but he refused to eat, apparently not hungry. She had tried rocking him, bouncing him, cradling him, singing to him, and rubbing his back, like that useless book said to.

Nothing was working!

Alice couldn't understand what made babies nocturnal... How does one break a habit like sleeping for a good part of the day, and then keeping his poor mother awake all night? She wasn't sure, but she certainly wasn't excited to find out about it.

One of the neighbors had already called to complain, though the complaint was more along the lines of an angry, ignorant yell, and mandate to 'shut that thing up', in which Alice had given a quick, terse reply of: 'Go fuck yourself'

She was on edge.

She hadn't slept in days, it seemed like... She got the occasional two hours nap here and there, but not enough to live off of.

Someone should have warned her about things like this!

Alice looked down at her black haired, green eyed infant, screaming and sobbing, for reasons unbeknown, and sighed. Fucking Roushik...

--

The diner was packed. It was the lunchtime rush, and Alice was doing her best to keep up with what seemed like thousands of orders bombarding her at once. Sleep deprived and overworked, the eighteen year old rushed back and forth between the kitchen and the seating area as fast as she possibly could, but to no avail could she actually keep up with the people around her barking orders and demanding her attention.

"I asked for the special," A woman with thick makeup snapped rudely, with a New York accent as thick as her acrylic nails.

"I'm sorry," Alice blushed, snatching the plate and rushing over to a table where she had set down the special, where it apparently didn't belong.

"Miss, this isn't what I—"

"Here's the club, I'm sorry, I mistook the orders..." Alice panted, snatching the other plate and rushing back to the impatient looking New Yorker, and placing it down in front of her. "The special," Alice mumbled.

"Miss, could we have some service?" A stout business man demanded. "I've been sittin' here for over ten minutes!"

"What can I get you?" Alice mumbled, as she raced over to his table.

"I want the barbeque chicken sandwich, no lettuce..." He said simply.

"What would you like on the side?" She asked, feeling breathless. One the other side of the room she heard a cry start. Not now... She thought desperately. Please not now! That tiny whine steadily escalated to full blown sobbing within moments.

"Miss," The man barked. Alice jumped, whipping her head around to look at him with wide eyes. "I asked you: what are the sides?" He asked, sounding impatient and in her opinion very rude.

"Salad, or onion soup, for today..."

"What kind of salads?" The baby's sobbing only increased in volume, and people were starting to look around to see what exactly was being done to stop the incessant wailing.

"Tossed, fruit or Caesar..." She mumbled, not really paying attention. The man waited, looking contemplative. "Sir, which would you like?" She asked hurriedly. She had to get back to her now screaming baby. People in the diner were beginning to complain...to her.

"Give me a moment to decide, child!" He snapped, apparently offended by her snipped tone.

"I've given you more than a moment!" She snapped back, losing her cool with the rude man. "And I don' have all day. We're busy, so make up your damn mind, 'cause I got a baby to attend to!" The man sputtered for a moment, before leaping out of his chair and storming out of the diner, his face reddened.

Rushing over to the baby carrier, Alice reached in and unbuckled her sobbing son, and gently began bouncing him on her shoulder. "Miss," A man snapped. "We're still waiting to order!"

"Gimme a goddamn second," She said, looking over at him, her eyes filling with tears. She was close to a breakdown.

She didn't need all this shit!

"What can I get'cha, sugar?" A brilliantly loud voice demanded cheerfully. Bunny, a rather heavyset blond—who wore is very well—clad in simple jeans, a bright white tank top, and big dangling earrings—that looked as if they would stretch her lobes to her shoulders if worn for an excessive amount of time—rushed over to the man's table, a pen and a little notebook open and ready. Taking the man's order, along with the rest of his party, Bunny rushed back into the kitchen.

Alice got her son settled, and quickly went back to work, trying to ignore the mass amounts of sympathy being thrust in her direction, especially when they saw that she wasn't wearing a ring; just a pathetic, slut of a teenage mother, working in a diner, ready to have a nervous breakdown... How tragic.

It was closing time before Alice got a chance to sit down. Bunny, the owner of the diner, came up and sat across from her at the table, and they silently stared for a moment. She finally burst out with an apology, "Bunny, I'm so sorry about him cryin' like that today, I promise I'll—" But Alice was but off as Bunny raised her hand, still silent. "Please don' fire me..." She begged, her eyes watering pathetically.

"Girl," The large blonde sighed. "I hired yah when you were pregnant, because, lord help my soul, you needed the help..." Alice felt a tear leak out of her eye. Bunny smiled and reached up wiping that little tear away with her thumb. "An' the good lord knows yah still need it."

