Falling ➳ Hennig [4]

➳ Epilogue

Jackson smiled at the woman he'd been talking to as she turned to leave, some distant relative coming to greet him for achievements that weren't entirely his own. She disappeared into the crowd of wedding guests, and soon cheers followed as someone spilled their drink on themselves.

            It was still early in the day, the ceremony over but the reception not yet begun, and the entire concession were outside of the venue, eagerly posing in whichever way the photographer ordered them to. He smiled again, more to himself this time, as he met eyes with Cara from across the courtyard, his sister offering him a thumbs up before stepping into place near the bride.

            Speaking of, she looked ethereal today, like the princess everyone knew her to truly be, deep down. She smiled and laughed with her bridesmaids, pressed kisses to their cheeks whenever the photographer was busy fiddling with his camera, and even offered him secret smiles meant just for the two of them.

            "Shouldn't you be up there?" Brody asked as he came to stand at Jack's side, gesturing at the group of women stood beneath a tree older than even his great-grandparents.

          "Bride and bridesmaids only," Jack responded, glancing to his other side as Spencer came to stand there, too, bringing with him Hannah, his wife of four years now, and the eldest of their two daughters. Sadie Cara Chase was the perfect mix of her parents, and already had a personality startlingly similar to that of her godmother.

         (The younger, Jackson April Chase, at only four months old, somehow both looked and acted like her father.)

         "But you're the maid of honour," Spencer supplied, shifting Sadie into his other arm as she started wriggling in an attempt to be closer to her mother without needing to leave her father's arms.

         "She wants photos of just her and the girls," Jack said with a shrug. "She also wants photos with just me. And some with Hunter."

          "Ugh, I want kids," Brody groaned, hitting his forehead against Jack's shoulder.

          "I don't know what you want me to do about that." Jack shrugged him off. "Go bother your wife."

           "I can't." Brody pouted. "She's taking photos with her bridesmaids."

           "Then go ask your step-daughter how soon she'd like to have a baby brother or sister," Jack laughed. "Does Jasmine even want kids right away?"

           "Yeah, she does." Brody grinned. "We've spoken about it with Aniyah, too."

           "I can't believe my little boy is all grown up," Spencer sniffed, handing his daughter over to his wife before crossing the distance to Brody and gathering him up in his arms. "It seemed like it was just yesterday you were crying with guilt because you'd fallen in love with Jack's ex!"

            "Hey, it was a really emotional time for me!" Brody exclaimed, but nevertheless hugged Spencer back.

            "It's definitely one of the top ten most dramatic moments we've had," Hannah hummed.

             "Okay, WatchMojo," Jack snorted, "I think we can all agree that Brody and Jasmine work better than she and I ever did."

             "I'm glad you think so."

              Jackson turned around to find Shelley standing there, looking every inch the queen Jack knew her to be. Behind her, he spotted Cara approaching her husband and children, saw the fond look on her face, and realised now that Jasmine had been right all those years back. He loved Shelley like Cara loved Dylan.

            Shelley fell easily into his embrace, leaned into his touch so naturally. He smiled, pressed a kiss to the side of her head, and then rested his chin atop her hair. "You know I love you more than everyone else. With the exception of one person."

             "Awh, Jack," Spencer gushed, "I always knew you loved me."

              "In your dreams, Chase," Shelley Bryant snorted, "The one person he loves more than me is our son."

                "Speaking of," Brody piped up again, "Where is my godson?"

                "Our godson," Spencer corrected him.

                "With Sprayberry. Dylan, not Moony. He stole Hunter because his own kid and the twins weren't paying attention to him?"

                  "Moony lured them away from him with promises of cake." Shelley nodded. "Poor kid looked so heartbroken that the twins would betray him for cake. It's like he forgot that Cara is their mother." 

                   "How did Dylan managed to get your kid, though?" Hannah asked. "I thought he was refusing to talk to him because he stood on his Iron Man plushie?"

                    "He promised to buy him three Iron Man plushies, and honestly if my son needs to hang out with Cara's unwanted first child to get what he wants, then that's what he needs to do."

                     "So, he's doing what Shelley did when she married you?"

                     "Literally fuck off, Potter."

---

and that's the end. i was planning on writing it more, idk, jelley-focused? maybe with the two of them watching over the first dance and reminiscing on their own, with hunter isaiah bryant half-asleep on jack's lap. but idk, this happened instead. and i low-key both love and hate it. it's a fitting end, i suppose. jackson with some of the most important people in his life, some who have been there all along and others he found along the way.

also,,,, don't ask me where jasmine and brody came from? i have no clue but i imagine jasmine moving to l.a for a job opportunity, and partially to be closer to her friends because everyone at home still looks at her like a villain, and she finally has the chance to apologise to brody for how she treated jack, and how she threw their own friendship down the drain. and then they grow closer as time goes by, and they both realise that they're falling but neither want to do anything about it. there's obviously the fact that jasmine has cheated in the past, and both of them don't know what that means for whatever relationship could happen between them. and also there's jack. and neither want to hurt him, there's some unspoken code there, and they both love him too much to do anything that might jeopardise their relationships with him??? but eventually brody caves and tells jack about his feelings bc he isn't sure how to get /rid/ of them, and jack tells him that he doesn't need to get rid of them, that he should go for it. they're all responsible adults, and jack isn't going to be upset if they start dating. he has no reason to be, he has shelley, he's going to ask her to marry him very soon!!!

anyway this is the end of falling. the end.