And here it is, the last chapter. When I started writing this, I had no idea just how many people didn't like what the show decided to do to Michelle Vega, and how many people really loved her budding relationship with Wylie. Thank you to EVERYONE who has read and reviewed. I know this fic has helped me - a lot - in dealing with show canon, because I can pretend that this is actually what happened in the weeks following the finale. I hope it's helped some of you, too.

Happy Wega Wednesday.

"You hanging in there, Wylie?" Jane asked from the couch.

Wylie turned from the computer. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, I know that today Vega gets her placement, and your body language suggests that you've been preoccupied with that."

Wylie shrugged. "I mean, I have, I guess."

"You remember the first two years Cho worked here?" Jane's eyes were closed, his hands folded over his chest.

Wylie thought back. "I mean, I was only here for six months before moving up to this department, and I didn't really see him but in passing..."

"Well," Jane said, "for two years before Lisbon and I started working here, I was in Central America, and she was in Washington State."

"Okay."

"There's nowhere in the world that Vega can go that she'll forget you," Jane told him. "At the risk of sounding like a cliché, love finds a way."

Wylie nodded slowly. "Thanks."

The moment Wylie entered the safe house living space, his eyes were searching Vega's for any clue as to where her assignment was. She was on the couch with Cho and Theo, looking solemn. Theo wouldn't make eye contact with Wylie. Cho was, as usual, impossible to read.

Vega got up to greet him, silently, taking both his hands. "Ford left about an hour ago."

"Where?" he asked.

She let out a deep sigh, leaning forward to rest her forehead against his chest. "Houston."

It took Wylie a moment. "...Houston?" He tipped his head down despite still not being able to see her face. "As in..."

She lifted her head, grinning. "Houston, Texas."

Wylie wanted to say something, but found it impossible to speak when grinning that broadly. So instead he laughed and threw his arms around Vega, lifting her off the ground and twirling. As they whirled around, he thought he caught a glimpse of Theo laughing and Cho offering her a high five.

"You guys terrified me," Wylie said as he set Vega down. She laughed, tipping her head back. "The look on your face!"

"Wasn't difficult for me," Cho quipped. "There is a reason we didn't have Lisbon in on this, though."

"So what's the rest of the details on this new life of yours?" Wylie wanted to know.

"They've set me up with training to work as a polygraph administrator," she told him. "I'm actually going to be living in Humble, Texas, in the Houston Metropolitan area."

"Oh my God," Wylie said, still grinning. "That's...I still can't...how?"

"Well, turns out that one of the people on the FWTC Board of Placement was in FBI training with Abbott," Vega said. "I have no idea if he pulled any strings, but..." She smiled. "I guess the official answer is 'we got lucky'."

"Do you have a new name?" Wylie asked.

"Me llamo Michelle Bonaventura," she said. "I'm twenty six years old, originally from Denton, Texas."

"Bueno," Wylie said. "Muy cerca."

"Can I confess something?" she said, cocking her head.

Wylie was amused. "What?"

"I'm actually really excited to go, now. You know what I mean? Like...now I won't be sad. Now leaving full time care just means I'm getting better. And yeah, we'll be almost two hundred miles apart but..."

"We can stay together."

She smiled, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah."

"When do you go?"

"Friday."

Wylie looked over the top of her head at Cho. "You can have the day off," he said. "I'm sure you'll want to take her."

Friday morning, Lisbon and Wylie drove Vega to the FWTC for her final physical. Angela smiled as she signed the release papers. "Another success story," she said. "We are so thrilled to send you on to the next stage in your life, Michelle."

"Your new home is a small, three room house," she continued. "One bedroom, one bathroom. 709 square feet. It comes furnished. It should suit you for the time being."

"Thank you." Vega stood to shake Angela's hand. "Thank you for everything." It felt strange being in the FWTC again, even after only a week in the safe house, especially after all that had happened. "I hope you don't take this as disrespect," she said, and Angela smirked as if she already knew what the agent was going to say, "but I am very excited to never see this place again."

"I suppose this isn't really goodbye," Lisbon said. "I can't imagine we won't be seeing you."

"I can't imagine that either," Vega said, accepting the older woman's hug. "I want to know your son or daughter."

Jane smiled. "We want them to know you, too."

Vega smiled, hugged Jane, and then hugged Cho. "You ready?" Wylie asked, closing the back door of the van.

