Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. This one gave me bother more than anything, hence why it took me longer but it is longer in length, if that makes up for it. The main thing was, I couldn't think how Alex would react to knowing about the choice. Swung between her freaking out, then to being rather touched that Sparrow picked his family, which to me did not sound right at all. So, tried to strike a balance between her reactions, whether it's worked or not, different matter. Still with the angsty Sparrow though, seemingly I'm getting all the angst out the way first before I go onto anything else.
As always, constructive criticism appreciated.

This theme: Ends

At the End of It All

It was finally over, Lord Lucien Fairfax was dead and her husband was coming home, this time for good. No more Hero's business that needed seeing to, no more Theresa calling on him whenever she felt like it, no more missing husband for weeks on end.

It should've been a time for joy, yet there was a somberness to Bowerstone that seemed out of place. She couldn't place it, something was off. It bothered her even more that she'd been feeling confused for the past couple of days, her memory becoming worse. For some reason she simply couldn't recall anything from the week previous. She tried not to worry about it.

She went about her usual routine, one eye on her daughter as Louise skipped ahead of her, the other eye on the roads leading away from the market square. Sparrow could come from any one of those, depending on where he'd been. He hadn't really said much, only that Theresa claimed another Hero had been found and that retrieving him, or her, would mean the end of Lucien. She hadn't dared hope for an end to everything, for her husband's quest for vengeance to be finally over after more than twenty years. She tried to understand it, really honestly tried. But on those cold nights where she was alone or when Lou asked when her father was coming back to make her, Alex, happy again, she hated Lucien and her husband's obsession.

Alex turned her attention back to her daughter, Louise already at the gift stall, no doubt eying up yet another doll. She smiled and decided to indulge her, just this once, since her father wasn't here yet. She went over to the stall, looked down to her daughter and reached for her purse. The impact of Louise hugging her legs almost knocked her over, and she didn't even try to suppress the smile tugging at the corners of her lips when she heard the delighted, "Thank you Mum!"

Louise pointed out the doll she'd seen, Alex taking it and paying for it, then handed it to her daughter. Alex tied her purse to her belt and nodded her thanks to the stall owner. The woman only nodded curtly and turned away almost immediately. This was strange, normally the woman would stop for a few moments to chat with her. She tried to think nothing more of it, returned her attention to Louise and keeping a lookout for Sparrow. Louise was already halfway to the bookshop by this point. She stopped and turned back to her mother, waving her over. She approached her daughter, took her hand and let herself be led, or dragged was a more accurate description to the shop on the corner. She stayed near the door, occasionally poking her head out on the off-chance Sparrow would appear. Louise was happy enough to browse the books before she eventually returned to Alex's side, this time empty-handed.

They left the shop and continued their routine, going to all of their normal stops then finished up an hour later. They returned to the square, went over to the bridge where Alex lifted Louise onto the wall. Her daughter sat on the wall, kicking her legs, Alex keeping a tight grip around her waist, ensuring she wouldn't fall. While they stood, she thought she heard a dog bark. She lifted Louise back down onto the ground and looked around for where the noise came from. Sure enough, the tan-coloured dog bounded out from the alleyway next to the furniture shop and over to the two of them. Louise grinned.

"It's Dad!" she shouted. The dog stopped in front of her and licked her face excitedly, then ran over to Alex and jumped up onto her apron.

"Down you go boy," she told it, but gave it a scratch behind its ears all the same. It did as it was told and barked. "I'm glad to see you too, now where's your owner, hm? Where's Sparrow?"

The dog barked again and turned back to the way it came. Sparrow stood nearby, his travel bag dumped on the ground, a smile on his face. Louise was the first to go to him, the bags she was helping her mother carry, dumped and forgotten as she sprinted to greet her father. Sparrow scooped her up and held her tight. Alex tutted quietly to herself, went over to the discarded bags and gathered them together. Sparrow was over by her side in seconds, helping her to pick them all up and ended up carrying them all himself.

He looked different and there were many things that struck her as odd, the first of which being the eye patch he'd worn since she'd met him was gone, as was the scar that marred his face for so long. She frowned slightly and reached up to touch the now smooth skin on his cheek. Sparrow jerked back, a reaction she was used to. He didn't like anyone, not even her, running their fingers down that scar.

