Author's note: This chapter hasn't gone through as many edits as usual so I appreciate the potential corrections even more than usual.

Three months had passed since Jasmine stepped foot into the bunker, and she still didn't feel completely safe. Considering the whole world had turned into chaos, she never expected to have that feeling again.

Yet, there was hope. After all, hope was one of the things that humans lost last. No matter how bad things got, many humans clung to it with all their might because, without hope, there was no difference between being alive or dead.

"So, what's the news?" Asher asked Melissa while sitting next to Jasmine on the sofa in the living room.

Plague was there too, but even after all the time they spent together in the bunker, Asher still didn't trust the moody guy. He might not have thought that Plague was one of the aliens or that he would betray them, but he was still not over how the guy treated them when they first met. So, most of the time, Asher would only address Melissa when he needed information about what was going on outside the bunker because she always knew the same things Plague did.

"There are definitely other humans out there, hiding out," Melissa said, her eyes brighter than he had ever seen them. "Jasmine was right about using Morse code to communicate with as many people as possible. Even those who knew nothing about it have found a way to use it. And it's so low tech that aliens don't even seem to register it."

"What about the humans who were abducted?" Asher asked, holding Jasmine's hand in his own, needing the comfort of the person who was now his official girlfriend.

"There are many rumors about that," Melissa said, looking at Plague carefully, wanting to judge how her boyfriend felt about it. "But it seems they are alive. Some were sent off the planet as slaves, while others have been used to power up their technology or something like that. The same thing they tried to do with Jasmine."

"So, our families could be alive?" Jasmine asked, squeezing Asher's hand so tightly that her knuckles were white from the exertion.

The very idea was so overwhelming that it got tears into her eyes even though she wasn't sure if her family would even want to reunite with her. Whatever the case, she wanted them safe and sound. Also, she wanted Asher to have his much more loving family back. Now that they knew they were probably alive, there was at least a chance of a happy reunion.

"It seems very likely," Melissa said while Plague was cracking his knuckles, his eyes like a storm that was bound to lash out sooner or later. "The deaths that did occur were mostly accidents, like that Raven girl you mentioned and some other humans who fought the aliens."

"We. Have. To. Get. Them. Back," Plague said through clenched teeth.

"We will, but we need to be smart about it," Melissa said as she hugged him tightly. "Your mother wouldn't want you to do something stupid and get captured instead of rescuing her, would she?"

Plague grumbled something in reply and left the living room in a hurry. He needed the voice of reason that his grandpa was, but he also needed to organize a revolution. His grandpa could help him do both.

"Is he okay?" Jasmine asked Melissa gently.

She didn't like the guy, but Melissa was kind to them and basically saved their lives, so she was worried how Plague's volatile nature would affect her almost-friend.

"He will be," Melissa said, looking in the direction the love of her life had gone. "He is just afraid to hope again and feels helpless at the same time because there isn't much we can do to fight right now."

"We can survive and find their weakness," Asher said confidently.

Having Jasmine lean on his shoulder only increased his confidence because with Jasmine at his side, with his children safe and happy, he felt like he could do anything. He could conquer the world or take it back from the aliens. And even though he knew it wouldn't be as easy as that in the last three months, he found hope and the will to fight back for his family.

"Mommy!" Ariyana screamed, running into the room, effectively cutting off the conversation adults were having.

It made Jasmine's heart as warm as the first time she heard her call her that. And it was still as unbelievable to her that Asher's children had decided to call her that soon after Asher and Jasmine revealed that they liked each other.

"If Daddy and you love each other, does that mean you are our new Mommy?" Ariyana asked, jumping up and down on the bed they set them down on to explain things.

"Ahem, do you want me to be your new mommy?" Jasmine asked carefully, as she wasn't sure how the children would react.

Asher and she had decided to tell them only a month after they moved into the bunker, thinking nothing was certain and they didn't want to lie to the children.

"Yes!" Ariyana screamed, beaming at Jasmine as if she was her new favorite person.

Her words were followed by her arms wrapping around Jasmine's neck tightly, making her freeze in shock before she returned the little girl's hug.

"Then, I guess I am your new mommy," Jasmine told Ariyana, smiling more than she ever thought possible since everything went horribly wrong with the world.

Asher looked at the two of them with a look so filled with love and gentleness that it made it hard for Jasmine to breathe, so choked up with so many different emotions, some of which she couldn't even name.

"What about you, Arman?" Jasmine asked as she noticed the boy was still sitting quietly, not saying anything.

"Does that mean I will have to stop loving my Mommy?" he said, his head so low that it almost touched his chest.

"No, absolutely not!" Jasmine exclaimed passionately as she gently disentangled herself from Ariyana and knelt before Arman. "Your mother will always be your mother, and you will always love her. I am sure she also loves you and is looking down on you and protecting you from heaven. You'll just have two mommies if you want to."

