As Good As It Gets

Epilogue: The Final Chapter

LAYLA'S POV
The dancing of my knee to the prancing of my heart. I couldn't control the racing pace of my pulse. Waiting for him was like waiting for the school year to end. I missed him with all of my being. I longed for our hearts to be one again. But he had a life to live and I had perished quite a while ago. Anybody could tell that he was suffering. From the loss and the pain. It hurt to see him like he was. But the Big Man had told me it was soon. He was going to come soon. And I was heartbroken. I didn't want him to come soon. I wanted him to have a life: a wife and kids without me in the picture. He must've gotten my letter. I saw him open the letter and read it. He knew I wanted the best for him but he didn't want the best for himself. I was going to talk to him. Tell him how stupid he was. But then again, I am the reason he died. He didn't even know I was pregnant with his child. So it was half my fault for not telling me, and half his fault because he let it take his life. Parker had gotten in a car crash with the car in front of him. He banged so hard into the car that his head hit the steering wheel and when it did he blacked out immediately. The Big Man had let me go and talk to him. I had told him everything about here. It was so peaceful and there was nothing to harm you here. The Big Man had told me Clara Jones had gone to places we don't speak about. I'm guessing Hell. I was waiting.....
And waiting......
And waiting......
And waiting......
For Parker to finally come.
"Layla Reynolds to Waiting Room." The voice said over the loud speaker. Finally. I walked nicely over to the Waiting Room anxious about seeing Parker again. Stopping when I got to the door, I opened it widely and saw Parker sitting there head in his hands. I shut the door quietly and walked over to him. Wrapping my arms around him, I whispered, "Your home."
He looked up at me. "Layla?" He asked.
"Parker." I whispered kissing him. He kissed me back and then let go.
"What are we doing here? What is this?" He asked me.
"We are in Heaven." I smiled brightly.
"Wow....So this is what all those religious freaks talk about." He smirked standing up.
"Don't call them freaks. Big Man is close with them." I hit his arm.
"Already hurting me in Heaven huh?" Parker smirked clutching his arm.
"Big Man is fond of me. He lets me do whatever I want." I grinned.
Just then the door burst open.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Screamed Junior.
"Hey baby. What are you doing here?" I asked scooping him up in my arms.
"Big Daddy told me to come." Junior giggled as he snuggled against my chest.
"Babe I want you to meet someone." I told Parker.
"Who's this little fella?" Parker asked ruffling his hair.
"Parker meet Parker." I smiled holding Parker so that Parker can see him.
"What Mommy? His name is Parker too?" Junior asked me.
"He's who I named you after baby." I smiled.
"Is he my Daddy?" Junior asked clutching my leg.
"Yes baby he is your Daddy." I smiled unclutching his hands from my leg. I pushed him forward.
"Give Daddy a hug Junior." I said.
Junior walked up to Parker and lifted his arms up, signaling for Parker to pick him up.
Parker looked at me, tears flowing out of his eyes, and picked him up.
"Hi Daddy. I'm Parker Junior." Junior said smiling.
"Hi Junior. I'm Daddy." Parker whispered.
Junior snuggled into his chest and took a nap.
"I'm-"
"Your a Daddy Parker." I said a tear slipping out of my eye. This is the moment I have been waiting for my whole life. To see my child and my love like this. If I could take a picture, it still wouldn't be as perfect as it was right now. And we walked out of the waiting room perfect. As perfect as anything could get.
Parker's arm around me, holding Junior in his arms, while I had my arms around Parker. We were a family.

I believe things happen for a reason. Not because at the time you deserved to be brought with loss or pain, but because after that pain and loss, there will be something or someone that comes into your life and makes it okay again. Everything happened for a reason. And even though it may not have planned out the way I wanted it too, it happened and I still ended up having what I wanted. A family.

Sometimes in life, you don't get to choose what happens. It just happens without you knowing what happened or who it affected. You can't avoid what is coming. You can't stop it. You can only move forward and learn from what happened. Learn from your mistakes.

I look back on my life and say wow.....I had a hell of a life in only 17 years. I had joys and tears and laughter and jokes and pain. All in 17 years. I don't regret anything that happened. Nothing at all. Because as I look back now, it all happened so that something great could happen. When Penny died, a couple days before I got pregnant.

Life doesn't stop. It keeps moving even if somebody moves on to Heaven (or Hell), it keeps moving even if the person you wanted with you isn't in the state anymore. It keeps moving even if you fail a test. It keeps moving to tell you to keep moving and to keep living.

Junior came into my life. And I badly wanted my father and my sister to see him but they had there lives to live. I wanted so badly for my mother to see me now. With a child and a man that loved me so much, he died of a broken heart.
Parker died of a broken heart. Paramedics said that he's heart gave up in the car crash but his heart started again and said one thing.

"I love Layla Reynolds. I am going to be with my one true love."

And then Parker died.
His last words were so powerful that one of the nurses cried afterwards. They held a shitty funeral for him. But he was placed right next to me at St.Mary's Cemetery. It was as if they knew he died of a broken heart too. Well who couldn't see. He didn't go to school, he stayed home most of the time except when he came to see my body at the cemetery. He missed all this appointments for his psychiatrist. His mother had spend so much money on that Doctor and he had thrown it away as if he didn't care about himself anymore. It worried me from up here but I couldn't say or do anything about it no matter how much I pleaded to the Big Man.

Sometimes you just have to let events take their tole in life. You can't avoid everything. You have to live life as if it's your last day.

Enjoy the little things in life because someday, you are going to realize that the little things were the big things. All my life, I had been waiting for a Prince Charming to sweep me off my feet. Someone who was perfect all around. But then I realize that Prince Charming was right in front of me. Parker was my Prince Charming. I hadn't realized it because I had been so caught up in this picture that I had of the guy that I would one day grow to love that I hadn't even see this one perfect guy who was just right for me.

He was perfect to me. No matter what anybody says to me I still think he is the most perfect and right guy for me in every way.

Even though we had such little time, we made it something so big and grand that even The Notebook looked like shit compared to our love story.

Sometimes you have to just take a chance on life. And see where it wants to lead you. It could lead you high on a perfect world or it could end up leaving you sinking your sorrows in a bar somewhere on the outskirts of town. No matter what happens though, there is always someone to pull you out of that sorrow-filled moment or someone to make your perfect, even a bit more perfect.

And while in this moment, while Parker and I were holding each other and Junior was taking a nap on his Daddy, we were all one. A family. Three people working together who all love each other. It was a perfect moment and seeing Penny walk over to us made it even more perfect. Penny and I had bonded and became friends. She was just a girl who didn't have a lot of guidance. He boyfriend abused her and her best friend stabbed her in the back. Literally. Multiple times. Anyways, we had become like sisters because she had taken care of Junior when I hadn't quite got here yet. I lost Junior a couple of days before I died. I died of a broken heart too. I knew I had lost Junior and was miserable. I couldn't eat or sleep or anything. And that's when Big Man took my pain away and I went to heaven. Junior and Penny had met me in the Waiting Room. I was so happy that tears were flowing off my face. I never thought that I would get a chance to meet my unborn son but I did. And I was thrilled.

I'm going to go now but I want to give you one last piece of advice before I do go and continue my life with my boyfriend and our child.

To everybody out there, I don't care what color you are or if you are popular or not,

Someday, we will all find what we are looking for.

Or maybe we won't..............

Maybe......just.....maybe........we will find something so much greater...

One last thought ran through my head as I walked out of the Waiting Room and back into Heaven.

This was as Good as It Gets.

**************THE END************