Well, here it is: the very last chapter of An Unlikely Acquaintance. I have poured my blood, sweat, and sometimes literal tears into this thing for two years, and now it's finally finished. What I intended to be a very short story about Elizabeth mysteriously waking up and finding a way out of Rapture turned into something much more, and I'm so glad it did, because while it was frustrating at times, it was pretty fun to write, and even more so knowing that there were people out there who were reading what I was writing and actually wanting me to do more. Thank you so much, to all of you who have read my story and stuck with me through it all. I truly appreciate every comment you guys leave, and I'm glad you liked the journey as much as I did. Thank you to my friend, Jared, for helping my out in the earlier chapters, as well as the very ending section here, and thank you to my beta Ronin. You guys are great!

I did want to address one thing before you enjoy the chapter: I have said before that I was going to write an epilogue for this, but as I actually finished the chapter I realized that I accidentally ended it a little too well. I do still want to write an epilogue for this, but I need to entirely redo what I already have for said epilogue and that's probably going to take a while, so I'll just mark this as completed and post the epilogue separately when it's finished.

All of that said, enjoy the chapter, and the conclusion to this story, and I hope I'll see you again for my next big project!

Fortunately for him and everyone else, Jack does wake up again, and immediately wishes he hadn't. The sudden return to consciousness is accompanied by loud noises, screeching, and at least one needle prick. There's also a strange stinging feeling around his forehead, and he makes to swat it away. The stinging stops, momentarily, then resumes. How rude.

"Hey, don't blame me," says a wonderfully familiar voice, and he opens his eyes to see none other than Elizabeth, dabbing with a bloodied cloth at his forehead. He must have taken some damage from Fontaine.

"That's right," Elizabeth's voice says, clearer now, as she continues wiping what Jack now realizes must be antiseptic on his wound.

"Yes, it is."

Wait, what? Is she a mind reader or something now? How is she answering his non-verbal questions?

"They're not non-verbal. You're saying all of this stuff aloud."

Oh. Jack falls silent, not exactly embarrassed but close enough, and lets Elizabeth do what she needs to do. After another minute of disinfecting and then patching up his wound, she finally lays off, sitting back and looking over her work. She nods after a close inspection and helps Jack to sit up himself.

Now he sees what all the noise was about. The girls who had attacked Fontaine are now running around wild, some still poking the corpse with their needles, some jumping around the Little Sister vents and banging furiously on them, and at least one is over by Elizabeth, talking non-stop. Jack tries to discern what she's saying, but quickly gives up—he doesn't have the mental capacity for that yet. Instead he turns to Elizabeth, hoping that she'll provide answers.

"We did it," she says, almost breathlessly, sounding hardly able to believe it herself. "We beat him. I never thought we'd actually—I mean. I saw it, before, back when I was having visions about your future. Did I tell you about those?" When Jack shakes his head no (he actually can't remember if she did or not, but he doesn't feel like traveling through his memory to find out), she nods and explains. "I kept having these weird visions, back when I was...forced to work for Fontaine. I at first thought they were of my own future, but when I realized he meant to kill me, I knew it couldn't be my future I was seeing. But if not mine, then whose?"

"Mine?"

"Yours," she confirms, and pauses. "Well, yes, yours, but I never saw myself in that future. I never knew I'd be resurrected and brought along to help you, and while for the most part you would have done just as well without me, since you were actually supposed to be alone, well...that final bit with Fontaine, I wasn't sure if either of us were going to make it out alive. A little thing I like to call constants and variables. I think I told you about those."

"Maybe. My head hurts too much to remember right now."

"Fair enough. I'll explain it to you again after we're far away from here. As for now, Tenenbaum radioed just a couple minutes ago. She's on her way here now, and when she gets here we're all going to go up to the surface together. She told me that while we were running about Olympus Heights and such, she was moving the Little Sisters from her sanctuary to a less secure but closer place nearby. She should be here soon."

Jack nods, not really having the capacity for long sentences quite yet. Everything hurts, it feels like everything is broken, and even looking sideways is a chore. He's completely content with just collapsing back on the floor until Tenenbaum arrives, but Elizbaeth is having none of it.

"Come on, up now," she says, standing up herself and grabbing his arm to haul him up. "I have a health hypo left, if you feel you need it. I didn't think you'd want me sticking it in you while you were unconscious, so. It might help revive you a bit more."

He holds out his arm in agreement, and she takes it, not bothering to swab it with antiseptic before she grabs the health hypo and sticks it in his arm. He winces at the prick, but it's soon forgotten as he feels the ADAM rejuvenate his system and reboot his brain. As soon as the spell leaves him, he shakes his head, clearing it. "Oh, that's so much better."

