Well this is it, the final chapter.

To say writing this story was a rollercoaster would be quite an understatement. There were times when I thought I would never finish this story but here we are!

After I finished the last chapter the writing bug had bitten me hard. So I'm glad I could get this finished earlier than expected, and before the year was up!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Raccoons, but I own this story and that's good enough :)

Epilogue – Nightmares part 15

One Year Later

A year had come and gone in the Evergreen forest.

From the outside, not much had changed in the 365 days. Seasons came and went, new animals were born into the world and the sun appeared and disappeared over the horizon every day.

But for the residents who resided within the forest, the past year had been anything but uneventful.

After the helicopter had picked the group up, they were flown to the nearest hospital. Fortunately, most of them had suffered only minor cuts and bruises and an unhealthy dose of shaken nerves.

After being treated, Vanessa gathered everyone together, including the local law enforcement, and recalled every horrifying detail about her experience with Bix. The authorities soon contacted Vanessa's parents and gave them the happy news that their missing daughter had been found alive. Within a few days, Vanessa was tearfully reunited with her parents. The past three years had torn a hole in each of their hearts. But with their daughter back in their arms, Vanessa's parents felt that hole disappear.

Unfortunately, Vanessa's accounts also led the falcon to be charged for her involvement in Bix's crimes. The possibility of serious jail time hung high in the air as she sat in her holding cell.

While awaiting the upcoming trial, Lisa frequently visited her avian friend. Often their visits were positive; reminiscing about the days they spent playing in the Evergreen Forest and talking about more current things, such as what each of their parents were up to now. But there was one day when Lisa, albeit not intentionally, brought up the incident, that incident being when she had fallen over the cliff the first time. Vanessa immediately rambled off a series of apologizes and claims that she was a terrible friend and that she should have done things differently. But Lisa simply placed her hand on Vanessa's hand and told her how thankful she was that she managed to save her from falling over the cliff twice. She also mentioned that it was better to forgive and forget rather than holding onto a grudge. The two hugged it out, or as best as they could with the steel bars between them, and felt their friendship grow stronger than ever.

During the trial, the prosecution tried desperately to convey the fact that Vanessa was fully aware of her actions and wasn't a victim of Stockholm Syndrome as she claimed. The defense side provided evidence to the contrary, such as detailed notes from the many psychiatrists that had visited Vanessa in prison and various testimonies from Bert, Lisa, Cedric and Bentley. In the end, the jury deliberated for two hours and came back with a guilty verdict. Fortunately, the judge seemed to side with Vanessa's story as he sentenced her to only a year of probation and 200 hours of community service.

Vanessa decided to use her hours of community service to help Schaeffer in the local cafe and pick up litter within various areas of the Evergreen Forest. She didn't mind though as she loved being out in the forest and she could interact with Lisa and her friends more often.

Life for Bentley on the other hand had been much less uneventful, although he suffered nightmares of the event shortly after returning home. But within time he began having the horrific dreams less and less until they eventually faded from memory.

The ties between the Raccoon family had grown even tighter. Lisa and Bentley had grown much closer in the time since. While they still had their fair share of arguments and fights, as brothers and sisters do, there was no denying that a stronger bond now existed between the two.

George and Nicole, meanwhile, became much more protective of their children. When they first reunited with the two raccoons, they said they wouldn't take another vacation until they retired. It got to a point where George and Nicole were always asking their children what they doing, where they were going or if they could escort them over. But eventually, with some negotiating from Lisa, the two older raccoons eventually decided to give the two of them some space. After all, the Evergreen Forest was still a far safer place than any city on a good day.

Cedric and Sophia had always been close in the past. But after the incident at Deadman's Cliff, the two became practically inseparable. And they wouldn't have it any other way.

Cyril Sneer became much closer to Cedric over the past year. The disappearance of his son, and the horrifying possibility of seeing his own flesh and blood in a body bag, had finally taught the old aardvark that there were indeed things far more important than money.

