Well, this is embarrassing. It pains me to say this, but I unfortunately will need to give this story up for adoption. I thought I could just come back to it after such a long time away, but then I realized that I didn't have any real plan for how I was going to tell this story or where I wanted it to end. I know I should have threw in the towel a long time ago, my stubborn self was convinced I could still salvage the fic. So, at this point I am finally willing to admit that I don't know how to progress the plot based on what has already been written, and that it is best if someone else take over this story if anyone chooses. The good news is that I have learned a lot of valuable lessons from this fic. I intend to keep writing more stories and have a few in the planning stage (I will have a far more organized approach now) and the lessons learned from this fic will be reflected in all my future ones. reflected in my future works.