Epilogue

In the town of Coeur de Coeur's, Olive Snook sat on her hospital bed eating copious amounts of the mac and cheese Randy Mann had brought her from the Intrepid Cow.

She had just come back from the dead, except, she didn't know that, nor ever would.

Chuck, sporting the glove she had learnt to keep handy in her pocket held onto the Pie Makers Hand as they watched Randy Mann and his newly revived girlfriend talk ecstatically between bites of cheesy goodness.

To their left, Emerson Cod, renowned private investigator leaned against the wall with a bottle of brandy in his hand.

"Emerson?" Ned asked, "Will Nora be okay?"

He took a swig of the brandy and nodded, "Oh yeah, more than okay. She got off with a warning since we can't actually fine her for murder…"

The couple hummed in agreement and listened in for further detail.

"She's packed her bags and went off. I don't even know where she is."

"I guess it's for the better," Chuck grinned, "if she'll be happier that way."

Cod frowned, "And why are you so supportive Missy?"

"Well, because I know what it's like to grow up without your mom and dad." She looked up at both Ned and Emerson, "It's hard always having to wonder if you'll feel the love and warmth of a parent, especially if you're young. She had to deal with that all her life."

And suddenly, though it should have been clear to them all along, the private investigator and the Pie Maker both felt a pang of sympathy for the girl they knew but never got to know. All they had thought of her before was how silly and childish her case has had seemed. But now...

"She'll be happier this way, I know it." Chuck concluded.

"Heck, I think so too." Cod added.

"So will Olive." Ned shifted his gaze onto her, "I'll have to tell her my secret someday, but I want to let her enjoy her life before then."

"You did the right thing Ned." Emerson added, taking another swig of his drink when Ned looked up at him sympathetically. He coughed and nodded abruptly, "Right, well then, I'll be off. I'm just glad this ridiculous case is over with..."

"Thank you, Emerson." Ned grimaced as he bid his colleague farewell.

As the room fell into a serene sort of peace he did not think was possible only day earlier, The Pie Maker then thought of how lucky he still was to have Chuck with him.

He thought of the day when he'd tell Olive of his secret and of the day where Randy was bound to learn of it as well.

He also thought of the day where he'd be reunited with the fantastically insane half-sister. And his father…

Maybe, just maybe, he thought, all this had happened so that he could realize he wasn't the only one in the world with this "gift", and that maybe, just maybe, the thing that had separated him from the world for so long had something to do with the man who had separated himself from his son and family for years and years.

But for now, in the town of Coeur de Coeur's, The Pie Maker held Chuck's hand a little tighter and thanked Nora for having brought his friend back to life, for now, things could slowly go back to the way they were - or at least, as close as possible.