Hide and Spy- Gallagher Girls FanFic

Epilogue

Epilogue

We sent someone to the site to find his body, he hadn’t been at the epicentre of the explosion but he would never have survived at how close he had been to it. Mom and I arranged a small service to bury him in the family plot, we had agreed between us that we had mourned Dad enough in the past and that a service would help us get over it. The pain was still there, even weeks after the pain was still there only numbed. Maybe that was all it would ever be, numbed. 

Zach helped, he didn’t realise how much he helped distract me. He would remind me that I had the baby to look forward to, not only ours, but my half sibling too. When he had pointed that out I had smiled for the first time since Dad had …

That evening Zach had taken me out for a winter walk and coffee, we had danced on the bandstand in the park and reminisced about when we had been at school. I’d been happy, I managed to forget about the pain for a while but it only came back when I had remembered my fathers words, I was with someone who made me happy.  

Mom had taken it a little harder, she was angry about what dad had chosen to do and upset that she’d lost him again. We all tried to distract her or cheer her up but deep down we all knew she was still stressed out which wasn’t good for the baby. I think, in the end, it had been Abby that had snapped her out of it by reminding her of all the good times Matt had had and how much he had loved her. After that she seemed to get better.

It was a morning in mid November that I got the phone call from Patricia. She had worried me to death telling me that Mom had gone in to premature labor, she wasn’t due until the end of January. Zach was away on a mission at the time so in a blind panic I took the secret tunnel to the school to find my Mom, Joe, and my baby sister all sat quietly. 

She looked so small and fragile, I was afraid to reach in to the incubator to touch her. I had wondered what I would do if it were my baby that came early. I’d have been terrified. 

We had a big christmas day celebration at Gallagher, Abby and Townsend came with Kim, Bex’s parents came, and the girls all bought their other halves. We all had a huge surprise when Grant got down on one knee for Bex, of course she said yes. 

Things went along fairly quietly after that, over time the number of missions I went on began to get reduced while Zach would go off with Grant or Bex. Occasionally I would be needed for a mission, in which case the four of us would go for ‘extra vigilance’.

By the time the end of June came around, Bex and Grant were married, and I was ready to burst. Of course, the day that the baby decided to come in to the world was the day that Zach was off on the other side of the globe with Grant, leaving Bex to look after me at home. 

It was scary, I’d wanted to hide and have my space like I always had done when I was frightened. I couldn’t though, I was stuck as the centre of attention, not a position I adored. All I had wanted was for Zach to be there to hold my hand. Him being the idiot he was (Who goes half way around the world when their wife is nine months pregnant?), he made it there for the last five minutes of agony and screaming to bring his son in to the world.

The pair of us had agreed a while before that a girl would be called Morgan Anne, taking my maiden name and my moms middle name that she had passed to me. A boy would be called Matthew Joseph, in memory of my dad and as a tribute to Joe who had had such a huge influence in both our lives. 

So I was not only a cousin and sister, but a mom too…

Zach kissed my head, “You should rest now.” 

I looked down to the blue bundle that lay between us, “I want to stay awake and watch him,”

Zach smiled as there was a knock on the door, I pulled Matt in to my arms and sat up a little. I smiled to Zach and called, “Yeah?”

Bex stuck her head in the door, “They couldn’t keep me away any longer, they wouldn’t tell me anything.”

I laughed and decided to put her out of her misery, “Come and meet your nephew.”

Zach squeezed my hand, “I’ll go and ring your Mom and my Dad.”

I nodded to him and kissed his cheek before he went.

Bex was cooing to Matt when I turned back to her, “Do you want to hold him?” I offered with a smile, something told me that she’d be a natural with kids. Her face lit up at the offer and she nodded, gently taking him from me and cradling him, “I can tell you two things now,” She smirked.

I smiled, “Go on,”

Bex looked up to me and grinned, “He’s so going to be a heart breaker,” She looked back to him and touched his cheek, “And, he’s a pavement artist.”

I smiled and took him back in my arms, “Hear that kid? You’ve got a lot to live up to.”

We both looked up as two more visitors came in with Zach, “Are you sure you can’t push him down Research? It sure would help regulate my sleeping pattern,” Joe shook his head

I laughed as Bex moved back for my mom to come and hug me, “He’s beautiful,” She cooed and looked to me, “Your dad would be proud of you,”

I smiled and leant in to her shoulder, “He’ll always be here,” I murmured as I watched my son. We hadn’t told them his name yet and I was eager to see their response, “As a part of me, and a part of Matthew Joseph.”

Mom pulled back to look at me with a smile, Joe was shaking his head and probably fighting back a blush. 

“Perfect,” Mom whispered and brushed her Grandson’s cheek, “You are going to be perfect.”

Joe came and squeezed my shoulder, “Thank you,”

“It’s our way of thanking you,” Zach told him, “For everything,” He rested his hand on Joe’s shoulder and smiled. I was sure I caught a tear on Joe’s cheek as Matthew began to wail.

Mom laughed and kissed my cheek, “That’s our cue to leave,”

I smiled, “See you later,” 

Turning my attention to Matthew, I didn’t notice Zach was on the phone until he put it down. He sighed and lay back on the bed with a groan.

“What is it?” I asked him.

He looked to me, “They think that there’s a Mole in the Rome Embassy, they want us to go and check it out,”

I smiled and looked down to Matthew as he yawned and closed his eyes, “What do you say Kid? Your first mission.”

Zach laughed and pulled me in to his arms, “What do you mean mission? I thought we were just going on a family holiday?”

I looked to Zach and kissed him gently. I hadn’t known it until then, but I was right where I wanted to be. Sure I missed my Dad, and things would be a little more complicated now that we had a little one to provide for. The path we had taken to get her had been far from easy but it had made us who we were, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.