Epilogue

Years later

A kid no older than 6 runs up to a man standing by the street, tugging on the hem of his Bermuda to get his attention.

“Sir, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m lost. Can you tell me where I am? Mummy told me to go to Mayfair Stellas.” The young boy with bright blue eyes asks innocently, exuding an aura of such innocence that the innocent by-stander by the road had to cave in. Bending down to look at the map that the young boy held up.

It didn’t take long for the helpful young man to find their location, and he pointed it out helpfully to the young boy, teaching the child the way to Mayfair Stellas. Quickly, the young boy beamed and nodded in understanding, thanking the man profusely before he ran off in the said direction.

Kaylen waited for her son at Mayfair Stellas, curious as to where he had gone to look for his bathroom break. She knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to let the young boy go running out of the café, but she knew enough that Jonathon was too hyperactive to even wait for her to finish her coffee in peace. Besides, Jonathon was old enough to be roaming out on the street, and in all honesty, she didn’t find any fault in him being a boy and discovering his surroundings.

“Mama, mama!” Her little girl exclaimed from her highchair, shaking the rattler she had gripped tightly in her tiny hand. Sharp black eyes of the young girl of 1 and a half years of age was fixated on her mother’s relaxed form on the chair.

“Yes, Serah?” Kaylen leaned forwards with a gentle smile, cupping her hand on the small cheek of her daughter’s. Taking care of the baby and her son at the same time was tiring work but never had she regretted giving birth to either of them. It must be a thing for the Seyfried family for the children to grow up fast and intelligent, and Jonathon must have gotten his wits from his father too, for the young boy was already studying in eighth grade. Kaylen briefly wondered if Serah would follow her brother’s footsteps.

“Papa?” Serah’s child voice turned curious, and her mother knew enough to interpret it as a question.

“Papa is coming soon to get us, little Serah. Don’t worry.” She smiled brilliantly at her beautiful daughter. While Jonathon had gotten her eye color, Serah had inherited her father’s sharp black eyes. They were surely a pair of beautiful children, and Kaylen bristled with endless pride, knowing that they were both hers.

“Mummy!” Jonathon came running back from the street into the café and quickly jumping on his seat to compensate for the difference in their height. He slammed down the map he had in his hand on the table, making it rattle, and waved his other hand up. Serah, getting idea of her brother’s enthusiasm, began clapping her hand happily despite not knowing the situation.

“Jon, keep your voice down." Kaylen admonished gently, before she caught sight of what her son held in his free hand, swinging towards her. “Where did you get that?”

“I got it off a guy I was asking directions for!” Jon declared proudly. “He didn’t even detect a thing!”

“Now, that isn’t something you should be proud of.” Kaylen frowned, but leaned forwards and lowered her voice. “At least not in public.”

Jon grinned at the subtle appraisal he was receiving from his mother, then settled down to drink his coffee. Serah had somehow reached into the table enough to grab the wallet, and now had one corner of it jammed in her mouth, her drool cover the leather.

“Where are we going today, Mummy?” Jonathon asked with a laugh, watching as Kaylen wrestled gently with his sister in retrieving the dirty –now covered in slob –wallet. “Where’s Dad?”

“Your father’s still at work.” She replied easily, wiping the wallet daintily with the napkin. “We are waiting for him before we visit your grandfather Hayden.”

“On The Circle?” The young boy’s eyes lit up immediately in anticipation, and Kaylen honestly wondered how well the boy would fare in that place.

“They are having a meeting now; we can’t be there.”

“Aww, but I want to!” Jonathon whined in complaint, and Kaylen wondered exactly how much her husband had told the young boy about that elite group of conmen that made The Circle. She had retired from her position there for a few years now, but it was obvious that Jonathon was very much enamored with the fact that she had once been on the top of the industry along with his father, equally skillful as he.

“It isn’t just for fun that they meet, darling. They are talking about adult business.” She advised, but the spark of determined flash in his eyes in reply was definitely a trait he’d inherited from her.

“I’m going to sit on The Circle one day, Mummy! I want to sit there and make decisions for the entire world! I want to sit there with Daddy, like how you did with Grandfather Hayden and Grandaunt Hayley!” He declared, and she only smiled even greater in reply.

Jonathon didn’t grow up like his father at all. Where Elxa had been brought up –forced to –take the position on The Circle, she had made it very clear when she was still pregnant with him that she would never allow him to force Jon into anything. It was Jon’s choice to learn pickpocketing, it was Jon’s choice to learn to lie. It was Jon’s primal instincts as a Seyfried to run, and Jon’s instincts as a Dal to make wide connections. Even at such a young age, Jon already had his own pool of adult con contacts, all taken enamored in his large potential.