"Yeah, it's pretty nifty."

"How long was I out?"

Elizabeth has to think about that for a moment. "Not too long, I don't think. Maybe about...ten minutes? I was busy patching myself up first and corralling the girls, but as you can see that didn't really work out. Hey! Stop poking him in the eye, he's dead already!"

"I'm just making sure!" comes the defensive reply, from a girl in pink, and as Jack chuckles she shakes her head.

"I'm not sure how Tenenbaum manages it," she says, exasperated. "I could never do it myself, you know. Have kids and the like. I wouldn't be any good at it. Speaking of the children, though," she interrupts herself before she can get that far ahead. "They have something for you. I tried to get it myself, but they didn't trust me enough with it. Girls, Jack's awake!"

The wild yelping, metallic banging, and poking of a certain corpse cease immediately, five cherubic faces turning simultaneously to face him. Their tiny faces are lit up with glee as they all stop what they're doing and come rushing towards him as fast all any of them can. The first one to reach him is a girl in a green smock, her red hair hanging in her face as she grins, thrusting something in his face.

Jack has to grab her wrist and pull it away from him before he realizes what it is she's holding. It's Ryan's genetic key, the one he had put into machine to stop the self-destruction of the city. He had left it in Hephaestus, but one of the girls obviously had gone back for it, for some reason. It takes Jack a moment to realize why she's giving him the key in the first place. He avoids her outstretched hand, begging him to take the key and therefore the city. Instead, he places his hand underneath hers, the index finger and thumb of his right hand closing around her small wrist.

"Honestly, this city has already gone to hell. What is there left to rule, to save? Everyone down here is either dead or insane, and the ones that aren't, bar one, are all in this room. There's nothing we can do for them. No, I'd rather leave this place behind for good, and never think about it again. I'd rather look forward, to a bright future with people who still have a spark of hope inside them."

These words, touching as they are, are mostly lost on the girls, who only understand that he doesn't want the key after all. The girl who offered, her wrist still enclosed in Jack's hand, still smiles but now looks confused as well. "Wait, so what do we do with this thing?"

"Just give it to me," Jack says after a moment. "I don't want it, and I'm not going to use it, but I might as well keep it safe."

"Okay!"

As the girls scatter, some returning to their previous tasks but most just sitting down quietly, talking amongst themselves, Jack and Elizabeth sit there quietly, patching each other up and not saying a word. They are, for now, content to just sit and enjoy each other's company. But at some point, a discussion needs to be had.

"Do you know where you're going from here? Do you have any family, descendants perhaps? Friends you could live with?"

"No," she says, almost immediately. "I was an only child, and I'm from 1912, so anybody I might be slightly related to has no idea I ever existed. The outside world has changed so much since I last saw it, and truth be told I never really did see it. I'm completely lost. My only hope, and my only friend, is you."

"Well, same here. My entire life before was a lie. Maybe there was a farm, maybe there wasn't. All I know is I'm not going back. You know," he begins again after a while, his tone still serious as he looks at her. "My offer does still stand. Even if we aren't...you know. You could always come and live with us, after we get out of here. I don't imagine either of us really have anywhere else to go, and better to be lost together than lost alone. Neither of us really have any idea what's it's like out there, and to be honest, even if we're not battling crazy drug-addicts or metal monstrosities, I'd still rather you were at my side."

Elizabeth's heart swells at the declaration, feeling all sorts of pleasant ways that she thought she'd never feel again. She's about to agree immediately, the warm words still churning in her head, when she realizes something. She frowns. "Us?"

Jack nods, then pauses, "Oh. Yeah, uh. I'm adopting these girls. Not all of them, obviously, but the five ones here. Masha, Leta, Emma, Adelaide, and Sally. They saved our lives, so it's only fair I at least return the favor. They've been through so much, all of them, and Tenenbaum says she's going to either pawn the others off on living relatives or bring them to orphanages. So why not take these ones in? They risked their lives for us. I don't care if I have a better chance without them, I'll risk it. I'm not abandoning them, I would never. I'd rather be dirt poor, living on a farm with these girls than be in some posh mansion without them. Or you, for that matter. Whatever we do next, we're doing it together."

The girls perk up at their names being mentioned—they all cease their current activity and come closer to Jack as he goes on his heartfelt rant. When he's finished, and he notices the girls surrounding him, he smiles reassuringly at all of them, and ELizabeth knows that they'll follow him to the ends of the Earth now if they have to. She knows she'll do the same, and in fact, she actually has. She's just glad she can be here today to witness this. She clears her throat, grabbing Jack's attention from reassuring the Sisters that they're all going to get out of here, together.

