Author's Note: Well, now we are at the end. I have to admit, I didn't write this epilogue until...well, just now, because I didn't originally plan for an epilogue. So it's probably not as good. Thanks for sticking with me, and thanks especially to my regular reviewers JT4life, Miss Mila, and Ocein!!
Disclaimer: When I think about it, I don't really want to own it. It would be too much work.
Epilogue
If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure
for it is not to dream less but to dream more,
to dream all the time.
--Marcel Proust
When Olivia picks up her ringing phone, she expects it to be Charlie or Broyles calling with news on their current case, but instead she hears a not entirely unfamiliar girl's voice.
"Hi, is this Olivia?"
"Yes, this is Agent Dunham. Who's this?"
"It's Sian," the girl says, sounding nervous. "Seirian Williams? Don't you remember me? You were real sick, but even so I thought--"
Olivia smiles, making the connection. "Of course I remember you, Sian. I just have a lot on my mind."
"It's Sian?" Peter asks, perking up from across the room. He'd been in a foul mood all morning due first to having to sleep in the tub, then to Walter turning on the faucet while Peter was still sleeping. But he has a genuine smile on his face when he comes over. "Hey, put her on speakerphone. Sian, can you hear me? It's Peter."
"Hi, Peter!" Sian says happily, her voice tinny over the speaker. "How is everyone?"
"We're fine," Olivia lies before Peter can say anything. "How do you like your new house?"
"Everyone loves it. I have my own room, now, and I painted it purple, and I don't have to wear any of Yan's clothes," Sian tells them. "Is Walter there? And Astrid?"
"They're out right now, but we'll be sure to say hi," Olivia says. She was afraid Peter would murder his father or at the very least cause him physical harm, so she'd sent him out with Astrid to pick up lunch.
"How's school?" asks Peter.
Sian sounds particularly joyous. "I told my bowling team that I went and got cure so I wasn't weird anymore, and they started sitting with me at lunch, and when people started teasing again, Yan and some of his friends dealt with it."
"Sounds like things are working out," Peter says with such an infectious smile that Olivia smiles as well.
"They are," Sian agrees. "So last night I thought I'd try not taking Walter's pills."
Both of them stop smiling. "Sian, I told you that you didn't have to--" Olivia starts, but Sian interrupts.
"I did, and I dreamed about that man I kept seeing with Olivia," she says, and Olivia feels inexplicably chilled. "He has a message for you."
"He--he can't have a message," Olivia says, proud that she mostly keeps her voice from shaking.
"He did, Olivia. He said it's important. He said you're really close and you have to keep going. But you have to be careful, because they're really close, too. And he loves you."
Even under the covers when she finally tries to go to sleep, she can't get warm, and Sian's voice echoes in her head.
Thanks again, and I hope you enjoyed!