But it made both his mother and father proud to know that he had chosen to follow them –and with passion.

“Sit with me?” A new voice intruded on the conversation, and immediately Serah began to clap her hands happily again, squeals of delighted excitement emanating her at the sight of her favorite person in the world.

Kaylen watched as Elxa picked their daughter easily from her highchair, bouncing her against his hip before sitting down on the seat beside her. She passed a welcoming kiss on his cheek while their son squeezed his eyes shut in embarrassment of witnessing such a ‘mushy’ scene.

“How was it?” She asked with faint interest, watching as the once expressionless man smile brightly at his daughter while he entertained her, pinching her round button nose gently and earning a cute scrunch of nose from the young toddler.

“Not much. Hayden’s asking when the hell you’ll be visiting him again.” Elxa replied honestly, but eyes quickly caught on the foreign object left on the table, picking him up with his one free arm that wasn’t propping his daughter to his chest. “What’s this?”

“Your darling son lifted it off an innocent.” Kaylen replied as Elxa inspected the results of Jon’s work, as the young boy jumped to his feet on the chair again, leaning forward and waiting for his father’s appraisal.

“Did he have any other belongings with him in his pocket at the time?” Elxa asked, setting the wallet back on the table with his famous businessman emotionless expression that Kaylen now knew like the back of her hand. She sighed internally with a soft smile, and watched as Jon’s face grew a little worried.

“Yeah, he had a phone. Why?”

“Then you should have taken his phone, Jon.” Elxa explained kindly. Never once had she imagined Elxa explaining the rules of pickpocketing to a young boy, but then she had never once imagined the sight of her conman husband ever helping to change the dirty diapers of their children, and yet she now found it a common thing. Truly, the Elxa at home and the Elxa he composed himself to be outside on The Circle was very different.

But Kaylen still loved both sides of him –the conman and the domestic father.

“B-But…” Jon protested, but couldn’t come up with words to defend himself.

“You have a man’s phone; you have his contacts. You have his contacts; you have his power. Do you understand me?” Elxa explained simply, and Kaylen bit back an amused laugh as her son’s face turned down into a frown. In all honesty, he looked so heartbroken that bystanders could think that he’d just been told that Santa didn’t exist.

“O-okay… I’m sorry.”

Elxa laughed aloud, and Kaylen admired the lovely sound emitting from her husband’s throat. They had been married for so long; and yet she still couldn’t get past the fact that it was now her and their family that could make him laugh. It seemed so long ago that Elxa refused to show any expression, refused to laugh, refused to let his voice more than an evened tone.

“You’re amazing as you are, Jon.” Elxa ruffled his son’s head of black hair, then bounced his daughter again, eliciting a high-pitched laugh from the young girl. “I’m just really amazed that you’ll think to even follow after us.”

“Of course I will!” Jon replied with indignance written on his face. “Why not? My parents are both amazing cons!”

Elxa exchanged a knowing look with Kaylen, but the story was too long to be said in the café, especially if Hayden was waiting for them. Quickly, Kaylen finished her coffee and received Serah from her husband’s arm, waiting as Elxa helped Jonathon clean up, and eventually they made it out of Mayfair Stellas.

“Lindsei is making an art exhibition starting today.” Elxa started conversationally as they turned down the street towards where the meeting on The Circle had only just ended. “Do you think you can make a trip down any day?”

“Serah and I have a checkup tomorrow. We’re meeting Jon’s teachers the day after that, and after that, we’re flying off the New York. I don’t think I can wedge in enough time.” Kaylen replied honestly, and Elxa suddenly stops.

“I’m sorry.” He says suddenly, frowning. “You haven’t been able to come back fully into the industry, and I’m still putting pressure on you to work out pieces.”

Kaylen turns around in surprise. “Elxa, you know I don’t mind. I’m just glad enough that I have you helping me out at home. I knew what I was getting into when I married you, remember?”

“I honestly don’t know what you were thinking at that time.” He replied quickly, regaining his smile and continuing the walk as if nothing had happened. It was extremely sweet –at least to Kaylen –when Elxa had these moments of weakness, where he would feel guilty for pulling her away from the con world where they both belonged to. “But if you were thinking at all, I’m still very much amazed that you’re still here.”

“And I still constantly am very much amazed at what you can do for me.” Kaylen replied with a loving smile.

