A/N - Y'all thought this story was dead, didn't you? Well, so did I, despite the fact that the "epilogue" had pretty much been written years ago. But as I'd said before, it was too long and I wasn't sure what to do with it. Today, while telling a friend about this story, I was suddenly nostalgic and thought at the very least I should pull it out and give it a read, and if I could manage it, post the first section of the prologue/epilogue as its own chapter. So, here you go, part two of Into the Blue: Remember Spring.

It was June 2006. One day after she'd broken up with Paige. There weren't a lot of places to go in the middle of the night. She didn't feel like showing up at the ravine despite, or because of, Jay's insistence that she drop by, and she didn't want to be at home with her mom and Chad, so she stuck her hands in her pockets, kept her eyes on the ground, and just walked.

A car pulled up alongside her and she felt a wave of fear, only to hear a somewhat familiar voice call her name. It was Dylan.

"Can I give you a ride somewhere?"

"No. That would defeat the purpose of my random walk."

"I see. I'm just out for coffee. You should join me."

She eyed him skeptically and then looked down the road. It looked like everywhere else she'd already walked that night.

"Where's your better half?"

"Funny thing – Mr. Del Rossi, not so fond of me sleeping over." Alex almost smiled. "So, you game?"

"Fine. But I'm not in the mood for coffee shops and bright lights."

"You'd prefer a smoky club with bad lighting?"

"I'd prefer a six pack and a joint."

"Well, I can help with the alcohol, but all my pot connections went home for the summer."

"Don't worry, I've got my own connections."

And that's how they ended up parking near the ravine, getting shit-faced and stoned.

"You know, I love my sister," said Dylan starting on his fifth beer, his enunciation slow and sloppy, "but she's fucking nuts when it comes to boys. I mean, I am too, and I'd be all over Marco right now if he wasn't all tied up with graduation and needing his 'beauty sleep.'"

"And if Super Mario Dad would let you near his son."

"Yeah. That sucks."

"Yeah."

Dylan looked confused for a moment. Alex took another hit of the joint and passed it back to him. "God, this is quality shit," he said after a long draw. "What was I talking about?"

"Paige and boys."

"Oh yeah. I was glad she was willing to explore her sexuality and all, but I never thought it would last. I mean, she's Paige. I'm surprised she could breathe without a boy attached to her. I honestly didn't think you two would last as long as you did. I'm sorry for you though."

"Why?"

"Because she dropped you so quickly. This is why you shouldn't date bi girls. Especially bicurious girls."

Alex hoped it was just the haze of beer and pot making things so hard to understand. "What?"

"Bi girls, they always go back to boys. That's what my lesbian friends tell me."

Alex's eyebrows screwed up even tighter. "But I broke up with her."

"You mean she didn't dump you for Spinner?"

"For Spinner? What does Spinner have to do with this?"

Dylan was starting to realize he'd said too much.

"Dylan?"

He didn't answer.

"Dylan!"

Still nothing.

"What about Spinner?" she asked furiously.

"Nothing."

"Are you trying to tell me Paige hooked up with Spin?"

Dylan looked at her earnestly.

"Already?"

He nodded. "That's the real reason I had to get out of the house."

Everything inside of her seemed to crumble.

She wasn't one for tears. But she was still fragile from the break-up, and after beer and pot, she had no more defenses up. She leaned over, hiding her eyes in her hands, as her tears turned into silent sobs.

Paige couldn't leave her. Not like this. She was supposed to be hurting. She was supposed to be making amends, begging for a second chance. But fucking Spin? The memory of Paige's giddy behavior that day at school made her hesitate. Had she already rebounded that quick? Was she relieved to be rid of Alex so she could go back to the Furby? Was there any chance of reconciliation now?

She felt a hand on her back and tensed up. She looked at Dylan, his face lit up in that dopey smile of his. "Hey, it'll be ok. You'll be ok," he said, and he gripped her shoulder for emphasis. The moment passed quickly; they weren't close friends, after all. "I've gotta take a piss. I'll be back in a second, ok?"

She nodded. She watched him stumble behind some bushes. She looked at his beer can. She held it up. Just over half full. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a little plastic baggie. She hadn't dreamt her recent encounter with Jay after all.

"I'll upgrade you for no charge," he'd said about the pot. "You certainly look like you need it. It's the best I've ever smoked. You'll like it. And if not, I'll even give you a refund." He smiled as he handed her the baggie and a packet of rolling papers. "Oh, you might want this too… for the lady." He pulled another baggie from his sleeve, a tiny one containing only one pill.

"A roofie? Are you fucking kidding me?" asked Alex incredulously.

"Hey, you might need it. You've been through a lot of shit. You won't be hurting anyone."

Alex had thought for a moment to argue with him, or at least point out the mechanics of lesbian sex, but she finally realized that Jay now had one less roofie – she was doing the women of Canada a great service – plus, she didn't want to know why he even had one. But now, a rather crazy idea was forming in her head.

