Ok guys, here it is, an epilogue to 'Seven Tear Itch' (if you haven't read it its archived at the crimplex website, or email me and I'll send it to you). SUMMARY OF 'SEVEN YEAR ITCH' The basic jist of the story was (if you havent read it or can't remember) is that Angie was forced out of the unti aftre her cover was blown, so she and Oscar moved to a small country town and got married under the Wittness Protection Program. Meanwhile Mac was promoted to Deputy Commisioner and Pete had left the force (Danni was left in charge of the Unit). When Mac found out that the guy who was after Angie was released, she found Pete and then went to find Angie and Oscar to warn them. To cut a long story short Mac and Pete got back together and after all the drama was over, they left together on an around the world yacht trip. DISCLAIMER I don't own Stingers, or any of its charaters and I am writing this for my own enjoyment and that of others who care to read it, and not for any monetary profit. -Any feedback would be appreciated, pleease send it to courtz16@hotmail.com (feel free to add me to your MSN if you want to) Eighteen Months Later Angie sat on the park bench, whating as her son crossed the road with his little sister, carrying the mail from the post office. The two of them had grown so much in the past year or so. Ben was starting to come out of his shell since starting school and MacKenzie had happily assumed responsilbity for her new baby brother and sister. Thank God both of them had suffered no emtional damage as a result of what had happened a year ago with Max Crivelli. Ben now knew sketchy details of what his parents once were, but he also knew how important it was that it was kept a secret from the locals. Angie looked down at the pusher beside her, and Piper began to cry. Angie lifted the netting over the pram, and reached down to lift Piper out of the pusher, still wrapped in the blanket Oscar’s mother had made for her. Oscar’s mum had been a frequent visitor to the farm, not that Angie minded at all, she was great with the kids, and was always ready to help without overstepping the line. As Piper began to settle again Angie looked as MacKenzie took something from Ben’s hand and began to run toward her mother “Mummy, Mummy, a letter, from Aunty Mac!” Angie gently put Piper back into the pusher, with her still sleeping brother and got up to get the letter from MacKenzie. Angie took the postcard from MacKenzie, and looked at the picture on the front, interensted where Pete and Mac were this time. Over the past year they had receivd postcards from all over the world. Angie loked at the front of the postcard, then looked again. It was ent from Melbourne, they must be home. She quickly turned over the postcard and read teh small messege “Sean, Tess, Ben, MacKenzie, Harrison and Piper, We’re back in Australia, and we’ll be seeing you on the 28th. Lots of Love, Mac and Pete” Angie quickly looked down at her watch, today was the 28th. She quickly grabbed her bag, and said to MacKenzie and Ben who was now with them “Come on kids, time to go home” MacKenzie looked disappointed “But you said we can play at the par Mum!” Angie started to push the pusher toward the car “Not today sweetie, Mac and Pete are home, and they are coming to visit us today” MacKenzie began to jump up and own with excitement, and Ben asked “Really Mum! Pete said when he came back he would take me out on his boat” Angie looked down at her son, and laughed as they got to the car “And you remeber that do you Benny?” Ben climbed into the front seat and put on his seat belt ready to go, as Angie put the babies in their capsule and MacKenzie in her booster seat “Yeah, he promised” Angie and Oscars Farm Pete was pushing Mac on the rope swing, as they waited for either Oscar or Angie to come home “Hey, Pete do you think we should have told them?” Pete laughed “I’m sure the will love the surprise” Mac smiled. This was going to be a huge surprise. Mac dragged her feet across the phone, stopping the swing, then turned to Pete who was behind her “I would have thought that Oscar and Angie would have been at home, I sent that postcard days ago, so they should have gotten it before today. It’s definatlry not like Angie and Oscar to leave their best friends waiting in their front yard” Pete laughed, as a sound was heard coming from the pram they had placed in the shade under the verandah. Pete went over to the pram and carefully lifted out a bundle, wrapped in a pink blanket, and placed it in the crook of his arm, bringing the baby over to Mac, who was still sitting on the swing. Mac hopped up to meet Pete, and took the blanet from the baby’s face “Hey there baby girl, whats the matter” The baby, was soon soothed at her mothers voice soon closed her clear blue eyes once again. As Pete turned around to take the baby back to her pram, Angies car was heard coming up the driveway. As Pete went to greet them, Mac pulled him back behind the tree.. Giggling the stayed behind the tree, watching as Angie got MacKenzie out of the car and got the pram for the twins, and go then out of the car. Their cover was blown by Ben, who noticed the unfamiliar pram on the verandah “Hey Mum, who’s pram is this?” Angie, who had by now put both the twins into their pram was now pushing them toward the verandah looked at the pram. It didn’t match any of the prams of any of her friends children. She took a closer look at the pram, then looked around her yard. Smiling, she raised her finger up to her lips for the children to be quiet before pulling Ben and MacKenzie to her, and whispering to them. Mac and Pete, still waiting behind the tree were puzzled at the sudden silence, only to be surprised by Ben and MacKenzie coming from behind the tree to give them a hug. After the initial shock had worn off and all the normal greetings were finished, Mac and Pete were at last able to introduce their little surprise. Pete had the honours “This is Shona Morgan Church and she was born in Ireland (hence the name) about three months ago” Angies smiled as she took the baby from Petes arms “Wow Mac, she looks like you....” But Angie found herself only talking to the space where Mac should have been standing. Instead Mac was looking at the twins “Angie they are so beautiful” Pete stood there and just laughed at the sight of two mother hens. That night when Oscar had returned from the stockyards, all the babies were asleep and everyone had settled down for one of Angie’s famous roasts with mint sauce and the antique baltic pine table. Behind Angie, there