After The One

Epilogue

2 years later

Eadlyn, Ahren, and Kile play on the floor of the Women's room as Marlee and I chat about anything and everything to get my mind off of my duties. "When will your family come to the palace again? I quite love them all," Marlee asks. She is very fond of May, who adores the children like they are her own.

"They'll be here next week to celebrate the twins's birthday, but they might stop by earlier to--" I am cut off by the shrill scream of my eldest child.

"Mine!" She yells with authority as she yanks a toy out of Kile's grip making him cry. I sigh and stand up, walking nearer to her and holding out my hand.

"I think it's time for lunch, young lady," I say with a slight scolding manner. I take the toy from her hand and give it back to Kile before grabbing both of the the twins' hands and walking to the door. I stop and turn around, speaking to my best friend. "Marlee, I promise to see you at dinner. These children are draining my life from me."

"I understand. They are just beginning their terrible two's. I can't imagine how awful it must be with two." I giggle slightly at her comment. It is quite miserable.

I walk out of the Women's Room and immediately spot a maid. "Excuse me," I say slightly to her.

"Yes your Highness?" She asks. I will never get used to being called that.

"Please tell the kitchen to send lunch for the four of us to Maxon's office."

"Of course," she replies and curtsies, skittering off before I can thank her.

I walk toward the stairs which is always a trek with the twins in tow. It seems to take ages to get up to Maxon's office, but it probably was only ten minutes.

As we get to the door, I can hear Maxon yelling about something probably rather important. I decide to allow the children to knock, so he knows to keep his yelling to a minimum.

Their small taps aren't enough for Maxon to hear over his own noise, so I knock a little louder than the twins did with as much authority as I can muster. The room suddenly goes quiet, and I hear footsteps come to the door. Stavros steps out of the office, giving me a slight bow before hurrying down the hall.

I slowly step into the office with the twins on either side. "Maxon, I ordered for some lunch. I know how you get when you have work to do, and how you get when you're hungry."

"Thank you, my Dear. You take care of me better than myself."

"That is what I'm here for, Your Royal Husbandness." I give him a slight peck before the impatient twins climb on top of their father's lap.

He begins to relax as Eadlyn manipulates his face into strange shapes. Ahren only sits there, waiting for his turn. "I would like to see your brother, now, my princess," Maxon says in the voice he reserves for the children.

Eadlyn reluctantly climbs down from her father's lap and begs for me to pick her up. I do and she begins manipulating my face the way she did with Maxon. "You're silly," I say in my baby talk voice through my squished cheeks. Eadlyn just giggles and continues her game.

There is a light knocking on the door and a maid walks in, carrying a tray with sandwiches and milk.

The twins perk up when they see the gooey peanut butter nearly oozing out the sides of the sandwiches. "Mama, nutter-snitches!" Ahern squeals, they are his absolute favorite.

"Yes, darlings, peanut butter sandwiches. What do you tell Susan for bringing your lunch?" I ask. My children may grow up to be spoiled, but I will not let their manners go rotten.

"Thank you," they chime in their sing-song voices. The sound of their voices never ceases to make me smile. I quickly hand each child a half of a sandwich before pulling a chair up closer to Maxon.

"Maxon, darling, you really must take a break. When you're stressed everyone can feel it," I say. Concern is evident in my voice as I methodically massage Maxon's hands.

"I know, America. I'm trying as hard as possible  to get this done so  that we can have the twins's birthday together. Sacrifices need to be made so that we can have our time together," he replies.

"No sacrifices need to be made, Maxon. Look around, is this not the time that you mean?" I nod toward the children, who are playing at the miniature desk almost identical to Maxon's that was made for them to play with while he worked.

His eyes squinted, as if he was thinking really hard about the subject at hand. "You're right. I need to take a break, and I'm going to starting now. I promise not to do any work for the rest of the day." He stands from his chair and helps me up.

"I'll hold you to it, Your Royal Husbandness," I say, a grin peeking through the corners of my lips. "What shall we do first?"

"First, I will give my wife the kiss that she deserves. Then, we'll eat lunch. And after that, a walk in the gardens, I think. Perhaps a game of tag with the little ones," he says as he pulls me closer. I slowly wrap my hand around his tie, and our lips finally meet in a passion.

"Mama, Daddy? What doing?" Ahren asks, peering over the front of Maxon's desk. His little hands pull him higher to see over the mass.

"Nothing, darling, just saying how much we love each other," Maxon answers. He slowly backs away from me, and then hurries around the desk. He picks up two squealing children and mock wrestles with them.

"Daddy, Daddy! Stop!" Eadlyn shrieks through laughter. He had begun tickling  them both and was laughing along with them. I only observe, watching the wonderful man and my wonderful children. I want to save this moment forever. To house the feelings of love in my memory forever.

I catch sight of small little smudges on the edge of Maxon's desk and remember something that my husband said to me years ago. This is it. This is our real peanut butter fingerprint moment.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Yeah, I may have forgotten that this part even existed, but I found it recently (it was half finished) and thought I may as well finish and post it. It's pretty bad writing skills for the first half or so, but I'm not terribly disappointed in the last half. 

I would like to thank all of you who supported me through writing the main story. Thank you for the votes at the reads in general.

I most likely will not have another Selection spin off, but I'm planning and scheming a new plot that is very exciting.

Goodbye for now,

Missey_Tilly