"I'll...explain later," he told her.

She nodded.

They reached the house, Sparrow dumping the shopping on the dining table, while Alex placed Sparrow's travel bag on the chair next to the fire. The dog lay down in front of the fire and yawned.

"You were gone so long this time," Alex said. Truly she'd lost count of the days, and her missing week did not help matters.

Sparrow opened his mouth to say something then shut it again, offering only a shrug.

"Is it over? Lucien is dead?"

He nodded. "He's gone, Alex. It's...all over."

Something was amiss. That niggling feeling of something being wrong in general returned. What had happened?

She was about to ask if he was all right when she was pulled into a hug. Sparrow buried his face into her neck and she could swear she felt tears. She wriggled out of the hug and held her husband at arm's length. Sure enough, he was crying. He offered a teary smile and she pulled him into another hug. Finally he let her go.

"Sparrow, what's wrong? Has something happened to Hammer, or Garth? Theresa?" she asked. She may not have been fond of the others, especially Theresa, but Sparrow was. Theresa had practically raised Sparrow, and he looked on her as the closest thing to a mother he had.

His expression darkened when she mentioned Theresa. He glanced away from her, a deep frown on his face.

"Nothing's...happened, I'm just...I missed you, is all," he answered and forced a smile.

Now it was her turn to frown. She was about to ask further when their daughter interrupted.

"Dad, what did you bring me? You said you'd bring something," Louise asked, as she tugged on his coat to get his attention.

Sparrow looked glad of the distraction, and he mouthed a quick "We'll talk later" to her then turned all of his attention to his daughter.

Later did not come. Sparrow spent the rest of his time with Louise, taking her a walk around Old Town then simply listened as she rattled off everything that she'd done, that her friends had done in the time he'd been gone. He could not have looked more pleased, he listened attentively, nodding every so often, offering up the odd question and laughed at the jokes their daughter told. Alex called them for dinner, then tried to extract some information with careful questions about what had happened with Lucien. Sparrow saw through it and he shut down entirely, saying little, the rest of the meal passed in awkward, uncomfortable silence.

He avoided her again, despite his promise of 'later', he did not seem to want to talk about this particular piece of Hero's Business.

The next day, he and Louise were up and gone without her even knowing. There was a note waiting on the table, written in Sparrow's messy handwriting, stating he'd taken Louise for a walk up to Fairfax Gardens and would be back for lunch. She sighed. He was still avoiding her and determined to keep quiet. She knew she couldn't force him, she had tried that in the early days of their relationship and it only resulted in him running off to do Hero...things, before returning with an apology and a request to let him speak in his own time. She did and sooner or later, he would come to her and tell her what was bothering him.

It didn't stop her worrying till he did of course. Every worst case scenario ran through her head as she waited for her husband and child to return.

She made herself busy in the house, tidying Louise's room, putting away the last bits of yesterday's shopping then started to prepare lunch. If there was one thing she could rely on about Sparrow, it was that when he said he would be back for a certain time, he was. Except Hero's Business, however that didn't count. As she was finishing up making lunch, her daughter burst through the door along with the dog. Sparrow appeared a moment later, standing in the doorway and tried not to catch her eye. Once more she wondered just what this last Hero had done to her husband, what Theresa had sent him to do that would return him to her like this.

"Mum, Mum! Dad got you something!" Louise shouted, rushing over to her and waved a ribbon covered box at her.

Sparrow's attention turned to their daughter and he smiled fondly, shaking his head slightly. "Well there goes that surprise," he said. He finally came into the house, instead of standing at the door, as if he were waiting for permission to enter.

She took the box offered to her, ruffled her daughter's hair and once more looked over to Sparrow. He approached her, put his arms around her wait and rest his head atop hers.

"Call it an apology for being gone so long this time," he told her.

"You don't need buy me something to apologise," she answered, though silently she added just come back. She undid the ribbon, finding it was a box of her favourite chocolates. "But I won't say 'no' to them." She grinned up at him.

He smiled back and kissed her forehead before he let her go, then ushered Louise to sit down at the table for lunch.

