Chapter 50: Epilogue: Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen

Disclaimer: I'm not Meyer or Andrews, just playing with some characters and storyline inspiration.

A/N: This is it! Make sure to read the A/N at the end, as it will answer some questions that you might will probably still have. Also, I hope I didn't screw up the tense with this one. When you get through it you should understand the concept, but if you're a beta and noticed where I used the wrong tense, feel free to contact me. Many thanks to sherryola for helping me with this chapter.

August 14th, 2009

Dear BBJ,

Well, this is the end. That sounded overly melodramatic. I didn't mean it that way. I'm almost through with you…now that sounds mean, but literally there are only a few pages left between your bindings to fill.

I've been busy these last few weeks, unable to find the time to devote to writing. Emmett and I started off on our adventure just after the Fourth of July, but not before Bella and I found the time to sneak up to the cabin to fool around. Things were progressing very nicely in the bedroom department and a very certain part of me didn't want to leave Bella behind.

I was horny all the damn time. Now that I had been having sex, it was all that I thought about and I wanted it ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME. I was lucky that Bella felt much the same way because when I wouldn't make an advance toward her she'd be after me, reaching out and grabbing the bulge in my jeans, teasing me mercilessly. It was the best kind of torture a hormonal male could ever hope for. We still screwed up things now and then, but it didn't seem to bother her and we laughed about it, sometimes while it was happening, other times later on while we were snuggling naked and twisted in the sheets of the bed.

I need to stop there. I'm going to get myself all wound up and I need to wrap this up.

Our grandparents were off on a cruise, so our first stop was to visit Aunt Lisa and Uncle Thomas in Las Vegas. Holy hell is it hot there. A hundred and ten degrees is still a hundred and ten degrees, it didn't matter if it was a dry heat. While we didn't eat it, Emmett and I cooked an egg on the pavement late one afternoon. Aunt Lisa was near the end of her pregnancy and not feeling up to being out in the heat. I wasn't pregnant and didn't care to be out in that! We waited until night fell to explore and even then the heat hung in the air, thick and suffocating.

During one of the cooler days, when it was a chilly ninety-degrees, Thomas took us to see the nearby Hoover Dam. At night Lisa showed us the typical tourist hot spots and while we couldn't gamble, she did make good on her promise to get us into a casino. The security guards were strict and would ask for I.D. if they suspected that you were underage. We merely stood watching Lisa play blackjack and they were none the wiser. I could see the thrill in gambling, but I wasn't sure if the risk was worth it. Perhaps the risk was worth the reward for those that dreamed of striking it rich. As we left the casino with Lisa's blackjack winnings securely stored in her bag, she suddenly doubled over, latched onto Emmett's forearm with one hand while the other clutched her stomach.

I had a gut feeling that our plans for the night were going down the tubes.

Lisa was halfway to the ground, muttering a string of curse words a sailor would be proud to hear. She never told us that she had been having contractions, but her doctor had informed her since it was her first baby she could be in her current state for hours before she had to be at the hospital.

To say that we freaked out was the understatement of the century, perhaps the millennium.

"I ain't birthin' no baby!" Emmett blurted out loudly as he held on to our aunt. "I can't do it. You can't ask me to!"

Did he seriously think that I was up to the task? "Me neither and don't ask me to check if the head is poking out!" Lisa started laughing, but then looked down and started to freak out. Our gazes followed hers and I secretly hoped that she had a weak bladder. In reality I guesstimated that her water had broke, but hoped like hell that I was wrong. "I need to get to the hospital!" Lisa cried in panic. "My doctor, Thomas, my overnight bag...oh, this isn't supposed to be happening like this!"

Shit, I had been right. So much for posing with wax figures of celebrities.

Emmett could only stand there and mumble in a low and panicked voice, "What do we do, what do we do?" over and over. I don't know how I managed it, but I kept my wits about me while my brother mentally shut down. At least Lisa claimed I did. Hell, I wasn't blabbering incoherently so overall, I thought I did pretty damn well.

Lisa doubled over in pain again, moaning in agony as she held onto Emmett and in turn Emmett yelled out, "She's breaking my arm!"

Sure, now the doofus Iron Man takes the time to come up with more words.

With her bag still hanging on her arm—and with Lisa still hanging off Emmett—I dug through her purse in search of her car keys. Looking back at the moment I laugh because to any passerby it could have appeared as if Lisa was attacking Emmett, Emmett was screaming in pain, and I was taking advantage of the situation by mugging Lisa. All because some baby wanted to get out of a womb mighty damn fast.

When whatever pain had subsided and Lisa was able to ease up on Emmett's arm, I simply told her, "I need to get you to the hospital."

"I knew you were the smart one," she deadpanned, called Emmett a sissy, and informed me that I'd have to drive. We made our way to her car, holding onto Aunt Lisa for dear life just in case another contraction rocked her off her feet. In the car she multi-tasked by calling Thomas on her cell phone while giving me directions to the hospital and occasionally spouting, "Oooooh my God, kid stay in there until Daddy meets us at the hospital! I can't have Emmett delivering you in the back seat of a car!" Of course every time Lisa said that Emmett had to respond by saying, "I ain't looking at your hoo ha to deliver my cousin!" The entire situation seemed hilariously unreal as I pulled into the ER parking lot and ran inside for help. Thomas met us there and then we went up to the OB unit because evidently the baby changed its mind and wanted to stay right where it was. Twenty freaking hours later my new cousin made its entrance into the world.

