A/N . . .There are over one hundred reviews on this story. *sob* I love you all so much! I only ever hoped for this. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews. I was overwhelmed by the positivity and I can hardly say how happy I was. You guys really made my week. :D

I apologize to any confusion with the previous chapter. Immediately after posting the story, I updated and added the epilogue to it. I checked and it seemed to have made the change visible to everyone immediately. Apparently not as the reviews mentioned the following chapter. I took the epilogue off and decided to upload it in the next chapter so that everyone would have a chance to see it. I don't remember what the authors notes looked like, so those are different now. But everything else is the same.

And now, I hope you enjoy the OC wrap-up. These great OC's deserve their own "screen time." I hope you like it. :P I didn't go over it at all. Bad me. XP It kind of sucks, but my brain's reached an end with this story. I hope it doesn't undermine the ending. I also hope that Aleksi is understandable. She represents me and I'm emotional (I can control it) so she is too. I did not give her the most time because she's my OC. I gave her the most because I thought that she needed it for her character's closure. :) Working in a kitchen and being without family or friends would make me go crazy. (Yes, I have worked in a restaurant before. Not my cup of tea. Too crazy. Too picky. Too fast. Ugh.) Hope all of everyone, and the OC user's especially, enjoy this brief scene. There is one OC not present, but this will be explained. I was going to edit this chapter more, but again, I've lost my patience. :P I hope it's alright. This is officially the final chapter. I shall be sure to reply to all reviews.

Thank you to the following users for their great additional OC's:

EVAN AAML
lulu halulu
Monochrome13
Jane Hawthorn
Fprmr1

Thank you to everyone, everywhere for reviewing.

A note to Pear-Shaped: :D I cannot reply to your reviews considering you're anonymous, but I really wanted to send you a message before the story was over. Don't worry about sending urgent reviews. I enjoyed every one, and urgent just flattered me and helped me to remember that people still wanted to read it. I really appreciate you taking the time to send me every review. It means the world to me to have a story that people want to read more of and I loved getting the reviews. :) Thank you!

Evan blinked as he stared at the note. 'Kitchen. Now,' it stated. He'd only been here a couple of days. Was the note for him? Despite himself he felt the curiosity begin to rise. He didn't know for sure, but if he just left it there he would always wonder. He glanced towards the kitchen and saw one of the waitresses leave it. She sighed to herself as if despondent and reached up to pull her blond hair out of it's bun (required for the job). The kitchen was probably empty now then. For a moment he berated himself. Silly, really. To be so curious. More than likely somebody had left it there when they were using the dining table. But still . . .

Sighing with the knowledge that he wasn't going to be able to abate the wonder he started towards the kitchen. The blond waitress looked up at him as he got closer with confusion. ""Was there something you wanted? Lunch room's about to close," she stated carefully.

Again he debated. He would just check. "I know. I um . . ." he glanced down at the note, but shrugged. "I wanted to check something."

She blinked at him. "Lost something?"

Finally he sighed. He wasn't going to lie his way through this, no matter how ridiculous the explanation would look. "Actually I wanted to check the kitchen. I found this." He held out the note, wondering to her reaction.

She looked at it for several moments then looked up at him suspiciously. "Did you write this?"

Evan blinked at the calculation and frowned, pulling it back. "No, I didn't."

But she had already reached into her jacket pocket, and she held out a piece of paper for him to see. 'Kitchen. Closing.' Now it was getting strange. Evan wasn't sure what to say about the turn of events. He was slightly worried that she would continue to think that he had written the notes and think him some kind of stalker. But she sighed and put it back in her pocket. "I wasn't working today," she stated softly. "Aleksi was covering for me."

It was with a small jolt of surprise that he looked up. A feeling he couldn't explain came, though soft and small. As if it all came down to this. But he had to wonder. "So, you came to the kitchen when you got the note?" She nodded. "By yourself?" She hesitated but nodded and he frowned a bit.

A little defensive she stated, "The kitchen was full at that time. The cooks and everything were still here. It wouldn't be a problem.'

