Okay, so maybe I lied, the epilogue wasn't the last chapter. Please don't throw stones at me!

Take my peace offering.

Here's a bonus chapter.

~*~*~*~

I watched as the steam rose from the frying pan, stirring in figure eights so the sauce wouldn't burn. I was making chicken fettuccine because it was Cooper's favourite and he had been nagging me for days.

I smiled as I heard him yelling at the TV through the wall. "No Dora! Swiper's gonna get ya!"

I never knew watching Dora could become so intense. He was generally a happy little person, but he just got so angry at Dora. I mean, to be honest she is kinda dumb, and clearly has poor eyesight because she never sees Swiper until he's almost swiped whatever she has that isn't supposed to be swiped.

I heard the pitter patter of little feet on the hardwood floor, and then I felt something attach itself to my leg. I looked down to see Cooper grinning up at me with rosy cheeks, his chubby little arms wrapped around one of my legs.

"Hey bud," I greeted, reaching down to ruffle his hair.

"Cooper," he corrected.

"Ah, sorry. Hey Cooper," I rephrased, smiling at his antics.

He squeezed my leg tighter. "Mama."

The front door clicked open, and Cooper's eyes widened. He heard it too.

"Who's that?" I asked, pretending as though I didn't know. In fact I did know, the 'intruder' was whistling Hey Jude.

Cooper untangled his arms from my leg, wobbling to the end of the kitchen and peering around the corner.

"DADA!" He screeched, disappearing from my view as he flew at his father, his dark curls bouncing about as he moved.

"Hey kiddo," Ryan said, chucking at his enthusiasm.

"Cooper," he corrected once again.

"Right, sorry Cooper," he laughed as they entered the kitchen. Ryan put Cooper down and wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"What's for dinner, it smells amazing," he said, kissing the top of my head.

"Well I promised Cooper we'd have his favourite remember?"

"Ah, so we're having ch-"

"Chicken!" Cooper interrupted, jumping up and down with excitement.

Is anyone else's child obsessed with chicken, or is it just mine? I blame Ryan, he taught Cooper how to say chicken, and now he won't stop saying it, or eating it. I guess it could be worse. He could be addicted to candy or something.

"Chicken, chicken, chicken!" He chanted, running back to the living room on his stubby little legs.

He had even taken to calling my baby bump chicken, and told me he wanted chicken instead of a birthday cake for his next birthday.

"I guess that's what you get when you're related to Evan and Caleb," Ryan said, watching as Cooper disappeared.

"He was doomed from the start," I replied, continuing to stir the fettuccine. A sudden burst of pain in my lower abdomen caused me to gasp, dropping the wooden spoon with a clatter.

Ryan protectively put his hands on my belly. "Are you okay?"

Sighed, shaking it off and picking up the wooden spoon. "I'm fine."

I clenched my teeth as I felt the same pain again.

"No you're not," he decided, brushing the hair off my face, and reaching around me to turn off the stove top. Looks like Cooper wouldn't be getting any chicken after all. Ryan steered me into the dining room and sat me down on a chair.

"Just stay there, I'll grab your bag, the baby stuff and Cooper," he told me, before bolting from the stairs. He returned no more than a minute later, armed with two duffel bags. He disappeared into the living room, reappearing with an annoyed looking Cooper under the other arm.

"Dora," he complained, pouting at his father.

I heard the car door slam and Ryan was back in a flash. He helped me up, but in the end he just carried me anyway. My walking was too slow apparently. Once I had buckled myself in, Ryan took off, heading for his mom's place. She still lived with Archie, in the same house that I had grown to know like the back of my hand over the years.

Archie was dribbling a basketball in the driveway when we arrived. He had only just turned fifteen and was already over six feet tall. He had overtaken his mom and I a long time ago.

He had a striking resemblance to Ryan, and a lot of their mannerisms were the same. The main difference was their hair colour, Archie's beings shade or two lighter than Ryan's.