Alice released a held breath. "Thank you," She whispered, wiping her eyes with the napkin she was offered by her boss. Bunny reached across the table and took Alice's hand into her own, gently rubbing her skin with her thumb.

"Tell me everythin'," Bunny mumbled.

"Wha'dya mean?" Alice mumbled, looking up at her.

"How yah holdin' up, girl?"

"Oh, Bunny," She whimpered. "It's awful..." The girl shuddered at the thought. "I haven' slept in days, the roof's leakin', the shower don' work, the stove barely works, the heating is terrible, an' I jus' don' think that a baby should be growin' up in that..." Alice paused. "But what else can I do?" She demanded. "It's all I can afford! A cracker box of an apartment, or I go back to livin' in my truck! An' this time, it won' just be me in that truck..." Alice looked over at her sleeping son in the booth next to her. "He don' need this..." She whimpered. "Lord knows he's too good for this..."

"He ain't too good for you," Bunny stated firmly.

"Yes he is..." Alice whispered. "Look at me..."

"I am lookin' at you," Bunny smiled. "An' I see a good mother, jus' goin' through a rough time..." Alice released a small sob, pulling her hands out of Bunny's and quickly drying her face with a napkin. "Girl, I been thinkin'," Alice looked up at Bunny over her wet napkin. "Why don' you come live with me?"

Alice sat, flabbergasted. "Bunny, I couldn' ask you to do that..."

"You're not," She grinned. "I'm offerin'," She then reached over and gently tapped Alice on the cheek. "An' I won' take no for an answer!" She grinned. "Not only do you need a place that's warm, an' safe, but that boy of yours sure as heck does."

"...Thank you..." She smiled softly. There was a long pause, and then her boss asked the dreaded question that seemed to pop-up everywhere Alice went.

"Where's his daddy?" Alice pursed her lips, and looked away, inhaling slowly.

"He ain't here, that's for damn sure..." Bunny nodded and gently held her hand again. The two sat in silence for a long while, and Alice felt the other woman gently patting her hand in a loving, motherly way. She couldn't help but feel...warm.

--

"Are we never going to speak again?" He whispered in her ear. Alice froze.

"What are you doin' here?" She demanded. She still had her voice, though her body was paralyzed, as if to ensure she didn't escape...or hit him, like she knew she would attempt to, had she the option.

"I've come to see you..." He whispered softly into her ear.

"Roushik," She whimpered. "Not tonight..."

"That's not what I've come for..." He mumbled against her neck. He embraced her from behind. There was a long pause, and he simply held her.

"...Then why are you here?" She asked weakly. "The lord knows you don' enjoy my company, unless I'm naked for you..." She stated bitterly.

"Then the lord knows nothing..." He mumbled. "Now shut up, and go to sleep..." She knew that that was about as close as he would ever get...to saying: I love you. And to think, all it took was a little over a year of him showing up every now and again to fuck her, in her father's home, and a son...

--

Alice was pulled from her reverie when a bored voice asked, "Mama, how much longer?"

"Not too much longer, baby, jus' hold on."

With a heavy sigh, her son responded, "I ain't no baby," Alice giggled and reached over as they drove to pinch his knee, causing him to jump up and gasp. Alice laughed.

"Cutie," She teased, causing her son to blush. His dark hair fell into his bright green eyes and he blew at his bangs, attempting to rid himself of his obscured vision. "Someone needs a haircut," She chimed, watching the road ahead, but completely aware of his battle with his shaggy hair.

Ignoring this, her boy simply responded, "Mama, why didn' daddy come with us?" Alice smiled.

"Oh, hon, you know daddy's always with us," She chuckled, tapping herself on the temple.

"Yeah," The boy grunted, crossing his arms. "He's always jus' a voice..."

"He wasn' the other day," Alice reminded him. "I thought the two of you wen' out together for lunch."

"We did," He nodded. "An' it was great...But still, usually he's jus' a voice..."

"Yeah, he is at the moment, an' he's tellin' you to smarten up," She smirked, ruffling his hair, causing him to leap up and attempt to fix it, though it had been messy to begin with. Apparently it was how all the boys were wearing their hair now...messy, and shaggy, and long. Alice felt like she had been sucked into the eighties every time she looked at him. The young man fiddled with the end of his dark red plaid shirt, which sat on top of a band label t-shirt, that Alice didn't approve of at all...

Naughty nurses on the front, with bloody stitched up faces; what was the world coming to?