He nodded at this reasoning. "What happened?" He hoped she wouldn't be annoyed with all the questions, but would rather want to know where they had come from as he did. He was surprised to see her frown, not at him but through him, as if remembering what had happened.

She sighed and shrugged. "Nothing."

With the expression she had just had, he had to think that there had been more than nothing. So he was understandably confused. "Nothing? Did you wait a bit?"

She nodded. "Yep. From a few minutes closing to now. Only thing I saw was Aleksi cr. . . " She trailed off, as if realizing she had said something she shouldn't. "Sorry." She made to move past him.

Evan was conflicted. On one hand, a rational part of his mind was telling him to leave it. The other part found it interesting and curious. And there was something else. Something pushing him. "Wait!"

She paused and turned back with polite wonder.

"What about Aleksi?" That was it. The question that connected it all. For him anyway.

She looked at him carefully. "You know her?"

He was about to say it plainly. Tell her that he had met Aleksi the day before. He didn't really know her, but he did know her. He realized though that the girl was being careful about someone who was probably a friend. Though he hesitated he had to know now. And would she answer if he gave her all of the truth. He wasn't one to brush over the truth, but he swallowed it and nodded.

She sighed. "Well . . ." A glance behind him. "She's in the kitchen. She um . . . She's been crying. She won't tell me why and she won't talk. She's not usually like that. I'm kind of worried. Could you um . . ." Getting over the slight nerves (she wasn't sure where they had come from), she looked up at him hopefully. "If you know her, do you think you could talk to her? I don't know what to do. I mean, the note said to be here and that's all that happened. I'm just-I'm lost. I don't think they could know if this was going to happen."

He realized at that moment that she was more than worried about Aleksi, she was worried about the note. With understanding he asked, "are the cleaners still going to be in the dining for a while?" A few men and women had come through the room halfway through their conversation and were now cleaning up after Christmas and the meals. The girl nodded. "Why don't you stay around here where people are while I talk to her? I'll walk you to where you need to be."

An almost unnoticeable weight lifted from her shoulders as she nodded. "That'd be nice. Thanks."

He started towards the kitchen as she sat down.

When he reached the kitchen he was surprised by the lack of sound. So silent that he wasn't sure Aleksi was actually there. It didn't help that all of the lights were out. The kitchen was clean and all of the metal reflected the small light coming from the small service window. As he allowed the swinging door to shut behind him he heard a small sound. A little gasp of surprise. Turning from the wall beside the door with aprons and pin pads he saw a small light lit by one of the sinks. Sitting across from it was Aleksi. She was still in the apron and Christmas dress that she seemed to loathe. They hadn't closed long ago, but a more likely reason was that she hadn't had time to change with the crying Sophie had stated she had been doing. She was sitting on a box, hunched over it, elbows on her knees, her fingers still curled as to show that that was where her head had been moments before. Now she was looking at him over her hands. It was still a little difficult to see, so he started over towards her. Aleksi inhaled sharply and dropped her face back into her hands, shoulders stiffening.

When he reached her Evan glanced around and grabbed a nearby crate, dragging it to the wall opposite her in the small space. He sat down carefully, aware of the small shakes running through her. For a moment he just watched her, assessing the situation and how to go about it. She was no longer crying, but Evan had no idea if that was because she was finished or if she just didn't want to in front of him. After a few moments of silence she shuffled the red flats on the floor and shook as if impatient. Evan took this as the cue to say something. "Your friend's worried about you. She asked me to see you."

Aleksi couldn't help but look at him, still no more than peering over her fingers. An incredulous look on her face. There was another moment of silence while Evan allowed her to gather her thoughts. Finally she stated, "I don't know you."

He almost chuckled but held it in, thinking that she probably wouldn't appreciate it. They both knew that. The question behind the words was closer to, 'Why would she ask you to talk to me when I don't know you?' He gathered this and shrugged a bit, a little bit of guilt showing through. "She thought we knew each other. I might not have seen to correct her . . . ."

