Falling for Jared Padalecki

Epilogue

Zoey POV

Jared and Jensen are at the grill cooking while talking and laughing about who knows what. I'm sitting at the built-in seating around the fire pit watching everyone and enjoying the fun they're having, pregnant with a boy. The grill was near the back door and there was our pool plus the fire pit, our little playset for the kids, and a bunch of tables set up for the party. Alex and his new girlfriend got out of their car and waved to me when I looked in their direction.

Today was Nevaeh and Tristan's 7th birthday so we were having a party for them. Jared went all out, as usual. He got a huge bouncy house/jungle gym that everyone loved and somehow got a water slide for the day attached to our pool.

The best part (in my opinion) was that we both set aside days for them to each spend a day with us. They both constantly fought over spending time alone with us so Jared and I thought it'd be something cool to do. I still had issues with letting either of them out of my sight, I didn't even want them to be gone at school, so they were always wanting alone time with me especially.

I planned for Tristan and me to go horseback riding and for Nevaeh and me to go ice skating. I'm not sure what Jared planned for his days though.

After Alex and his girlfriend said hi, Erin and Linz walked up and said they just got here as well.

We hugged and said hi then they finished making the rounds and I went inside to get something to drink.

I grabbed a Mountain Dew and started to drink it but the heat from outside started to hit me so I sat down for a few minutes.

After about 30 seconds, Jared came in and said, "Hey baby, you okay? I saw you through the door and got worried."

I said, "yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just the heat getting to me is all."

Jared said okay then kissed my forehead before hugging me. I smiled at how protective he was and how much he showed he loved me then I looked up at him and said, "I love you, baby. Thanks for checking on me."

He smiled and said, "I love you too sweetie. I will always check up on you," before kissing my lips then grabbing my hand and said, "is the baby okay?"

I said, "yeah he's good. You know we really need to figure out a name, he's due any time now."

He smiled and said, "hmmm, what about... Jared Jr," and started to laugh.

I said, "how about no. What if we do... Charlie Dean? That way he can kind of be named after my 3 favorite people on the show because you and Jen both played a Dean character and then we both know how much I love Charlie and Charlie can be for a boy or girl. Plus, we both know the fans will LOVE it."

I looked up to see him smiling at me so I said, "what?"

He said, "nothing, just - you're cute when you're rambling. I think it's perfect baby."

I smiled back at him then connected our lips for a short kiss.

When we pulled apart, Jared said, "you ready to go back out?"

I smiled and nodded, allowing myself to be dragged away.

When we got outside, Jared spun me then started goofy dancing along to the beat of whatever song was on the speaker. It was my phone that was connected so I should know but I didn't pay enough attention. I started laughing then danced with him.

Kim, Bri, Gen, Dee, some of the kids, and even Kripke, joined and I heard and saw other people taking pictures and videos.

As the song ended, Jared pulled me in for a kiss then Jensen said that the food was ready so we told everyone to sit down so we could eat.

After we ate it was time for presents and after presents, Nevaeh and Tristan and most of their friends wanted to play with their toys for a while so we adults sat and talked while supervising and opening things.

After about an hour of doing that, I started to clean up all the trash but Jared and Jensen would not let me, or any of the girls, and did it all themselves.

By the time they were done with that, the sun was going down so everyone started leaving, though most of the kids stayed to sleepover.

Once they were all gone, it was time for the kids to clean up their toys and get ready for bed.

For bed, Nevaeh, Tristan, and all their friends asked to sleep on the living room floor together so we helped them make a giant fort then made sure all teeth were brushed and tucked them all in then went to bed ourselves.

We both took a super quick shower then said goodnight and I laid on his chest, exhausted but smiling and happy. Today was a super fun day and everyone got along super well. We all loved on each other and helped each other out, plus Jared and I figured out a name for the little guy. It was amazing and I just love being a part of this family, though I sometimes forget that I truly am. I will always be amazed at how wonderful my life turned out, even though it was definitely a lot different than I expected. I wouldn't change a thing though. I had two, almost three, amazing kids with my inspiration, his other kids LOVED me, and one of his best friends was his ex wife. I'm not sure you could ask for much better.

A/N - hey guys I know this is short but epilogues usually are shorter. I hope you still enjoyed it and enjoyed the book. Remember; Always Keep Fighting, Love Yourself First, You Are Not Alone, and You Define You. Love y'all!

"We all have self-doubt but in reality, we're doing better than we think we are." - Jared Padalecki

We always want to do better at everything and have our own goals but we also always notice the littlest slip-ups and those are the ones that stick out to us, not our overall progress and how good we really are doing. For example, I've started cutting added sugar out of my diet and I got upset with myself over the fact that I ate bread the other day, completely forgetting that it was the only thing I had that day with added sugar in it. And that I normally have some type of sweets for dessert after dinner but also skipped on that while everyone enjoyed theirs. I forgot to count all the progress I made because I did something kind of unavoidable. No matter what you're working on doing better at in your life, DON'T focus on the little mistakes you make, instead focus on the little steps towards being/doing better that you are making, and you'll soon see that those will add up to more than the mistakes. I love y'all and believe in y'all.