"I'd like to take you up on that offer," she says quietly, feeling very shy all of a sudden. Seriously? After all they've been through, she's getting shy now? Unbelievable.

Jack's smile never falters, and for the longest time he doesn't say anything. He doesn't need to—there is an unspoken understanding between them. It was established a long time ago, though neither can remember when exactly. Does it really matter, though? No, they both decide as they look at each other again, neither looking away this time, it really doesn't.

For what seems like the longest time, they all just sit there, talking to the Sisters and telling them of their recent induction into the Jolene family. They are, of course, ecstatic once they find out what that means. The next several minutes are filled with questions—about the surface world, about where they're going to live, about what's going to happen to Mama Tenenbaum, and, of course, 'what about Lizzie?'. They both try to answer all of these questions best they can, but allude to the fact that this will be a new experience for everyone. All of them have very limited memory of what life was like before Sisterhood; Elizabeth had experienced nothing and then several things all in a rush, due to first being imprisoned in her tower for nineteen years and then being set free with her near unlimited cosmic abilities allowing her to see the world, but never actually having the chance to mingle with society; and Jack, of course, is a literal test tube baby with only his false memories acting as a guide on how to interact with the world. Jack shudders as he realizes that he's their best hope at successfully integrating into modern day society.

"Mister," one of the girls says uncertainty, gaining Jack's attention.

He looks up from his musings. It's the girl from Hephaestus, and the one Elizabeth had died trying to save—Sally, if he remembers correctly. "Yes? And, my name is Jack. You can just call me Jack."

"Mister Jack. What about our last names? Do we all get last names since we're part of a new family or do we keep our old ones?"

Jack and Elizabeth look at each other, dumbfounded. Elizabeth is the first to speak up, asking cautiously, "Well, Sally, do you remember your old last name?"

Sally nods. "It was Bennett."

"Do you remember anything else?"

She thinks for a long, hard moment, but then frowns, shaking her head sadly. "No. Not really. It's just blurry, and I don't remember the people in the pictures. I'm sorry."

"There's no need to be," Jack jumps in quickly. "It's okay if you don't remember. It's probably better that way, actually. I don't remember my past either. That just makes the future easier. You're not the same person you used to be, and you don't have to be. Just find out who you are now, and make sure that person has a future. None of you are alone in this. We're all going to do this together, just like I said." The inspirational message behind the words is probably a bit lost on the girls, but what matters is that it's said. It certainly helps Elizabeth feel a bit more secure about her decision to stay. Sally herself nods, taking Jack's hand and smiling gently.

"My name was Dellahunt," a British voice pipes up, blurting out the words in a rush.

All eyes turn to her. A brunette girl with blue eyes, dressed in a once-blue smock, stares at Jack intently, before realizing that she should probably continue if she didn't want to be forgotten. "I don't remember anything else, but I know my last name. Can I have a new one too?"

"Leta, right?" Jack guesses, remembering her as the girl who had led him to the very first Little Sister door, back in the Sanctuary. "Of course. You can all take my last name, so it won't be weird. Anyone else?"

Another girl raises her hand. "I think mine was Andy Daughter," says a girl with reddish blonde hair and brown eyes, dressed in either brown or very dirty yellow—it looks more yellowish, so maybe he latter. The color of her dress is completely forgotten, though, as the implications of her last name catch up with him.

"Wait, Andersdotter?" he corrects, inspecting the girl more closely, now, in a new light.

The girl's eyes show a spark of faint recognition. "Yeah, that's it! I'm Emma."

Jack looks to Eizabeth to see if she's realized what this means. She looks back, confused, and he sighs. "Do you remember the woman who tried to kill Ryan before us? Her name was Anya Andersdotter. One of her audio diaries said she did it because her daughter was taken away to become a Little Sister," he whispers in her ear, not wanting the poor girl to overhear her mother's fate—if she even remembers her at all. Elizabeth's eyes widen as she realizes, and she thankfully keeps her mouth shut.

A girl in a pink smock, with brown eyes and black hair, raises her hand rather politely. "Lutz," she says in a European sounding accent, moving a bit closer to Leta, who embraces her with a big smile. "I actually do remember my family, I think. My mama and papa, but they're gone now."

Jack's heart aches at the realization that this must be Masha, best friend of Leta and the daughter of the dead couple whose audio recordings he'd found, pleading with their missing child to come home and suiciding in despair once they'd found out what she'd become. At least she knows that they're never coming back, but it still hurts to think about. He swears to them then that he'll protect her and take care of her, since they can't. He nods at her, sadness tainting the bright smile he had been wearing.