Archie jogged over as Ryan unbuckled Cooper from his car seat. I put down my window and Archie leaned against the door.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"We're going to the hospital," I replied. "We were wondering if your mom could look after Cooper for a while."

"She's grocery shopping, but I'll look after him until she gets back," he grinned. "I'm his favourite uncle anyway, he told me last time he was here."

I smiled. "Thanks a bunch."

"No worries," he replied. "Good luck."

I nodded, waving as Ryan handed Cooper over.

"Feed the poor kid some chicken, would ya?" Ryan asked, ruffling Cooper's hair, then Archie's. They both gave him the same unimpressed facial expression after that.

"Call me with the news!" Archie shouted to us. I gave him a thumbs up out the window.

"Chicken!" Cooper cried in response.

I watched them retreat into the house, Cooper pulling Archie's hair affectionately.

"He's a lot like you," I commented as we drove away. Ryan was giving me concerned looks, but I was really just hoping that he would keep his eyes on the road so we wouldn't crash and die before we got to the hospital.

"Which one?" He asked, groaning as we had to stop at a traffic light.

I pondered that question as another jolt of pain rattled me. It felt like someone was chopping up my insides with a rusty spoon. Wow that was graphic. God, my imagination is disgusting.

Originally, I had meant that Ryan was a lot like Archie, but he was also very similar to Cooper. I saw similarities in both appearance and personality.

"Both," I replied in response to his question.

"You think Cooper is like me?" He asked, surprised.

"Yeah, well you have the same eyes, and he has the same ears as you. You both smile with the right side of your mouth more. He copies what you do y'know. You're always whistling, and when he thinks nobodies watching he tries. He just ends up spitting everywhere, but it's adorable."

He smiled. "Well, I think he's more like you. He has your dark hair, your dimple, your button nose. He laughs like you, he sticks his tongue out when he's concentrating and-"

I gasped, interrupting him. "I do not stick out my tongue when I'm concentrating!"

"Yes you do," he laughed. "You do it when you're writing, but mostly when you're in the studio."

"That makes it seem like all you do is watch me," I said, sideways glancing at him.

He shrugged, not denying it. "It's my favourite hobby."

I shook my head. "You're a strange one."

"I'm allowed to look at you, I get marriage privileges."

I snorted. "Marriage privileges?"

"Yup," he replied, as we turned into the hospital parking lot. He didn't bother to explain these 'marriage privileges' to me.

We parked in the closest spot we could find to the actual building, which just happened to be a disabled spot. Apparently being pregnant makes you disabled. You learn something new everyday.

Ryan grabbed the bags from the trunk, and then helped me out of the car, not that I couldn't have done that myself, but I was sort of...stuck. We walked up the path to the main doors, Ryan locating a wheelchair for me to sit in. Part way through the journey to the maternity ward, I felt something.

"Ryan..." I said hesitantly.

"Yeah sunshine?"

"I either just wet myself, or my water broke."

He didn't seemed terribly affected my my discovery. "Lets just hope for the second option."

I nodded as we turned a corner into the bustling maternity ward. Midwives and doctors rushed around, some with clipboards, some without. All of them were wearing light pink shirts and pants.

"Well this is going to be a traumatising experience," I said, eyeing the smudges of pink that blurred past me.

Ryan chuckled, knowing what I was talking about without me even having to tell him. "Come on, pink isn't that bad."

"Try having Jasmine for a sister," I replied, briefly closing my eyes as another wave of pain settled over me.

"At least she's grown out of that now."

"Oh yeah, she stopped playing with barbies, and now she looks like one. What an achievement."

I couldn't see him, but I knew he'd be smiling and shaking his head. Saying I knew Ryan well would be an understatement. I knew everything about him, which actually sounds really obsessive and creepy when you say it like that. I mean, we had known each other for eight years, almost nine, and been married for three. It was totally crazy to think about how far we had come, what we'd been through together, and what was still to come in our lives.

