And here it is, guys! The epilogue! The final final chapter!

Thank you to Dobby and Padfoot and DS2010 for your reviews (I can't believe I'll be saying this on this fic for the last time...)!

Got it short and sweet for you guys, so read on!

"I'll catch you guys later!"

"See you later, Andrew!"

"Don't forget to send us the answers for the homework!"

"Oh, shut up, Jon!"

Andrew laughed as he climbed onto his bike, quickly strapping on his helmet and making sure his backpack was situated comfortably on his shoulders before beginning to ride off.

It was now a good few weeks into the new school year, and things had been hectic for Andrew from the get go. Not to say that he hadn't enjoyed things that were going on, but dropping out of the football team because of his health had been a big thing – it was a good thing Gibbs was highly supportive of his decision to play baseball instead. Between that and his increased focus on his school work and project, he had very little time to take a step back and breathe, which Gibbs had pointed out to him multiple times, much to his chagrin.

Not that he didn't understand Gibbs' worry – he knew that he'd eventually either break down or crash – but he just didn't want to think. Because recently, thinking had led to spiralling into negative thoughts, and he couldn't deal with that now. He knew things had been triggered by that case at the end of the summer, but he'd thought a few weeks would've sorted everything out.

Clearly not.

It took him about half an hour to ride home, weaving in and out of foot traffic until he reached the quiet street he lived on with his foster father and little sister, and as soon as he reached the front porch he jumped off the bike, leaning it against the porch fence before heading straight inside (all this time and Gibbs still didn't lock the front door during the day).

"I'm home!"

Shutting the front door behind him, Andrew was pleasantly greeted with the smell of grilled meat – most probably burgers – and headed straight for the kitchen, dumping his bag in the lounge on the way through. His assumption was found to be correct when he spotted Gibbs grilling a few burgers on the stove for their dinner, and he grinned.

"Smells good."

Gibbs glanced at him over his shoulder, giving the teen a smile. "Better than you, at least. Go wash up."

Andrew rolled his eyes at the not-so-subtle hint. "Baseball practice was good," he responded to the unasked question.

"How many runs?"

"I got two home runs and a couple to second."

"Nice."

Andrew turned to head out of the kitchen. "Is Jessie home yet?"

"She's got chess club and then a sleepover tonight."

"Will she be okay?"

"Doris has my number taped to the fridge."

Andrew nodded, any huge worries for his little sister melting away.

"Oh, speaking of, there's a number for you on the fridge."

That made Andrew pause, and he turned to look at Gibbs. "Huh?"

"A number. On the fridge. For you."

The teen turned to the fridge and saw that there was, in fact, a number for him on there. He furrowed his brows as he moved towards the fridge and pulled the piece of paper from beneath the fridge magnet, staring at it for a few moments before pocketing it.

"You gonna call it?"

"Later," Andrew responded. "I have homework to do after dinner."

Gibbs looked mildly concerned at that, but nodded anyway. "Don't stay up too late doing homework. Can't have that History teacher calling me about you falling asleep in class again."

Andrew scoffed as he left the room. "That woman hates my guts, and you know it."

"One would think you'd at least try to get on her good side because of that."

Sitting at his desk, Andrew tapped his pencil against his chin as he stared at the sheet of problem questions sat on the desk in front of him. As he'd told Gibbs, he had homework to do, but it wasn't nearly as much as he'd made it out to be. Rather, he just wanted to have enough time to do it slowly and then head to bed – he wasn't up for talking.

Which was why his phone was face down on the bed, on silent so that it wasn't repeatedly buzzing with the messages that were bound to be coming through from the group chat. Watching Jon and Terry make jokes was great if you weren't trying to focus on anything else.

Still, he found his mind wandering and his eyes eventually landed on that sheet of paper with the cell phone number on it; the one that had been on the fridge. His curiosity piqued.

Why was there a cell phone number for him?

Checking the clock and seeing that it was only 1930 hours (he still thought in military time, dammit), he decided he had enough time to check out this mystery number before finishing off his homework and going to bed.

He reached over to his bed and picked up his phone, ignoring the numerous messages and opening up the call log, dialling the number and putting the phone to his ear.

The phone rang once… twice… three times…

Andrew was tempted to end the call when it was picked up on the fourth ring, and suddenly he could hear laughter and chatter on the other end. Eventually, a breathy voice answered.

"Hello?"

Andrew nearly dropped the phone. Of all the people he expected it to be, this was the last person he thought would answer the phone. He realised he hadn't actually spoken when the individual began to ask who it was and whether it was some sort of prank.

"Alex?"

Even though there was still chatter and laughter on the other end, Andrew could tell that Alex Rider had frozen with wide eyes. Heck, he could almost imagine the fair-haired boy doing it now…

"Andrew? Is that you?"

"No, it's a martian."

"Oh, wow, it's definitely you."

"You calling me a martian?"

"You certainly have the looks of one."

Andrew cracked a grin at that. Despite not talking to each other for almost a month, the banter was still there. It was as if nothing had changed.

"How did you get my number?"

"It's a long story."

"I have time."

Andrew leaned back in his chair. "It was on the fridge."

There was hesitation on the other end as Alex waited to hear more. "…Is that it?"

Andrew feigned surprise. "Huh, yeah, I guess. Wasn't as long as I thought it would be."

"You are a complete arse sometimes."

"Hey, I've got to be made up of other body parts as well." Alex's laughter on the other end made Andrew grin, and he glanced down at his homework for a moment before pushing it away and spinning to face the wall.

Homework could be done later. It wasn't even due for tomorrow.

"So, how've you been, Mr. San Fran?"

And there you have it! It is officially the end of Rider's Return, guys! I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it - I mean, it took forever, but I finally made it! It's finally the end!

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed throughout the story! Thank you so much to DS2010, Dobby and Padfoot, Riderkitty, Owlqueen08, TeamDamonSince1864, CybeastFalzar, Alicori, Napstaaa (Guest), 19Teardrop94, Nightcrawlerfw, AureaD, Ff1892, Charlotte (Guest), Yellow (Guest), Abz (Guest), tbk9.2011, Guest, Ravenclaw667, JaXine, TheDoctorWhoSpeaksInHands, IkioInk, , LEx (Guest), Mae (Guest), Amelia-of-Egypt, Ikspires, Deaths Mistress of Death, Personofmanythings and PresentingComplicated for every single one of your lovely reviews, thank you to everyone who followed and favourited and kept reading to the end, and thank you all for just enjoying the story I had to tell you! (Special thank yous to DS2010, Dobby and Padfoot and Riderkitty, who reviewed a lot - seeing your reviews almost every chapter definitely prompted me to write more and write faster, so thank you guys a lot!)

Now, obviously, this isn't the end of the series. As I mentioned before, there's a sequel out for the Alex Rider side of the series that I'm in the process of fixing up to read better than it did before - Scorpia's Return should be all edited and fixed up soon, and as soon as it is I'll make sure you guys know! It won't be posted in a new story, like this one was, so I'll probs update with an AN on here if you guys miss the updates. Also, I'll be writing small things on The Soldier and The Spy: Extras which will just be short snippets of my main boys' lives. I'm hoping to make that look good too.

But, anyway, until next time, my friends! It's been a pleasure writing this fic for you, and I hope you enjoy what I've got next for you in the series! Love y'all!