One Daunting Night

Epilogue

Very dangerous Epilogue that will actually maybe really heart your feels pls don't kill me this is great. 

"Xander..." Ara murmured softly, feeling her fingers curl around the grip of her suitcase, pulling Caleb higher onto her hip as he gently snores in the crook of her neck, oblivious to the world around him. 

"Yeah?" Xander replied nurturingly, taking the suitcase and placing it on the trolley, on top of a colourful variety of other bags. 

"I'm not sure...I'm not sure if I can exactly do this." Ara breathed out. 

Xander gave her a warm smile and leaned in to kiss her forehead, ignoring the world buzzing around them. "You'll be perfectly all right, Bella. I'm here with you." 

Ara let out a shakey breath and closed her eyes. Her mind was going dizzy and she couldn't get in the line to go through the doors. She knew her parents were on the otherside, and she had explained that she'd be taking home a lovely boy going by the name of Caleb. Which in a way was very cruel, seeing how they'll think that the handsome young man with the purple eyes was Caleb, not the sweet little boy on her hip. 

"I'm coming home with a boyfriend and a baby." She murmured, not even forgetting the fact that she called Xander her boyfriend. They hadn't discussed a proper title to call each other, in fact, with everything happening, there wasn't a consideration on the discussion. Everything was just all weird and loopy, were they even together? 

Xander hadn't even popped the question, because after all, they were mates and in the werewolf world, they'd just call each other mates. But here, in Ara's different, very human and mundane world, Xander was her boyfriend. Or Fiance, or even Husband without the wedding. She was, in fact, stuck with him for the rest of her life. Not that she complained. 

But still, Xander smiled. "My parents would be ecstatic." 

"My parents aren't exactly royals with a bloodline in need to be carried." Though Xander was right, in his own way. When they had arrived rather separately to his palace, Xander's parents were ecstatic to see their son had found a mate and had continued the bloodline, though disappointed they weren't there during the most important events that involved their grandson, they were still happy to have him around.

But Ara's parents were human. Full, completely and one-hundred per cent human with every cell of blood and every bone in their body. Hell would raise, especially after not seeing her parents for so long and hiding this big of a secret. How she managed to keep it, it's all a big mystery. 

"It's going to be fine." 

"My dad's going to kill you." No doubt about it. For some unknown reason, both their conscious agreed on not telling about the whole 'how I got you pregnant' part, leaving it to be a blur and a simple one night stand. It was a secret of the past, now. Never to be said again. To them, it's already been forgotten. 

"He can't kill me, I'm basically immortal." Xander said big-headedly. 

Ara scoffed and slightly nudged him with her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, whatever to your extended life expectancy." She joked, remembering one time when Xander had claimed that werewolves do tend to have a much longer life than what would be expected. 

"Don't worry too much though. Look at you. You're nearly graduating college, you're stable and happy and if I'm correct, that's all your parents would want from you. They want you to have a life of your own and yes, they might be upset for a bit, but they're going to have to live with it and they're going to love it soon enough. It'll take some time. But the sooner we do this, the sooner they'll forgive us." Ara's heart warmed when Xander called them 'us'. 

Because it was some sort of recognition that she wasn't alone in this. That she wasn't just the one who made a mistake, but it was him as well. 

Passing security, they walked through the exit doors, where a crowd of people were waiting for their loved ones as well. Ara craned her neck, passing Caleb to Xander, gripping her fingers against the trolley. This was the big moment. Her heart was racing and thumping against her chest so loud, Xander could most definitely hear it. 

She may not have been related to her parents by blood, but they were still a family. This big of a secret would surely anger her if Caleb had disappeared for nearly three years only to come back with a wife and a child. 

"Ara! Over here!" Ara couldn't help but recognise the beautiful voice of her mother, waving her hand high up in the air, standing next to her graying father. Her heart yearned and she left Xander and Caleb behind, bursting into a run that caught the eyes of the people standing by. Tears stinged against the rush of air surrounding her, and she felt complete and whole the moment she crashed into her parent's bodies, wringing her arms around their necks and pulling them close. 

She could hardly breathe, allowing sobs to come forth. Happy sobs, disappointed sobs, excited sobs. 

"I missed you guys so, so much." She cried, feeling her mother pat the back of her head, holding her tightly as if she were going to run back inside and catch a plane to New York. 

"Nothing can compare to the video chats leading up to this moment. Oh, my baby, you're back." Ara heard her mother whisper tightly into her ear, but her father's hold loosened before slipping away, noticing the pair of boys coming towards them. 

"How have you been?" Ara quickly asked, "How have you both been?" 

"Missing you so heavily," Her mother answered, focusing on Ara more than on Xander and Caleb, who her father had already taken notice of. "How have you been?" 

"Great. Amazing. Just...so, great." Raising a baby, falling in love, fighting in a war, losing my best friend and her mate, the usual. Ara has been through ups and downs–though she can't deny that both of them weigh equal on a scale. 

Ara's heart began to quicken when her father leaned in closer to her ear, an expression of confusion clear on his face. "Ara, who are they?" 

She knew exactly who he was talking about. Xander was obviously nervous, though he did everything not to show it, whilst Ara felt like crying, throwing up, and her head was getting dizzy but she stabled herself. This was the big moment. 

Three years, she's kept her son completely secret. Three years she's kept Xander completely secret. Three whole years. The nerve she had showing her face there once again, but she had to do this. 

"T-that's uhm...my boyfriend, Xander and..." She paused and gulped for a moment, forcing her head up to look into her mother's tearing eyes, "My son, Caleb." 

-

AN in 2020: And that's a wrap. 

Thank you for reading! Please delete this book.