Ryan talked to a nurse at the reception desk, who showed us to our room, but left shortly after, telling us the midwife would be with us shortly.

Ryan helped me out of the wheelchair and onto the the bed, claiming the chair next to the bed for himself. I found my phone, dialling a number I knew off by heart.

"Hey, H, what's happening?" Caleb answered. I could hear shouting in the background, and he sounded out if breath.

"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just arresting this guy for urinating in public," he said casually.

"You're arresting a guy for peeing?"

Ryan gave me a look that I could only describe as disturbed.

"Yes, he was pissing on a statue of a dog, that is just plain disrespectful, and then he bit me, which is kinky, but I'm married dude." There was an animalistic growl in the background, which I'm assuming came from the urinator. "Oh god, please don't sit down. It will make it so much easier for both of us if you just walk like a normal person. Thank you, that wasn't so hard now was it?"

"Uh, Caleb?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

"No offence, but why did you answer the phone if you were arresting someone?"

"Because arresting people is fun, but talking to you is also fun, and I couldn't decide between the two, so I just did both. By the way, why did you call?"

"Oh, I'm in labour."

"Oh labour..." He paused. "Wait, you're having the babies?!

"Well, not right now but-"

"Dude, you need to walk faster, my sister is giving birth!"

I heard the sound of a car door slamming. "I'll be there as soon as I can, I can't speed though, wouldn't that be embarrassing if I got pulled over by another cop?"

I just rolled my eyes as the line went dead.

"He arrested a guy for peeing?" Ryan asked, looking at me with his eyebrows raised.

"Yep," I replied. It seriously didn't surprise me that much. Caleb left the marines not long after they adopted Charlie. He wanted to spend time with his family and watch his kids grow up because he said that they needed a father. Honestly, I just think he wanted to give them everything that he never had when he was a kid. He never had a proper father figure when he was young.

~*~*~*~

Labour is painful, you know that?

Like seriously, it feels like your internal organs are exploding, or they're being sliced up in a blender that's set to purée.

"Push Hazel!" The midwife said encouragingly.

I glared at her through the pain and she shut up.

I looked at Ryan, who was squeezing my hand supportively. "This," I panted. "Is all your fault."

He nodded. "I totally agree. Definitely my fault. You can yell at me as much as you want, but you need to push. They're almost here."

As much as I wanted to hit him, I knew he was right, so I did as he said.

~*~*~*~*~

Five minutes later, holding two beautiful babies in my arms, I had already forgotten about the pain. A girl and a boy.

Ryan kissed my forehead, wiping a single tear from his cheek. "You're amazing, you know that?"

I smiled. "What should we call them?"

Of course we had talked about names before hand, but I don't think you can really be sure what the perfect name is until the baby is born, or babies in this case.

"I think we should call her Lily-Rose," he said, gently touching her nose with his finger. "Because it's a name fit for princess."

"I like it."

"What about him?" He asked, as our little boy wrapped his tiny hand around Ryan's pinky.

I looked at both of them affectionately. "What about Joseph?"

Ryan smiled, watching as Lily-Rose yawned. "It's perfect."

Our little family was almost complete, we were just missing one member...

Cooper burst thought the door, grandma Stella in tow, and Archie watching from the door with a gentle smile gracing his face.

He climbed on the bed, looking with wide eyes at his new brother and sister.

He stared at them for a while, not really knowing what to do. He suddenly pointed to Joseph.

"Chicken!"

He pointed to Lily-Rose.

"Potato!"

I looked at Ryan, who was barely containing his laughter.

Is it strange that my child wants to eat his siblings?

~*~*~*~

This is officially the official last chapter. For real this time.

You guys probably have trust issues now because I lied to you, saying that the epilogue was the official ending. I can't afford to pay for the therapy that you all need, so I'm sorry. But, I could probably organise appointments for you guys with this crazy psychologist I know...

Goodbye pork pies.