With Masha out of the way, though, that leaves only one girl, whose bright green eyes and fiery red hair he recognizes from not only the Sanctuary, but from the Proving Grounds—Adelaide. Her Irish lilt is just as he remembers, real and soft in the way only a child's voice can be, and with none of the malice or trickery of Atlas'. "Tobet. I had a mama and papa too, but they're gone like Masha's. They worked for the bad man." She points at Fontaine's corpse distastefully, poking his eyes with her tiny finger. "I don't mind having a new family though. What's our new last name?"

"Jolene. But if you don't like that one—"

The rest of his sentence is drowned out by five little voices, all simultaneously trying out the name on their tongues and then pairing their new last name with their first. Jack is a little astounded that not only did they take to it surprisingly well, but that they actually remembered their own last names in the first place. Perhaps Tenenabum had jogged their memories? Speaking of which…

One of the girls tugs at his sweater. Jack looks to her only to realize it's not one of the girls, it's Elizabeth—who he technically supposes is a girl—and she's pointing at something. No, someone. Tenenbaum?

The woman herself steps out from the elevator, pistol in hand and spatters of what he strongly suspects is blood, though from the looks of her state it's not her own, thank goodness. She turns around and escorts several small girls from the elevator, ushering them out into the room before getting back in and going down again. The new girls, seeing Jack and Elizabeth sitting near Fontaine's corpse, quickly flock to him, plopping down wherever they wish. Some even, clearly without a damn left to give, just take a seat right on the bastard's corpse. Gruesome, and yet so satisfying.

Figuring that Tenebaum will be back, and that she's left him in charge of all her Little Ones, he entertains them best he can—he reassures them (with his partner's help) that it's all over now, they're going up to Lilly Poppy, and that's they're all safe—no more Rapture. By the end of that, Tenenbaum has come up again, with a new batch of little girls—she sends these to go join Jack and the others too, and disappears again. He gives a brief recap of all he's just said to them, and entertains them by showing off his and Elizabeth's cool Plasmids, which they are utterly fascinated with, surprisingly. They adore Elizabeth's Peeping Tom, and they engage in a brief game of hide-and-seek before the final batch of Sisters come up, running over to him with Tenenbaum in tow. She beams at Jack, embracing him warmly.

"Words cannot express how thankful I am that you are on our side, and how indebted to you I am because of this," she says to him, pulling back and looking at him with pride. "I have done so much evil, to these children and to you, but now you, my greatest regret, have saved us all. I am so proud." She seems to suddenly realize what she said. "Oh. No. I did not mean that you were my greatest regret, only that my greatest regret was having a hand in your creation. Of course, if I had not, this cycle of violence and abuse would have never ended, and so it is because of me that this whole thing is over. I do not mean to discredit yourself, however—"

Jack laughs, and oh, is it a wonderful thing. "It's all good, Tenenbaum. I forgive you, and without you and I together, none of these children would be here today. Were it not for the brutal nature of the Little Sister's near total invulnerability, they would be long dead by now. Because of you they lived through it, and now they will have a chance to live free on the surface world. It's still a gruesome thing, but it's better than the alternative."

Tenenbaum nods. "There is a small blessing to be had, here. You may have already asked the Sisters about their past lives—they remember almost nothing. This is the same as their Sisterhood, too—they don't remember anything. Feelings, and glimpses or flashes, but nothing concrete. They are still very traumatized, though. It will take years of therapy for any of us to be okay."

"At least we get that chance."

"Hmn. Yes. A chance."

They turn to watch the rest of the hide and seek game, which Elizabeth, of course, wins—once it's over, and everyone has stopped jumping around, begging Elizabeth to play another round, or stopped complaining about each other, all twenty-one little girls sit down around Teenabum, who calls for their attention. She produces some food and bottled water out of the satchel at her hip, passing it to the first girl and instructing her to share. Food and drink are shared equally amongst everyone, and there's even some left for Elizabeth and Jack, who share their portion. Fontaine, who is still lying dead in the middle of the room, is completely forgotten about, three girls sharing the remains of a bag of cereal sitting atop his corpse. Once everyone is refreshed and patched up, Tenenbaum bangs something against one of the Sister vents, calling for everyone's attention again.

"I already discussed this with the girls back at the Sanctuary, but I feel everyone should hear it again one more time. When we get to the surface, there will not be anybody to pick us up. We will be emerging in the ocean in bathyspheres, which these kinds do not have their own control mechanisms. There will be a signal flare in each bathysphere, and once we all reach the lighthouse, we will set them off at separate intervals. We will go to the mainland, wherever that may be, and we will all stick together until we reach Fontaine's mansion in New York. I realize it is distasteful to use our old enemy's home as our own, but it is the only place I know of that could be big enough to house all these children until we can find a proper place for them. It will take time to track down living relatives, create new fake IDs and passports, and find other living conditions, a few months at the least. I myself will be heading back to my old house, once all of the children are situated. As for you, Herr Jack, I will do whatever I can to provide you and Fraulein Elizabeth with whatever you need. Now, are there any questions?"