Though she was glad to see Sparrow back to his old self, if only for a moment, it bothered her still that he yet wouldn't speak of what had happened. He seemed to be trying to pretend the problem wasn't there, distracting himself in any way he could think of. It worried her.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, Sparrow later going for a walk around Bowerstone on his own to try and find some work, Louise staying in the house and retreated to her room. Just before dinner, Sparrow returned, smelling of alcohol, smoke while his shirt had gone missing. It seemed he had done a few hours in the blacksmith's then the pub pulling drinks. He greeted her, dumped his bag in front of the fire then went upstairs to run himself a bath. She made dinner, called her husband and daughter down from their retreats and laid the table. Sparrow appeared, carrying Louise on his shoulders and made a grand show of lifting her off and putting her in the chair. Alex couldn't help but smile.

She asked about his day, how the work had gone, normal subjects of conversation that entirely avoided Hero's Business. Louise joined in, telling him of what she had done throughout the day, what she planned to do the next day some of the things her friends had told her. She listened quietly, glad that father and daughter were at last getting on.

They fell into this routine for a week, Sparrow doing whatever jobs needed doing around town, she running her usual errands while Louise either helped out at home, went out to see her friends or pestered her father to take her somewhere. For a while, she managed to forget the niggling feeling that something wasn't right and whatever had been bothering Sparrow about his last bit of business seemed to be forgotten. During this time, she was happy, everything seemed something like a normal life should've been.

Then the nightmares started.

Louise was the first to suffer them and on the first night that she did, nothing could've chilled her more than the sound of her daughter screaming in fear. She leapt from her bed, surprised to find Sparrow already awake and there, a bundle of blankets sniffling and whimpering upon his knee. He rocked her gently, trying to calm her. She went over and sat next to Sparrow, then peeled back some of the blankets. Louise buried her face into her father's chest, while Alex stroked her hair and opened her arms. Louise detached herself from Sparrow and crawled off of his knee, squeezing in between them.

"What happened, Lou?" she said. She looked up to Sparrow then down to her daughter, nodding slightly to Louise.

Sparrow only shrugged.

"Had a nightmare..." Louise mumbled, as she wiped her cheeks when the tears rolled down them.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

Louise shook her head.

"It sometimes helps to talk," Sparrow added.

Once more, their daughter shook her head.

"Can I sleep with you?" Louise asked, looking between her parents, pleading with them silently to let her.

Alex nodded and picked Louise up, carried her over to the large double bed and tucked her in. She got into the bed too, immediately finding her daughter attached to her. She put her arm around her daughter's shoulders, surprised to find the girl still quivering. Sparrow joined them, apparently having decided against going downstairs to stare at the fire and brood, one habit he seemed to have picked up in the Spire. He pulled both to him, a grim look on his face. She reached up and touched his cheek, mouthing "what's wrong?"

He shook his head and didn't answer.

The next day, Louise seemed to be back to normal, the nightmare that had frightened her so forgotten completely. She tried to find out just what the nightmare had been about, however, like her father, Louise shut down and didn't want to tell her. She let the subject drop.

That night, it was she who suffered a nightmare. It seemed so real...The old man at the door, trying to push past her. How he had shoved her roughly to the floor, the sweat running down her brow when he brought out the gun and aimed it at her. Her absolute terror when she noticed Louise on the stairs watching the entire thing. She could feel the tears in her eyes, her prayers that Lou escape, get away before this man noticed her and turned the gun on her too. The deafening sound of the gun as it fired...Blackness...

She bolted up in the bed with a gasp, drenched in sweat, her heart pounding against her chest. Sparrow stirred next to her, turned onto his other side and looked at her blearily.

"Whas happened?" he asked. He was cut off by a large yawn.

"I...I had," she paused, took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself and turned back to her husband. "I had a nightmare too."

That seemed to wake him up. Sparrow propped himself up on his elbows and waited for her to continue.

"It was so real..." She shook her head. "It's probably nothing, probably worrying too much for Lou." She gave him a small smile, lay back down and faced the ceiling.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. She kissed his cheek and pulled the blankets up over her shoulder. "Go back to sleep Sparrow, don't wake Lou, not after last night."

Sparrow looked unconvinced, though he didn't argue with her.