I had never seen a newborn baby in person before. Emmett and I got to hold our little cousin, Thomas Franklin, before he started crying, wanting to be fed. Once he started crying Emmett panicked. "Take it back, take it back!" he said excitedily, shoving the baby at our aunt. We went back to their place, crashed, and visited the wax museum by ourselves the next day since Lisa would now be occupied with her new bundle of joy and Thomas was busy with work and helping Lisa when he was home. Our visit was about up anyway, so I didn't feel bad leaving or being in the way, and we didn't miss out on much. I took plenty of pictures of Las Vegas and my new baby cousin and texted them to everyone at home.

"Don't send Rosie too many pictures of the kid," Emmett instructed. "It might put an idea into her head."

"Really, Emmett? Don't you have to have sex to produce a child?" I teased him.

Emmett frowned at me. "Keep bragging, bro. I'm waiting for Rosie to be ready. I think she's getting there, we've got a lot of her baggage to get through, ya know?"

I knew all too well. Bella had her demons, just as Rosie had hers. "It'll happen and it'll be worth it."

"I just... love her, ya know?" he shrugged and shut down, effectively ending the conversation. Emmett tended to be shy about expressing his feelings about Rosie. I knew he loved her just by the way he looked at her, but for some reason he just had a hard time expressing it or talking about her in that manner. I could understand that, so I didn't push when he shut down.

Our next adventure took us to Florida, where we visited Aunt Shannon and did the entire Disney experience. At first I felt embarrassed at just how much fun I was having, but damn it, the rides were pretty damn awesome and the overall experience was really great. Thankfully, our trip to Florida was much less adventurous in terms of baby delivering and we made no unscheduled side trips to the local hospital.

Vermont was also fun, if not a bit more relaxed. I felt as though I was constantly laughing because one of John's friends hit on Emmett every single time he saw him. Emmett told him that he had a girlfriend and that he was not interested. John and Harold had to intervene and it turned out that Eugene, who was first introduced to Emmett while loud music was playing, thought that he heard that Emmett was bisexual. While Eugene did apologize, he told Emmett, "It's just hard to be around a piece of meat like you and not be allowed to touch it."

"I think I'm kind of flattered, but I'm into the female variety," Emmett smiled which made his dimples pop out and Eugene went all glassy-eyed on us. My brother, the unintentional man magnet.

Sexual confusion aside, we really had a great time in Vermont and enjoyed getting to know John and Harold more. They invited us back during the fall when the leaves were at their peak time for changing colors. Surprisingly, Emmett was excited over that prospect because Forks was just so damn green.

We spent time exploring some spots in the New England area that John and Harold had suggested to us before heading to the New York side of Niagara Falls. I had started to day dream about the rest of the adventure Emmett and I were going to take. He wanted to go to Europe and I was excited to go with him, but what was I going to do after we were finished with our trip? I knew I wanted to go to college, but what did I want to major in? What did I want to do for the rest of my life? The question of my future kept nagging at me. I never had options growing up and now it seemed as if I had too many to choose from because in reality, I knew my parents would support my decision to go into whatever field I had wanted. The odd thing was though, I didn't have any dreams that I wanted to fulfill. Shaking my head, I told myself to stop worrying about it. Why was I listless now?

Our original plan had been to go home for two weeks after Niagara Falls, but during our first full day in the area we contemplated just heading home because we both missed our girlfriends. Our conversation coincided on the same day that Dad called and told us to head to New York City and with some very specific instructions—right down to flight information and the name of a very swanky sounding hotel where he had very suspiciously booked two rooms.

When I walked into my room I thought I was hallucinating when my eyes settled on Bella standing at the window looking out over the city. As it turned out, she and Rosie had been missing us as well and Dad took pity on them and sent them to New York City. I heard Emmett's very loud and shocked expression from the room next door as Bella ran into my arms with a humongous smile that lit up her entire face.

"I've missed you so much!" her words were muffled in my neck. I don't know what the hell happened in Emmett's room, but I didn't think about either one of them after Bella whispered in my ear, "I brought condoms."

"You are an awesome girlfriend," I declared. "You're smart and beautiful."

Bella smiled at me, her face lit up with excitement. "And I brought condoms."

"Halle-freakin'-lujah." We kissed and of course my hands ended up on her ass, pressing her against me. "I love you and I've missed you."

"Oh, yeah?" she asked, backing away from me, slowly unbuttoning the the top of her shirt. "How much have you missed me?"

I walked toward her and she stopped when the back of her calves hit the bed and fell down on it. Bella's arms reached out toward the waistband of my jeans, dragging me downward to where I knelt between her legs. Our arms wrapped around one another and our lips met feverishly. When we finally pulled apart, gasping for air, I told her, "I've missed you…there is no measure that I can use to describe how much."

