Author's Note: So, after all this time, here we are on the last chapter. (Oh, I'm not prepared...) Thank you to all of you who read it, liked it, and/or commented on it, whether you were here from the beginning or just found this near the end. There'll even be a little surprise for you at the end of the chapter - another reason it was posted so late.

And away we go...

"You're here awfully early," Vanessa said as she stifled a yawn. The sun was up, and had been for a little while, but this was still earlier than usual for a visit from Danny. She'd gotten plenty of sleep, but was still tired; reluctantly, she had to concede that maybe, just maybe, the hospital might have a point about how far she had to go to recover, and about how activity like that could easily sap her energy.

She still didn't like it, though, and would be doing everything she could to speed that recovery time up. After... Well, she just didn't like the idea of being helpless, or being in any way not able to defend herself.

"I wanted to see you before I left," Danny told her, taking her usual seat near the bed. "I've got everything just about packed. I'll just need to take care of a few more things, then I'll be heading out. Commencement's at Eleven, so those of us who haven't already left are going to want to be out of here before that ends, to prevent congestion on the roads - especially those of us who have flights to catch. Fortunately, one of the details Laura arranged earlier in the week was transportation to Graz Airport. Those of us who can't get a flight from to where we need to go from there usually fly up to Vienna and go from there. I'll admit, the personnel transports that used to belong to Corvae don't look terribly comfortable-"

"They're not," Vanessa interjected with the voice of someone who knew that from first-hand experience.

"-but they're free, so no one's really going to complain about it when she's saving us money on hiring a taxi or something," Danny concluded. The school had, in the past, offered bus services for those whose parents couldn't come help them pack up and leave, but that had cost - and no one had really liked the look of the driver, who was not one of those that had been kept. Actually, now that Danny thought about it, she was pretty sure he'd been let go even as early as Mattie's first week back at Silas. Oddly, no one had even been able to find the bus after that, almost like it had never existed.

No one really wanted to think too carefully about that.

"Fortunately for me, I can catch an Air Berlin flight from Graz," she added. "From what they said, LaF, Perry and JP will be flying to Zürich, then catching a train to Bern, so they'll be leaving on the next transport, too."

"You'll have to tell them goodbye for me, then," Vanessa requested. Yes, she'd technically said her goodbyes for the summer last night, but if Danny was going to be heading out with them anyway, why not?

"I'll do that," Danny promised. "As I understand it, the commencement ceremony will last approximately two-and-a-half hours. Hopefully, everyone will have cleared out by the time that ends, since I'm pretty sure transport service will be suspended until the Senior class and their families are all gone, and that could take a while all by itself."

"Well, I hope you have a safe trip home," Vanessa told her. "And that your summer isn't too bad, even if you don't like it there."

"Thanks. I still feel kinda bad about leaving you here all by yourself, though," Danny said with an apologetic wince. "You sure you're going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Vanessa promised. She knew if she couldn't convince Danny of that, she might just not leave. "The hospital staff will be reduced over the summer, with no students around to care for, with just enough people to handle anything the construction people might need. Given how bored the doctors and nurses that'll be sticking around will likely end up being, chances are high that I'll have more attention than I know what to do with." Whether she wanted it or not.

"I suppose that's true," Danny admitted.

"The good news is, Michelle will not be among the security staff here over the summer," Vanessa added a bit more cheerfully.

"Oh, good, then she'll still be alive at the start of the next school year," Danny said, smirking. There was a brief moment of silence, neither of them quite sure how to end the conversation.

Ultimately, Vanessa went with one of the classics: When all else fails, evade. She snuck a quick look at her bedside clock, then asked, "What time did you say your transport left?" she asked. It was a rhetorical question, really, since they both knew Danny hadn't said that. "Because if you do have a few final things to take care of, you might want to get on that. You can text me when you're leaving." Because, though she'd never gotten much use out of it, she did have a cell phone. It had been sitting next to her bed, mostly untouched, ever since she'd been moved to a regular hospital room. Danny had her number, but usually just stopped by if she wanted to talk.

