Chapter 25

"Epilogue"

Five years later…

Tinker walked back and forth in the waiting room; he chewed on his thumbnail nervously. Worry etched in his eyes, he continually glanced up into the room he knew his wife was in. He had originally been in the room with her until complications had aroused and he had been ushered out to where his friends all waited.

"I'm sure Kahiki is fine," Winter promised as Kyle clung to her hand. She sighed, hoping that Eric returned soon from downstairs. She was having problems keeping the two worried men at bay. "Both of you, calm down. It's okay." Tinker sat down with a sigh as he tinkered with his car keys, nervous and impatient.

Winter glanced over at her boyfriend, meeting his nervous blue eyes. She almost missed the soft brown she had encountered in their first meeting, but Kyle's eyes had changed from that dark color to a blue - the color that the gem had been after the gem was destroyed. None could explain it.

Since his miraculous return, he had been staying with Winter, claiming to be an orphan. Although he and Kahiki wanted to tell their parents the truth, neither knew it was possible. How would they explain it? Besides, they had just finally let it go and let things be, bringing it up would be opening old wounds.

"Your sister is fine," she promised again. He nodded, but squeezed her hand tighter.

Complications? he wondered. What kind of complications? Was Kahiki alright? What went wrong?

Winter glanced toward the elevator, wishing Eric would come. He was an intern at that hospital-he should be able to calm their fears. Trying to distract them, Winter asked Tinker, "So do you have any ideas what you want to name her?"

"Kinda," he muttered, shifting in his seat.

"And?" she pressed. "What name? Or names?" He shrugged.

"Just…names." He kept his eyes on the keys in his hands.

Hoping for him to stop being so worried, she asked again, "Like what?"

"Like Katy and Ashley and Amanda and Kayli and Lani…"

Winter nodded, giving a relieved smile when Eric walked into the waiting room. She started to stand up and walk over to him, but Kyle, who was still sitting, hung onto her hand. As Eric neared, he frowned. The expressions on both Tinker and Kyle's faces were unpleasant. She explained, "There were complications with the birth."

Eric sighed. "Don't worry about it," he told the two. "There hasn't been a death during childbirth for at least a week." Their skin went white and horrified looks were plastered to their faces. "I'm kidding!" he said. "Just kidding. You guys need to relax a little. Kahiki's gonna be fine. I promise."

"See? I told you," Winter said, patting Kyle's arm as she sat back down. She turned back to Tinker, wanting to distract him. He was still looking worried beyond belief. "Any one of those names your favorite?" He shrugged.

"Maybe even Kristen or Kathy or Jess or Lani or…"

"You said Lani twice," Kyle pointed out.

"…Oh."

Winter smiled slightly, leaning against her boyfriend. "So Lani? That's a pretty name. Where did you come up with it?"

He shrugged again, a gesture he had noticed that he did a lot. "I just…did." It was pretty obvious that he wasn't telling the truth, but Winter let it slide.

Kyle was bouncing his leg nervously, glancing up everytime someone came from the direction of Kahiki's room.

"So how is your wife?" Winter asked, making small talk with Eric, the only other calm one.

"Millie's fine. For the first time ever, she's actually calm…I think she's sleeping…. Why? I don't know."

Winter allowed a small smile and a brief nod before the doctor that had been with Kahiki walked out. Both Tinker and Kyle jumped to their feet. Winter and Eric stood back, but still distant enough to hear what he said:

"Congratulations, Mr. Evans. You have a healthy baby girl and a very tired wife."

*Author's Note: The end…oh, and Zaria (who made two brief appearances in this book) married and moved to Jamaica. Do you think it ended abruptly…? If so, sorry.

**The second and (I think) more interesting Author's Note: Thank you guys SO much for reviewing! You have no idea how happy that makes both myself and my cousin. We would like apologize for the lack of good romance in this story, there was supposed to be more, as you can tell we had it set up for some….

In a few months (once we've had times to clear our minds of this story) we're going to go back and re-due chapters, fix mistakes, add chapters and stuff…so if you have anything that you thought was GOOD (so we don't take it out) while looking back, tell us and if you think there was something specific we should CHANGE, tell us. We're thinking of working to get this story published…but we know there are still a lot of mistakes within it at this time. Again, THANK YOU!

We're going to have a fantasy up pretty soon called In Danger's Path (it also has a mysterious piece of jewelry, and although IT happens to be a ring, it's a good ring. Nothing like this or Lord of the Rings.) So far from what we have typed, I think it's better than Storm of Dreams. So if you're ever bored and you like fantasy, please check 'er out! If not…well, obviously we're posting 'em here for you to enjoy, not to torture you with.