A/N: Hi Everyone. I wanted to thank everyone who kept along with the story and gave me such fab input & encouragement. I truly think I would have wrapped it up earlier if it hadn't been for you guys. But I'm glad I didn't - hope you are too.

So thank you so much. I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Hopefully will be back soon.

Take it easy! J

Time – Epilogue – History

Abby sat by the open window sipping her coffee slowly. She couldn't stand being shut in. Not anymore. It had been well over a year now since she left Harper's Island once and for all. And there would be no going back – not now, not ever. Not that there was anything to go back to. Not that she'd ever be welcome.

That first year hadn't been easy. She'd been bombarded with questions from every angle. The police, the FBI, the reporters – even a publisher or two. The FBI had asked the hardest ones and she found them difficult to answer. When they finally arrived to take them back to the city Jimmy had done most of the talking. They had to wait until Abby had gotten over her shock to question her. It had given her time.

In his hospital bed, despite his injuries, Jimmy explained what he knew, what Henry had done to him and what he'd seen. She was able to use that – then fill in the gaps and tell them what she wanted to. What she could. Not to protect Henry but to put aside parts of the story that didn't need to be known. Henry was going to be known in history as a serial killer. She couldn't change that but didn't see the need to give them any more ammunition than they already had – so they didn't need to know why he'd kept her alive. What his plan was. No one did. Although she owed Henry nothing – this was the least she could give him. He was her brother after all.

That was something nobody would ever know either. Ever. She knew, that if the fact that he was her brother ever came out it would attach itself to her and she'd be tainted by it. Forever. Then would come the speculation over her parentage, her loyalties, the reasons why she and Jimmy were still alive. She couldn't risk it.

The why was kept out because Abby had asked Jimmy not to tell. He'd argued – passionately – but she had pleaded with him. On the long haul through the forest, as she helped carry him, she'd explained almost everything that had happened and why. He'd already guessed some of it but he listened in silence. It was when she asked for him to stay silent that he argued. She reasoned that her own future would already be marred from what had happened on the island – twice. It was too much to bare. So he agreed.

Jimmy didn't understand Abby's need to go through all the trouble of lying for a man who had murdered everyone she knew and loved, kidnapped her and tried to kill her. But he stood by her. Abby never corrected him – never told him that Henry had never tried to kill her or told him why he wouldn't. On the cliff Jimmy had seen Henry lean over and try to strangle Abby. She didn't set the record straight because she was afraid to. She had let Henry kiss her and she didn't know why. She loved him but didn't love him – not like he had loved her. So why...?

She didn't know. She didn't think she wanted to know. He had just saved her life and for a brief instant it had felt like old times. The person in front of her was Henry but it was nothing her Henry would have done. It was sudden and unexpected. It hadn't been a proper kiss but it wasn't quite chaste either. Thankfully she would never need to think of what might have happened after but deep down she knew she would have stopped it. It was wrong. Wrong.

Whatever it was, Abby knew that Jimmy would never understand – even if she had understood it herself. She would never forget – or forgive – Henry for everything that had happened. There was simply just too much. He had destroyed her life while trying to give her his idyllic image of one. But there would always be something between them that would last forever. Nothing could break that – not even those times that Abby wished she could.

XXX

So the FBI asked their questions and she answered.

"Why did he keep you in the house? Why didn't he kill you too? Why the theatrics?" They asked time and time again. Her response was always the same, "He told me that I was his only friend – his only true friend and that he could never hurt me."

"But Mr Mance informs us that he did try to kill you – on that final day."

"He was angry – I'd tried to run away again. He lost his temper. I ... I nev ... I never thought he could do it." She paused, "I think it was a game to him. He was playing with us like cat and mouse."

"Then why do you think he kept Mr Mance alive?"

"I don't know. I saw Jimmy the first time I tried to run away. In the shed. The second time at the bluff. Until last night I thought Jimmy was dead. Henry had shown me his body in a grave. Like I've said – I think Henry was playing with us."

"But why?"

"I just don't know. He'd never been like this until he met Wakefield. He'd never have done this before. Never."

"Why do you think he didn't just let you fall off the cliff? Wouldn't that have made it easier for him if you fell? It doesn't make sense Ms Mills. You must see that. There's something ..."

"You keep asking and I keep telling you the same thing over and over. I ... don't ... know. The only thing I can think of is that he wanted to do it himself. That's why he pulled me back. Maybe he wanted to do it in front of Jimmy. I just DON'T KNOW!"

After almost a full day of questioning they finally let them go with promises of follow ups to come. They made good on their threat but with less fervour. It was thought that the FBI were trying to figure out a way to come out of this clean. They had reported that everyone had died, apart from Shea and Madison Allen, on the island. Then when Abby and Jimmy had escaped after over a week in captivity on the same island the FBI had investigated it made them look slightly ... disorganized. They were eager to close the case as a win. Both suspects were dead therefore no high-profile court case and less paperwork. After a couple of weeks the visits became less frequent until eventually they ceased. They were told that they could start living their lives.

XXX

Living.

Not an easy order to obey.

Jimmy was angry at the lies and Abby was empty. They had both been through so much that neither knew where to go, or what to do next.

