epilogue

sweet child of mine

NINE MONTHS LATER

"Gillian, just breathe! In and out-"

"Respectfully, Tetsu, shut the fuck up!"

"Okay."

Pro tip: if you have the option, get the c-section. Labor is fucking painful, especially when it happens at one in the morning and lasts for three hours.

My mother had flown in to Sannoh to be there for the birth of her grandson, and if I'm being honest, having Courtney Wagner around just made me even more stressed. Tetsu was over the moon about having a son, and he took every possible chance to show off the ultrasound pictures. When I went into labor, he called everybody. And I do mean everybody: the entirety of Sannoh Rengokai was waiting outside the hospital room for the nurses to let them in.

It was overwhelming: people swarming around me, shouts and voices everywhere, the almost constant pain.

But all of that stopped in an instant when we heard the soft cries of a newborn baby carry around the room. I fought the tears as the nurse placed my bundle of joy in my arms.

"He's beautiful." My mom gushed in English, resting her head on my shoulder. "What's his name?"

"Jasper Yuki Morizono." I'd taken Yuki's last name when I filled out my residency paperwork. It only seemed right to carry on his legacy. And when Tetsu and I eventually got married, we'd both take Tetsu's last name too.

My mom looked like she was about to cry. She'd been very emotional at the thought of being a grandmother. She'd even knitted Jasper a baby blanket almost exactly like the one she'd made for me when I was born. My grandmother, excited at the prospect of being a great-grandmother (although she still felt like she was too young for that) knitted Jasper a hat, just like the one that she'd- you guessed it- made me.

"Your father would be so proud of you."

"I know. Yuki would have loved this." I said quietly, looking down at Jasper: his chubby little face, half closed but probably very wide eyes as he reached a pudgy little hand out for me, wrapping his small little fingers around a section of my hair.

Tetsu was sitting in a chair next to the bed, a wide smile on his face as he looked over at me and Jasper. He reached out a finger to brush across Jasper's face, and the newborn responded by dropping my hair and wrapping his fingers around Tetsu's bigger one. And then he started to cry, which in turn made me cry, which made my mother cry. There was a lot of happy crying going on.

"Do you want to hold him?" I asked, pressing my forehead to Tetsu's.

Tetsu nodded excitedly, unable to form the words as he took Jasper in his arms. I reached past my mom for my phone, which was resting on the bedside table. I took a quick picture of Tetsu and Jasper before slumping back on the pillows in exhaustion.

There was a knock on the door to the hospital room, Naomi and Yamato sticking their heads through the door. "We come bearing gifts." Naomi chuckled, hefting up a white plastic laundry basket stuffed with toys, baby clothes and chocolate- for me, of course.

"All paid for, and mostly selected by my mother of course." Yamato grinned, clapping Tetsu on the back.

"Jesus, man!" Tetsu whined. "I could have dropped my son!"

Yamato shook his head. "So this is Jasper. Who would've thought Tetsu would be the first one of us to have kids."

"Shut up."

Cobra and Junko were next through the door. After being outed as a couple by Hyuga and Midori and Murayama's wedding, Junko and Cobra had been glued to each other's sides. Chiharu and Dan's wild guesses never came close to the truth. Props to Cobra though. I've never seen a better poker face.

Junko shook a bag of chocolates in one hand- that seemed to be a recurring trend since it was now common knowledge that I didn't drink- and Cobra had helium balloons in his fist. Cobra's usual pensive expression was replaced by one that could almost be called joy when he saw Tetsu sitting by my side with our newborn in his arms.

"Room for a few more?" Two dark haired girls stood in the doorway: one with arms of delicate tattoo sleeves and one with a very familiar wedding ring on her finger. Himari Iemura and Midori Yoshiki, their significant others not far behind.

"What the hell, come on in!" I grinned, readjusting the pillows so I could sit up straighter before making grabby hands at Tetsu and asking for my child back.

Himari had become a permenant resident of the Nameless City after Hyuga teamed up with Ryu Tatsuhito of the Mighty Warriors and Yuu Kamizono, Himari's ex-fiancee to spring her from the wedding she never wanted and to get her away from her psychotic family for good. Himari was a natural born leader, taking over the Rude Boys when Smokey was in the hospital. Everybody loved having Himari around.