"We're here..." She muttered, smiling, and pulling into a dusty driveway.

"Looks like a dump," The teen announced bluntly. Alice reached over and slapped his knee.

"You be on your—"

"Best behavior, I know..." The boy groaned, in a tone that was restricted for teenagers when they were talking to their parents.

Boy, watch your mouth... His father's voice snapped in his head.

"Yes, sir," The boy muttered, leaping out of the truck.

"Baby, why don' you wait here for a second, firs'..." Alice mumbled, looking up at the house.

"You bring me out here to stand next to the truck?" He demanded. "Wonderful..." Ignoring this, Alice walked up the front steps, heading towards the front door. With a shaking hand, she knocked on the wood that blocked her from the inside of the home.

She only had to wait a short moment before the door opened, and there he was... A cigarette dangled out of his mouth, as he stood before her... The thirty-three year old Alice bit her lip. "Hi, daddy," She whispered softly.

"Alice," He mumbled. His voice was so different. But then, it had been sixteen years since they'd seen one another. "I was surprised you called..." He said, still standing in the doorway.

"I, uh, brought..." Rick immediately looked around her slim body and spotted the teen standing next to that ancient pickup he had bought for her so many years ago...though it had obviously been worked on quite a bit, to keep it running.

"What's his name?" He demanded, sounding interested. Alice smiled.

"Richard," She said softly. Rick looked at her with deep surprise. No one ever called him Richard, everyone knew him as Rick, but that was the name he was given at birth... She had named her son after the man that had cast her away...

"...Why?" He asked after a long pause. He didn't need to say anymore than this, she understood what was being asked.

"Maybe we had our problems, daddy, but...you were the most important person in my life..." Rick stared at the ground.

"Yah comin' in, or what?" He mumbled, stepping aside.

"Ricky," Alice called, catching the boy's attention. He immediately walked over to the house, and followed his mother inside. Wrinkling his nose slightly at the strong smell of cigarettes, the fifteen year old looked around the house curiously.

"That's...quite the shirt, yah got there, boy," Rick mumbled, eyeing the article of clothing with a little hesitancy. Ricky blushed.

"Uh, yes, sir..." He whispered, unsure of what else to say. The trio wandered into the kitchen, all of them taking a seat. Alice was bowled over with memories of this house... Nothing had changed at all in the past thirty years. Other than the occupancy of the home, she supposed.

"...How are you holdin' up, daddy?" She asked softly. Rick took a moment to release a barking, dry cough before answering, his skin looking horribly reddened, and blotchy. The man was well into his sixties, but he looked like he was in his late seventies... All the years of hard labor, loss, brutal weather, and stress had taken their toll on the man.

"Doctor says it's—" He stopped to cough again. "—only a matter of time, now..." With violently trembling hands, the man lit another cigarette. "They've all tried everythin' they could..." He stopped, taking a deep drag. "But now I'm jus' gonna wait until it happens..." He coughed again. "God's been sayin' it's my time for a while now..." He smiled sadly. "I jus' didn' wanna listen..."

"...What is it that you have?" She asked, though as she watched him puff on his cigarette, she was fairly certain she knew.

"Lung cancer," He said. "That, an' a little liver failure..."

"Daddy, why aren' you in a hospital?" She demanded, horrified. Ricky looked uncomfortable as his mother and his grandfather—that he had just met for the first time—talked with one another.

"Your mama died in this house, Ali," She straightened with she heard him use his special pet-name for her, that he hadn't used since she was a little girl. "I think I should go with her...here..."

Alice nodded in understanding. Her father still loved her mother as strongly as he would if she were alive today, though she had passed nearly twenty-six years ago. "I think you should, too." Alice smiled, nodding at him. Rick smiled back sadly. "But daddy, I did have important news I would like to share with you..." She smiled.

"I see you're wearin' a ring..." He whispered, smiling.

"I am," She giggled. Alice reached over and gently rubbed Ricky's shoulder as she exclaimed, "Daddy, I'm havin' another baby..."

Rick stared at her for a long while, before he looked over at Ricky. "Quite an age difference..." He mumbled.

"Well, there's also quite the age difference between thirty-three, an' seventeen." She stated dryly. "Mos' women my age are havin' babies, and I think I'm finally ready for a second..."

"So, they'll be half siblin's?" Rick asked, curiously. "An' your husband don' mind that?"

"No, they'll be full siblin's..." She smiled.

"You...you found that boy?" He demanded looking absolutely shocked.