Cyril also became somewhat nicer to Sophia as well. After all, it was her idea to call in the search and rescue team that found his son. While their relationship still wasn't peachy, and would probably remain that way, a greater sense of respect had formed between the two aardvarks.

Of the many things that had changed over the past year, Lisa and Bert's relationship was perhaps the biggest. The two raccoons became closer and closer with each passing day.

Bentley had finally accepted the reality that his best friend was dating his sister. However, walking in on the two of them kissing was something he knew he would never get used to.

Lisa found herself accompanying Bentley, Bert and Cedric more often on their many outdoor adventures. From camping in the summer, to playing ice hockey in the winter she found herself naturally becoming one of the gang.

However, on this particular day, Lisa and Bert had the former's house all to themselves. George and Nicole were attending a concert in the city while Bentley was away at summer camp.

Up till now the two raccoons had a relatively quiet day, mostly consisting of sleeping in, watching movies and playing basketball in the yard. Towards the end of the day, and with it being the warmest night on record, the two raccoons decided to go on an evening picnic. Bert prepared the peanut butter sandwiches and cookies while Lisa whipped up a quick salad.

After Bert had filled the basket full of food, sparkling grape juice, utensils and plastic wine glasses, Lisa excused herself, saying she was heading to the washroom. Bert sat at the kitchen table while he flipped through a TV guide.

After a while, he noticed that Lisa still hadn't returned. Bert waited a little longer before getting a little antsy. No one would describe Bert Raccoon as a person who would sit still for a long time.

Bert got up from the table and made his way towards the stairs. When he turned the corner he saw Lisa sitting at the bottom of the stairs. Her hands were folded in her lap and her eyes were a thousand miles away.

"Lisa?" Bert called.

No reply.

Bert got closer and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Oh Bert!" Lisa jumped. "Sorry I was just lost in thought."

"About where the bathroom is?" Bert jokingly asked. "It's upstairs, first door on your left."

Lisa chuckled and playfully smacked Bert on the arm. "No silly, I was just thinking about where we should go for our picnic."

"Oh well there's plenty of the places to go," Bert replied. "We can go by the Evergreen Forest lake or at the base of Evergreen mountain or..."

"Deadman's Cliff," Lisa quickly interjected.

Bert paused for a minute. "Or Deadman's Cliff, but I don't know why you'd want to go there when..."

When Bert turned back, he expected Lisa to be smiling and shaking her head. But the serious look on her face, and the utter sincerity in her eyes, caught him off guard.

"That's where you want to go? I thought after what happened up there a year ago you'd never..."

Lisa sighed before patting the empty space next to where she was sitting. Bert immediately got the hint and sat down.

"The thing is Bert," Lisa began. "I am still afraid of that place, not even just because of what happened last year but...because of what happened to me there years ago. It still haunts me."

For a rare moment in his life, Bert stayed quiet and simply nodded

"But...I remember how you wanted to help me get over my fears...or at least somewhat tolerate them. And...when I think about it...if I let my fear get the best of me, and never even try to think about that place, everything you would have done for me...would've been wasted. And I don't ever want you to think that you failed me."

Bert stayed quiet while Lisa continued. "My dad always said: try and face your fears. Even if you don't get over them completely; you chip them away a little bit at a time."

Lisa looked up at Bert with a small smile. "So I think if we have a picnic up there...it could at least chip away my fears a little bit."

Bert thought it over for a minute. "But I'm just not sure if..."

Lisa placed a finger on Bert's lips and whispered, "Please Bert...for me?"

Lisa released her finger from Bert's mouth as he smiled.

"Okay let's go to Deadman's Cliff."

The two raccoons hugged each other in a loving embrace before they shared a kiss.

XXXXXXX

To say the journey was déjà vu would be the understatement of the decade.

Bert and Lisa went the exact same route as before, mostly because it was the only one they knew of that lead straight to the clearing on top.