Adelaide raises her hand. "What happens to us?"

"You will all be either returned to any living relatives you may have, or brought to an orphanage, where you will live until you either get adopted or you turn eighteen."

"No, I mean, us." She gestured to herself and the four other girls who were sitting closest to Jack. "Mister Jack, I mean, Papa Jack, said we were his family now. Are we gonna go with him?"

Jack casts a guilty look at Tenenbaum, who casts an incredulous (but not entirely displeased) look at him. "What is this? Jack, you are adopting all of the children?!"

"What? No, no! Just these five." He points to each respective one and says their names. "Just these ones. They saved my life, it's only fair I take them with me."

"That is...that is very noble, Herr Jack," Tenenbaum says at last, her voice betraying her emotions of pride. "But, ah, you are technically a child yourself. These children, I have spent years caring for them and learning how to do so properly. It will not be easy, taking on five children at once while you find your own way in the world. But of course, I will always be a phone call away. You need only ask, and I shall come to your aid. You have done so much, it is only right."

"Thank you, Mama Tenenbaum. You have no idea how much your words mean."

A brief smile, warm and filled with motherly love. Then, "Alright, children, it is time to be going. We have much ground to cover before the sun sets today, so here is the plan: you will all gather into groups of seven. An adult will be present in each group, to lead you to a bathysphere and guide you to the surface. You all know the rest of the plan. Nobody goes anywhere until we all meet up at the lighthouse."

The five Little Sisters Jack had chosen to adopt of course elect to go with him, eagerly crowding around him and trying to climb him. Two more girls cautiously approach him, making the total number seven, but the other five greet them with open and flailing arms. Elizabeth gets her group of seven, and so does Tenenbaum, and soon enough they're all ready to get going. Tenenabum leads them into a closed-off section of what apparently used to be not Fontaine's lair, but a special exhibit of the Memorial Museum, abandoned when the whole place became a training ground for Little Sisters. There is only one bathysphere sitting in a submarine bay, and Jack takes it upon himself to ask about it.

"There are more coming," she assures him. "Only one can be held in a dock at a time, but as soon as this one leaves, I have called two more to come in its place. We will all get up, just not at the same time. Rest assured, no one is getting left behind"

Satisfied with that answer, Jack and the first batch of Sisters pile into the first one, at the request of Tenenbaum, and as the bathysphere closes one final time, jack can't help but feel anxious. He's never, consciously, seen sunlight before—never felt its warmth on his brow, or been blinded by its rays, or even cursed its existence when the days got too hot. He doesn't even know if he's actually ever seen the sun before-he had taken a midnight flight to London, and he'd never gotten there, obviously, so. As the bathysphere leaves the dock, he makes sure to make eye contact with both women one last time before who knows how long, and then they're up, up, and away, sailing out of the dock and rising into the ocean. Jack looks at the city where he was born once again, just like when he had entered this wretched nightmare, but in a new light this time. Now, instead of a sense of wonder and amazement, an eerie feeling of nostalgia and perhaps a tiny sense of fear, all he feels is sadness—for the lives lost and destroyed, the people he's killed, though he knows they're better off now...for himself. A deep, disturbing sense of sorrow overwhelms him, and he sighs, shaking his head. He wants to look away, from the soaring skyscrapers and the bright neon lights, but he can't. The girls seem to have the same predicament, though their sight of the city does not seem to be obscured by any sense of sadness or loss. Instead, their eyes take in the once beautiful city, oohing and aahing and pointing out places they know or have been. Eventually, they rise to a point where the city is getting farther and farther away by the second, and within a minute of reaching that point the sea becomes entirely dark. The city is gone—thousands of fathoms below, a cold, unforgiving city at the very bottom of the cold, unforgiving sea.

They ride in the complete blackness for about a minute before the darkness begins to light up, transforming from a jet black to a murky deep blue, and then to lighter and lighter colors until it's like the sun is shining in the ocean. Well, that's not entirely accurate—the sun is shining on, not in, but that doesn't matter to the girls who are about to experience the surface for the very first time. The bathysphere finally breaks the waves, rocking somewhat violently and shaking the girls off their seats as the metal machine bobs on the water, drifting towards the lighthouse. Choruses of amazed and slightly terrified voices fill the boat, most of them wondering why it's so bright out and how to turn it off.

"What's that? Out there!"

