This here is my last story. It is set in a future in which the US has become an authoritarian oligarchy. Louis and Tawny are in their late 30s. Everything in my previous stories (and the TV series!) has taken place prior to this, except for story #4, which didn't actually happen.

This future scenario is purely a product of my imagination. I'm not trying to say it is realistic or that the country is currently headed in this direction.

Obvious disclaimer: I don't own Even Stevens!

Louis and Tawny sat in silence at the dinner table. They could feel the shadow of recent events hanging over them, as much as they tried to prevent it. Things had taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks. The authorities had announced the third state of emergency of the year, citing threats of civil unrest at home and terrorist attacks from abroad. Intimidation tactics against opposition activists had intensified, from apartment searches to arrests on trumped-up charges. The state and corporate media's information war on "unpatriotic" elements carried on at full steam.

It had all begun some years ago with "civil unrest" of various kinds: escalating gun violence, protests against police violence, race riots. Yet instead of tightening gun regulations, curbing police violence, or addressing the grievances of racial minorities, the administration in Washington, in alliance with corporate interests, had responded by granting itself extraordinary powers in the name of security. Of course, crime and especially gun violence didn't subside; if anything, they got worse. In fact, it was an unspoken truth that the authorities tolerated, or even encouraged, organized crime networks and local "vigilante groups" that targeted political dissidents. Outsourcing the dirty work, as cynics and realists liked to call it.

This wasn't the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four, far from it. In a way, it was even scarier. There was no formal prohibition on being a dissident, but if you were one, you didn't know what might hit you, what unpredictable departures from the rule of law might make your life difficult. Common charges ranged from threats to national security to drug possession and tax fraud, sometimes by means of planted evidence, sometimes by means of flexible interpretation of the law. Dissident media didn't have to be censored or abolished outright; the sprawling media empire that Wall Street oligarchs had built up did enough to crowd out alternative outlets or render them financially unviable. Often, the pressure of "majority" public opinion – or at least how the state and corporate media interpreted it – was enough to ostracize those with "extremist" viewpoints. And as a last resort, the gangs and the "vigilantes" would do the job. Physical assaults on and even assassinations of investigative journalists and opposition activists – mostly by "unidentified" perpetrators whom subsequent judicial investigations mysteriously failed to uncover – were not unheard of.

Even in this environment, Tawny had carried on with her activist and intellectual work as unflinchingly as possible. She still published articles critical of the government, in her capacity not only as commentator but also as member of the editorial collective of one of the few independent public affairs journals left on the print market. She still helped organize local rallies – however small they had become – and was active in a number of solidarity networks. Apart from the periodic apartment search and the occasional death threat, it seemed like a miracle that nothing had happened to her. She knew it was thanks in part to her getting tenure before all this had started, in part to her always taking extra care to avoid even the most minor traffic violation that could be used against her. But most of all, she knew it was thanks to her always having Louis at her side for strength and inspiration – the Louis whose love for her had never changed for 25 years, even as the world seemed to disintegrate around them.

Louis glanced over at Tawny, a solemn but affectionate look in his eyes. Never could he have imagined that this would be what their lives would look like after 25 years of friendship and 15 years of marriage. Never could he have imagined, that moment when their eyes met for the first time after he fell off the flagpole, what it was that lurked behind those deep blue eyes, so much more than her raven-haired beauty, that made her such a special person with such a special role to play in times to come. Even when they were friends, her politics hadn't meant all that much to him – that is, until he realized how much he loved her and how much she loved him, how much everything about them meant to each other. That day, after hearing her pronounce those three words on his television, he knew that things would never be the same again. And ever since that day, the two of them had placed themselves in each other's hands and never looked back, trusting in the depth and sincerity of those three words, walking every step of the journey of life together, finding meaning and inspiration in each other, letting themselves be shaped, little by little, in the other's image.