Aleksi frowned and curled her hands together, placing them on her forehead and letting out a large breath. "Wouldn't be the first time a man lied about me," she muttered.

Evan blinked. "What do you mean?"

She jumped, realizing she had been heard and stiffened more. "Nothing. I . . .I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

It was then that Evan could hear the upset still stuck in her throat, impeding her speech. He considered how best to go about it and finally settled on, "Why don't you tell me about it?"

She scoffed, though it was more disbelief then meant to be rude. She took a calming breath. "I'm sorry, really, but like I said before, I don't really know you. It's . . . It's not something I can just tell people."

He found himself frustrated despite telling himself that he shouldn't be. He wasn't getting anywhere, and he didn't know where to go from there. "Well, how about for your friend, then? She's worried. She's asked me to help. I'm not lying."

Aleksi sighed and asked quietly. "So you're not going to leave?"

After a short silence he stated, "I will, if you ask me to."

There was a strange silence this time. She stiffened, body shaking almost imperceptibly. Again she let out a breath to calm herself then blurted, "It's Christmas."

He couldn't help the confusion. "And?"

A tremor went through her body. "And it-it's Christmas . . . . It's night already and it's not any different. I thought-" This time a small sob came. "I thought it would be different."

Evan wasn't really sure what to say to that. Obviously there was more to this than was meeting the eye, but would she want to talk about it with him? "Why?"

She seemed to curl up on herself even more but went on, speaking as if relieving stress was her only focus. "He-He said it would be different."

She winced, as if realizing how childish the statement sounded, but Evan didn't comment on it, just asked quietly, "Who's he?"

She choked again. "I hate him." A sob came. "He-He ruined everything. I . . . wanted to believe in him. I didn't ask. I didn't tell him to stop. I didn't do anything wrong. He still . . . How could I have done anything different?"

Evan rose an eyebrow, concerned despite himself. "Doesn't sound like there's much else you could of done."

She choked again, hands curling into fists on her forehead. "It's not fair."

"Things seldom are." This seemed to make her pause. He wondered if he shouldn't have said it and went on. "Things happen. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you did or could do, that's just how it has to be."

Another shake distracted him, but she nodded, wiping with one hand. "I left my family. I followed him here. I got a job. It's all I do. I didn't even want to come here and now I'm stuck. I thought he was more important." Evan realized that this must have been a boyfriend but she went on before he could comment. She wiped her sleeve beneath her nose. "I gave up everything." She paused and started wiping at her eyes, still covering her face. "I'm so stupid."

Evan looked between where her eyes should be, frowning. "Sounds like you were in love." She stopped, listening. "That's not stupid," he whispered.

This time she really did let out a full sob. The tears came before she could stop them and she stifled sounds while covering her face.

Evan wasn't completely sure what to do, but watching her sob wasn't the most comfortable thing to just sit by. After a moment of the crying continuing Evan quietly moved his crate beside the box she was using and sat beside her. It was almost comfortable. He thought about her words. She didn't have her boyfriend or her family anymore and it was Christmas. It was this realization that led him to realize that she probably was desperately in need of touching comfort. Especially if she was this torn apart still. With only a small moment of hesitation he placed his arm over her shoulder, waiting to see if she would push him away or if she did need it like he had guessed.

He knew he had guessed right when after only a few moments of stiffening, she turned into him and cried fully, still covering her face.

It was several moments before Aleksi was calm enough to pull back. She paused a moment, lowering her hands then pulled back sharply and turned away, wiping the tears away hurriedly. He placed his hand on her back calmly.

After wiping the tears away (it was obvious with all the face covering she was trying to hide them), she finally turned and calmed down, though looking at the wall opposite them instead of at him.

When she seemed calm and air became a bit hesitant, Evan began lightly picking at the material of the dress. Aleksi jumped and looked at the hand in surprise, then took on a look of annoyance as she remembered the dress. Evan let out a little breath of amusement, still hiding the laughs that wanted to come. "What?" he stated.

"I hate this dress."

He rose an eyebrow. "Why?"

