Dear Reader,

Firstly, a huge thank you for reading this story. Secondly, an even bigger thank you if you've taken the time to leave comments/reviews, both on the site and on Twitter. Your support whilst I've been posting (and continuing to edit) this piece has meant so much to me.

Speaking of comments/reviews… I'm keen to improve as a writer, so I'd welcome any constructive feedback you have on this piece: what you liked, what you disliked, what you would change… Any thoughts at all. And if you have any questions or ever want to discuss elements of the story, by all means, please get in touch.

I guess one of those questions might be why I decided to end the story at this point. Although the story would most certainly continue from here, as there would be a lot of aftermath to explore, I felt like this was the appropriate end point because the major arcs of the story were complete. I think it would be interesting to see how Elizabeth would settle back into her normal routine at home and at State, how Henry and the kids would adjust to Elizabeth coming back home and how they would broach the issues she's faced, and how the media and public would react. There would be plenty of challenges, that's for sure, but those would be new arcs, deserving of a separate story using the events of this story as a starting point.

One of the major themes of this story is mental health. It's a topic that I visit a lot in my writing, and I think it's a topic that needs to be discussed, both in real life and through fiction. I'm grateful that I was able to write about mental health using these characters, because the show means so much to me personally. I hope that my love for the show and for the characters has come across in this piece, and though I never want my stories to become a lecture on any topic, I hope that it has made you think—even just a little bit—about mental health.

I had a whole list of things that I wanted to achieve when I first set out to write this piece. I don't know if I've achieved them, all I know is that if I were given the opportunity to start again from scratch, it would most likely be a very different (and hopefully improved) story. Regardless of whether I achieved my goals or not, I hope that you've enjoyed reading this piece and that it has entertained you—and possibly even moved you. More than anything, I hope that it's a story you'll want to return to again and again. If you do reread it, I hope that you find a new depth of meaning each time and perhaps spot some of the things hidden throughout. I'd be interested to hear what you think and what new things you pick up on each time, so please do review again!

Once again, thank you for reading.

P.S. The jumping off point for this story was 'Survivor's guilt'.