ALTERNATE ENDING #1: Eliot & Marian
five years later

I'D BEEN SITTING IN A HOSPITAL BED AND  everything around me was a blur. There were beads of sweat coiled at the top of my forehead and I had just finally been able to catch my breath.

Eliot gave my hand a squeeze, almost as if he was afraid it'd slip away due to both my exhaust and the fact that it'd been so slippery from the sweat pouring from it. He kissed the ring on my ring finger and under usual circumstances, I'd find it endearing. I always have. Each time he'd press his lips to my wedding ring it was like a reminder that he loved me and all we've overcome.

But now, I don't have time to savor the sweetness and relish in the moment.

There's a baby crying—my baby crying. The nurses have taken her and wrapped her up in a blanket and soon enough, a blonde nurse is smiling down at me as she hands me my second daughter.

She transfers the beautiful baby girl into my arms and it almost feels too good to be true.

Eliot sniffles from beside me as he watches over the girl like she's the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. And she was.

She didn't have blue eyes the way Janus did, but beautiful brown eyes that take after both me and Eliot.  God, she looks just like a perfect combination of us both. Like the perfect product to come from our love.

I look up at Eliot and I notice his eyes are watering with tears and the moment we share is almost too sacred to want to ever say aloud.

His light eyes meet mine and there's a sudden glimmer in his eye that I've never seen before. He cracks a smile and he pressed his lips to the top of my head, completely uncaring for the fact that my head is now drenched with sweat from what I've endured the last couple hours.

He wags a gentle finger in our daughter's face and caresses the side of her cheek lightly. "She's beautiful."

A tear slides down my cheek, then. I nod.

She looks up at me with those innocent eyes of hers and it feels like a sudden profoundness has hit me and rugged on my heartstrings.

"Mia," I find myself whispering, staring at my daughter in disbelief before meeting Eliot's gaze once more. "Can we name her Mia?"

And though he doesn't quite know why, or who Mia was—he nods. He nods and he smiles like it's a flicker of realization. Like the name Mia is the final piece to complete our puzzle.

Mia.

I WASN'T SURE HOW MANY HOURS had passed, but when I woke up, Eliot was beaming down at Mia and the sun was shining through the window behind them. Lighting them up like a halo. Like the two heavenly beings they were.

I tried to toss on my side—sending pain spiraling up my body—but Eliot was quick to deny that. He hurriedly joined me at my side and caressed his thumb against the side of my cheek. "What is it? What do you need?"

I grimaced, shaking my head. I only wanted a comfortable laying position, but it seemed that I couldn't even have that.

And it was then that four familiar faces stepped through the doorway. A knock echoing throughout the near empty hospital room.

First, stepped in Lysistrata and her fiancèe, Clyde. Then, Festus. And lastly, Janus.

There's an ear-to-ear grin on my face as I watch Janus run into the room, long brown curls tossing back and forth with her pigtails as she quickly runs up to where Eliot stood.

She stands up on her tippy toes as she eagerly attempts to look over the next Eliot has made with his arms, where her little sister lay.

Eliot beams down at her as he kneels down, giving Janus much easier access to see Mia for the first time.

And I wish I could snap a picture of this moment. I want so desperately to be able to look back on this exact memory and see the way my family has come together in such a beautiful way.

With a husband, and two beautiful girls.

"How are you feeling?" Festus asks from my side, gently placing his hand on my shoulder. I meet his gaze and sink further back into the back of this hospital bed.

I offer him a lopsided smile. "How do you think?"

He fights a smile of his own. "Okay, okay."

Janus has seemed to move on from her new baby sister because before I know it, she's grinning from ear-to-ear in my face.

Big blue eyes looking up at me as she rests her chin on the bed. "Hi Mama,"

I laugh, my hand going up to brush the baby hairs out of her face. "Hi baby."

Eliot is watching me, I can feel his eyes on me, and I look back up at him to meet his gaze.

He smiles.

And I smile too.

BLAKELY SPEAKS *again* !

i told you i wasn't going to kill eliot and none of y'all would listen to me LMFAO SO HERE'S A BIG FAT I TOLD YOU SO

whatever you want to imagine happened between the end of chapter fifty-three and now is up to you and your interpretation, but i imagine lots of couples' therapy LMFAOO

#mariot4life