Vega look in a deep breath, nodding. "Yep."

"Alright then," Wylie said, giving her a reassuring grin. "Let's go to Houston."

"Finally doing our Houston date," Vega joked as they maneuvered through the city. "Too bad League of Legends isn't in the cards."

"I'm so glad this isn't a date to, like...Belarus or something," Wylie said. "What with that being so far away and all."

"Yeah," she said. "Houston's much better." She reached across the cup holders and grabbed the hand he had resting on his leg. "You want to get some food?"

Wylie glanced at the time. "Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"Let's try there," Vega said, pointing up ahead. "I like the buffalo painting in the window."

By the time they had eaten, the sun was beginning it descent. Fortunately, Vega's new home in Humble was not difficult to find. Before going inside, they carried all her bags to the porch. "Not too much stuff," Wylie said.

"You've been in my old house," Vega said. "I don't have lots of personal belongings." She fiddled with the key. "Here goes."

The door swung open to reveal most of Vega's new house. To the left was a tiny kitchen, with a round table and four chairs sitting just before the fridge, and to the right, with no wall in between, was the living room with two recliners, a coffee table, and a bookshelf. On the right side was a door leading to the bedroom.

"It's small," Vega said, dragging one of her bags inside. "But I don't need a mansion, now do I?"

"It's cozy," Wylie said. "Manageable. I like it."

"Yeah," Vega said. "Me too. I just wish it wasn't a hundred and sixty miles away."

"Two and a half hour drive," Wylie said. "It's better than being across the Atlantic. Where do you want these?"

"Just set them down anywhere," Vega said. "I'll unpack in the morning."

"Okay." Wylie looked around. "I think you'll be okay here."

"Yeah," she said. They walked into the bedroom, and she raised her eyebrows. "Simple," she said. "This is set up a lot like at the place I was renting in Austin." She looked at Wylie. "Maybe I'll put the photos on the dresser."

"He'd be proud of you," Wylie said. "I know I never knew him, but...I can't imagine that he'd be anything but."

She nodded, smiling. "Yeah. I think so. He would be." She shoved her hands in her pockets, looking at the bed, pushing the toe of her right shoe into the carpet. "Two and a half hour drive," she said. "That'll be getting you home well after midnight."

"It's alright," Wylie said.

"I was thinking," she said carefully, deliberately, "maybe you'd like to...to stay tonight?"

"Stay?" he said, looking unsure as to what she was saying.

"Yeah," she said. "Stay. I know I'd...I'd like that. If you did."

"Are you sure?" he asked her pointedly, telling her that he did understand. She nodded. "The doctors told me it was okay to try. If I felt up to it." She stood in front of him and took his hands. "And I do. I'd like to try." She turned pink, averting her eyes from his. "Especially with you looking at me like that, God Wylie." She grinned, then looked back up at him, her eyes hopeful.

"I'd love to stay with you," Wylie said, squeezing her hands. "You're absolutely sure, though?"

She nodded. "I am. I mean..." she trailed off. Westing had told her there might be discomfort at first. "You've had multiple extensive surgeries," he'd told her. "You've had no interest in years. If the interest returns, you have recovered enough to try, but be careful." His words rang in Vega's head, but she had no idea how to transmit them to Wylie without sounding like tonight was going to be some medical experiment. She didn't want to do this out of curiosity, as some test as to if she was fully recovered. She wanted to do this because she was in love with Wylie.

"You'll call all the shots," Wylie told her, his tone reassuring, his thumbs rubbing the top of her hands. "Every single one, I promise."

Vega smiled, using their hands as a platform to balance on as she rose on her tiptoes and kissed him. He kissed her back, lowering his head so she could stand flat footed, letting go of her hands to slide his up to push through her hair. She tugged on his shirt, asking him to move with her, and he walked forward, stopping when the back of her legs made contact with the side of the bed. She stretched upward again, back on her tiptoes, sliding her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his. He pushed against her mouth, and she deepened the kiss as he curled his arms around her waist to hold her in place.

Then he pulled back just slightly to gaze down into her eyes, their noses almost touching. "I love you," he said. "A lot."

We are, we are, we are timeless, timeless. Everything we have, we have, everything, oh my god. You are, you are the only thing that makes me feel like I can live forever. Forever with you, my love.