If Only Tonight

Epilogue

Epilogue

(Three years later...)

Walking through the large corridor, he felt lost once again. Each time he came, he would come across something that would grab his attention. It would take him along other halls until finally he would realize it was not going to lead him to his destination. Turning around, he walked back, looking for the board which would give him directions.

Heading right, he finally came to a recognizable corridor. Posted on the walls were projects different research groups were working on, each project had been printed in Spanish and English. Matthew smiled as he saw a familiar face beaming down at him. The same emerald eyes twinkled in the picture. Here she was surrounded by five of her students, three girls, and two boys. They were polite and pleasant to talk to, he thought, having met them at their annual summer picnic.

Making his way to the secretary's desk which sat in the center of the corridor, Matthew waited for her to notice him. She must have been a recent addition, he thought, he hadn't seen her around before.

"Can I help you? Señor?" She asked in a thick Spanish accent.

"Do you know if Doctor Rossi is in her office?" He asked, remembering the amount of times he had come only to have to go hunting around the building for her. He smiled at the thought of their roles reversed. There had been a time when it was usually she who would be chasing him down.

The secretary typed in the name he had given her.

"Sorry, there is no Doctor Rossi listed."

"What? I was here just a few days ago. Are you sure?" He asked, suspiciously. "Her name is Mia Rossi, can you check again."

"Sorry, señor. There is no Mia Rossi listed. But there is a Mia Brooklyn. Doctor Brooklyn is currently in her office. Should I call her down for you?" The secretary asked him.

"No that's fine. I'll go to her office myself." He said, a little irked with the secretary who was glaring at his refusal.

Following the projects with her name on them, he found the door to her office open. On the plaque beside the door, written in large brass letters was Dr. Mellenia Rossi. I knew it, he thought victoriously. Peering in, he found her, she was reading through a pile of papers; long auburn hair tied in to a ponytail, a lab coat covering the green dress and black tights he had seen her in this morning, and black ballet flats covering her feet. He smiled. Waking up to her in his arms every morning, never failed to brighten his day.

Knocking on the door, he waited for her to turn, but she didn't.

"What do you want, Rossi?" He heard her ask him, she sounded amused.

"She called you?" He asked, referring to the secretary, walking in to stand beside her.

"No, you told me you were coming this morning." She said, looking up at him from her papers. Mia smiled, her green eyes sparkling intensely at him. "And Aliona called to tell me I had a visitor." She grinned. He bent down and kissed her gently on the lips.

"You're going to have to fire her." He told her, watching as the smile turned in to an exasperated look.

"What now? I've already had to go through two intern's this year just because you said they were giving you weird looks!" She told him, with a smirk.

"They were, they kept staring at me funny; it was getting creepy!"

"Yea, I know!" Mia snickered.

"But this one said that there wasn't a Dr. Rossi. She said there was only a Dr. Brooklyn." He replied, with a grin.

"Aww, and you couldn't take that now could you."

"Exactly, that's insubordination. Everyone knows you're Dr. Rossi."

"I think the last girl may have changed the directory to get back at you. I'll get Aliona to fix it, but I'm not firing her." Mia said firmly, smiling sweetly at him.

"Fine." He scowled, as she got up from her chair.

"So, where are you taking your favourite wife to lunch today?" She asked, as she pulled off her lab coat.

Her forest green frock clung to her stomach, making her swollen belly more pronounced. Matthew smiled at her, Mia always looked beautiful it didn't matter what she wore, but somehow even pregnancy suited her. It made her look even more radiant than before, something he had not thought possible.

Every chance he got, he would spend with her, in awe at how the tiny life was evolving. Photographs, videos, he had done everything to document the progression, adding to the many pictures he had taken to track the time that had passed since they had gotten married, trying to capture every special moment.

Though he would normally spend as much time as he could with her during his rest days prior to her pregnancy, now that the final few months were during his off season time, he was around her whenever she wasn't busy. At times, Mia would shoo him away, to get some work done or make him rest.

They only had a few more weeks to go, but both Matthew and Mia were excited that soon they would be meeting their little girl or boy. The two of them had decided on not finding out the gender before hand. For Matthew it didn't matter whether it was a boy or girl, either way his child would be riding on his shoulders after his matches, and he would teach them how to play football. Mia didn't mind it either, she was perfectly happy with either possibility since stuffed animals would be loved anyway. She had even bought some toy cars, much to his dismay; one was a model of her Dodge Challenger.

"I don't know. Where would my favourite wife like to go?"

Matthew watched as she contemplated where they could go for lunch.

"How about some place with arroz con leche?" She asked.

"Sure. By the way, I spoke to your dad today." He told her, as she took her clutch from the desk.

"Really? What did he say?"

"He'll be flying out next week. So it's going to be a full house."

With the impending birth, their family and friends had decided to converge upon them, and spend their summer vacation in Spain. His own mother had flown in a few months ago to take care of Mia; fussing over how much she ate and how much milk she drank. It was quite entertaining to watch Mia making faces as she would drink the large glass of milk his mother handed her, without saying a word. Stacie had arrived last week. While Oliver and Ariana along with their kids Lily, Michael, and Sacha, were coming next week on the same flight as Nathaniel, Leon and his wife Catharine, and Lina and Brendan.

"You know what else he said?"

"What?" Mia asked him curiously.

"He told me how his friends at work were talking about football, and he went and told them that his son-in-law was a professional player. They didn't believe him!"

As they walked out of her office, Mia was laughing, as she locked her office.

"He actually showed them a photo from our wedding, and they thought he had photoshopped himself in to it. He wants to take a picture with me to put on Twitter and prove them wrong." He laughed, as they started to walk towards the exit.

"Poor, Dad. Just don't let him get too carried away." She warned him, a smile playing on her lips. "I won't." He assured her.

A light silence settled on them as they moved down the hall.

"Eh! Lina texted me saying that she was interested in coming over just to see me waddle! I can't believe you said that!" Mia told him, smacking his shoulder lightly. She shot him a look of incredulity.

"I didn't say that...okay...it may have slipped out. But even waddling looks graceful on you, love." Matthew tried sweet talking her.

"We'll see who's gracefully waddling when I tell your mom!" She snickered.

"Hey! Don't threaten me in front of our child!" He said, in mock protest.

"Our child is on my side, since you insulted both of us when you said that."

"Alright...you win. What's my punishment?" He said, grinning.

"You get to organize the toys on to the shelves, in the nursery. And the Challenger gets first class treatment, with the model Ferrari and Lamborghini at the back." Mia's eyes shone in the dimly lit hallway, she knew how much he hated that car.

"Ughh...fine. Just for you, Mia."

Walking out in to the bright summer sunshine, Matthew took Mia's hand in his, it fit inside his perfectly. She was everything to him. Every breath, every moment, every thought, was for her. He looked at her, the love in her eyes for him was always there. Ever present.

Leaning over slightly, he kissed her.

"Did I tell you how much I love you today?"

She beamed at him, as she did whenever they were together.

"Yes, you did. But you can say it again!" Mia said, making him smile.

"I love you." He told her, kissing her once more

"I love you too."