"I don't imagine the government's done with us yet!" Cooper replied. "There's other projects, you know, other dreams. We still have other things to do with our baby before she's out of our hands for good!"
"But things will never be the same," Mike put in. "What if we get transferred and have to move? You're all like my family here. How will we keep in touch? Dumpy though it may be, I've grown kind of attached to my....er....our little apartment. Until Jeanie and I can make some better arrangements for a bigger and better home, I like it here. And if we do have to leave, how will we keep in touch? How will we have any more good times together?"
"I'm sure we'll find some way," Larry added, "If I am all done here, I think I'll be stayin' in this area, too, unless I change my mind again and decide to go back to school. One can never learn enough, you know!" He held Susie close. "But Susie's family's here. Her father's finally decided I'm not such a bad guy after all. It would be kinda hard for us to ever leave them now that we're beginning to be just one big, happy family!"
Dr. Cooper was beginning to feel a change in things, too. What WOULD he do once R.M.T.P. was over? Things had turned out so well with this project, if the government asked him to do another job for them, he knew he wouldn't be able to resist the offer. He felt so pleased, yet, melancholy at the same moment, he was at a loss for words. The mood he was in reminded him of what he'd felt like at his high school graduation. In spite of himself he had a tear in his eye. "Well, I guess this IS the end of it, after all," he managed.
Jeanie leaned closer to Mike's right side and put her hand on her belly.
"No," she told them, "it's not the end, it's just the beginning!"