~•10 years later•~

~•Aphmau•~
"Momma!" My two year old son, Levin, runs towards me as I walk in the door.

I smile and pick him up, "Hey, buddy. How're ya?" I ask.

"Good, me and Zoey baked cookies!" He says, slightly struggling at his words.

"You did? Thats pretty cool, little man." I say as I put him down.

Levin was adopted at birth. His biological parents were teenagers and couldn't take care of him. So, I decided to adopt him.

I turn around to see my other son, Malachi, walk in the door. He's small, with a backpack on. He just started kindergarten a month ago.

"Big brother!" Levin shouts as he runs over to Malachi.

Malachi was also adopted, though not at birth. He was about eighteen months at the time. The two boys get along very well, thank God.

Laurance walks in behind Malachi, bottle of water in his hand. He smiles at me as Levin runs over to him.

"Uncle Laurance!" He shouts.

I moved in with Laurance before I adopted Malachi. It was a friend type of thing, I never thought of him romantically. Though he has been a father figure in Levin and Malachi's life, they don't call him "dad" or "daddy".

Laurance picks him up, "Hey, buddy. Did you have fun with Zoey?"

Levin nods, "We made cookies."

"Boys, why don't you go hang out with Zoey while I talk to Uncle Laurance?" I ask.

"Okay!" They say in unison. Laurance lets Levin down, and he runs energetically after his big brother.

"I went to see the Ro'Meaves today." Laurance says.

"How were they?" I ask.

"Good, Vylad has grown up a lot."

"We saw him six months ago, Laurance," I laugh.

"I know but," he sighs. "I still see him as this 10 year old kid who just lost his brother."

"I do too," I sigh, remembering Garroth.

"You miss him, huh?" Laurance says after a few minutes of a quite awkward silence.

"A day doesn't go by where I don't think about him," I state as tears form in my eyes.

Laurance puts an arm around me and rubs my arm gently. I put a hand on his and look at him, sighing. He smiles at me, a soft smile.

"Do you wanna see him tomorrow?" He asks.

We see his grave every month, as often as we can go. Levin and Malachi know about him. They call him "Uncle Garroth" sometimes.

But no matter how many times we see him, it's not gonna heal a lot of time lost.

~•Zane•~
"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?" My fiancée, Gabrielle, asks me.

"Y-Yeah, I am." I sigh.

Not thinking about Garroth is hard. To be honest, I was kind of a jerk to him, throughout everything he went through. And even though I've told him I was sorry for it, I still feel awful.

About 4 years ago, I met Gabrielle. She was a happiness in my life that I thought would never come along. She has bright golden hair with light brown eyes and tan skin. She looks like a mix of Garroth and Aphmau, if you could imagine that.

We began dating when I was 20. I first saw her in a small coffee shop, sitting with her friends. My white haired friend, Travis, dared me to make a move. So, I did. And I don't regret it at all.

"Well, apart from that, I have something to tell you," she says.

"What is it?" I ask, holding her hand as she sits on the couch.

"You can't freak out, okay?" She says, smiling like a goofball.

"Okay, fine," I chuckle.

"Zane, I'm pregnant!" She says.

My stomach drops, my eyes grow wide. I almost feel like my heart lights up, my hand shakes. Tears form in my eyes and also in hers.

"Y-You are?!" I ask.

She nods excitedly, "Y-Yes!"

"Oh my God, Gabrielle..." I smile.

"I love you, Zane Ro'Meave." She says as she hugs me.

"I love you, too, Gabrielle. I love you too."

You're gonna be an uncle, Garroth.

~•Vylad•~
"C'mon, man, do it," my friend, Jack, says.

"No, dude. I don't need to get a girlfriend now, I'm busy trying to get into medical school," I say.

"Bro, just do it. Medical school is two years away," Jack says.

"Still, I wanna get ahead," I say.

"Vylad, just do it. Say, 'Hi, I'm Vylad Ro'Meave and I'd like to go on a date!'" He says in a mocking tone.

"Thats not how I sound, Jack." I roll my eyes.

"Well then, prove it," he says with a smirk.

"Ugh, fine." I stand up and begin walking over to her.

I've had a crush on her for a while. Her name's Meredith, Meredith Liath. She has light brown hair with soft, icy blue eyes. She's a kind girl, but she can get angry.

Which, technically, is my personality.

