The Balavans

Epilogue: ...and Always

3 years later

Paxton's POV

Three years since I got my Bear back, and life was so much better. I'd proposed a year after I'd returned, and he'd said no. He said no the first three times, but eight months ago, he finally said yes. I understood why he said no, but it didn't mean it still didn't hurt.

But we'd gotten married last month after a 7 month engagement, only our friends and family there. Tyrell, Trey, Maylea, Fabien, Laelynn, Jasper, Dion, Conell, Percy, Keene, Jesse, Denley all their kids, my parents and brother, Dominic's parents and siblings, just us. It was small, but seeing Dominic with that bright smile on his face was the best memory I had so far.

Today, we were at the adoption agency to finalise the papers to adopt a 3 month old little girl with dark curly hair and bright blue eyes and her 1 year old brother with dark curly hair and brown eyes. They looked like the mixture of us and we'd fallen in love the second we'd seen them the first day we'd come two weeks ago.

We spent every day with them since we last saw them and the little boy, who was named Adam, had already started calling Dominic 'Ni' and me 'Pa'. The little girl, who's name was Jasmine, always got a bright smile on her face when she saw us and today, we were taking them home.

We would have monthly check ups for the first year from the agency to make sure we were taking care of them and that they were happy. We'd changed Dominic's old room into a nursery with two cribs we'd gotten from Tyrell and Trey and several other objects Mum had saved from when I was a kid for Adam.

Conell and Percy had given us clothes and other small things for a little girl and we'd only had to buy a couple things. They'd thrown us a 'baby shower' even though we weren't actually having a baby, just adopting one, but I think Tyrell just wanted an excuse to throw a party.

We finished signing the papers and the woman smiled brightly, saying, "Congratulations, Jasmine and Adam are now Levitts." I smiled excitedly and took Dominic's hand as she led us to the back room where Jasmine and Adam were waiting for us. "Ni! Pa!" Adam cheered, raising his hands for me to pick him up and Dominic picked up Jasmine.

"Hey there little guy, ready to go home?" I asked, tickling his stomach. He beamed, nodding quickly as he stuck his fist in his mouth. Jasmine was watching us with wide blue eyes as she tugged on Dominic's necklace, the same one we'd made all those years ago in that cell. He still wore it everyday, and only took it off to shower.

We carried them out of the building, Conell, Percy, and their daughter Ashley waiting for us by the car. They had said they only wanted to come to show us how to correctly buckle in a three month old but I was sure they just wanted to meet the little ones.

"Hi there Jazzy! I'm Uncle Conell!" Conell cooed as he took the little girl from Dominic's arms and smiled down at the wide eyed little girl. "Con," Adam mumbled, pointing at Conell. I chuckled and said, "Yes, Adam, that's Uncle Conell. This is your Uncle Percy." "Cee!" he said happily and I laughed, kissing his forehead.

Dominic smiled fondly at the little boy, shaking his head. "He already knows your nickname, Perce," he said amused and Percy shrugged, picking up his daughter and saying, "It's not that hard to figure out." I laughed and said, "That's Ashley, can you say hi?" to Adam who just stared at her with wide eyes.

"Shi!" he said finally and I laughed, Conell saying, "Close enough. Ready to take these two little ones home?" I nodded happily, adjusting my hold on Adam so I could set him into the toddler's seat I'd put into the back of the car. Dominic and Conell had walked around to the other side so he could show Dominic how to securely buckle in Jasmine.