Come Back, Be Here (Camren)

Epilogue

Camila walks over to Brooklyn and ruffles her hair. "Hey, princess. I know Michelle will be very excited to see you. She's up in her room if you want to go see her." The younger girl nods and heads upstairs. "And you." Camila squats down to get eye level with the little boy. "My sweet Hamilton, are getting way too big." She scoops him up in her arms and he giggles.

"I have been all over Miami looking for a Captain Marvel birthday gift. Of fucking course they have stores full of male Avenger toys, but none of the badass women get their own action figures or toys." Sofi comes storming into the house carrying multiple sacks. "I hate our world I swear." She pauses at the doorway when she sees Camila holding the tiny boy and Lauren covering his ears. "Oops. I didn't know the little ones were here already. My bad."

"Let me help you, Sof." Lauren grabs a few bags from the girl and Sofi follows her into the kitchen. While both of them are unloading everything, the front door opens again and a very pregnant Ally walks in with her husband Shawn trailing behind her. Shawn is carrying multiple boxes of pizza and a sack full of drinks.

"Smallz! You made it!" Dinah wraps the small woman up in a hug.

"Yeah, I stopped feeling nauseous and I didn't want to miss my niece's birthday party." The woman sets the present on the table by the door and Camila takes the pizzas and drinks from Shawn. "Now I'm going to go find a seat on the couch because my feet and back are killing me." Shawn quickly wraps an arm around his wife's waist and guides her into the living room.

Lauren and Camila work on getting all the food ready and set out while the rest of their friends hang the decorations up in the backyard. Michelle has a lot of friends at school and Camila and Lauren offer every year to throw her a huge birthday party, but every year she says she just wants it to be close friends and family. Her wish is their command, so every year they have a small party for their girl.

When all the decorations are set up and the food is laid out on the table, everyone makes their way to the backyard. The kids all immediately run to the swing set and mini playground that Camila and Lauren have set up while all the adults take a seat around the table and catch up.

"So how's expanding the restaurant coming, Smallz?" Dinah starts the conversation.

"Great, actually. We are opening up a restaurant in New York City, LA, Seattle, and Atlanta. We want to see how those do before we open any more." The older women gushes about her pizza business and all of her friends listen intently. "How's the gallery, Lo?"

"It's doing really well here actually. So glad to be doing what I love again. It's refreshing." The green eyed girl replies. "And I get to watch my beautiful wife live out her dream of songwriting and teaching music full time. Life's good."

Camila reaches for Lauren's hand and interlaces their fingers. A few seconds later, a mini Camila runs and jumps into Lauren's lap. "Can we have cake now?" Michelle looks at Lauren pleadingly and Lauren nods her head. She can never say no to those big brown eyes that are identical to her wife's.

"Sure, baby. Go get everyone and we can have cake when everyone is seated." Lauren plants a kiss to her head and smiles when the girl scurries off to get her friends and brother.

A few minutes later, everyone is gathered around the big table in their backyard. Dinah and Normani are each holding a child, Michelle is sitting in Sofi's lap, and Camren is sitting in Camila's.

Lauren and Camila decided that they wanted to raise their children in the house Camila grew up in. Sure, they had enough money to live in a nicer and bigger place, but this house is special to them both. It's also close to Dinah and Normani and they love being only a few houses down from their best friends. Camila nor Lauren had the heart to sell it and once Michelle took her first steps in the house, they both knew they'd raise every single child they had in that house.

Once Lauren finishes strategically placing all the candles in the cake, she lights each one and then everyone sings happy birthday.

Twice.

Michelle's always insisted that they sing it once for her and once for her sister.

It chokes Camila up every time, and every single time Lauren ends up holding her wife as close to her as possible until the tears stop.

"Okay, babe, make a wish." Camila wipes the tears from her cheeks and watches as her mini me grins and then in one powerful breath, blows out every candle on the Captain Marvel cake.

"What did you wish for?" Camila asks as she snakes one arm around her wife and places the other on her daughter's shoulder.

"I wished for my sister to have a happy birthday in heaven." The young girl smiles up at the sky briefly and everyone's heart clenches in their chest. "And I wished for all of us to stay this happy forever."

THE END