Arman raised his teary eyes to look at her, looking for reassurance. Once he was sure that she was telling the truth, he reached out for her, and she hugged him and then proceeded to gently wipe away his tears. He was a brave little boy, but his mother meant the world to him, and Jasmine understood how hard it must have been for him to think, even for a second, that he would have to let her go forever.

Human hearts were luckily big enough to have a lot of different loves in them, and Jasmine felt lucky that they were there for each other and that they could have the chance to love each other.

"Now, as for you, Isaac, I understand that you have your own parents and that you would like to go back to them as soon as possible, but in the meantime, until we find them, would it be okay if Asher and I were your temporary parents?" Jasmine asked cautiously, unsure how to put what she wanted to say but wanting her little ally to feel like a part of their family because he already was.

Sure, he had his own family, and she was sure they would find them one day, but who said you couldn't have more than one family?

"You mean it?" Isaac asked cautiously, looking from Jasmine to Asher, who spent most of the time sitting quietly and beaming out love.

"Of course we do," Asher was the one to answer now. "You are an amazing boy, and we would be lucky to call ourselves your parents, even for a short time. And you don't have to call us mom and dad. We know that might be uncomfortable for you, so you can call us by our names. But we want to be there for you the same way we are there for Arman and Ariyana."

"Yes, a thousand times yes!" Isaac exclaimed in a rare display of emotions, hugging both Asher and Jasmine simultaneously, making them feel like they were doing something right. Like they were building a family despite the world decaying outside the bunker.

"Yes, honey, what is it?" Jasmine asked her little girl, emerging from the happy memories to an even happier present.

She never believed she could be happy considering the dire circumstances the planet was under, but she was. Nothing was perfect. The danger was present. But she chose to enjoy what she had, a beautiful family.

"Can we have a cookie now?" Ariyana asked with big, pleading eyes that were hard to resist.

As Isaac and Arman came silently into the room, Jasmine saw they were the ringleaders behind the cookie heist. They had convinced her to get them some cookies because she was the best at playing cute. And, of course, it worked.

"Very well, but you get one cookie each, and that's it," Jasmine said sternly. "You know that we have limited supplies and that going outside is dangerous, so we ration everything, even cookies."

They nodded vigorously and proceeded to the kitchen, only for Isaac to return soon after munching his cookie.

"Sorry if we interrupted something," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Jasmine gasped in shock, wondering why in the world the child was full of insinuations and seemed to know far more about relationships than anyone his age.

"No, of course not!" Jasmine exclaimed, turning bright red.

"Good," he said with his mouth full, crumbs escaping it, making Jasmine want to scold him but choosing not to because, in the grand scheme of things, it didn't really matter. "Where is Grandpa?"

All the children had started calling Plague's grandfather grandpa simply because they loved the guy, and he didn't mind.

"Probably in the storage checking on supplies," Jasmine answered, still blushing from Isaac's comments.

All three children ran at those words as fast as they could, partly because Grandpa always had some fun stories to tell and partly because he seemed to have thought that in an apocalypse, one would need large amounts of chocolate in one's bunker.

"So, what do we do now?" Jasmine asked, sitting back into Asher's warmth.

Since they were relatively safe, she was starting to get lulled into a sense of security, which she knew she shouldn't be doing. After all, none of the postapocalyptic communities she had read about lasted long unless they rose up and defeated their enemies or died in the process.

"I guess all we can do for now is sit tight and recover from everything we have been through," Asher said, running his fingers through her hair. "And we should share the knowledge we gained with the other groups and get their information, too. Then, hopefully, someone will come up with a plan, taking advantage of the aliens' pretentious nature, and we will be able to reunite with our family and live above ground once again."

"Do you really believe that?" Jasmine asked, her eyes teary as no matter how her family treated her, she missed them more and more with each passing day when they didn't have to focus solely on survival.

"I have to believe that," Asher said firmly. "It keeps me going. It keeps me sane for you and the children. But I don't think it's something that will happen soon. I think it will take years."

"And in the meantime, we plot the aliens' demise?" Jasmine asked with a smile.

"Yes, and we gather strength and discover all their weaknesses. We also do our best to raise our children and keep them as safe and as happy as we can," Asher said.

"I like the sound of that, our children," Jasmine said, her smile so wide that her cheeks hurt. "I guess it took the end of the world for me to find my prince charming and the children I love with my whole heart."

Asher laughed at that and hugged tightly the woman who showed him that second chances were possible and, more importantly, that he deserved one.

Then they kissed, and all the fear and uncertainty faded in the background as their worlds became one, and nothing could stop them from loving each other.

After all, their love for each other and their family gave them strength and made them a beacon of hope for the ascent of the humans against the alien invasion. They were the ones to inspire others, and that was as important as fighting the physical battle.

Love might not conquer all, but it sure helps.

THE END