I walk over and gently tap her on the shoulder. She turns around, with a slightly shocked look on her face. Once she realizes it's me, she smiles.

"Hey, Vylad! How are you?" She asks.

"I'm good, how are you?" I reply with shaky hands.

"Good. Hey, can I talk to you?" I ask.

"Sure," she shrugs.

"I was wondering, would you like to grab some coffee sometime?" I ask.

She smiles, a slight tint of pink appears on her cheeks, "I think that'd be nice, Vylad."

"Friday at three?" I smile.

"Sure." She smiles back.

I wave and walk back over to Jack. He has a smug look on his face, as though he's just won a medal nobody thought he'd win.

"Told you you could do it," he says.

"Blah, blah, blah. At least I asked her out," I say.

"Shut up, man," he laughs.

Garroth, you'd be proud of me.

~•Zianna•~
When you lose a child, the man question you get asked is "How are you doing?". After Garroth died, I hadn't been asked that question that many times before.
What sucks is that, well, it doesn't go away. The pain doesn't go away. But, it does get better. And I'm eternally grateful for my other two boys for making it all get better.

Zane is now 24, living with his fiancée, Gabrielle. He's working hard on getting a degree in coding, which will pay a lot. He's hoping to get married after he gets his degree.

Vylad, now 20, is working way to hard to get into medical school. He wants it very bad, even though he still has to wait two years. I'm so proud of him, though.

And me, I got back on my feet. I decided to be a mom that would work hard for her sons and not a mom that was extremely depressed and wasn't able to physically move. I'm thankful I made that choice every day.

As I sit on the couch watching TV, my phone begins to ring. I pick it up, seeing that the caller ID is Zane. I smile, tapping the green button and pressing the phone to my ear.

"Hey, Zane," I say, still smiling.

"Mom! We have to tell you something!" His voice shakes and he sounds ecstatic.

"Well go ahead," I say, laughing.

After a short silence, Gabrielle's voice says, "I'm pregnant!"

I smile brightly, hand covering my mouth. I can't believe it, Zane is going to have a child! I try to contain my excitement, but it's not that easy.

"R-Really?!" I asked.

"Y-Yeah!" Zane stutters.

"Congratulations, you two. I love you so much," I say.

"Love you, too, mom." Zane says. "Well, we have to tell other people, so I'm gonna let you go for now."

"Okay, buddy. I'll see you soon," I sigh.

"Bye, mom, love you!" He says before he hangs up the phone.

I smile and put my phone down. I look over at the wall and see a picture of Garroth, smiling brighter than ever. I softly smile back with tears in my eyes.

"You'd be proud of him, bud. You'd be proud."

~•Garroth•~
"You're thinking about your mother, aren't you?" Dad asks as he sits by me.

Neither of us have aged a bit. I guess that's one of the benefits of the afterlife is that you don't age even after ten years. So, I guess we won't ever look old.

"Y-Yeah, sorry," I say.

"Don't be sorry, I did the same thing. I thought about you four all the time," he sighs. "Still do."

"I knew mom was crying for a long time," I turn and look at him. "Are you sure she's okay?"

"I told you ten years ago that they'd be fine, bud. That won't change, ever." Dad says.

"Like Zane, he's fine," I say with probably a big, goofy grin.

"I know, I heard," dad smiles, though not showing teeth.

"I bet everyone's excited," I smile while looking down.

"You're excited, too, aren't you?" Dad asks.

I shrug and nod. While I keep smiling, I turn to him. Dad shakes his head and chuckles, looking me straight in the eye. He puts an arm around me.

"I love you, G."

"Love you, too, dad."

And I love you, mom, Zane, and Vylad.

••••••••
And that is a wrap for this book!

First off, I just want to say thank you guys so much. You made this book what it is now and even though my slow updates and the occasional bad story line, you guys stuck with me. This book would have never gotten to where it is without you, yes you sitting there. Thank you guys, so so much. Words will never express how grateful I am for you guys. Again, thank you.

Next! You know that account that I mentioned a while back? Here it is:
CrazyAwesomeWriters

Basically this account is going to have 3 (maybe 4) different stories in other characters point of view. It's gonna have scenes that were in the book and scenes that weren't in the book. The account isn't up and running yet, but if you guys want to follow it now that would be great.

Lastly, if you have any questions about what was just said or really anything at all, just DM me and I'll answer those as quick as possible.

Thanks for reading! Bye!
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