She fell into a restless sleep and awoke hours later, to an empty bed. For a moment she thought that those blissful weeks had been a dream, her husband's quest for vengeance over and Lucien was dead. She heard noises downstairs, recognised Sparrow's voice and relaxed. She got up, went down to find him and found he'd made breakfast. Once again she thought the worst, that Sparrow was going to leave again and this was done to soften the blow.

"What's this for?" she said and sat down at the table. Louise was already there, tucking into her breakfast.

Sparrow raised an eyebrow. "What? I can't make breakfast for my wife once in a while?" he answered.

No, she wanted to answer, Not when you're a Hero. She said nothing.

He sighed. "I couldn't sleep, didn't want to wake you so I just got up."

She frowned, not entirely convinced of this reasoning. She let the subject drop for the moment, she would take it up later with him once they were alone.

Another night passed and both mother and daughter had the same nightmare. Alex awoke first, startled and annoyed, then Louise screeched and burst into tears, calling for her mother. Alex was at her side in seconds, taking the quivering bundle that was her daughter onto her lap and shushed her quietly. Sparrow rushed up the stairs, gun raised looking for whatever had frightened his daughter. She thought back to a time when Louise was younger, when one of her friends told her monsters lived under her bed. The girl believed her friend of course, refused to sleep in her bed for days. Alex briefly wondered what Sparrow would've done if he'd been there, if he'd have came rushing in then, all guns blazing, ready to take a shot at an imaginary monster.

He put the gun in the holster when she shot him a warning look.

"What's wrong, Lou? Another nightmare?" she asked as she wiped her daughter's tears away.

Louise nodded and mumbled something.

"What?" Sparrow said. He sat down on the bed beside her.

"He killed you, Mum," Louise told her. "He shot you..."

She went cold and she heard Sparrow suck in a breath sharply.

"Louise I'm fine, look. I'm right here, no one's shot me."

"But he did! He shot you then he came after me!"

"Who shot her?" Sparrow butted in.

"The old man...With the white hair. Mum wouldn't let him in so he pushed her out the way then he shot her."

Sparrow looked away, a deep scowl on his face.

"It was just a dream, pet. Just a dream..."

Sparrow got up and went downstairs, leaving her alone to calm their daughter. Louise was convinced if she went back to sleep, she could watch her mother be killed again. She clung to Alex, not wanting to let her go and simply wouldn't settle down enough to even consider trying to sleep. In the end, Alex brought her downstairs, made some hot chocolate for the three of them and let her stay up until she couldn't fight the sleep any longer. She carried Louise back up the stairs, sleep having deserted her, tucked her in and slid her doll, Macy, into the bed as well.

When she was sure that her daughter wouldn't wake up again, she went back down the stairs and moved the chair in front of the fireplace, directly across from Sparrow. He looked up, blinked in surprise then sat hunched over, staring down at his feet.

"Even in death he still haunts me..." he muttered.

"Talk sense," she snapped. She was in no mood for riddles or for Sparrow's brooding. "You know what's upsetting her, don't you? Why she's having these nightmares."

Sparrow faced her once more, opened his mouth to say something, then simply shut it again and nodded.

"Tell me then. Why is she? Why am I? I had the same dream, the same man coming into my home and shooting me, point blank."

He sighed. "They're not dreams, they're a memory. And I wish you didn't remember that at all." He sounded on the verge of tears, his voice broke and he swallowed hard.

Her harsh demeanour softened and reached out and held his hand in hers. "Sparrow? Tell me what happened, when you found the last Hero."

He put his hand over hers and squeezed it, then he stood up, his back to her and leaned against the fireplace.

"I found the last Hero in Bloodstone, one place if I never have to look at it again, it'll be too soon," Sparrow began. "He was a sharpshooter, a pirate named Reaver. Can't say I'm overly fond of him. He shot Barnum and he tried to hand me over to Lucien after sending me on an errand." He turned back to face her and folded his arms over his chest. "You remember Barnum, yeah? Went into business with him."

Alex nodded. She remembered him, though she had only met him once or twice.