"Isn't he just precious." Himari smiled, perching cross legged on the end of the hospital bed, her ponytail swinging back and forth

Midori stood at the foot-board, with it's little whiteboard sign filled with my medical information, Murayama's arms around her waist. "He's adorable, Gillian." She smiled in Jasper's direction.

"So when can we have one?" Murayama asked, a goofy smile on his face

"Hold your horses, tough guy." Midori laughed. "We've been married for just under three months, it's far too soon. Also, why do we need kids when ninety percent of the time, you act like one?"

Midori and Murayama got married on a beach at Midoir's family home in Okinawa, before the couple went for a two week honeymoon cruise around the Mediterranean. We all wished that we were them when we had to come back to Sannoh in the middle of a rainstorm. They made each other happy, and accidentally brought about the end of Oyakou as everybody knew it. After the wedding, Murayama resigned as leader when he graduated, Seki and Furuya following in his wake. The reins were passed to Todoroki, paving the way for a new generation of Oya fighters.

An alarm went off on Himari's phone, and she cursed, frantically looking for the doorway. Smokey had slunk out of the room just as quietly as he had arrived. I didn't even realize he was there in the first place. "Goddamn it, Smokey!"

Midori smiled, shaking her head. "He dodging another oncology appointment?"

"I swear, it's almost like he wants the damn tumor to come back!"

"I heard that!" Smokey said loudly, sticking his head back through the doorway. "I just hate hospitals, that's all."

Himari rolled her yes. "Babe, you can't just not go to your follow-up appointments. I don't have Daddy's Money anymore, so we're fucked if you need another surgery."

When Himari ran away from the Iemuras on her wedding day, she also gave up the family fortune, and was left practically penniless when the reconstruction efforts on the Nameless City began.

I nodded towards the newlyweds. "Murayama, why don't you go with them."

Midori nodded, extricating herself from her husbands arms. "Go on, go with Smokey. Bring Cobra and Yamato, too. Us ladies should get to spend some time together. With Tetsu and Jasper, of course."

"Not a chance." Murayama shook his head "I don't even like the guy that much."

"I've gotta agree with Yoshiki on that one." Smokey sighed from the doorway.

"For the love of god," Himari groaned. "Somebody make sure he gets to that appointment on time."

"Fine, I'm going!" Smokey gave in, throwing his arms in the air before stalking out of the room.
Himari looked at Cobra pleadingly. "Can you go with him? Can you make sure that he actually gets there?"

Cobra nodded. "If he hasn't left the building already."

Himari's eyes widened. "Dude, don't even joke."

The S.W.O.R.D leaders vanished from the room to make sure Smokey go to the oncology wing two floors above us, leaving me and the girls, my mother and Tetsu. And baby Jasper.

"So," Tetsu hummed, leaning his head on my side as he gently stroked Jasper's face. "you know what's next, right?"

"Hm." I hummed softly, turning to look at him

"We should get married."

"What?"

"It's the next logical step!"

Midori chuckled. "It's a bit of a scam, actually. Do you know how much my wedding cost?"

I grinned widely. "I'm not letting you propose to me right now."

"And why not?" Tetsu protested.

"Because it's not very romantic, and how on earth are we supposed to plan a wedding with a newborn."

"She makes some good points, bro." Junko said, jerking her thumb in my direction. "It's just not practical."

Tetsu rolled his eyes before conceding. "Fine. I'll go out and buy a ring, once I have a better job. It will be romantic, and perfect. The kind of thing they make movies about."

I smiled, leaning over to kiss him. "I'll be waiting, babe."

AND THAT'S A WRAP ON MY SECOND HIGH AND LOW BOOK !!!! honest to god, writing for h&l is always so much fun, i love my nerdy little gangster boys. as you can probably tell, i am a sappy endings only kind of person when it comes to writing relationships, which is funny because i don't really do romance books-

ANYWAYS, thank yu so much for the support and I hope you guys stick around for 'pictures', the next book in the series, which focuses on the teenagers from the worst!