"I'll do that," Danny promised, leaning down to give her a hug. It went on for a bit longer than she'd intended, but this was the last time she was going to see Vanessa for months, so she didn't think much of that. "Plenty of attention from the staff or not, I hope you don't mind if I stay in touch over the summer. I might need someone to talk to, myself." It wasn't like she could discuss anything that had happened over the past year with anyone in Berlin.

"Mind?" Vanessa echoed. "Hardly. I'll look forward to it."

And that was the absolute truth.

"Annnnnnnnd... that's everything," LaFontaine said with satisfaction as they zipped up their last suitcase. They took a moment to look around their unadorned dorm room. It had been almost an entire year since it had looked so bare, and it seemed somehow wrong that that'd changed.

"I almost can't believe we actually made it through this year," Perry said as she finished stacking her bags on top of the trunk most of her clothes (and the few cooking items she'd brought from home) were in.

"It's been a hell of a year, alright," LaF agreed. "We actually made history. I mean, think about it: generations from now, when people look back at the point where Silas stopped being an evil university and became a school actually dedicated to its students, they'll know who we were and what we did."

"I wouldn't mind if they forgot certain parts," Perry admitted with a wince. Thanks to the doctors at the hospital, the words carved into her stomach were almost completely gone - she suspected both Mattie's blood and the metabolism enhancer might have helped a bit with that - but if she looked closely enough, she could still see traces of them. And those were only her external scars...

"I know. But thanks to those parts, they'll understand just how amazing you were when you kicked out the ex-Dean for good."

"Maybe." Perry had never been interested in making history of effecting change, though. Maybe some people were - like Laura, and her videos - and that was fine for them. She just wanted to be able to live her life in peace, knowing her friends and family were safe and happy. "I'll admit, it is going to be rather strange to leave. I mean, that never bothered me before - really, I liked getting away from here and going home - but after everything..."

"Yeah. I can't even imagine what next year will be like, when we graduate." They both fell silent for a long moment, thinking about that. "I know we'll all keep in touch, but... It just won't be the same," LaF finally said.

Perry honestly had no idea what to say in response to that, and was spared from having to by JP knocking on the door. (It wouldn't occur to her until later that he'd probably been able to hear them out in the hall, and had deliberately chosen to enter when he did to help her out.) "Is everything ready to go?" he asked as he opened the door, taking a step inside.

"Ready when you are," LaF replied. When they'd been discussing the matter the other day, JP had volunteered his vampiric super strength to help them carry their bags downstairs to the waiting transports. (There was an elevator, but naturally, it was already in use, and none of them felt like wasting time standing in line.)

With JP able to carry large stacks of bags at a time, it didn't take very long to get their belongings down to the waiting transport. He probably could have done it faster if he'd been able to utilize his speed, but there were too many people still around to avoid collisions doing so - particularly since the stacks were high enough that he couldn't really see where he was going, requiring LaFontaine to steer him around obstacles. The one bag he had was already on the transport. There were a few things that he hadn't wanted to bring with him - and a few that LaF couldn't bring on a plane - which Laura had kindly offered to store at her and Carmilla's house for the summer.

Perry wasn't bringing everything home with her, either, but she'd made a somewhat... different arrangement.

Once all her bags were downstairs, she'd checked her watch, informed LaFontaine to come get her if she took too long, then headed off toward Mattie's house. The vampire was waiting for her, and while that sort of thing might have mildly freaked her out a bit other times, this time she wasn't even a little surprised. After all, it only made sense that she'd stop by before leaving, even after Mattie had spent the night... distracting her, from cleaning.

She was still a little tingly, but not in a worrying way, this time.

"Cutting things a bit close, aren't you?" Mattie asked once the door was closed - and, for the first time, left unlocked. Perry was glad to see Mattie recognized this was not the time for that sort of thing. "As I recall, your transport will be leaving shortly."

"This was really the only way I could see to make sure you didn't distract me enough to make me miss my flight."

Mattie's lips tugged upward, and she inclined her head in acknowledgement of the fact that she might well have done exactly that. "Oh, I assure you, if I wanted to, I could still do that now."

Given that just her words and sultry tone made Perry's whole body react, she was hard pressed to deny that. "Still, though, it would have been horribly rude of me to leave without saying goodbye." She paused. "You're heading to Morocco, you said?"

