Chibi-Kari: So did I make edits like I said I would? Yes. In addition to editing, I decided to rework some parts. I wanted to add some descriptions and characterizations that I missed out the first time around. I also wanted to move along the pairing…I realized while rereading it that I hadn't set it up quite enough so I added a little more. Please feel free to go back and reread, but you definitely don't have to if you still remember everything. I also realized that I definitely overuse the word slightly! Someone should keep a running count for me so I know when to go back and rework a section! IE I had to cut a whole bunch of them…so it should read a lot smoother!

Note: Because of the time everyone had to wait, I'm writing this part a little differently. You're getting the end now and the story leading up to it will start in the next chapter. I've always wanted to do this, so I thought "why not now?" Please let me know what you think…and as always, I don't own.

Alive Part 3

Chapter 1

6 months later…

Her feet pounded heavily against the pavement as she dodged between pedestrians, their dogs, and the random cyclists that seemed to ignore the no cycling signs posted along the path. It was nice to finally be able to push herself again. The four months it took for her leg to heal felt like a lifetime. Yet, she still couldn't get enough distance between herself and what happened during those two months after the incident at the hospital. When she pulled everyone into a world they didn't need to know about. Shouldn't have known about. One that had been glimpsed by many groups of people around the world but never fully understood.

She turned her music down as she started to come up on the second of the three pubs on Strand-on-the-Green, the sound of the District Line overhead drowning out her music for a moment. It was always a bit busier in this area and with the disappearing railings, Mai didn't want to take a chance and fall onto the bank. Dr. Oliver Davis would never forgive her if she somehow managed to fall into The Thames. It was bad enough when she slipped in the mud left over after a rising tide while she was attempting to walk the path under Kew Bridge to get to Sainsbury's. He had managed to convince her that the scrape she acquired on her leg from the fall would give her some strange Thames related disease. At night she had visions of her led falling off or waking up with patches of missing skin. She had spent weeks putting antibiotic ointment on her wound until Madoka had finally put a stop to the obsession. It somehow ended up with an apology from the young man for scaring her, although he refused to deny that it could happen. And glancing into the murky water, she herself couldn't deny that it was likely. This country did used to toss their dead in there along with their chamber pots. She shuddered slightly. How people kayaked in there every Sunday she wasn't sure.

Just passing Oliver's Island, Mai finally slowed for her cool down. She smiled lightly to herself as a small dark figure sitting in the green right past The Bell & Crown came into view. Naru and Gene would eventually find their way there during her daily run. More often than not with a book and a pint in hand, not on the available benches but on a blanket spread on the ground or perched on the cement wall above the river.

As she came closer Mai found herself slightly surprised to only see Naru waiting on the cement wall, cider in hand. After finishing her quick stretches, Mai took a seat next to Naru, her vision not on the man next to her but down the river toward Oliver's Island. "I feel like the Buddha Boat is going to sink for good one of these days."

Naru chuckled lightly and closed his book. "I think there has to be some spiritual energy tied to the Buddha on the front. Logically, it shouldn't float. Lin and I were debating that the other day."

Mai smiled, looking back at him. Of course they were. She wouldn't be surprised if in a few days they weren't down there investigating the boat—discretely of course, Lin had one altercation with the woman that they suspected owned the boat and now went out of his way to avoid her. Mai thought it was comical that Lin would dart off the path and hide if he saw her coming. Shaking away the image, she asked "Where's Gene?"

"He went to the high street. I think he's been eyeing one of the shopkeepers."

Mai smiled widely. It was nice to hear that Gene moved on from her. The awkwardness had reached its peak shortly after the hospital, but it was Madoka sitting her down that made Mai realize that it was foolish to think she could just ignore his feelings and hope they would go away. Of course Lin had been furious when he found out what Madoka had done. He was justified in some respects, they were in the middle of a crisis. But in the long run, it was better that she had been clear with Gene shortly after. Things could have been so much worse if the twins hadn't been able to work together. Especially when things got really bad.

Mai didn't like to think about it anymore. It had to be the worst time in her life. Even worse than when she had to carry out the bargain.

