Chapter 10: epilogue

Disclaimer: see previous chapters.

When Beverly Barlowe and Allison Blake met after a (relatively) long while, the meeting was not particularly happy from both sides. Well, it was unhappy from Allison's side; what came from Beverly was anybody's guess.

"So. You have saved Holly," Allison said flatly, not particularly icy, but not particularly happy either.

"Yup," Beverly nodded, leaning back in the jail cell (she was incarcerated in Eureka's county prison but did not mind). "What of it?"

"Nothing," Allison said as she sat down (outside of the cell) as well.

There was a pause. "You know," Allison said after the pause grew for too long, "I really tried to hate you after you took over my life and brain, but I couldn't. Somehow, Jack managed to make you sound too pathetic to be hateful-"

"And he's correct, unfortunately-"

"And this is just more grist for the mill," sighed Allison. "Beverly, Henry thinks – and Grace agrees with him, and I'm inclined to agree with him – that you're not crazy, you just had a jumpstart of your conscience, at a long last. That, coupled with the fact that the feedback from the nanites did affect your brain... yes, one can think how you can imagine yourself being crazy."

"And you're sane, but not making any sense," Beverly said flatly, but more like her old self for the first time.

"We're ready to give you a second chance, and by 'we' I mean Eureka in general, mostly," Allison exclaimed.

"Do I have a choice?" Beverly's gaze (and voice) did not waver.

"Well, yes. But you would like the other options even less than this one," Allison did not waver either.

"That's honest," Beverly said quietly, as she thought about it. Was she sane after all? Perhaps, but even in that case, the death of Dr. Marten wouldn't have sat well with her at all, so-

"It's a deal," she firmly told the other woman. "I have no idea what'll come out of it, but it's a deal."

And they shook their hands.

/

Holly was not sure if she met Fargo for the first time or not, but she did not care. There were smooches and a whole lot of heavy petting. Then they were reminded that they were in public and went somewhere more private. Then there was more than just smooching and petting.

Then Sheriff Carter walked onto them in his and Allison's bedroom and promptly walked out again, feeling rather peeved – but what happened after that was another story.

/

"Hi! I am Lucy Wen! Do you want to be my friend?" the ex-senator of the US babbled happily.

"What has happened to her?" Jack asked Henry quickly.

"Stark's invention. It has essentially lobotomized her and all of her minions – everyone who wasn't in the VR, in short," Grace answered instead. "I always thought that Dr. Stark was cold, but to invent something like this? Ruthless!"

"Yes, I always thought that Nathan had a dark side, but this is ruthless," Jack nodded. "Why is she here, though?"

"Even though she's been turned into an idiot, she was still a part of Eureka for a long while," now it was Henry who answered. "She cannot be let go just like that. For now – she stays with us."

Jack and Henry, Allison and Grace just wordlessly stared across the glassy-walled room. The ex-senator Wen, now a resident of Eureka, or rather – the town's special person just waved back at them, content and happy with her life at long last.

The end