"For a while, at least," Mattie said with a negligent shrug, stepping closer. Perry carefully didn't react (though, given what Mattie had told her about being able to detect her physical reactions on the day she'd signed the paperwork to become the Board's new Student Rep, she supposed she might as well not have even bothered). "If I get bored, I imagine I'll go somewhere else. Don't worry, I'll be back by start of term - and your belongings won't be touched while you're gone." Perry wasn't leaving much there - a few outfits that were really not appropriate to wear at home (the schoolgirl's outfit wasn't the only thing Mattie liked seeing her in), a couple of kitchen utensils and accessories that wouldn't really be of any use without the rest of Mattie's kitchen - but it was still enough to make her a little nervous. She'd never left her things anywhere but at home, when she wasn't going to be there.

She didn't care what LaF said, though: That she was doing so now, with Mattie, did not represent anything. It just meant that she wasn't going to try and pretend she wasn't going to want to come back for more of the amazing sex and cooking in what was pretty much her dream kitchen, so she might as well take advantage of that and save herself some packing.

Assuming Mattie didn't find someone else more interesting during her vacation.

As if able to read her mind - a thought which, if she'd actually believed it at all, would have terrified her; she knew it was just a matter of reading her expression and body language - Mattie added, "I suppose getting bored is a real possibility; there certainly wasn't anyone who caught my attention there before. As I told you, it's been a long while since anyone did."

That wasn't exactly what she'd said, but it was close enough that Perry didn't argue. "It's a little strange," she commented, noticing that Mattie had gotten even closer, being maybe a foot away, now. At the inquisitive look Mattie gave her, she continued, "I've never had anyone to come back to, before." A brief pause. "Even just in terms of a purely physical relationship," she added quickly, lest Mattie get the wrong idea.

Because it would have been. She didn't like Mattie like that, no matter what anybody else thought.

"Well," Mattie said softly, pulling her close, "I'll be certain to greet you appropriately, when you get back." Then Mattie was kissing her, and she readily melted into the embrace.

She seriously had no idea how she was going to get through an entire summer without that kiss. (To say nothing of, well, everything that usually followed it.) "Maybe you should stop by the hospital after I leave, have them run a few tests," Perry said when she broke the kiss due to the usual reason: her need for air finally became more urgent than her need to keep kissing Mattie.

"Oh?"

"Yes. I don't think kissing is supposed to be addictive, so maybe they should check and see if something... unusual... is going on," she teased.

Mattie's eyes glittered with amusement. "Oh, it's nothing like that," she said confidently. "I'm just that damned good." She pulled her in for another kiss, and Perry couldn't argue.

Or even think all that much, really.

When she needed air again, Perry made herself take a step backward. She had to. If things kept going the way they were, she'd stop caring that she needed to go soon, and their clothes would form a trail upstairs to the bedroom. Or maybe to the couch in the living room. Assuming they managed to leave the front foyer at all. "I have to go," she panted out.

For a moment, it seriously looked like Mattie might just try and convince her to stay, regardless of what she was supposed to be doing. If that happened... Perry knew she would be in trouble. Fortunately, though, Mattie must have known someone would come looking for Perry if she didn't show up soon, because she took a reluctant step away, herself. (That it was so reluctant actually boosted Perry's self-esteem, a bit.) "I suppose I should wish you a safe trip," Mattie said, studying her. (What, if anything, she was looking for, Perry had no idea.) "I hardly want anything to happen to you, after all; I want you in good shape when you get back. You'll need to be."

"I'll keep that in mind," Perry promised, unable to keep a little thrill of excitement from shooting up her spine. "I'll see you in a few months." With that, she turned and walked to the door, slipping out without another word.

Exactly five seconds later, she walked right back in. "Okay, one more kiss for the road," she declared. Mattie hardly objected.

As it turned out, LaF and JP did end up having to come get her.

Laura was trying really, really hard not to start shaking from sheer nerves.

Carmilla, watching her, shook her head. "I don't get it," she said with a sigh. "You've faced down vampires, ancient fish gods, my quote-unquote 'Mother'... and this is what's got you freaked out?"

