𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 ─── the what ifs

new york, 1st november 2026

"𝔐orning." Ellie yawned, stretching her back out as she padded down the stairs, calling out to her family. She guessed that she was the last awake, having been up late last night to be at the hospital on a longer shift.

Two German Shepherds began to weave around her, two of Cai's puppies, and she soothed both as she followed the amazing smell towards the kitchen. Hovering in the doorway, Ellie began to grin at the sight of her family.

Alex was at the stove, cooking carefully as he tried out a new pancake recipe, whilst Wren laid the table quickly. They were chatting and joking, both excited about their birthday, and birthday party that were to follow that day. Her next eldest, Dean, was slumped over the island, still looking half asleep as he watched them both with tired eyes.

Just like his brother, Dean shared his father's blond hair, but had his mother's dark eyes instead. He was still dressed in his pyjamas, having not bothered to get changed. On the floor to his left, playing with the dogs, was her youngest child, another little boy named James, though his family called him Jay, who took after his mother more than anything. Ellie adored that her little boy looked like her, finding it incredibly funny that two of her children looked like their mother, and two looked like their father.

Speaking of their father, Luke was sitting on the countertop, chewing on an apple and watching his son cook. Occasionally, he would call out an instruction, as Alex was trying to copy one of Luke's old recipes.

Ellie leant in the frame of the kitchen, smiling warmly before Jay noticed his mother.

"Mommy!" The eight year old was on his feet in an instance, rushing over so that she was able to pick him up. Ellie groaned, knowing that technically, he was a little too big for this, but she accepted it anyway.

"Hi baby." Pressing a kiss to his head, she set him down gently, before making the rounds, kissing all of her children on the head and wishing Beans a happy birthday as they laughed and hummed. Finally, she found herself standing in between her husband's legs, standing on her tip toes to press a kiss to his lips and grin. "Morning."

"Hi Els." Luke grinned, as her fingers reached up to trace the scars. "How you feeling?"

"Tired."

"You should have slept longer."

"No she shouldn't have." Alex joked, prodding his mother. "It's our birthday. She has to be up bright and early to celebrate."

Ellie rolled her eyes, before twisting and leaning into her husband's chest as she stared at her family, scattered all around the kitchen, and wondered just how lucky she was that she was able to witness this all.

For a moment, seventeen years ago, she had been scared that she wouldn't have been able to. On the day that the war had taken place, Luke had almost been killed, and she had thought that he wouldn't make it back. But as Ethan always said, Luke had Achilles' Curse and the survival ability of a cockroach, so the man had made it back with only a few injuries.

Ethan, on the other hand, despite all of his bragging, had been stabbed and had then had to endure lots of bullying from all other members of the family.

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"Bella, stop feeding me." Ethan hissed, rubbing his stomach as he slumped down on the sofa. "My god, why are you so good at cooking?"

"It was Luke."

"Has he poisoned it?" Luke sighed and rolled his eyes, Jay fast asleep in his arms as he sat on the floor. The eight year old had been worn out with seeing all of his family all at once, and had then refused to go to bed because he didn't want to miss out. As such, he'd fallen fast asleep on his dad and had not moved for about an hour.

"Despite popular opinion, I have stopped trying to kill you."

"You never know with you." Ethan stated, folding his legs beneath him so that Ellie could slump down beside him. "You're always trying to kill someone, isn't that right, Bella?"

"He's not wrong, Honey." Ellie stared at her husband, a grin on her face as Luke huffed. Al chuckled from the corner, shaking his head as he rocked the baby carrier next to him back and forth. His newborn, a little baby girl, was fast asleep in the carrier, sucking her thumb, whilst his eldest was following his mother around as she helped to clean up the kitchen.

"I swear you've chucked a knife at his head before." Alabaster contributed, as the remainder of the family started to enter the living room to gift the twins their presents at turning eighteen. The four of them shut up.

"What are you guys up to?" Emily stepped over Ellie's feet, holding her hand out for her daughter to follow her, before sitting in front of Ethan.

"Talking about bullying Ethan." Alabaster replied, as Emily laughed, and patted Ethan's knee.

"You don't get a break, do you?"

"No, you see how mean they are to me." Ethan shook his head, before picking his daughter up and placing her in his lap. Kissing the girl's head gently, he glared at Luke and Ellie. "You two are so mean."

"I haven't said a word." Luke shook his head, as Wren and Alex sat in front of him. "I didn't even do anything."

"Scarred me emotionally."

"I'll scar you physically in a minute." Luke glared, as both men swore at each other. Ellie snorted, as Dean slumped next to her, allowing her to run her hand through his hair. Mia, Iris and Ava also entered, followed shortly after by Hermes, the rest of Ellie's friends and their partners, and Alabaster's wife, who was holding their son. Everyone all crowded round, before starting to surprise the twins with gifts for their birthday.

Ellie was more than content to sit and take pictures, watching as the twins would laugh and grin at the stuff that they had been gifted. Looking through the camera lens, she found Luke watching her, a warm grin on his face and she quickly snapped the photo of him.

When she put the camera down, he was still watching her with that familiar small grin that was saved for her, before he mouthed 'I love you' across the room and went back to watching the children as the family laughed.

Ellie grinned, pulling Dean a little closer as she thanked the gods, all of them, for allowing her this moment of happiness with her family and friends, and for keeping Luke and Ethan alive long enough for them to experience this.

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Hiya,

Have a nice happy ending to the book. This is what would have happened should Luke have lived, but he didn't so yeah. So, if they had lived, Ellie and Luke would have had two more boys, Ethan would have married Ellie's friend, Emily, and they had kids, the family would have been super close and Luke with his kids is something very previous to me.

But, this is the end of the book so thank yous are next. Thanks violetfairylara for coming up with this wonderful plot and letting me write it, thanks to all of you guys for commenting and reading and voting (I appreciate each and everyone of you so much, it's unreal). Thanks for the plot ideas, crying, laughing and screaming with me and I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I did. There will be a second book that will come out in the next week, following Alabaster, and I have lots of PJO books and a bonus chapter book in case you want any more bonus chapters for Luke and Ellie.

For the final time, let me know what you think and I'll see you in another book,

Love Li xx