"I think that's the sun!"

"The sun? It's too bright, too bright! Mister Jack, I can't see!"

"Turn it off, turn it off…"

Jack quickly quiets the girls, explains what's going on, and reassures them that as long as they stick with him they'll all be fine. The sun won't hurt them, they're on the surface world now, and they're never going back to Rapture again. They take the news okay enough—one girl begins to cry after realizing that they're leaving the city for good, but one of his girls—Leta, he thinks—chides her, saying that the city was old and creepy anyways. They talk amongst themselves until they get to the lighthouse, either marveling, complaining, or sometimes both about the new, strange world they've come into contact with.

"I like this better than at home," Sally pipes up at one point. "It's nicer out here, and prettier. I can see without lights, and there aren't any monsters. I wanna stay."

"I'm glad to hear that, Sally," Jack tells her, wholeheartedly agreeing.

Once all three parties have regrouped, the children have been assured yet again that they're starting a brand new life away from Rapture and that the outside world isn't nearly as scary as the sunken city, Elizabeth rejoins Jack and hands him something. It looks like a brooch, and he flips it over, raising an eyebrow.

"It's got a bird on it. Songbird."

"It's the only thing I have left of my past life. It's...important to me. Sally gave it to me in the bathysphere, said she found it while she was still a Gatherer. Said...she knew it belonged to me, and wanted to give it back. I'm really glad she found it—I thought I'd never see the damn thing again."

"...Do you want me to chuck it in the ocean like some cheesy romance flick?"

"No!" she says, shoving him playfully, and they both giggle. "I just wanted to show you. There's really nothing holding me back from starting anew, wherever that may be. I don't have a past life. The me that used to exist doesn't anymore—she's living happily with her father in New York, and I'm an anomaly that literally shouldn't exist but does anyways. So I guess I can do what I want."

"And what do you want?"

Elizabeth pretends to think for a moment, gently taking the brooch back from him and rubbing it between her fingers. "I want to go with you. Wherever you go, whatever you do, I'm with you. We stick together from now on, no matter what."

"Glad to hear it, Elizabeth." There's not much more to say than that, not really—aside from one thing, but it's a trivial matter. He wonders if he should even bring it up, actually. He looks over to the congregation of Sister surrounding Tenenbaum, who's holding up the first flare and trying to get it to light. Eh, they've got a few minutes. He decides to go ahead. "So about that whole last name thing."

Elizabeth looks up, obviously having been interrupted in her musings, and raises an eyebrow, curious.

"Did you pick something out?"

She thinks for a moment. "You know, I actually didn't. I hate the name that I used for most of my life, but I'm too attached to my actual last name to use it. I'm not a DeWitt, I'm not my father's daughter anymore. I'm a whole other person, a new one. Technically speaking, again, I shouldn't even exist. I'd rather not go with my mother's maiden name if I can help it."

"So it's just Elizabeth for you, then?"

"Hm. Maybe. I'll have to think about it."

"I could always give you my last name, too."

Elizabeth waits for him to realize what he's said and start apologizing profusely, by the moment doesn't come. He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and she smacks him on the arm playfully. "We've only known each other for a day, maybe even less than that. I am not starting a relationship with anyone I've only known for that long, no matter what we've been through."

Jack raises his hands in mock surrender, his face taking on a serious expression. "Hey, no complaints from me—I feel the exact same. I mean, I definitely have some..shall we say, positive feelings for you, but I've still got a ton of mental crap I need to sort through and deal with before I can even begin to think about dating, of all things. We've only known each other for a very short while, and even though we've been through literal hell, what we have at best is nothing more than a good ol' platonic friendship. Neither of us is ready to be romantically involved with each other. We both need time to heal and to figure things out, whether they be feelings or just unpacking the events of the past day. A good, strong friendship is what we both need right now, and once we've learned to deal with our traumas, then perhaps...well, only if you want to, to, but I'd like to see where this goes."

"I couldn't have said it better myself. And, uh...for what it's worth. I think those positive feelings are mutual. You're not so bad, Jolene."

Jack beams at her, his smile bright and hopeful, and Elizabeth wonders how a place and people so cruel and unloving could create something so beautiful and warm. "Not too shabby yourself, Liz. Or are you still just Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth pretends to think about it. "I think I can work with that nickname."

"Good, because you already promised." He grins, and she grins back, and they stand there together, content for what may very well be the first time in their lives. There are no evil conmen to be overthrown, no oppressive dictatorships to upend, no Little Sisters to save or splicers to kill. Just them, and whatever they decide to do with their lives from here on out.

It's a nice feeling.