"Oh, I was plenty scared during those times," Laura readily admitted. The two were standing on the ground, near the stage that had been set up on the football field. (It was, at least, a lovely day, so that was one of her worries taken care of, right there.) "I was just too busy to dwell on it. Right now, though, I don't have anything to do until I'm called onto the stage, which gives me nothing to do but worry about how much my speech sucks."

"Your speech is fine," Carmilla assured her.

"Yeah, and you're not biased, or anything."

"I've been at this school since the Fifties, Laura. I promise you this will be the most thought out, heartfelt speech any graduating class at Silas has ever heard."

"I could have gone with my first draft and that still would have been true."

"And we would have had shots."

"Carm!"

"Laura." She placed her hands on her fiancée's shoulders. "Stop stressing. You're going to do fine. And after this past year, the graduates will both understand and appreciate everything you're telling them, and since this speech is for them, that's all that matters."

"I guess..."

"I know. Now, calm down, before I ruin your lipstick calming you down myself."

Laura narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't."

Carmilla smirked.

"...oh, who am I kidding? Of course you would."

"And don't you forget it." She gave Laura a gentle hip check, and Laura couldn't quite stop a tiny grin, despite everything. "That's better."

She had maybe a minute or two to enjoy the relative calm, then she was being announced, and her stomach began clenching again. She smoothed out nonexistent wrinkles in her blue blazer - she was more professionally attired than she remembered ever being before, having decided that, if everyone else that had given this kind of speech at Silas had worn a suit, she should, too; she hadn't wanted to go with funerary colors like grey or black, though - vaguely aware of June following her, unmistakable for anything but a bodyguard. The seniors, knowing both who she was and what she'd done for them, applauded and cheered. The family members present, who didn't know either of those things, politely applauded, but seemed mostly confused. Nothing she could do about that, really. Whether they told their families what had transpired at Silas or not was up to each individual senior. Somehow, though, she suspected most - if not all - wouldn't, not wanting to be suspected of insanity.

Besides, this was something they all shared. Their experiences at Silas, especially over the past year, bound the students together in a way that even the most understanding family member wouldn't really be able to get. It was their secret, really.

She was lucky, in that respect. Everyone she loved and cared about was in on it. She had no idea how Perry, LaF, Danny, and all the others would handle that, over the summer.

First things first, though. She had a speech to give.

"Before I say anything else, I want to congratulate the Class of 2015," she began. "We faced a number of hardships together over the past year, and I know there were moments when it seemed like we wouldn't make it through. But we did, because we were together. So I'd like you to take a moment to give yourself a round of applause, because, really, you've earned it." She paused as the Senior Class erupted into applause and cheers again, allowing herself a smile at the camaraderie she saw on display. So far so good, she told herself.

Once they settled down, she continued, "To the parents and families who must be wondering what a nineteen-year-old is doing being the Chair of the Silas Board of Governors-" Because they had used her title when introducing her. "-let alone giving the commencement speech... Yeah, that's got to be pretty mystifying, alright." There were a few chuckles from the seniors. "To make a long, ugly story short, after the loss of our former Dean of Students, things got a bit jumbled, in terms of the administration of the university. After this year, you won't have to worry about that, anymore." Both because, unless their children were engaging in post-graduate studies, they wouldn't be coming back to Silas, and because Mattie would be the new Dean in the fall, and the Board hopefully wouldn't need to assemble again anytime soon.

"But, back to the speech. I'll admit, I spent a lot of time wondering what to say. What could I possibly advise you all on? What topic or theme did I know more about than anyone else at Silas, that would help you as you moved forward in your lives? Finally, it hit me." She allowed herself a half-smile (which, had they been present, LaFontaine would have recognized as pretty much the same one Rebecca had given them when they'd first met in the hospital's lab).

"Persistence."