"Theresa met us at Hero Hill after everything was dealt with in Bloodstone. We were so close, it was nearly over...Then Lucien got there, with his damned Spires and his guards and his..." Sparrow gritted his teeth and looked away from her. Again, he took a few breaths, then continued once he'd calmed himself, though now he wouldn't look at her. "He took the others, Theresa disappeared and it was just me and him. I couldn't move, he was right there and I couldn't get him. He put up this...thing, this barrier, like before. He shot my dog..." Sparrow looked over to the dog in question, it asleep on a cushion he'd bought it under the window.

"The man in our dreams...That was Lucien?" Alex asked, finally finding her own voice.

Sparrow nodded. "Yes. He said he killed you, you and Lou...Said he came here, that he should've finished the job with me and that he wasn't going to make the same mistake again by leaving it to someone else."

Alex shook her head. "But I'm here, Louise is here. She's not...She can't be dead. Sparrow...Please."

"Neither of you are dead. Not any more."

She frowned.

"The Spire that Lucien was building grants wishes, he wanted to use it to bring about a 'better world', as he called it," Sparrow explained. He stepped away from the fireplace and sat down in front of her once more. "Lucien shot me, I guess he killed me." He took her hands once more when she gasped, quickly tried to calm her. "It's alright! I'm fine, I...it didn't hurt." He seemed to realise his mistake and muttered something under his breath. "Really, I'm not dead either. But...The Spire grants wishes, yeah? That was my 'reward'." He snorted even as he said it. "A choice. Bring you and Louise back, bring all those people that died building the Spire back or money."

Alex understood. She stared at Sparrow, almost begged him to tell her he hadn't done what she thought, that he hadn't chosen her and his family over all of those people.

"I wasn't going to pick money, I mean I've got enough as it is. There's more than enough to keep you and Louise going if something should ever happen to me. But...I couldn't lose...Not again. I lost my sister, I wasn't going to lose my wife, my daughter to him too."

She jerked back away from him, stood up and walked over to the window. She put her hand over her mouth and she thought she was going to be sick.

"Alex..." Sparrow said. He still hadn't moved from the chair at the fire.

"All those people...You let them..." she couldn't finish, she couldn't look at him.

"I...I know. Now you know why people have been 'off' with you."

"It could've been their husband, or their wife, or their son or daughter. What if that had been Louise? What if she really had died and someone had the chance to return her to us and they didn't? Sparrow, how could you?"

He didn't answer.

She spun around to face him. "You are one of the most selfless people I know, yet you pick then, the most important choice of your life. You pick that time to be selfish?"

"I wasn't going to let you die! I wasn't going to lose you. And I thought...I thought what if...What if I turned out like Lucien? He suffered the same, he lost his wife, his daughter and it drove him mad. I wasn't going to turn into that."

But I fear you might all the same...She didn't say those words, she didn't need to, the look she gave him said it all.

Sparrow turned away again, buried his faces in his hands and leaned back to face the ceiling. He took his hands away, still facing the ceiling. Alex stayed where she was and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Theresa has the Spire now, the other Heroes are gone, went their separate ways. Something Lucien said...He said he merely listened, he implied Theresa was..." he said quietly.

Ah, so that was why he hadn't mentioned her.

"She gave me this too..." Sparrow went over to his travel bag and pulled out a small piece of paper. He returned to her, held it out and reluctantly, she took it. She unfolded it then read it over, her eyes widening when she saw the name at the bottom of it.

"Is this from...?" she said.

Sparrow nodded.

"I went looking for her briefly, thought she might be in Brightwood but she wasn't. I guess she'll find me," he answered.

She felt nothing but anger then. He had everything, his family back while countless others had lost theirs. The anger faded to nothing but confusion. Why was she so special that she got to live? Even if it had only been their daughter who was returned to him, she could understand that. If given that choice she would choose her daughter.

And there was the key phrase to it all. If given that choice...What would she have done? If she had lost as much as Sparrow. If she had lost her husband, her child to the man who had ruined her life more than twenty years ago, who she had grown up hating for taking her one family at that time, what would she have done?

She didn't know.

She risked a glance at Sparrow. He was looking at her, unsure and he rubbed the back of his neck as he waited. He must've thought she would pack her bags and leave him, the way she was going on.

She pulled him into a tight hug.

At the end of it all, the choice was made, the deed was done, there was nothing left but to weather the consequences with him, however harsh they may be.