About an hour and two flares later, a large ship of some kind begins to approach them, closing in on their location rapidly. They're still all situated on the stairs surrounding the lighthouse, and Jack is in the middle of entertaining the bored and scared children by detailing how he and Elizabeth battled Fontaine, using a fair amount of hyperbole and smudging the details. He's trying to make it PG and far more intense than it actually was for the kiddos, and he's about to detail how he was almost knocked to the ground and killed when the girls saved him, when an earsplitting fog horn shatters the otherwise silent air around them. Several girls start crying, others fall from their steps and nearly injure themselves, and others look around wildly, searching for the source of the noise.

It's the ship, and there's someone yelling at them on the deck, leaning against the railing. None of them can make out what he's saying, though, and after a moment the person disappears. They reappear a minute later, and this time their voice can clearly be heard, thanks to the megaphone in their hands.

"Hey, you! What on earth are all of you doing way out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?"

Jack, much more intelligent than anyone else ever gave him credit for, cups his hands and stands up, shouting, "Plane crash! We were stranded here in a plane crash, all of us! Can you help?"

"Plane crash?" The person, now identifiable as a man as the ship gets closer, lowers the megaphone and talks to another person that had approached him. He nods, and he returns his attention to them. "Would that plane be Apollo Air Flight DF-0301?"

Jack consults with Tenenbaum briefly, confirming the flight number, and asking how long it's been since he crash-landed. "Yes, that's the one! We crashed here yesterday morning, around one o' clock! Can I stop shouting now until you guys get closer?"

"Yeah, hang on a minute!"

The ship comes as close as it can, then stops, the man disappearing. After several agonizingly slow minutes, a rowboat is sent out, with the same man on board, and a young woman who looks to be in her late twenties. She's wearing a smile on her face, but obviously both people are baffled at this strange situation. Jack looks at the ship again, the bigger one. He has no clue about boats, so he can't tell what kind it is, but it doesn't really matter as long as they can all get on board.

"All of you were on that plane?" the woman asks, uncertainly.

"Well...yes," Jack affirms, looking around at the girls and suddenly realizing what the problem is. There are twenty-one girls here, which, while not enough to take up an entire plane, certainly is quite ludicrous to begin with. He racks his brains quickly, blurting out the first somewhat believable thing that comes to mind. "They're not all my children, just these five here," he points to Masha, Leta, Sally, Adelaide, and Emma. "And this is my wife, Elizabeth, and my mother, Brigid. She runs an all girl's school in the States, and they were on a field trip to England when the plane crashed. We've been stranded out here all day, and we were starting to lose hope that we'd ever be rescued when you came along."

Both the man and woman's faces lose any trace of uncertainty or doubt at the story, and the woman actually coos. "Oh, you poor dears! Stranded out here for so long, you all must be freezing and hungry. We'll have to make a couple of trips, but I'm sure we can fit all of you on board. We're headed to Maine, ourselves. I hope that's alright?"

"That is more than alright," Tenenbaum speaks up, eyeing Jack curiously. As the woman turns away to speak to the other man, she mouths, "Mother?"

"Just go with it," he mouths back, and eyes Elizabeth, who nods. She whispers to the girls to play along, and not say anything about Rapture or who they really are. Though they don't understand why, the girls are smart enough to obey a direct order when given one.

Soon enough, the trips are made, the girls are safe and being attended to on the ship, fitted with soft blankets, nutritious food, and water, and the adults are talking with the captain, who turns out to be Megaphone Man, confirming the details of their story. He does raise suspicion about an all girl's school only having sixteen girls, but Tenenbaum assures him it's only one class, not the entire school. Not too much longer later, their story is smoothed out, the girls safe, dry, and fed, and the sun sinking over the horizon, bathing the sky in a beautiful mix of red and orange hues. Jack tries to get the girls to come out and see the sunset, but most of the are already asleep and the ones who aren't are listening to Adelaide tell all she knows about the surface. Apparently, she had been quite obsessed with it since she found out what it was, and Tenenbaum had provided her with as many books about it as she could. She's now considered, to the girls at least, the foremost expert on the outside world, and she's quite enjoying the fame.

Jack, on the other hand, is perfectly content to watch the sunset all by himself, but a certain someone is reluctant to leave him alone after all they've just been through. She nudges his arm gently with her own, letting him know that she's there.

"Hey, stranger," she says, smiling.

"Hey yourself. What's up?"

"How do you mean?"

"Just…" He gives up for a moment, trying to find the words he wants to say. Nothing really comes to him—nothing they need to talk about, or discuss. All their dirty laundry had been aired way back in Rapture, in Tenenbaum's sanctuary and then Suchong's clinic. They aren't hiding anything from each other, they aren't angry at one another, there is nothing more to be said or argued about between them. There's nothing really to say. "I'm glad you're still here, with me."