Lisa felt a horde of butterflies fly around in her stomach as they got closer and closer to the cliff. Bert saw the discomfort on her face and instinctively held Lisa's hand while his bushy tail wrapped around hers. Lisa blushed and started to gently rub her finger against his hand.

When the two reached the very top of the cliff, Lisa's watch read 9:30pm. The sun would be over the horizon in less than an hour.

Bert laid out the picnic blanket and set the basket down before Lisa sat down next to him. When he glanced over, Bert saw Lisa's eyes were closed and her chest was rising up and down rapidly. Under most circumstances, Bert would have torn straight into the picnic basket and devoured his peanut butter creations without a second thought. But under these circumstances, Bert simply moved behind Lisa and began to rub her shoulders. He was willing to give her as much time as she needed.

Eventually, Lisa opened her eyes and glanced back at Bert. She gave a small smile and nodded her head. Bert nodded back and sat down next to the basket before taking out all of its contents.

"Would mademoiselle Lisa care to try the sparkling grape juice ala Bert?" Bert asked in a shoddy French accent as he uncorked the bottle.

Lisa tried desperately to keep herself from laughing. "Oui s'il vous plaît monsieur Bert."

Bert's gaze was blanker than an empty canvas.

"Yes please Mr. Bert." Lisa giggled.

Bert chuckled sheepishly. "Uh, right I knew that."

Lisa laughed as Bert filled her glass with the purple concoction before doing the same to his own glass.

"To the greatest girlfriend in the world," Bert quietly toasted.

"To the greatest boyfriend in the world," Lisa quietly toasted back.

XXXXXXX

Lisa sighed contently as she laid back down on the blanket. Although she wasn't obsessed with peanut butter as Bert was, the amount of it he put in his sandwiches tickled her taste buds in all the right ways. Not to mention the peanut butter cookies he made were to die for.

By now the sun was beginning to set behind the horizon. The sky turned into a rich melody of pink, purple and orange, with the surrounding clouds soaking up most of the color.

Bert sat next to Lisa and breathed a sigh of content, mostly from having his peanut butter fix for the day.

"You know Bert," Lisa began as she sat up. "When you take away everything that's happened up here…this is a really pretty spot."

"Best view for a sunset that's for sure," Bert replied.

The two stayed quiet for a minute before Lisa moved over behind Bert. She placed one leg beside Bert's leg and did the same for the other. Then she wrapped her arms around the smaller raccoon's frame.

"Thanks Bert for everything," Lisa softly spoke.

Bert's face was soaked in a deep blush. "T-thanks Lisa but you know I just made p-peanut butter sandwiches and cookies, nothing fancy."

Lisa laughed. "No I mean…thanks for everything you've done for me so far. Getting me readjusted to living in the Evergreen Forest, trying to help me face my fears, escaping Bix by driving his motorcycle and saving my life and everyone else's. There are just so many things that you've done for me that…I don't think I'll ever be able to pay you back for."

Bert looked up at Lisa and made the most genuine smile in his whole life.

"Lisa, just being the way you are is more than enough for me."

Lisa cried a few happy tears before she closed her eyes and kissed Bert passionately on the lips. Bert returned the gesture with just as much if not even more passion.

The two of them couldn't tell if they had set a world record for the longest kiss or not, but eventually their lips separated. They turned their attention back to the sunset, allowing its fading, warm glow to bask over them.

Slowly but surely, Lisa felt the fear plaguing her heart and soul finally fading away. A sense of relief, happiness and hope took its place.

Lisa Noelle Raccoon had finally woken up from her nightmare.

THE END

And that's a wrap!

I kinda feel like I'm saying goodbye to an old friend or something as I type this, lol. But at the same time I'm definitely glad that I could get this story finished before the year was up!

Thanks for all your favs, follows and/or reviews! You guys helped give me the motivation to keep writing when I didn't feel like doing it.

Hope you all have a great rest of your year and I hope you'll maybe read some of my other stories in the future!

Until then: Peace!