Consuming Fire

Epilogue (Part 2)

It was one of the happiest moments of Hunter's life. To see Will forgive his family so quickly, and for his mother to welcome him back in such a perfect way was well worth the time it took for Will's father to come around. Hunter could see the pain and guilt in his eyes, however silent he remained throughout the brief tour of the house.

As dinner was being served, there was a rumbling from the grand staircase and suddenly, two young girls appeared. They wore beautiful dresses and bows in their hair, the most cliché example of proper English girls Hunter had ever seen. Shyly, they approached the dinner table and sat down opposite Hunter and Will.

"Will, these are your ... sisters," said Rose, again with tears in her eyes. "This is Emily–" The older one, who was at least fourteen, flicked her curly brown hair over her shoulder and smiled. "-And that's Eva."

"I'm eight," said Eva proudly and her blond hair as perfect as her mother's bounced into her eyes.

The look on Will's face made Hunter's heart melt. Under the table, she gripped his hand for support, just like he always did, and he twitched back.

"Emily," he breathed. "Eva. It's ... wonderful to meet you."

"Who is he Mummy?" asked Emily.

"He's your brother." Rose's voice broke at the end of her words. She looked at Elliot with sparkling eyes and for a moment, Hunter thought she saw him blink away a tear.

There was silence at the table. Will had never looked so overjoyed, not since Fearne passed away. The fact that he now had two little girls to love again was more than either of them could have asked for.

"You've got reeeally nice hair!" Eva shouted at Hunter and broke the silence. Laughter burst from their mouths, and they didn't stop, especially when Eva couldn't understand why they were laughing so hard and started to cackle madly, giving all of them an excuse to cry and laugh at the same time. Will stared at his father, who didn't look like he had ever laughed, and needed no more words to pass between them. Elliot nodded, raised a glass and grumbled out grace. He clearly wanted to apologize but his pride remained his strongest emotion. Yet the fact that his heart was softening made all the difference in the world.

During dinner, the housekeeper Hannah ran out from the kitchen and carried on like a mad woman, planting kisses all over Will's face and pulling him into a vice-tight hug. After she ran to make Will's favorite dessert, the little girls laughed at the lipstick smudges all over his face and his messy hair, which Hunter smoothed down lovingly.

At the table, Will and Hunter talked about the rescue at the White House, to which Emily and Eva listened intently. Eventually they couldn't contain their enthusiasm, saying they had posters in their rooms of 'Time Warp' and 'Static' and 'Rouge', even though the posters were only images of actors. For just last month, there was a movie released about the attack on the White House and the Army Base. They had all sat down at the SSS compound to watch it and laugh at how ridiculous and far-fetched it was. Except for Zac, who would not let anyone play him in a movie and insisted he be in it. They only agreed because of the publicity, however Hunter and the others were quite impressed with his performance. So was he.

"I always like Rogue the best," said Eva.

"Eva, it's Rooouge, not Rogue," said Emily matter-of-factly. "Can't you read?"

Hunter giggled at Emily. "A lot of people say that, it's okay."

Eva and Emily asked Hunter to show them her fire power. Elliot seemed reluctant and Hunter assured the girls there would be plenty of time in the future for them to see it.

"You must come back for Christmas dinner," said Rose. "We're having a party Christmas Eve and a family get-together the following day."

"Pleeeeease come!" Eva begged.

Will glanced at Hunter, who smiled in encouragement. "We'd like that."

"Actually," said Hunter, "we came here to invite you to a party."

Rose raised her eyebrows in excitement. "Oh?"

"Yes," said Will. "Our wedding."

Both Rose and Elliot looked as if they had been slapped in the face. Rose composed herself quickly and leapt from her seat in excitement, kissing both of them on their cheeks. The young girls clapped and cheered and Elliot rubbed his forehead and exclaimed, "you're getting married!?"

"Yay!" said Eva. "Yay!"

"Can I be a bridesmaid?" yelled Emily. "Please please please!"

"Girls, enough," said Rose. "I'm sure they haven't even figured out where the wedding will be yet."

Hunter and Will glanced at each other. They had considered the cabin, but the details were not concrete just yet.

"We wanted to extend an invitation," said Will, "and we hope you can make it."

Rose and the two girls looked at Elliot for his approval. His beady eyes swept over the two of them, not entirely certain what to say. Finally, he released a sigh and grumbled, "Only if there's good scotch provided at the reception." And he lowered his empty glass, reminding Hunter of the day of the funeral in which Will became intoxicated and told her he wanted to live with her in paradise, the same words he said when he bent down on one knee at the top of the hill they used to run to at the cabin with a view of Seattle stretched before them and a magnificent sunset and asked her to marry him. It was the beginning of a life she never imagined and a future she could not see.

The hard part may not be over. In fact their journey as heroes had only just begun. But it was like Dr. Rosenthal had said – it's about time they rested.