Noll shifted to get more comfortable, placing his hand over her own as they sat in silence. They were taking things slowly and trying to build a relationship, but things weren't as easy as she had always assumed they would be. All the shoujo manga she spent time reading in her early teens had obviously influenced her a lot more than she had originally thought. Even after all she had been through, she found being in a relationship a lot of work. It didn't help that she had to separate this Oliver Davis from the one she had known before she fixed things and that he was always trying to scramble to know her in ways that she already knew him. It was complex, but Dr. Oliver Davis was always one for a challenge. Mai knew this when she agreed to be with him. But sometimes…sometimes she would wonder if he was with her only out of a sick form of obligation. What if he felt that because she returned his brother that he owed her his love? She knew it was a silly thought, but in the silent moments she couldn't help but wonder. And she hoped this doubt didn't color their relationship forever. But talking about it with him was out of the question.

"Did you have a good run?" His voice was soft as he flipped her hand over so that their fingers could intertwine.

Mai sighed softly. She wished she could just say yes, but she was working on being more honest than she had been in the past. Something that all the men in her life were demanding of her. "Better than my last. The path is perfect for a run, but it's just not the same yet." She grimaced looking at her leg.

He hummed quietly. "Give it some time. You don't want to push yourself. I really don't want to have to take you to A&E again."

Mai looked up, blankly staring at the swaying green leaves masking a bright blue sky. She didn't want to go back to a hospital anytime soon either. After everything that happened, she wanted to distance herself from that time as much as she could. Moving out to the lovely terrace houses in Chiswick seemed to be helping. Even though it was in zone 3, it felt like the countryside. Every day there seemed to rejuvenate her…all of them really. Whether sitting by the river or going out to Chiswick House for a walk, the peace that the area afforded served as a balm to her soul. One that she so desperately needed.

Taking a gap year seemed like the right thing to do and she would have to admit, she enjoyed having the time to herself in this peaceful area. Of course, she didn't get much time to herself. The Professor and Luella had sponsored her work visa, but they were currently restricting her to typing up old case reports, mostly as a formality. Not that she minded. Time out of the field was something she was surprisingly okay with. And at home, she didn't get much peace.

Luella had recommended some areas around Richmond to look in when she said she wanted to live on her own for a bit. And when she finally settled on Chiswick, she had expected to find a flatshare on the high road to share with some strangers. Instead, she ended up living with Madoka, Lin, Naru, and Gene.

At first, when Lin started accompanying her, she thought he and Madoka had finally decided to get a place on their own. Especially when he started adding terrace houses to their search. When they found the perfect little corner house, Mai could just picture Madoka and Lin starting a family there. It was a perfect two bedroom with a large loft that Mai was certain Lin could turn into an office. It wasn't until after Lin signed the lease and Mai had enquired when they would continue to look for a flat for her that she realized he had different plans.

Instead of answering her, he had proceeded in what she found to be an extremely Lin type manner and simply asked what size bed she wanted in her bedroom. After a long conversation and some very logical arguments, she decided she really didn't have a real reason to protest moving in with Lin and Madoka. Plus, she loved the back garden. Now, how the twins ended up living in the upstairs loft she wasn't sure…and she wasn't sure she even would want to be privy to how that conversation went. If she didn't know any better, she would think it was one of Madoka and Luella's secret plots to save them paperwork later on and have her just marry into the family.

That of course was something for the future. A very distant future. A future she didn't even have the energy to think about right now. Mai had spent a great deal of time attempting to create the right future and it was just now that she was finding out that maybe there really isn't a right or wrong path. Things just happen and how you deal with them is what makes you who you are. She had spent what seemed like all of her life in a state of transition trying to get to that future. Now, she was starting fresh; trying to live in the present. Especially, since she hadn't even planned to live in the future she created. She was just starting to get a vague sense of stability and while she had it, she would work hard to make the most of it. So, right now was about being happy—or at least trying to be happy.

Mai took another glance at the young man sitting next to her. The one she had literally given up her life for. The one she would do it all over again for if he needed it.

He glanced over at her, squeezing her hand gently with a soft smile on his face, before looking back out toward the water.

Everyday, they had to work to get past everything that happened. The things that came to light weren't easy for anyone to deal with. It was hard to imagine and impossible to just look past. But at least now they were starting to move forward.

TBC