And this was the Tawny that Louis had come to know and love, the activist and intellectual who never ceased to stand up for her convictions. Everything she did was a plea for tolerance and world peace, he had quipped once back in the day. And in this she hadn't changed at all over the years, as much as she had grown and helped him grow with her. What she had been to him for 25 years and counting, she was now, more than ever, to so many of her students, colleagues, friends, and readers: a never-ending source of strength, inspiration, hope. And this most precious of souls was none other than his soulmate, his wife, his companion, and his best friend, whose love for him had never changed for 25 years, who always managed to find in him her own greatest source of strength and inspiration.

Louis could feel it once more as his eyes now met Tawny's, the steely determination laced with warm affection in her gaze, the so powerful yet so tender radiance emanating from her face. Yet this time, the look of adoration that he gave her in return betrayed his consternation. The latest death threat on her had rattled him, more than he wanted to admit. He had felt as torn as ever in recent days, between his admiration for all that she was doing and his fear of all that could happen to her. He felt that he owed it to her to not show any signs of weakness, to give back as much as possible the strength that she radiated in such abundance. But he also felt that she would want him to lift the lid on his anxieties and be sincere with her, as she had helped him to so many times in the past.

Tawny took hold of Louis's hand. "Tell me what's on your mind, Louis my dear," she said in her ever so assured and reassuring way, her voice cutting through the silence as through butter.

Louis smiled slightly. This was how it had always been. She made it impossible for him to not be as sincere with her as possible.

"It's a constant battle inside my head these days, Tawny," he began. "A battle between hope and fear. Whenever I see you and what you're doing, I'm filled with hope. Hope in the midst of this climate of fear. But as much as you make my fears go away, they return with a vengeance when I think of all that could happen to you and all that has happened to people around you." There was a pleading look in his eyes. "I don't want to lose you, Tawny. Don't forget that you're everything I have and everything I've ever had."

Louis took a deep breath. "I'm asking you to give emigration a serious thought, Tawny. It doesn't have to go on like this, living in fear all the time. And there's so much that you can still do from abroad, without risking all that you're risking now."

Tawny looked deeply into Louis's eyes, letting him know she felt the weight and sincerity behind his every word. "You're right that it's an alternative, Louis," she finally said. "There's always an alternative. But I'm still of the conviction that I can't leave everything here behind. There's just so much left to be done."

He gave her a disconcerted look. She really felt no fear. And he knew that she wouldn't be hiding it from him, that she wouldn't be anything but sincere with him.

Tawny continued. "This is the country where I grew up to become the person that I am. The country where I met you, grew up with you, and found my happiness in you. I owe it to this country to fight to make it a better place. And I owe it to you, Louis. So that we could remain together in a better version of the place where we've always been together."

Louis hesitated, taking in her words with adoration, but made an effort to push her to consider the alternative as much as possible.

"We can remain together anywhere on this earth, Tawny. It doesn't have to be here."

"But it wouldn't be the same, Louis," she responded.

Louis fell silent. "I guess not," he finally muttered. Another pause. "But what if this turns out to be the place that won't let us remain together? What if something happens to you, Tawny?"

It was Tawny's turn to fall silent. She took a deep breath. "We have to be careful and draw on each other's strength, Louis, as we always have. Every time I feel you and your love, I'm filled with strength and inspiration to carry on with what I'm doing. You're ultimately the reason why nothing has happened to me, Louis. I need you now, more than ever."

Louis looked deeply into Tawny's eyes. He could feel it once more, the feeling of her strength flowing into his, the hope prevailing over the fear. He knew that he couldn't let himself feel fear for her when she felt none, when he himself was the reason she felt none. His voice now came out strongly, full of conviction. "I'll never leave you, Tawny, no matter what happens. If your conviction is to remain here and carry on with what you're doing, then so be it." He gave her a reassuring look, the last trace of anxiety now gone from it. "We live together and we die together, Tawny."

Just then, there was a loud knock on the apartment door.