Forever & Always

Epilogue : 20

Time flies, it really does. Today is my 37th birthday. I'm spending it in the OR for the first 3 hours, then I'm taking the day off. I decided on a specialty after I passed my Boards. I chose Pediatrics. I went back and forth between General and Pediatrics for a long time. Most of the people I was an intern with are gone. Now it's only me and Meredith Grey.
Surgery is a huge time commitment. I always wanted to be a young mom, but choosing surgery means I technically had to give it up. I could have still had kids but in order to ensure finishing medical school, I had to wait. Now I'm a mother of 5 with JJ. We originally only planned to have 3 kids, but we ended up with 3 girls and wanted to try one more time for a boy. Turns out I had twins, both boys.
Mallory is my oldest, she's 10. You can definitely tell Mal is our daughter. She's the perfect mix of JJ and I. She has JJ's hair and eyes, and has my face shape and nose. After her I had Jayde Amira she's 9 and looks exactly like me. Brown hair, piercing green eyes, and she definitely has my sass. Next is Abriella Grace she's 7. She looks exactly like JJ and she's such a daddy's girl. The only thing she got from me was her green eyes, everything else she got from JJ. Now the twins. Carson Ryder and Alex Jordan. They are about to turn 5. They are identical and look like spitting images of JJ.
Kie and Jonah only had Lilliana. John B and Sarah had another baby boy named Knox Greare. Pope and Quinn had 1 boy named Dayton Stefan, and 1 girl named Amelia Rae.
     We all had good jobs that paid well, so we all went full kook. Pope and Quinn moved to Jacksonville, Florida. It's sad that we don't get to see Pope, Quinn, and their kids. We make sure to keep up with each other. Besides them, we all live next to each other and hang out as much as we can. Since I'm always on call at the hospital I don't get to spend much time with them, or my kids. It sucks but I do love surgery.
Once I finished my surgery I left the hospital and drove home, leaving my interns in charge. I walked in the door to everyone sitting in the kitchen. Including Pope and Quinn.
"Shit! Surprise!" JJ said shocked I was home.
"Surprise!" Everyone yelled as they whipped their heads towards me. I smiled widely and walked over to them.
"Damn why did y'all do this? You don't have to celebrate every year." I say going over to hug Pope and Quinn. I looked out the window for a second and saw some of the kids jumping on the trampoline.
"Well we want to because you do so much for us and we all felt like we do so little for you, at least compared to what you do for us. We all know how hard you work and you deserve to be celebrated." Pope says. "Plus it was an excuse to come up to the Outer Banks for the weekend." He added.
"Aw thank you guys. I love you all!" I say hugging everyone.
"Mommy!" Abriella said running up to me. I picked her up and put her on my hip.
"Hi Abi!" I say excited to see my daughter. JJ looked at me in awe.
"Are you staying home?" Abi asks me.
"Well I'm gonna try." I reply setting her down. She nods happily and runs off to go play again. I smile. The rest of the day I hung out with everyone and the kids play with each other.

-

     "You excited?" I ask Mal midway through our drive to Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
     "Duh mom! Its college. The question is, are you two gonna be okay?" She replies. I see JJ look at me from the drivers seat out of the corner of my eye, but I keep my eyes fixated on the road ahead of us. She's going to UNC: Chapel Hill. It's a pretty good school, it only has a 20 something percent acceptance rate.
     "Yeah we'll be fine M. Remember if I don't answer my phone right away then-"
     "You're in surgery and you'll answer as soon as you can." She says completing my sentence for me. I laugh a little. Mallory is off to college, I can't believe it. My first child leaving us. Next year Jayde will be going, then 2 years after that Abi leaves.
    I wish I would have spent more time with them now, but I'm glad I provided them with a good childhood. JJ and I both decided not to bind them by tons of rules. We were involved in their lives but we didn't have any strict rules as long as they are always honest with us. JJ was super protective over the girls so it was hard to convince him to let them start dating.
     Once we arrived at Chapel Hill, we helped Mal move in to her dorm all day until 6:00. We said our goodbyes to Mallory and even JJ cried. Obviously I was crying, so was Mallory. I cried harder when she said goodbye to her sisters and brothers earlier this morning. She was close to us, but she didn't like to drive very much so she didn't plan on leaving unless she has a long break. We hugged one last time before JJ drove out of the parking lot. Looks like I'm drowning in the ocean of the world.

     "One down many more to go." JJ says.

     "Yeah I know."

     "She'll be alright H, so will we." I just nodded.  "Forever and always, right?"

     "Forever and Always..."

-

I'm sorry this was so short but i'm ending the story here. i lost all passion for this book plus i started high school and its only day 2 and i have a ton of homework plus i play 2 sports so i just dont have time anymore. im so sorry. this is the end of forever and always. im not sure i'll write another book or not. but yeah i love you all and thank you for reading