That drew another laugh from the seniors, along with some mutters of agreement. "There's a quote from Albert Einstein: 'You never fail until you stop trying.' I think we've all learned, over this past year, just how true that is. Over the course of your lives, you're going to find yourselves in situations that seem hopeless. As much as we might all wish otherwise, it's inevitable. But you get to decide how you react. I know from experience that sometimes things can seem to be just piling up against you, that the way the world works and the way you think it should work are not at all the same. I've also learned that everything isn't just black and white." She politely pretended not to see the comically exaggerated look of relief on her mother's face. (Rebecca and Patrick were standing well off to the side, mostly unnoticed. Neither would be staying long after graduation, she knew - they'd be taking advantage of the confusion created by the departing seniors to slip away unnoticed - but she was glad they hadn't left without saying goodbye, even if that might have been easier from a logistics standpoint.) "However, as a very wise person told me not too long ago, just because everything isn't just good and evil, that doesn't mean goodness doesn't exist." She didn't look at Carmilla. She didn't have to. She could feel the loving gaze her fiancée was directing at her.

As she'd frantically struggled to figure out what to say last night, finally stumbling over a topic, she'd asked Carmilla if she minded Laura sharing some of her beautiful words with the graduating seniors. They had been meant just for Laura, after all. She hadn't, though. She'd known how badly Laura needed something to say, and it was hardly like she'd made Laura promise to never tell another soul what she'd said.

For her part, Laura liked that this kind of made the speech come from the both of them, in a way.

"Yes, there will be times when things don't work out the way you wanted them to," Laura continued. "When the choices you make don't come out quite right. And it's okay to feel discouraged. But it would be infinitely more tragic if you let that stop you from trying again."

There had been one other piece of advice Carmilla had given her: keep it short. That, she said, would allow her to maintain the enthusiasm and focus of the audience. (Given how nervous Laura had been about the whole thing, being on stage for as short of a time as she could get away with was just fine by her.) "I'll leave you with one final piece of advice: Take action. Every story you've ever connected with, every leader you've ever admired, every puny little thing that you've ever accomplished is the result of taking action. You have a choice. You can either be a passive victim of circumstance or you can be the active hero of your own life. To those that think that sounds unreasonable, I remind you of a quote from George Bernard Shaw: 'The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.' Thank you, and good luck." She gratefully left the stage, vaguely aware of the standing ovation she was getting from the seniors. She didn't know if she'd won their families over, and she honestly didn't care. Her part in the whole thing was finally over.

Watching her, Rebecca murmured to Patrick, "I know we don't agree on much, but that is one amazing young woman we've got, there."

"That she is," Patrick agreed. Just this once, he didn't object that Rebecca hadn't done all that much in terms of raising Laura, and Rebecca didn't point out how badly he was stifling her with his smothering overprotectiveness.

Had she been aware of it, Laura would have been proud.

They drifted over to stand near Laura and Carmilla as they watched the seniors heading up on stage to collect their diplomas as their names were called. "So, that's about it for the year, minor details aside, right?" Patrick asked. As a businessman, he was fully aware of how long those details could sometimes take to handle... and that having people to handle some of it for you was never a bad thing. Having interacted with Laura's staff more than once during contract negotiations for financing the school, he knew she had a good one.

"Yep," Laura agreed, sounding relieved. "This time tomorrow, we should be on our way out of here."

"Where to first?" Rebecca wondered.

"Well," Laura said, shooting a look at Carmilla, who smiled in response, "I believe someone promised me a trip to Venice." Because they'd done it. They'd actually, finally fixed the mess that was Silas University, so they didn't have to worry about any murders, or sisters, or saving or failing anyone. Instead of playing a game, though, they'd actually done it right. They'd damn well earned this. The time for pretending to have a life that was just the two of them in love was over.

It was time to go live it.

As I promised at the end of chapter 39, I made an end credits video for the story. Naturally, I can't post a link to it on here, but you can either go to AO3 (I have the same user name there) to get it there, or just search YouTube for 'Let's Pretend credits'. I hope you like it, and thank you again for all your positive feedback. Writing this story was an amazing experience, and I'm sure I'll be revisiting this universe eventually. (After all, I know everyone wants to know what'll happen during summer vacation.) Of course, that'll be later. My next story...

Well, I'm not entirely sure, honestly. What? I told you that I wasn't prepared. ;)

(Don't worry, I'll figure it out by next Tuesday. ^_^ )