Her Light & Tender Heart [Completed]

Epilogue

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Sean Green, for being Sang's light and tender heart.

A/N: For the faint of heart, please make your way over to the Alternate epilogue for your HEA ending. :)

Epilogue

My Heart Will Go On

She was visiting my grave again. It was the third time this week, and if I still felt emotions the way I had on Earth, I was sure this one would be labeled anguish.

There was something hauntingly beautiful about the way her finger traced my name, and watching the tears track their way down her porcelain cheeks was a unique kind of torture. In my twenty-eight years of life, I had never once seen my mother cry until she'd watched them lower me into the ground.

It wasn't until now that I saw just how much she had truly cared. I'd always written off her concerns as nagging, but that was just how she showed her love. North yelled. My mother made study schedules. Silas hugged. My mother signed you up for three study groups and summer school. In 5th grade.

And she always had to be right.

She was right, though. I did end up having a daughter, just like she said I would.

Sophia.

Sophia Green.

Owen had named her, of course. He was the only one who could even begin to keep it together when she was born, and while the name had screamed Owen Blackbourne to me, I quickly fell in love with it. And her.

My little Sophie.

I loved every little thing about her. From her momma's eyes to those crazy blonde curls. From the way she clung to Nathan's hand at the park to the dimples that joined each one of her breathtaking smiles.

I watched every second of her giggling up a storm in the hospital nursery. There were a few times when Sang had snuck away and visited alone without one of the boys, and she stood at the window looking in on our little miracle. I pretended I was right next to her, holding her hand and joking about Sophie being born with webbed feet or an extra nose. Dreaming about her becoming an Academy girl one day. Or a teacher. Or a circus performer. Or whatever the heck she wanted, because she was mine and I just never wanted that smile to leave her little face.

She saved Sang. I'm not sure what would've happened if Sang hadn't been pregnant when I'd had my accident. Without Sophie, I'm afraid my family would've faded away.

I don't mean that in a self-important kind of way. That's just how our family was. One for all, and all for one. Family First.

I was convinced I was going to die a second time from pure heartbreak and stress. My Pookie had stopped eating. She wasn't taking care of herself or the baby. It took an intervention from Dr. Roberts, our families, and the Academy to get my team—my family—back on track. Even North had lost his healthy eating habits, and didn't bother Luke when his elder brother binged.

But they were healing. Each day I saw them slowly putting themselves back together, while still remembering me. Even from so far away, and the years passing, I was still very much a part of the family.

Sang talked to me every day. Every day, without fail. She hadn't missed one yet. Even when she was bedridden with the flu and groggy with NyQuil, she talked to me. Whether it was while she brushed her teeth in the morning, when she was telling Sophie stories about my Academy days, or before she went to bed at night. She told me she loved me, that she missed me, and anything else she was thinking about. Even the girly stuff that I didn't particularly care for, but I still ate it up.

It was selfish of me—or it would've been if I could still feel that depth of emotion—but I loved that she thought of me. That she hadn't forgotten. That I didn't fade away when they'd buried me, but instead found a place to call home in each of their hearts.

The boys kept me alive, too. So much so, that Sophie used to ask when I'd be home so she could meet me. They kept a picture of me on her nightstand, and the house was filled with photos.

It didn't stop me from aching to hold her, though. Just once. Just to know what it was like.

Sophie turned three last week. The party was a pre-preschool rager, and Gabriel definitely went all out. I had a sneaking suspicion that he wanted Sophie's party to be the envy of all three-year-old parties this season. Part of me feared for her eventual Sweet Sixteen, if he had already pulled out the bounce houses and magicians for a three-year-old. There was a princess cake involved, a Spiderman cake, and Dora the Explorer balloons. Confetti, slip-n-slide, and a small petting zoo. My little girl liked a lot of different things, and it showed in the presents people gave as well. From Elsa outfits to ninja-worthy child-sized nunchucks. I didn't have to watch Luke buy them to know who the nunchucks were from.

Owen even bought her one of those little toy doctor kits, and she took to it like a moth to a flame. She took it with her everywhere, performing check-ups on all her stuffed animals and daddies. That night was the first time I'd seen Owen cry since the months following my accident.

Owen. God, Owen. He'd held it together in front of the family, but it killed me all over again to watch him struggle in private. Sophie was a soothing balm for him. At first he could barely look at her, but they quickly grew to be inseparable. I liked to think she wore on him the same way I had, but really all it took was one look at her angelic face and you were toast.

Owen hardly slept after the accident, no matter how much I yelled at him from wherever I was now. I felt like a hypocrite, after all the times he had gotten on me for not taking care of myself.

My sleeping habits had always been a hot topic of discussion in the family. It was easy to use to the age-old adage to brush off my family's well-meant concern.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead."

Well, at least I wasn't tired anymore.

~ fin ~