Check Yes, Juliet

Serendipity

10 years later

"Ashton don't push Jesse, how many times do I have to tell you!" I yelled at my youngest son. My three month old baby girl Charlotte squirmed in my arms as I spoke.

"But mom!" Ashton whined. He was a free-spirit. He had Chris's blue eyes and my brown hair. He was taller than Jesse, his twin brother. I had hopes for Ash, he seemed to really enjoy music- maybe he would do something like Chris or me.

"It's ok mom, we were just playing." Jesse said. He might look the same as Ashton, but there was something different about him. He looked more like his father than Ashton did. They were both 5 years old, young and mischievous. Jesse always stuck up for his brother. When Chris put Ashton in his room for yelling at me, Jesse kicked and screamed trying to free Ashton.

"I don't care, he shouldn't be pushing you. Why don't you guys go watch TV?" I said.

"Ok." They both replied together, running into the living room.

I looked down at my little girl. Her hair was blonde, she had blue eyes too. I was hoping she would look like Chris. I set her down in her crib and went to go make dinner. As I washed the dishes I thought about work, how I was the choir teacher there. The kids were sweet, crazy, but adorable all the same.

The front door opened and I heard the boys shout, "Dad!" And Chris's chuckle. He walked into the kitchen and smiled at me. He had grown a beard, a few wrinkles were near his eyes, but he still looked 18. He never gave up his skinny jeans and band t-shirts. I guess he didn't have to, he took over the music business when Adam retired.

"You look beautiful." Chris said, pulling me in for a kiss.

I smiled. "Thank you honey, I just started making dinner, everyone will be over soon."

He nodded. "Ok, I'll go take a shower." He left, but then quickly came back and whispered, "You could join me."

As silly as it was, I blushed. "I have to get dinner ready! I can't leave Ashton and Jesse with this. They would burn the house down."

"Alright, alright." He kissed my cheek and left.

An hour later, the doorbell rang. I had Charlotte in a cute little orange shirt and black vans. She sat in her play pen, laughing as Jesse made funny faces at her.

"Who is that?" Ashton asked, coming to stand beside me.

"I don't know." I said, I opened the door and saw Ian and Katy. Ian smiled and embraced me, we fell back a bit, Ashton started laughing.

"Hey Mrs. Chris!" That's what he called me every now and then, it was cute. At least I thought so. "Hey Ian Jr." He said to Ashton. Ashton's middle name was Ian, and Ian was so overjoyed that he took to calling his Ian Jr. Ashton looked up to Ian, he wanted to be just like him. Ashton stood up straighter and smiled.

"Hey Ian!"

"We should get you to play the bass." Ian commented.

"That would be cool!" Ashton said nodding.

"I'm down for that." Chris said, walking in. He hugged Ian and then Katy; after he came to stand next to me.

"I brought lasagna." Katy said, handing over a dish.

"Oh thank you!" I felt bad for Katy. They couldn't get pregnant, they had been trying for years. And they didn't have the money to adopt, so they were stuck. They were always coming over, Ian and Katy were second parents to Ashton, Jesse, and Charlotte.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again. "I got it mom." Jesse said nodding.

We all laughed. "He's so grown up." Katy said.

"He certainly acts like it." Chris said, shaking his head.

"Hey! Mini me!" I heard Jesse say.

"No, no, he's me." Scott said.

We went to greet them and saw Jesse and Jenna, Scott and Caroline. "Hey guys!" Chris said, going to hug them. I did the same. Jenna held her baby, he was two years old now. He had Jenna's dark hair and Jesse's light blue eyes. His name was Axl, it took Jenna and Jesse a long time to finally get pregnant again, but they did.

Caroline walked in, ready to pop. She only had a month left before they had their first child. They were expecting a girl, Scott had been glowing ever since he found out months ago. They had brought things too, Caroline and Scott brought flowers and Jenna and Jesse brought a pie.

"I love that we spend thanksgiving together." Caroline said.

"Yeah, since our families are crap." Jesse said.

"We've done better though, haven't we?" Chris said.

"Cheers to that." Ian said, "Speaking of cheers, wine anyone?" He looked at me raising his eyebrows.

"Sure, lets go to the kitchen." I replied.

"So the music school is going well." Scott said. When Edmund had died, he took over and changed it into a music school. The upstairs level remained untouched though. It would always be ours for as long as we lived. We went there every once in a while, to get away from the stresses of life.

"That's awesome." Chris said.

"Yeah, one kid came in and I had never met him before, he was 15. I asked him how he got there and he said he drove, stole his dad's car." Scott chuckled. "Anyway he was determined to get lessons, he said he would do whatever he had to, to learn."

"So what did you do?" Katy asked.

"Well I let him in for free. Someone with that must passion can't be wasted." Scott said.

"And what about you Ian?" Jesse asked. "How's the music going?"

"Still looking for a label, but we'll figure it out. I have some promising companies."

"I can't believe you'll be releasing music." I said, shaking my head. "That's fantastic."

"Yeah, this is my dream. I can't believe it's actually happening." Ian said smiling big.

"We have some exciting news too. Well it is for us, I don't know if you'll like it." Jenna said.

"We're moving." Jesse continued.

We were all quiet. "Moving where?" Chris asked.

"To Maine. There's a job open for an engineer, and I'm taking it." Jesse answered.

"Wow..." Scott said.

"We're very happy for you." I said. "We'll miss you that's all."

"Don't worry, we'll call and talk all the time. And, we are coming down for every thanksgiving. Maybe you guys can come and visit us too."

"Yeah, we'll work it out." Ian said nodding.

"We've all been through too much to lose this friendship I think." I answered.

"Honestly, I'm excited. This is a new adventure." Jenna said.

"Yeah, that's huge. It's going to be completely different from Chicago." Chris said.

"I hope not too much, but a change is what we're hoping for." Jesse replied.

I looked around at us, all so grown up. No drama, we had families, futures, lives. None of us thought we would get this far. We all thought we would be stuck in High School for the rest of eternity. I smiled.

"What?" Chris asked.

"I can't believe how far we've come." I said.

Everyone smiled, they had the same thought I did. Everything was finally right.

~~~

Thank you so much for reading this! It has been so much fun, I love these characters and I wish they were real. Comment what you thought about the overall book and who your favorite character was!