A/N: The final installment of Just Like Clockwork. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and also, those who stuck with me through the entire story! Enjoy :)

Epilogue - Too Many Nevers

The hush of her bedroom was unbearable as Lucy sat at her desk - alone on her thirteenth birthday. It had been five months since what she liked to call, The Incident. Five long and lonely months, in which she kept to herself, speaking softly and smiling seldom. Only an idiot could not see how much she had changed.

Her parents made a huge fuss over her. They even tried to get her to see a doctor but she adamantly refused, locking herself in her room for several hours afterward. At the beginning, she had considered telling them about what happened to her in the attic but firmly decided against it. Knowing her mother and father, they would send her to some insane asylum in Australia.

No, Lucy was dealing with it the best way she could. And that meant not dealing with it at all.

Why couldn't she just forget about time travel and that stupid watch and be happy for once in her life? Why couldn't she be herself?

Lucy tried to remember the sunny little Pollyanna she used to be, way back when. Those days were long ago. How come it was so easy to change into one thing you hate, but so hard to change back?

She was home, for goodness sake! She was back with her family and friends, with food, a bed, and running water. She should be laughing and having fun. This was the day she had been waiting for for the first thirteen years of her entire life!

"Lucy, darling," her mother called from outside her door. She didn't sound too happy herself. "Please open up. There's someone here to see you."

Curiously, she sat up. "Who is it, Mother?"

"Only me, your Aunt Eliza," another, elderly voice spoke.

Immediately, Lucy shot up from her chair and unlocked the door, allowing the old woman in. "Oh," she exclaimed in surprise. "Hi. I mean, how are you?"

"From what I've heard," Eliza told her candidly, "All lot better off than you. If you could give us a moment, Rebecca, I'd like to present Lucy my gift in peace."

Her mother pursed her lips. "Of course. Take your time," she swept from the room, but not before giving the door a satisfying slam shut.

Aunt Eliza rolled her eyes. "She didn't want me to see you, you know. My nephew must have spent the last the last hour convincing her into letting me come to the house. Then again, William was always quite the charmer," she mused. Then suddenly, her face closed and she looked at Lucy with an odd intensity that was starting to make her uncomfortable. "I knew a boy like that once," she whispered, the dreaminess gone from her tone. "Something tells me you knew him too."

Lucy met her great-aunt's penetrating gaze. She was shocked to realize that they both had the same green eyes as the boy she was talking about right now. "You know I saw Ralph? And the island? And the watch? Have you seen him, too? Well, of course you did - he's your brother. You know what I mean," she finished, her face heating up rather quickly.

The old woman chuckled in response. "Yes, I did see him. Simon, Jack, Roger, and Piggy. I saw everything." For a second, they both relieved their long gone nightmares as though they had never stopped.

"But why, Aunt Eliza?" Lucy tentatively asked. "Why did it happen to us, to me of all people?"

She sighed and gently patted the young girl's cheek. "Come sit down, child," she said exhaustedly. "It's rather long story, and not one I enjoy telling." But, perched on the edge of Lucy's bed, Eliza told her story, which was surprisingly similar to her own.

"It's an old magic," she began. "Passed down from the males in our family, through, you guessed it - a watch. I don't quite understand it, but I do remember when our father gave it to Ralph. He explained to him what it was and how it worked and why it existed in the first place. As I have told you throughout the years, our family is old and rich in history. Simple words can't retell an adventure you know. What you need are memories.

"Of course, being an old family, we try to hold on to tradition. So, the boys got the fancy time traveling watches and us girls got a pearl necklace or another insignificant heirloom. I was always an impetuous child and I wouldn't have any of that. So, about a month after Ralph inherited the watch, I did the most foolish thing." Aunt Eliza paused to let out a tired sigh. "I stole it. Right from his bedside table."

Lucy was impressed. "Did you really? I wouldn't even be that daring."

"Yes, and that is the one thing that sets the two of us apart," Eliza smiled sadly. "Your trip to the island was an accident. I only knew too well what I was doing, and I paid dearly for it. What happened to me there almost destroyed me. I was so young, as you can imagine, just around your age. Oh, I see so much of myself in you, Lucy. You have no idea."

"Do you think we, erm, made the same mistakes?" She couldn't help but wonder.

"Mistakes? Like what?"

She shrugged. "I don't know... Fall in love, perhaps."

The old woman laughed heartily. "Falling in love is never a mistake, no matter the outcome. I told myself that after I came to regret my infatuation with that Roger. Oh, it was so long ago."

Lucy did a double take. "Did you just say Roger? As in evil, boulder-pushing, pig-stabbing Roger?"

"The very same," her great-aunt replied coolly. "I found him unbelievably fascinating, with his quiet and mysterious ways. He was actually very kind to me - usually, anyways." She shook away the unwanted visions. "So, who was your mistake?"

Blushing horribly, she looked away. "Jack Merridew." She felt horrible after saying his name. It was as though her heart might break all over again.

Aunt Eliza patted her arm comfortingly. "I know how you feel, child. I thought I would never be the same again. But," she stood and dusted off her dress, "Life goes on. And look at you, my dear. Half a woman already."

"I feel so much older," she said before she could stop herself.

"Growing up is a shame, isn't it? But it's something that must be done. We can't be littluns forever. Life gets boring that way. Here, I know just what to give you." She handed her an old-fashioned, leather-bound notebook. "Happy Birthday, Lucy."

Lucy accepted the present appreciatively. "Thank you, Aunt Eliza. What a beautiful diary!"

Her great-aunt smiled shrewdly. "There are better ways of keeping track of your memories than in a watch, you know. Words can be powerful things, especially when they are written down."

"But what if there are somethings that you just want to forget?" She bit her lip uneasily.

"And why would you want to do that?" Aunt Eliza inquired, offering the girl a playful wink. Without another word, she turned around and walked out Lucy's door for the last time.

Still in shock from their unearthing conversation, Lucy went back to her seat at her desk. Gingerly, she opened the journal and thumbed through its crisp, white pages that were simply waiting to tell her story. Breathing in the glorious scent of a brand new book, she paused and allowed the words to come to her.

Her pen hovering over the first sheet, she mulled over what her great-aunt had told her. Perhaps trying to forget everything that happened was what was keeping her from moving on. To forget all that was, in fact, impossible. Why would she want to in the first place? It was on the island where she learned how to start fires, to hunt, and to love. The island taught her how to let go. And now it was time to let go of the island entirely.

Maybe everyone has to undergo an island at one point in their lives. How else can they discover themselves? How else can they grow?

All this time, Lucy had always considered her own person a stranger. She now knew herself quite a lot. She should use this newfound wisdom to benefit her own children, like how Aunt Eliza passed her knowledge on to her.

It was amazing that she never realized how smart that woman was, or how much they had in common. For once, she looked passed the battiness and saw a person full of heart. She felt stupid for never seeing it before.

How odd, that Eliza snatched the watch, went on an adventure, found love, and came back home again, leaving the ever-waiting-adventure for none but Lucy to find. And thus the cycle would start again. Who knows just how many girls before them fell into a similar trap? Who knows, indeed.

For the first time in several months, Lucy laughed. With all this talk of family watches and time travel, everything was bound to be just like clockwork in the end.

FIN.

A/N: Wow. It's really over. Aw, I think I'm going to cry. Has it really been a year since it was posted? Eliza's right. Time really does fly.

I cannot thank any of you enough for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed hearing about Lucy's epic adventure and I hope that you will have some of you own someday (not saying that I want you to get stuck on a remote island someplace, but you know what I mean :P).

Give me one last review before I kiss this story goodbye!

xoxo,
Grace