Paige was lost to her. Alex had obviously been nothing more than an experiment, or an act of kindness. Fine, Paige could have Gavin Mason. She didn't care. But she would show Paige. She would keep her in a way that Paige could never leave her. Maybe Paige had moved on, but she never would. She would remain loyal. She would show her how to love someone forever.

She only had so long before Dylan returned. She took the roofie out of the bag. One half into Dylan's beer. One half into her own. God only knew what would happen.

She hadn't yet developed a case of penis-phobia, though she certainly wasn't all that fond of them anymore. However, she could still give a blowjob without blinking, apparently. And Dylan was in such a fog, he didn't seem to know who she was – or that she was even a she. Her hair was dark and he slurred Marco's name a few times. The blowjob turned into something else… and then it was over. Dylan completely passed out, and the drugs and booze were getting to her too.

She crawled out from underneath him and opened the car door to vomit. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she said to herself, crying even more. Another wave of nausea gripped her and she suddenly needed to lie down. The roofie was kicking in, she realized in horror. It couldn't have hit Dylan yet, most likely. She was terrified that he would remember all this. At least he had passed out now. The ground started to move beneath her and she struggled to make herself decent, swearing that she would walk out of there before Dylan woke up to find her. Suddenly the trees whirled around her and her knees buckled and she collapsed into the soft dirt.

The next thing she knew, she awoke on Jay's couch.

"That was a stupid, fucked up thing to do, Alex," he said when she opened her eyes. "Fucking your ex-girlfriend's gay brother? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking of her," she said softly before closing her eyes, trying to block everything out.

"That's great. You know I had to pull up Homochuk's pants so that he wouldn't have a clue what you did? Do you realize how disturbing that was for me?"

Alex didn't answer. She squeezed her eyes tight to hold back the tears. "I feel sick," she said suddenly, and Jay pointed to the bucket next to the couch. When she was through he pushed her hair back behind her ears. She didn't fight him. "That's what you get for drinking that much, along with the weed, and the way you were acting last night… I couldn't tell if you took the roofie or him." He stopped to examine her face, which was tinged with guilt. "Smart. You're going to feel like shit for a couple of days and I'm glad because, like I said, I had to pull up his pants. Do you realize that's not something you can ever recover from?"

When she finally looked at him, she could see that he wasn't really mad – he was just trying to get her to smile. Knowing this, she granted him one – albeit a small, forced one. "Thanks for cleaning up my mess. For watching out for me and all that."

"Obviously I should have been watching you closer," he said tenderly. "I didn't realize that you were, you know, so upset about the breakup. You seemed fine the day it happened."

"Yeah, and once it hit me what I'd done, I only regretted it. As frustrating as she is to be around, I actually miss that. If she just called me up right now and asked for a second chance, I'd give it to her. I'm weak and stupid when I'm around her. God, so stupid. Stupid love. Why did I have to fall in love with her?"

"Love? Shit, Lexi, that girl doesn't know what love is, unless you're talking to her about her newest pair of shoes."

"I know. That's where the weak and stupid comes into play."

Jay drove her home that afternoon, and even saw her to her apartment. "I could tuck you in, you know," he said earnestly.

"I think I can manage that myself," she said, and with a quick goodbye they parted

A few hours later, the phone rang. Alex was still in her room, feeling miserable, and didn't respond to her mother's calls until they grew particularly insistent. She dragged herself into the living room to take the phone from her mother. "Jesus, Lexi, it's about time you showed up. Here, it's some boy."

"Hello?" she asked, suddenly a little more focused.

"Um, hey. Alex?"

"…Dylan?" she responded and quickly headed off to her room. "Hold on a minute." She closed her door and spoke softly. "Ok, now you can talk."

"I just wanted to call to see how you were feeling today. I had the worst hangover ever," he said, his voice a little less sure than normal. Alex could tell he didn't really call to talk about that, but she certainly wasn't going to change the subject.

"Yeah, me too. Um, thanks for hanging out with me last night, I guess. I'd say we should do it again, but…" Her voice trailed off.

"Yeah. So, um… this might sound really strange, but I was wondering if you remember anything about last night… anything… unusual?"

"Well, I drank an unusually large amount and smoked some very good weed, which is unusual because I can't afford anything more than mediocre weed. But other than that, no, I don't remember anything."

"Do you remember how you got home?"

"Jay took me home," she answered shortly, racking her brain to figure out how to end the conversation soon.

"I remember waking up late this morning, in my car, still down at the ravine."

There was silence, which Alex finally broke. "Well, thanks for checking on me."

"Actually, I really wanted to… God, this is hard to ask, but… did anything… you know… happen?"

"Are you kidding me?" she asked, feigning shock, though the disgust in her voice was real.

"Ok, that was really embarrassing. But I just… I have these fuzzy memories that don't make any sense…"

"They're called dreams. I dreamt last night about leprechauns taking over the city. Weed does crazy shit to your mind."

"Ok. Yeah, you're probably right. Can we forget that this conversation ever happened?"

"Already done. I need to get going now."

And with that, she hung up. It was the last time she spoke to him.