Living took its toll.

XXX

The media circus didn't help matters. Day and night they were hounded by constant calls to relive each harrowing detail of their ordeal and their escape.

Abby felt sorry for Shea and Madison, soon enough they too came under the spotlight once again. Seeing Abby and Jimmy had given Shea an unrealistic, yet understandable, hope that her sister too was still alive. At least for a little while. Abby would never have wished that on anyone.

As their main targets weren't very forthcoming with new facts the media ran with what they knew from FBI news conferences and unnamed 'sources' within the police and sheriff's departments. This they knew:

Henry Dunn had, with the help of his accomplice – known murderer John Wakefield, who it was believed had been killed by the deceased Sheriff Mills after the first set of murders 7 years ago – killed all of his close friends and family in the islands second rampage. On completing this task Mr Dunn turned on his mentor, killing him, and held Abby Mills and Jimmy Mance captive in an undisclosed location on the island. There they were subject to mental and possibly physical torment. When Ms Mills escaped, just over a week after the bodies were found in the local church which burned to the ground, Henry Dunn attempted to strangle her. At this time Mr Mance was able to free himself and on seeing Mr Dunn attack Ms Mills he managed, even after sustaining substantial leg injuries, to save Ms Mills by tackling Mr Dunn, who then fell to his death to the rocks below before his body was last seen floating out to sea. The FBI ...

And so it went until the story faded. Over time their lives filled less space as new horrors unfolded around the country and the world.

So they were left to live their own lives.

XXX

Abby took another sip of her coffee and looked around the apartment. It was new. She'd left her old apartment for this one. She could never go back to her childhood home and her apartment in L.A. was tainted. Every place she looked there had memories attached – of Henry, Sully, Trish, the rest of the gang. Everywhere she went the pain followed.

Jimmy had been the same. There was nothing left but bad memories on Harper's Island. He hated to leave but it had changed for him in ways that could never be repaired. He also wasn't letting Abby out of his sight ever again. And she wouldn't stay.

California was still her refuge and she couldn't dream of leaving it. But Jimmy also needed the sea – not the surf and sand sea, but one that he could work. So they had settled on San Francisco near enough to the docklands.

It hadn't been easy.

Jimmy knew that Abby hadn't told him everything. That he didn't know the whole story. A week was a long time to be trapped with a killer. There was a tension between them – an invisible secret hanging in the air that just wouldn't go away.

After over a month of living together, when the killings and their aftermath weren't even mentioned, Abby found website histories on Stockholm Syndrome, abuse signs and symptoms, counselling. Guilt flooded through her. She wanted to talk to him about everything that had happened but he just wouldn't understand. Nobody would. But she did want to put Jimmy's mind at ease. He'd been through enough.

So she tried. She tried to act like she was on the mend. That she was beginning to cope. And the tension eased. It still wasn't easy but it became simpler to manage.

Eventually Jimmy found some work on the fishing boats. It had taken him a long while to fully recover from the break and the infection that had set in. He'd been lucky he hadn't lost his leg. When he felt stronger he looked, and found, work. He settled in slowly – they both did. After time passed he eventually found it less stressful to leave Abby alone. She was doing more freelance writing than she'd ever done before. It was a welcome distraction that she was perfecting.

Reporters did track them down from time to time – despite being unlisted. True crime writers offered writing collaboration deals if they would only tell their side of the story. Offers to write sponsored blogs flooded in. Apparently John and Henry Wakefield had a fan-site somewhere on the net – Abby had never looked.

On the anniversary there was a slight surge on calls and emails but as before once ignored they died off eventually.

Life began to get back on track. It was time to start ... living.

XXX

Abby heard the front door close shut and she turned towards the sound. As she stood up Jimmy bounded into the room and grabbed her up in a twirling hug.

"How's my girl doing? Huh?" Kissing her as he brought her feet back down to earth.

"Urgh! You stink. Get off me!" She laughed back at him.

"Cheeky!" he said affectionately as he snuck in for another kiss. She pushed him further away laughing again.

"How's the article coming along?" he asked, noting the open laptop beside the window.

"Mmmm. So-so. How was the trip out?"

"Good. These guys don't know how easy they have it down here."

Abby shot a mock glare in his direction.

"What?" he said smiling, "I'm only saying."

"Better get used to it. You're a big city guy now."

Jimmy glared back at her turn of phrase. Rolling his eyes he went towards the bathroom to shower.

"I brought the mail in. I think there's a certain letter from O'Sullivan Publishers in there you might want to check out."

"Seriously?" Abby said as she grabbed the mail from the hall table and brought it over to the window.

She looked down at the white envelope with the publishers name emblazoned at the top. Her heart tripped. No way of telling if it was an acceptance or rejection letter. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She turned it over to open it as something else grabbed her attention. Desperate for a diversion she put the envelope aside.

Abby pulled out the piece of card showing the classic photo of the Hollywood sign in L.A. As she turned it over her heart stopped.

It was addressed to Jimmy.

Her heart pounded deep and fast again as she closed her eyes.

She opened them once more to read the word emblazoned across the white space.

Just one word in red letters.

LIAR