"Ditto," she smiled while running her hands through my hair. "We've both been traveling and probably need to freshen up. Why don't we take a shower?"

We? Oh, hell yeah.

She started laughing. Evidently I had said that out loud.

While she went through her things, I quickly texted Dad. "Thank you. Best. Present. Ever," and then turned off my phone. I was sure he would send me a slew of texts because he'd know what we'd be up to and I did not want to be interrupted. Not even once.

Last night with Bella was beyond wonderful and we didn't even leave the room. We ordered room service and I answered the door in a hotel robe. We didn't even finish eating because in the midst of the meal, she had dropped a piece of fruit on her lap and since we were both in robes I went to retrieve it...with my mouth and one thing lead to another.

"Edward?"

I glanced up from the desk and toward the sound of Bella's voice. She was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, one hand resting on the door frame and the other planted firmly on her hip. Clad in only a robe, which was hanging very loosely off her shoulders and was slightly open, giving me a tiny glimpse of what I knew was hidden behind the white terry cloth.

The site of her took my words away and I couldn't speak. "Mmm?"

"Are you... coming?"

"Uh, in a minute."

She laughed at me. Humph! She actually laughed at me. "Oh, give yourself more credit than that." She cracked a shy smile. "This bathroom has the biggest tub I have ever seen. I think I want to run a bath."

"I'm almost done," I explained, showing her the end of the journal. "I'll be right in."

She said nothing, but shifted her arms and the rob slid from her body and my mouth fell open. "Do not take your time," she said, turning around and closing the bathroom door behind her. I stared in the direction of where she had stood, my mouth still agape, and blinked. Months ago I would have never imagined Bella doing such a thing, but she had gotten much more confident and braver. I heard the water turn on in the bathroom.

BBJ, I need to wrap this up. My girlfriend is naked in the next room and waiting on me. Me.

I didn't yet know what I was going to do when Emmett and I were done traveling. I'd figure it out though. I was young. I had time. Maybe I'd go to a community college and take some business classes like Dad had suggested. See what peeked my interest. I had done well in several of my classes, but didn't want to go into a field that would make me unhappy. If I could, I wanted to do something that I enjoyed. I had liked my Photography class and gotten great grades, but could I make a living at it?

I couldn't worry about that right then. After all, I had a naked girl waiting for me. Things were going to be okay. Everything was going really well at home. I had my parents, my siblings, my girlfriend, my friends, Liz and yes, even Charlie in my life. I felt loved and wanted. My future, while uncertain, was going to be just fine.

I'm young and I have years ahead of me. I'm happy. You know what, BBJ? I'm going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.

Closing the filled diary, I pushed it aside as I heard Bella call my name. Undressing was easy—the robe was peeled from my body at record speed and my boxers landed at my feet. I made a straight line to the bathroom, jumping up and over the bed, staggering into the bathroom door and grinning like an idiot.

Yeah, I was going to be fine.

And then I strolled into the bathroom buck ass naked.

THE END

A/N: I smile every time I read that last line. It's so damn fitting IMO.

What a ride it's been! I want to thank all of you for reading, whether you started reading back in 2008 or just yesterday, I appreciate it. I hope you've all enjoyed my version of Edward and the journey he's taken. As I've written him these last few years I have grown as a writer and I hope that it also reflected Edward's growth as the story progressed. I look back at the first chapter and sometimes think, "Yeesh, I wrote that?"

So, what's next for me? If you don't already have me on author alerts, please put me on 'em. My fan fic Twitter account is LegacyFF and I have a page on Facebook called "Fan Fiction by Autumn Dreamer." As long as you don't bug me every single day, I don't mind someone asking me what's going on or if I'm writing or if I'm going to post something. It's nice to know that you're missed and wanted, ya know?

1 – I do have a sequel planned that will take place approximately six years in the future. It is called FRACTURED. It may take some time to get out of me, so I want to get a lot planned and written out before I start posting, even though I'm currently envisioning it to be shorter than Legacy. I have the first chapter written and showed it to a friend and her response was, "WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING DOING TO ME?! *CRIES*" and "It is definitely good, but you totally obliterated me. You sneaky bitch. Edward seems so grown up and serious. The tone of this story has changed drastically. I need more."

2 – I also want to work on an Emmett/Rose fic that I had started some time ago for a charity compilation entitled "Chop and Change." The first two or three chapters of that sucker is out there somewhere.

3 – I am working on a Legacy Outtake that will take place at Christmas 2009 (after Legacy finishes). It will answer some questions that were not answered within Legacy, like the Liz/Peter situation and Laurent. I HOPE to get that out next week, beta'd or not, for Christmas.

4 – FYI The title of the epilogue comes from the series finale of Edward's favorite show M*A*S*H*

5 – Anyone want to be a pre-reader or idea bouncer? I need some new people to help me out in those regards.

Ok, I think that's everything. Oh, wait….

6 – If you've enjoyed the story, please review and say a few words! It doesn't take long. Tell me something good, tell me that you like it…yeah.. or something along those lines. Comments feed my creativity.

Thanks again for reading!

-Kim