She sighed, crossing her arms as she was now calm enough to collect herself. "I didn't choose it. And the girls are the only ones who have to dress up. It wouldn't be so bad if it were for fun or if they asked us what we thought. But they didn't. They just randomly decide that we have to wear dresses that make us look twelve because the men will like it." Evan blinked. Aleksi turned just a bit and saw the look on his face and continued. "It's too short," she elaborated.

This time he really couldn't hold in the small sound of amusement. Aleksi crinkled her nose in annoyance which only pulled another sound unbidden from his throat. With narrowed eyes Aleksi stood and reached behind her head for the straps to her apron. "I'm alright now. I think I'm going to go to bed." She started towards the hooks on the opposite end of the room. Leaning onto her toes to set the loop over a hook she paused. As her heels hit the floor again she turned her head over her shoulder at him, a look Evan couldn't decipher on her face. It looked confused, nervous, hopeful. Emotions that played strangely together. Evan simply watched carefully, unsure as to how he should respond.

When Evan didn't move Aleksi sighed again. She stiffened and after a moment of deliberation, took a pen out of her apron and walked to the counter. She pulled a napkin from it's holder and leaned over it for a moment, then paused.

Evan stood at her pause and made his way over to her calmly. Aleksi stiffened and quickly finished writing on it as Evan reached her. Finishing just as his feet hit the tiles beside her, she pushed the napkin towards him, arm strait. Evan took it from her and turned it over to see a set of numbers. He looked back up, slightly surprised after her revelation. Her face was tight, hiding the previous breakdown even as a blush was starting over her cheeks, pink visible even in the dark.

"Don't get it wet."

Evan realized quickly the effort and took it for the great leap that it was. He smiled and nodded, mouth turning in barely controlled success. "No problem."

Sophie (and this was the waitresses name), didn't have much else to do but watch the other people in the room. The last of the customers was finally clearing out as the cleaners reached her. Sophie watched her with detachment until the girl lifted a small piece of paper off the table, looked it over with a smile and placed it in her pocket.

Sophie's mouth opened in surprise. She glanced towards the kitchen where Evan had disappeared to, but couldn't contain it. Quickly she stood and started towards the girl. As the girl pulled her bag up to start out she finally reached her. "Excuse me," she interrupted with hope.

The girl turned back and smiled, though surprise was also evident. "Yes?"

Sophie bit her bottom lip for a moment and asked. "I'm really sorry, but I couldn't help it. I noticed the paper you had. I got this note." She reached into her pocket and pulled it out, holding it out to her. The girl looked at it curiously. "I'm sorry. I just was wondering if you had received yours like I had."

The girl nodded, a peaceful look on her face and pulled the note from her pocket, staring at it for a moment. Then she looked up at Sophie with a soft smile. "I don't know where it came from." She held the note out softly as if truly caring for it.

The writing stated: 'Publish.'

Sophie blinked and looked at the girl with an eyebrow raised. "I'm a photographer," the girl explained. Slowly she nodded and the girl pulled the note away. "You know, we're not the only ones who got those. There was a girl nearby earlier who had a note at her table. It said, 'go home.' Earlier around lunch time. There was an envelope there too. Money I imagine. She was almost crying on the way out."

Sophie stood back in wonder. "Who's doing this?"

Lyra, the girl, shrugged. "I don't know. Whoever it is, it's kind of nice." When Sophie didn't reply, still thinking, she shrugged and raised one hand in a sideways salute. "Later." She smiled and stuffed the note in her pocket as she went.

Sophie watched her go with a feeling of calm. She didn't have to be worried anymore. Starting back to the kitchen she peeked around the counter to see Aleksi blushing and trying unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh. She smiled to herself and started out. Time to go home.

With an air of finality, Drew clicked the pen closed and placed it back on the front desk. He remembered the room. The frustration for the wishes of people and felt that he finally understood what it had been trying to say about them. There was only so much that could be done for a person without them acting themselves.

He turned and started up the stairs. It was their turn now. And if he'd helped or not . . . it was up to them.