A/N: This is the epilogue. Thanks for hanging with my story for so long, I really appreciate it!

Three weeks later, and Penelope Rowley found herself sitting cross-legged on her bathroom counter, staring into her hands.

The last weeks hadn't been good ones for Penelope - she had returned to Gallima to find herself an official "missing person", and had to face a panicked and angry Julian (who had been convinced she was somewhere on a werewolf's plate). She had to get her screen door fixed, the one Fontus had been so kind to break open. Art had been a bit miffed at her disappearance, but not miffed enough to actually fire her. Her mother had gone through her operations a few days ago (on borrowed money, Penelope knew, hence the increase in her shifts) and so far seemed to be doing well.

Her shift was in two hours and Penelope didn't know what to do. She had been noticing changes over the past weeks, gradual ones that made her nervous and apprehensive. The pack had been commenting on her scent - Pluto said that it was different, changing, becoming less desirable. Penelope told him she was fighting a cold, and Pluto agreed that human scent can change when they are sick. The pack still left when the full moon came around and stayed at a hotel across town, but they admitted the temptation to eat her was less than it was at the beginning of the month.

Then came her period.

Or lack thereof.

Penelope had gone through all the possibilities of the situation (the most glaringly obvious of the possibilities avoided for as long as possible) until she couldn't take guessing anymore. She had roped Peter into buying a pregnancy test from the drugstore (the lady who ran it knew her mother - if she turned out to be wrong, something she hoped with all her heart she was, then she would avoid any gossip that was sure to circulate if she bought it herself).

Penelope's heart thumped painfully against her chest as she stared down at the pregnancy test and waited for it to give a result. It was so cliche, but it was as painfully awkward and frightening as all the movies made it out to be.

Peter knocked on the door at the same time as the "+" sign appeared slowly, tauntingly, on the end of the stick. "Penelope?" he asked quietly. "A-are you okay?"

Penelope slowly opened the door, her stomach dropping. "Oh, Peter, what am I going to do?" she whispered.

"What? You...oh, Penny." Peter caught sight of the pregnancy test on the counter, and moved to embrace her.

"Oh God, Peter, I'm so scared." she whispered into his shirt, hugging him tightly to her. "I feel so stupid, I never should've been so careless, even after he told me..."

"Told you what?" Peter asked, holding her at arm's length, brow furrowed. "Marcus? What did he say?"

Tears were welling up in Penelope's eyes and she wiped at them irritably. "When we were..." she made hand movements, a little embarrassed to be talking to Peter about it. "I asked him about...protection...and he told me that we couldn't interbreed, that I wouldn't be able to get pregnant. I mean, I should've still made him wear one, I'm still kicking myself, but I wasn't thinking..."

"Penelope, he lied." Peter insisted. "Lycans and humans can interbreed just fine. Marcus, he has an aunt that has a child from a human."

Penelope gave a strangled sound, pressing a hand over her mouth. "Oh, God..." she whimpered. "Why would he lie to me? Did he want me to get pregnant?"

"You need to talk to him." Peter suggested, worriedly watching the girl in front of him. "I don't know why he would lie to you, but there must be a reason." Peter couldn't think of one at the moment, so he stammered, "Wh-what do you want to do?"

"I'm just so angry right now, I can't think straight." Penelope muttered, wrapping her arms around herself. After a few moments she declared, "I can't have a baby! I'm eighteen! I can barely support my mum, I...what am I going to do with it?"

"Penelope..." Peter began.

"And what, does Marcus want to have a baby or something? Maybe he should be the one to look after it, then!" Penelope continued with great intensity. "Y-you don't just lie to someone about being unbreedable like that, it's not like he didn't know it could have serious repercussions! You lie when you think you can get away with it. You can't get away with something like this!" she motioned violently at her stomach, volume rising. Peter shushed her hurriedly.

"Shush, Penny, don't do this here." he soothed.

"Why not?" Penelope demanded.

"Because we're standing in a bathroom." Peter whispered urgently. Penelope, seemingly realizing where they were, glanced around and sighed, letting her hands rest on her hips.

"Okay, okay. I'm fine." she murmured under her breath. "Sorry, Peter. Thank you for...all your help."

"Come out of the bathroom." Peter told her, hand on the doorknob. With a wry smile, Penelope followed him out the door.

When they saw Marcus climbing the stairs, the two of them froze. Marcus raised his eyebrows.

"And you two were in the bathroom together...why?" he asked. Peter could feel Penelope trembling beside him.

"Uhm, maybe I should leave?" Peter suggested. Penelope clenched her jaw. Marcus looked between the two.

"What's going on?" the dark-haired lycan asked.

"You lied to me." Penelope accused. Peter shifted nervously from one foot to the other.

"No, seriously," he assured. "I can just go..."

"What? When did I lie to you?" Marcus wanted to know, frowning.

"So are you saying you didn't lie to me?" demanded the girl, and scowled when Marcus shook his head.

"Yeah, I don't believe you." she spat.

"Oh, jeez. Maybe this isn't the best way - " Peter started, but Marcus cut him off.

"What do you mean you don't believe me? What've I done?"

"Think really hard," Penelope sneered. "It might come to you."

"Okay, you really need to stop being all high and mighty. If you're angry, tell me, and if I've lied to you tell me what I've done. It can't be that bad..."

"Can't be that bad? Really?" Penelope nearly shrieked, and both Peter and Marcus winced. Neptune emerged from the guest room, looking puzzled. Peter sent him helpless glances.

"I trusted you, Marcus, and you lied to me!"

"What did I do?" Marcus roared - Jordan followed Neptune out of the room.

"Oh no, Penny, don't worry about it! We don't need protection, it's not like we can make mule babies or anything!" Penelope mocked. "Well, you've got your mule baby, Marcus!"

Everybody was completely silent for about ten seconds. Peter was distinctly aware of the twins standing at the base of the stairs, and he heard the attic stairs creaking. Then Marcus spluttered and asked, "WHAT?"

"You heard me." Penelope said icily. After a beat Marcus reached out a hand towards her.

"Neppie, I - "

"Don't touch me." she spat, drawing backwards. "Why would you do this to me? I feel like such a fool! I'm going to have to...to take time off from work, I'm going to have to support this child, I can't do this! Why did I believe you?"

When Marcus moved towards her again she slapped his hand away and retreated into the bathroom, slamming the door angrily behind her.

Marcus's wide, startled eyes met Peter's, and the red head shook his head.

"Marcus." Jordan spoke up, looking disapproving. "Excuse my language, but you are really fucked."

"Shit." was all Marcus could say, stunned and staring at the bathroom door.

END BOOK ONE

A/N: Uhm. Thanks so much for reading, you guys. I never imagined when I started this, that it would grow to this magnitude. I have no idea why you picked this story to read, but I thank you so much for doing so. This is the end of part one of Borderline. The first chapter of the sequel should be up...within a month, I should think? (just pretend to forget my record of updates...). Again, thank you. I hope you enjoyed the ride so far. Sorry to leave you like this, I couldn't really find another place to end it.

Thanks for reading.