Dawn's End

Carter spoke so softly Shayla almost didn't hear him. She accepted her daughter from his arms. Dipping his head in deference to her, he took a step back. Shayla followed the focus of his stare. His cool blue eyes were locked onto her daughter in a mixed expression of both awe and amazement. "Phoenix," she answered.

Carter nodded. He reached out and cupped Shayla's cheek before moving his fingertips down to stroke the soft fuzz on her daughter's head. "From the ashes a new life arises." He turned to melt into the crowd, stopping at the soft whisper of his name on her lips.

"Carter, are you happy?"

Carter smiled at her question. She worried about his happiness. Was he happy? The Guardians and the hundreds of thousands of lives they protected in the city kept him quite busy. So busy in fact that he almost hadn't accepted the invitation to attend the wedding at all. In part, he had come to see Shayla again, to reassure himself that he had done, as he knew he had, the right thing. In part, he had come to see the place where his father had been laid to rest upon the pyre. Mainly had had come to remind himself that life was for the living and he was very, very much alive.

There was a peace to be found in remembering the dead. New grass had sprouted up and taken root over the site, but underneath the blanket of fresh green growth pieces of ash lingered. The grass there was greener and heartier than in the rest of the meadow. Fragile spring flowers bloomed with colorful blossoms, their heads bobbing in the gentle breeze. The pyre had nourished the ground with its cleansing of fire and offering of ash. Something beautiful grew in the place of so much pain. He had come here to remind himself of that as well.

Was he happy? Perhaps, not in the way Shayla had meant it. But, yes, he was long last at peace and that was all the happiness he needed. "Yes."

Shayla watched Carter disappear into the thick of the crowd. She smiled a relieved smile and clutched her baby to her chest. He was happy. All is well that ends well, she supposed. Her feet had been set on one path and his on another. Vampires lived a very long time and so did wolves. Carter had found but a portion of what he was looking for. He gauged happiness by a far different standard than she did and for him, for now, it was enough. Someday, it wouldn't be and he would become restless again. He would wander until he found what it was he was looking for in its entirety. Where he'd find it, she didn't know, but somehow, she had the feeling that one day their paths would cross again.

"Your mother is here," Robert whispered to Cole as he peeked around an ornate screen of silk decorated with floral petals to get a glimpse at the guests. Jesse sat on the first row. Occupying the entire row were Cole's half brothers and sisters. Jesse's family, kids stair-stepped in age from toddler to teenager, wiggled with the barely contained energy of children threatened to behave or else. To her left, with an arm casually draped around her shoulders and a semi-disinterested expression on his face, was Bill.

"Yeah, I know. Dad, I told her... everything."

"Everything...everything?"

Cole nodded. It didn't seem fair to enter in to a new life with Maggie without telling his mother the truth, the whole truth. Cole didn't want to live a lie. Eventually, he would have run out of excuses to explain the oddity that was Maggie and he. He would have had to cut her out of his life eventually to hide the truth. He didn't want to do that. He had spent too long living under the same roof with his family but never really being part of them. In time he'd have to take each one of his brothers and sisters aside and tell them the truth as well. Even Bill, as skeptical as he'd been had a hard time dismissing the fangs Cole had painstakingly showed him.

"How'd she take it?" Robert hated that Jess had been thrust into the paranormal world. Hated that she would fear her son as much as she had feared him. She was innocent and happy in her ignorance. Her whole life was so sheltered, just her and the kids, and Bill.

"Dad, she said she already knew."

"How?"

"I guess you used to talk in your sleep."

"Probably, I guess. I wonder how Bill is holding out."

"I don't know who she threatened to behave today more, my half brothers and sisters or him," Cole answered on a chuckle.

"That sounds like your mother," Robert said as he returned Cole's chuckle.

"Dad, she never blamed you for leaving. She never blamed you for not being there for us and neither do I. She said all she ever wanted was for you to be happy and she's glad you finally are. As for Bill, I think he's glad the competition is finally out of the way."

"I would have never have tried to work my way back into her life. I care about her too much for that. All I wanted was for her and for you to be happy."

"Dad, I know it's not been easy. But, I'm glad we're here. And I want you to know, I've always loved you."

"Right back at ya' kid." Robert settled for a manly clap on Cole's back instead of an awkward hug. He took a minute to straighten Cole's tie and admired what twenty-one years of hard work and a lot of sleepless night had resulted in. Cole looked so much like Jess, but he could see some of himself in his son's eyes. Cole was the best of them both. And he'd made them so proud. "Let's go get married."

Cole brushed a piece of lint off his dad's shoulder. Things between them had been both good and bad. There was a time when he wouldn't have stood in the same room with his dad and now they were together sharing one of the most pivotal moments of their lives. The double wedding had been his idea. Maggie and Cindy had jumped right on board with the plan. Sometimes when things seemed at their darkest. Which was where Cole had been when his dad had come barreling into his life determined to save him. Things were simply building up to turn out the best. "After you, dad."

Drew stood over the assembly gathered on the bluffs. The blood that was shed on this holy place was the price, paid many times over, for the peace he thought he would never see. This was a time of happiness and of gratitude and of remembrance of the all the people who had sacrificed so much. Would there always be bad guys to fight? Naturally. But, together, the wolves, the Guardians, and the Sons would battle them all side by side.