“And I’m amazed at having such awesome parents!” Jon declared, earning light laughs from them all as they crossed the street.

The door hadn’t even opened fully before the young boy burst through the doors.

“GRANDDAD!”

Hayden wasn’t any younger, but he seemed to defy his age, for still dressed in a neatly pressed, smartly designed suit, was the old man studying his papers before him. Jonathon gave no leave for the papers as he jumped into the man’s lap, giving Hayden a surprise attack which did in all sense, surprise him.

Serah immediately began reaching for the new person, yelling ‘Dadadadada!’

It took quite some time to soothe the young ones down, but quickly Kaylen was seated beside her father, made to stay still as her protective father assessed her up and down for any marked weight loss.

“Haven’t lost an inch of hair anywhere at all!” He finally declares, grinning. Even with graying hair, Hayden still looked  every bit as charming. Kaylen simply didn’t understand how her father and aunt could pull off the look, but the two of them definitely made growing old look like something easy. “Elxa must be feeding you well, hmm?”

“You wouldn’t have let me marry him if it was otherwise, right?” Kaylen laughed.

“I wouldn’t have let anyone steal you away from me, darling girl. But it’s Elxa we’re talking about.” He replied easily, watching as Elxa thoughtfully entertained the children while the father-and-daughter pair caught up on the times. Elxa often shared private sessions with his father-in-law, but Kaylen, now busy with both their children, had been cooped at home, unable to find free time.

“It sure is.” She agreed with a laugh. “But enough about me. How are you doing?”

“You know,” Hayden replied with a shrug. “Surviving.”

“No new woman yet?”

“If you consider Hayley my latest bitch. I’m using the guilt card well. She still thinks I’m single because she scared off all potential women.” Hayden grinned quickly, and Kaylen laughs at her father’s humor. If only her aunt was around to hear –but after the meeting, Hayley and Jeremy had rushed off to China to complete their next job.

“Are you staying with us?”

“Until Hays comes back, yeah. You look like you could do some time alone with Elxa anyway. I’ll take the kids off your hands.” Hayden suggested, and immediately the blue of his daughter’s eyes lights up. Ever since her arrival, Hayden had detected the sunken lethargy of a mother. It was something neither Hayden nor Elxa had been able to help with, but it was precious moments like these that the two of them could still do to make their loved woman feel a little better.

“Really?”

Hayden nodded with a grin, watching as Serah printed her handprint on a piece of draft paper –hand filled with ink as Jon guided it towards the blank page. The toddler, elated with her artwork, began clapping in joy, splattering the ink all around. Kaylen gave a soft sound of dismay as the ink splattered on Serah’s frilly pink dress, but Hayden jumped up quickly.

“Elxa! Take your darling woman for a good spa now, and I’ll deal with them.” He commanded, and the relief of the worried father and husband was written clearly on Elxa’s face as he quickly cleaned up Serah’s inked-palms, then wiping the splatters on Jon’s face. Domesticity was definitely something that suited Elxa strangely well –Kaylen decided –as Elxa exchanged a few words with her father before making over to where she sat.

“Come.” He said, extending a hand towards her. It had been so long since they last spent any time together. She’d gotten the feeling that time shared between each other was going to be cut short when she first was pregnant with Jon, but she never knew exactly how much time bringing up a child could take. “We’ve got a long list of activities planned.”

Kaylen went over and gave a kiss on both her children’s forehead before following her husband out the door, clutching his hand. “We?”

“Your father and I decided that you need to get a breather. You’ve been a good mother to Jonathon and Serah. Now it’s time for me to be a good husband to you.” Elxa explained as they made towards the lift.

“So where are we going?”

“First, we’re visiting Jon’s boutique to get you the most beautiful dress he has designed this season. Then we’re going to a dance, where I will make you the most beautiful woman to ever grace their dance floor. If you are up to it, we will go to a spa downtown. And after that, we are going home for a relaxing time.” Elxa listed with a great smile, and warmth bloomed quickly in Kaylen’s chest.

There was nothing she wanted more than a day off right now, and to spend it with her husband?

It was heaven.

“You know I love you, right?” She asked suddenly in the silence of the lift, and turned to find Elxa looking at with a look so pure with love that she almost melted immediately.

“Of course.”

“You’re not lying, are you?”

This time, he laughed, the same beautiful ringing laugh.

“I’m a conman, Kaylen.”

She laughed too.

“So am I.”

-The End-

A/N: For those interested in Jeremy and Hayley's story, do check out White Collar Paradise!