"Oh, daddy, he ain't a boy anymore..." She smiled. "He's a wonderful man, and a wonderful father, ain't that right, hon?" Alice asked Ricky, smiling. The boy looked happy as well, and nodded his head.

"You got a woman, son?" Rick asked the teen, and smirked as he blushed and stared at the table.

"He does," Alice giggled. "Her name's Cyndi,"

"She a nice girl?" He asked, smiling at them both, giving them a glimpse at his rotting, green-black teeth, many of them already missing.

"She is..." Ricky mumbled, looking embarrassed.

"Just remember, boy," Rick suddenly said, his tone grave. "Your mama was a good girl, too..."

"I always was a good girl, daddy." Alice stated, sitting up a little higher in her sear, proudly proclaiming her independence, and resolve. "A good girl—" She started, as he made to interrupt her, "—who simply went through a rough time..." Rick watched her coolly for a moment, before sighing in defeat and nodding.

"Yeah," He mumbled. "You were," A sudden thought struck him. "Why isn' your husband with you?"

"Oh, the poor dear does have to work, daddy." Alice giggled.

I work now? His voice mumbled in her mind with a teasing tone. I thought you took care of that.

Shut up, Roushik, what else was I supposed to say: 'Oh, my husband is a voice in my head right now'? I would be committed... She heard him laugh, and then he was silent. Rick simply nodded in understanding, scratching his grizzled face. Alice couldn't help but notice how different he looked. She knew she looked different as well, no longer being a teenager, but a mother to one... But the change in his appearance was not only uncanny, it was drastic, and worrisome...

She knew that he was very sick, but he looked like death... She watched silently as he lit yet another cigarette, stopping for a moment to hack and cough. She could see that Ricky was looking rather worriedly towards his grandfather, but remained silent.

The trio sat in the kitchen for a good part of the afternoon, catching up, and making small talk. Once it was time to say their goodbyes, Alice and her son stood in the doorway, politely smiling at the man who leaned against his cane heavily. He was so thin, and so frail looking... Alice had to use all of her might not to demand that she take him to the hospital immediately. She could smell the booze on his breath, though he had obviously tried to wash it away. But he couldn't hide it... It was all over him; on his breath, on his clothes, on the house... Rick had always enjoyed a beer with a smoke, but Alice knew that it had ascended beyond a simple pleasure, at that point. His liver was failing, because for the past twenty years, Rick had been drowning it in toxins, accumulated from strong alcohol, and smoke.

He hobbled over to her heavily, as if the smallest of movements were great feats, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. The embrace was brief, but it spoke volumes. And as she returned the gesture, they both silently said: I forgive you.

--

"Roushik," She giggled. "Stop it..."

"No," He grinned, unbuttoning her jeans and quickly sliding them down her legs.

"It's three in the afternoon!" She laughed.

"I don't care." He responded. "I want you...now." She sighed as his lips began a familiar teasing along her neck and collarbone, her eyes fluttering shut.

"I love you," She hummed, running her fingers through his soft black hair. There was no denying Richard was his son... The two looked identical, except that Ricky had Alice's green eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," He grumbled. "You too, now come on." Roushik chuckled and whispered in her ear, "Less talk, more rock,"

Alice laughed. "Did Ricky teach you that?" She demanded through giggles.

"I think it's a rather fitting saying," He said, pulling her bra off, quickly followed by her panties.

"Oh?" She grinned.

"Mm," He smirked, kissing down her stomach. He stopped, nuzzling against her abdomen, which held a slight bulge, where his child lay. "This one is going to be easier, right?" He asked softly. Roushik had stepped up and helped Alice through the trials and tribulations of parenthood just after Richard had become four months old. And he had been with her ever since...

"Maybe," She muttered, looking down at him with a gentle smile. "We'll just have to see..." She grinned. "Don' forget, we have Bunny!" Roushik rolled his eyes. Ugh, that unnaturally bubbly human woman... Bunny was ever-cheerful, to the point it was almost a little overwhelming, but nothing could stop her from being, easily, the best "grandma" in the world. Bunny and Roushik locked horns a little... Their personalities clashed completely, and though they had known one another for a good fourteen years (as Roushik spent a lot of time in hiding for the first year) they still seemed to find new things to pick at one another about.

His lips roved over her body, and Alice shivered minimally. Her once naughty secret had manifested itself into her entire life. He had once been a monster in the shadows, but he had grown into the man of her dreams...

"Roushik," She whispered softly as he dipped his hand between her legs. "I love you,"

He simply leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips.

He was the man of her dreams...and she couldn't be happier.

A/N: Review?
Send me your ideas, and demands in a PM