Lieutenant Garrett

Epilogue: Part II

I was making the finishing touches on my daughter's birthday cake when Chris came into the kitchen with her on his hip and a camera in his hand.

"Say hi mummy!" He said as he walked in.

I turned to my little Mayella and smiled. She snuggled into her daddy and waved.

"Hi mummy!" She said. I smiled and tickled her belly.

"Hi baby girl! How's your very first birthday party?"

She smiled and gave me a thumbs up. I placed the candles on the cake and picked it up. Chris continued to record and walked with me into the living room. We started singing happy birthday as I set the cake down onto the dining table.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Mayella! Happy birthday to you!!" Chris set Mayella in her high chair in front of the cake.

"Blow out the candles baby" Chris said crouching beside her and kissing her cheek.

She made a face and looked over at her older brother.

"Chase? Hewp pwease?"

Chase got out of his seat and came in front of his daddy. Chris put him on his lap and held the camera toward them both.

"Like this Ella" he showed her what to do and they both blew out her birthday candles together.

"Yay!!!" They both clapped happily. Everyone quickly joined them and three year old Dominic came bounding over to Mayella and Chase. Chris picked him up.

"Happy Birthday Ella!" Dominic said kissing her cheek.

"Dommy" she smiled shyly.

Chris smiled at the camera and ended the recording with "Goodnight America". He closed it and set the camera on the island. He picked up his daughter and grabbed a piece of cake. He held it in front of her and she didn't know what to do with it. I picked the camera back up and hit record.

"Look baby, like daddy" he picked up a piece of her cake and smeared it on his nose and mouth. She laughed and did the same.

"Give daddy a kiss" he smiled. She puckered her cake-smeared lips and kissed him. I was so glad I recorded that. I set the camera down, ending it the same way Chris did. I walked over toward Addison, Ryan, Chase and Dominic. I kissed Ryan on the cheek and turned to Dominic.

"Does Auntie get a kiss Dom?" I asked smiling. Dominic walked over to me and gave me a quick kiss. "Thank you!"

I picked Chase up and carried him over to Mayella and Chris.

"Why does daddy and Ella have cake on their faces?" He asked.

"Because they're silly. Want some?" He nodded up and down quickly. I picked up a piece of his cake and smeared it on his nose just like Chris had done. He squealed and did the same to me.

"Hey guys!" Addison smiled "smile!!"

Chase and I moved over beside Chris and Mayella and smiled for the camera. Chris pulled me up against him and kissed me as the camera flashed.

"AW!" Addison squealed showing me the picture. I was holding a beaming Dominic and Chris was holding Mayella who had a huge grin on her face. Chris and I were in the middle; his free hand on my cheek as he kissed me. We all had cake covered faces and it was really cute.

"You need to take our family pictures" I laughed.

"Duh who else would do them?" Addison laughed throwing and arm around my shoulder and hugging me. I couldn't completely hug her because of her big baby belly. She was seven months pregnant and huge. I wasn't nearly as big as she was when I was pregnant with Chase or Mayella.

I took Mayella from Chris and set Chase down taking his hand and leading him to the bathroom so we could get the cake off our faces. Mayella was kind of a tomboy, so she liked getting down and dirty and hated getting cleaned up. Chase had grown used to it even though he hated it just as much as his sister did. The two of them were best friends with Dominic and just before Mayella was born, Addison and Ryan built a house next door to ours. The boys were extremely happy and they were pretty much inseperable. When Mayella came along, they took a liking to her and now, they were the Three Muskateers.

After everyone had left, Chris and I put a movie on in the living room for the kids to watch while we cleaned up. After only about a half hour, Chris and I plopped on the couch. Chase and Mayella were playing on the floor when Mayella stood up. We've tried to get her to walk but she hasn't yet. Chris jumped up and grabbed the camera. I sat on the floor about ten feet away from her and held out my hands.

"Mayella! Come see mummy!" I cooed. She took a step forward. Chris and I cheered and he followed her with the camera. She took another step after a minute or so and Chase stepped in front of her. He held his hands out in front of her and started slowly walking backwards. She stuck her hands out to try and catch him and when he backed up, she followed him, walking forward. I clapped and a few minutes later, Mayella tripped and fell into my arms.

"Who just took her first steps?" I asked looking at her.

"Me!" She said pointing at herself.

"Yeah! Mayella did!" Chris said zooming in on her happy face.

He pointed the camera at me. "July 13th 2017, First steps!!" I said happily into the camera.

He turned the camera off and held out his hands.

"Go see daddy!" I said standing her up. She ran over to Chris and fell into his lap. He kissed her cheek and threw her up into the air and caught her.

"Chase?" I said.

"Yeah mummy?"

"Can I have cuddles?" I asked.

He smiled and jumped into my lap. I pulled him close to me and kissed his cheek. He was my mama's boy and Mayella was a daddy's girl.

"I love you mummy"

"I love you too Chasey boy" he kissed my cheek.

"I wuv you mummy!!" Mayella yelled running over and joining our cuddle/play time. She tripped and fell onto Chase who let out a laugh.

I moved Chase onto my left knee and pulled Mayella onto my right. I kissed them both and Chris came behind me. He put his legs on either side of me and pulled me back into his chest. I leaned back into him and closed my eyes. Chris leaned up against the back of the couchd kissed my temple. I pulled our kids closer to me and they both slowly fell asleep. Chris rested his head on my shoulder and I kissed his head.

"You see this?" He asked slightly gesturing to the position we were in with the kids.

"Mhm" I said resting my head on his. He lifted his head and I rested my head in the crook of his neck.

"This here, is perfect" he turned and kissed me passionately.

He was right. It was perfect.

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Okay! This chapter is officially cute. Did you like Mayella's name choice? I thought she needed something unique to go with Chase.

Just in case you were wondering, Chase's birthday is April 19th 2014 and Mayella's is July 13th 2016. I know it's set in the future but, I had to keep the timeline in check and I didn't really think it through. But I don't think it's too big of a deal.

There will be an alternate ending coming up and then that's it for Lt. Garrett! :(

Pictures of the babies above!! They're adorable!

Keep commenting and voting!

Happy reading!

Eagle_Eye_13 xx