"I've said it already—I'm not going anywhere you aren't."

"How playfully sentimental." He takes a deep breath, remembering one tiny little detail that he doesn't think he's talked about with her yet. "Uh. About the Ace thing."

Elizabeth stiffens beside him, her small smile freezing and then slipping off her face as she avoids his gaze.

"I forgive you. I think I might have already said that, but I don't remember, so I'm just going to say it again. I forgive you for essentially handing me over to Fontaine, because if you hadn't then neither of us would be here today. You'd still be a rotting corpse, doomed forever to be a cautionary tale in that disgusting hellhole, and I'd still be brainwashed up here, doing God knows what. But I went back, because of the Ace, because of you. I went back, and for the most part it was a goddamn nightmare and I wish it had never happened. But I met you, and I save you, and all those girls and Tenenbaum—in a way, we're all alive and we're all here because of you. So thank you, and I forgive you."

Elizabeth doesn't verbally respond, but the smile does creep back onto her face and Jack swears he sees a single tear fall down her cheek. He thinks it's a nice moment, sentimental, and one he'll cherish forever, this quiet moment of forgiveness and hope between them. Elizabeth turns to him after a moment, embracing him and his recently replaced sweater, and buries her face in his shoulder, shaking gently. Jack decides not to comment on it, patting her back gently and just being there for her in the only way he can right now. He doesn't know what she's crying about, or what to say to make her feel better, but he realizes maybe he doesn't need to do anything. When she's finally stopped crying into his shoulder, she sniffs, laying her cheek there instead and speaking to his neck. Jack feels an odd tingle as her warm breath ghosts over his skin.

"Thank you," she says, voice barely above a whisper. Jack's not exactly sure what he's being thanked for, but he takes the thanks with as much grace as he can.

"You're welcome. Now, the sun's pretty much set—we should get back inside. I myself am feeling pretty damn exhausted after the events of this day, and would love to grab a bite before we settle in for the night. What do you say?"

She doesn't say anything for a moment, but finally she pulls away and nods, wiping residual tears from her eyes. "That sounds like a fantastic idea. And to think, yesterday I was dead, and today I've been resurrected, killed the guy who killed me, and adopted a bunch of kids that I guess I'm going to be raising in a country I've technically never been to. Fun times. But also exhausting." She steps back some more, looking out over the horizon that is quickly fading from pink to a soft dark blue. She breaths in the salty air, wincing when it reminds her of the city below, but also marveling at its unique tang. She's lost in her own, little world for a few moments before she pulls herself back to reality.

She's cold. That's the first thing she notices.

The second is that she's starving.

"Let's go inside," she agrees, grabbing Jack's outstretched hand and following him back inside.

"Lives, lived, will live."

"Dies, died, will die."

Robert looks at his "sister", a smug grin on his freckled face. "You see? I told you they could manage a good ending."

Rosalind barely glances his way, too intent on the large ship sailing away from them, going farther by the second. The waves crash against the lighthouse steps, washing over the cold cement in sheets of seawater. Rosalind looks down, frowning at the water as it seeps into her shoes. "No, you didn't."

Robert is not so easily swayed, tilting his head to the side as he too watches the ship inch away from them. "Didn't I? It is, after all, the reason why we gave her a second chance. A variable like no other. The only Elizabeth Comstock, placed in one of the endless variations of this story."

Rosalind 'hms', rising a step to avoid the seawater when it returns. After a moment, she speaks, indulging her twin. "Oh, very well. I suppose you have a point. But my goodness, there's no need to be so cheeky about it. We are, after all, professionals."

"Ah, my apologies, sister. I suppose I didn't mean to be quite so cheeky. It's just, I'm relieved. We had one chance in an infinity to get this right."

"And look at that." She pauses for a moment, for dramatic effect perhaps, gesturing to the ship in the distance. "Lives, lived, will live."

"That's my line."

Rosalind huffs, muttering, "Sophistry. Even so, I suppose they quite exceeded the reality of 'your line'. For, not only did they survive, but they also emerged with quite a lovely friendship. I suppose there's a need for a new term to apply to ones such as them."

"Loves, loved, will love?"

Rosalind, for once in her life, actually smiles without a hint of sarcasm or malice behind it. "Yes. I suppose you're right."

The Luteces say nothing more—they don't need to, as all that needs to be said has already been. They stand there, inches apart from each other, looking back at the ship from the lighthouse, watching it leave and become nothing more than a speck in the distance—and then, the lighthouse lights flicker in the starlight, as lights always do when they depart from a place. This time, however, even after the twins are long gone, the lights do not return.