had been two additions to the photo gallery on the buffet, with Piper and Harrison's baby picured and name meaings; Harrison: Leader Charles: Freeholder Piper: Pipe Player Ruth: Beloved While eveyone ate their tea, Mac and Pete recaptured their year abroad, Angie looked at Mac in amazement “So you had no idea you were pregnant when you left Australia?” Mac laughed “No, none at all, I had no morning sickness or strange cravings like some!” Mac looked at Angie who laughed, and Pete added “We didn’t know Mac was pregnant for sure until we docked in South Africa, and found out she was three months pregnant” Oscar quickly did some arithmatic in his head “So that means Shona was conceived in out sons room!” At this Ben, who until now hadn’t said a work piped in “Dad what does conceived mean?” All eyes fell expentantly on Oscar, as he turned a nice shade of red. Angie jumped in to save him “We’ll have that discussion another day Benny” Ben nodded, and not seeing what the big fuss was about his question continued with his meal. Angie then turned to Mac “So you found out you were pregnant, and then just jumped back on the yacht and kept going?” Mac laughed “Basically, though we made planes to dock in Ireland in four months time, just in case Shona decided to arrive early..” Pete butted in “It was lucky we did to, because Shona was born a month premature” Angie nodded, and then asked “So why the name Shona, its a beautiful name?” Mac answered “Shona was the name of a woman we met while we were in the hospital, and seeing as we were in Ireland, it seemed appropriate to name our baby an Irish name, so Shona it was, even though Pete preferred Caoimhe (Keavy) and I preferred Niamh, we both agreed on Shona Morgan” Angie and Oscar smiled, as Pete continued their story “So after Shona was out of hospital, we sold our yacht and decided to continue our trip by plane, so we went to America and Europe, until finally we got so homesick that we booked the next flight home” Angie and Oscar laughed, and Angie said “I am so jealous, I loved the time I spent backpacking, it was great” Pete replied “Yeah, it was great, but nothing beats home though” Mac smiled. Tea was interrupted by a knock at the do. Angie went to answer it, and in came a older looking woman, with greying hair. “Hello Sean, kids, oh Tess I’m interupting tea, and you have guests I’ll come back later...” Angie answered “No, no Sally, its fine, would you like something to eat?” Sally took a seat at the table “Oh no thanks Tessie, I just came to tell you something. As you know, after my Bob died, I tried to managed the pub by myself, but its to much. I’m going to sell. You wouldn’t happen to know anyone interested in buying a pub would you?” Sally had thrown this last phrase in as a joke, but Mac and Pete glances at one another, while Oscar and Angie were offering their comisserations “Ohh Sally, what are you going to do now, will you stay in the area?” Sally answered “I have no idea, I will try and get a job locally, but I’m a fifty five year old woman with no work experience except pulling beers. Where will I get a job?” Angie held Sally’s hand, as MacKenzie got out of her seat and hugged Sally “Don’y cry Auntie Sally” Sally lifted MacKenzie on to her lap and hugged her. Pete decided to speak up “Ahh Sally, we would be interseted in buying your pub..” Mac quickly added “And we would like to hire you of course” Sally looked up at the visitors, remembereing them from when they visited the Woolstonecrofts a tear or so ago, while Pete continued “We are looking to live in the country, and raise our daughter, and we would love to live close to... Sean and Tess. We would be willing to pay what ever price you ask, within reason.” Sally looked at them in amazement “Are you sure, you are not just pitying me are you?” Mac smiled “Of course not, but this is the opportunity we have been waiting for” Sally smiled and asked “So have you had experience working in pubs before?” Pete smiled and answered “We have had experience working everywhere, including pubs” Sally looked excited at the prospect of not totally loosing the pub that her and her husband had worked so had at keeping open for the past fifty years, which were just beginning to pay off, with the pub itself a tourist attraction for the town, well known for its friendly hospitality. Angie and Oscar looked at one another. In the past eighteen months they had tracked down their own family members and Ben, MacKenzie and the twins now had a proper extended family, and Uncle Brad was a universal favourite after he had a pool built for them last summer, without the knowledge of Oscar and Angie, and Uncle Shane had children of his own, which meant Ben, MacKenzie and the twins now had proper cousins, just like all the other kids at school. With Mac and Peter living so close their lives would at last be complete. The past seven years when it was just them were great, but they never felt complete without their family and closest friends, and now at last their old lives and their new lives were combining peacefully. The next day, after Sally had shown Pete and Mac through the pub, and the papers were being processed by the realator Mac and Pete had stolen a few minutes on the third story balcony of the pub, looking over the main street of the town. Pete wrapped his arms around Mac, who was holding a present from Sally, a frame with a space for a photo, and written underneath: Shona: God Is Gracious Morgan: Sea Dweller, Born By the Sea Hugging the frame, Mac leaned back into Pete and said “I can see us growing old here Pete” Pete smiled and kissed her head and answered “So you have no regrets about not going back into the force, about not making it to Commisioner?” Mac thought about her decision before answering “Your my life now, you and Shona” Pete smiled, it was the answer he wanted to hear, he knew that he had no regrets about leaving undercover. He missed the adrenalin rushes, but now he had the life he had always wanted, and now he had the chance to be a father, and he knew he was going to do a better job that his father had done on him and his sister. Pete whispered down to Mac “So are you happy?” Mac smiled and whispered back “Finally I have learnt to listen to the voices inside my head, and all my wishes have been answered, living here would be perfect with the kids” Pete went to kiss Mac, then paused “Kids, your not......?” Mac smiled, which was answer enough for Pete, as he said “Now I’m happy, very very happy” and the beginning of their new life together was sealed with a kiss.