FINALLY the last chapter! Happy but also sad, amirite?

…

One Week Later

Esther found Stephen sitting outside on the bench, watching his six-year-old do cartwheels on the grass outside BOWCA HQ. Esther sat down next to Stephen on the bench.

"So if you don't mind me asking, where did that twenty thousand pounds come from?" she asked.

Stephen chuckled. "Would you believe it if I said my parents won forty thousand pounds on the lottery and gave me half of it?"

Esther laughed. "Yes I would. It's the only plausible explanation."

There was silence for a moment as the two watched Rosie play.

"Have you been holding up okay?" Stephen asked. "I mean, you did see your best friend literally killed right in front of you a week ago."

"Yeah…" Esther sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I don't know if that moment will ever leave me. I can't get it out of my head: the moment his heart stopped and I saw I'd lost him." She changed the subject. "How's your head?"

"I hit it pretty hard. The doctor said I might have slight anterograde amnesia."

Esther frowned. "What's that?"

"Basically short term memory loss," Stephen explained. "You know how sometimes you forget what you were going to say or you walk into a room and forget why you went in there?"

Esther nodded.

"Well, it'll be like that for me except a lot more frequently and with basic information like my address or what I just had for breakfast…" He paused. "…or my own daughter's name."

Esther put her hand on Stephen's shoulder. "It's okay. We're here to help you through this. And so's your amazing little girl."

"I just wish she hadn't been forced to go through all that," Stephen said quietly. "She must have been terrified."

At that moment, they heard footsteps on the ground behind them. They turned and saw the familiar man coming towards them. Stephen's face turned dark and he stood up.

"Stephen-," began Esther.

"No offense Esther, but I don't really want to be around the man who gave me anterograde amnesia and kidnapped my daughter."

Esther couldn't argue with that. "Are you ever going to forgive him?"

"I can for leaking the information," Stephen replied, already on his way to get Rosie. "I would have done the same thing if it had been Rosie with cancer. What I can't forgive is attacking me and my daughter. Maybe the grudge will lessen with time but I don't know if I can ever properly forgive him for the hurt he caused me and the fear he caused Rosie."

Esther nodded and watched Stephen collect Rosie and leave. A few seconds later, James sat down on the bench next to Esther, wincing in pain as he settled.

"How's the chest?" Esther asked.

"Better than when it had a bullet in it," James replied dryly.

Esther chuckled. "I guess so."

A slightly uncomfortable silence descended on them. "I know I said this before but…thank you for saving my life," Esther said. "If you hadn't pushed me out the way…"

"I owed you two," James replied. "Now I only owe you one. And that one is a massive debt that I can never repay. Not without a miracle and being able to bring the dead back to life."

Esther bowed her head. Feeling rather saddened, she changed the subject. "Your sister…did she survive?"

James blinked several times before leaning back, grimacing. "Yes," he answered eventually. "I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had betrayed my country for nothing. But I attended Lily's wedding last year. She and her wife are very happy."

Esther shot James a look before relaxing. "I'm glad to hear she's okay."

James nodded. "Well, I had better get back to Inspector Initials. She expects a full report now that she's back."

"And I want to check on Ferb and Gretchen."

The two of them got up and went back into OWCA HQ, where they started splitting up. Before they did, however, Esther caught James's wrist. "About what Bannister said to you in that interview…that secret of yours…that was your, uh…"

"Betrayal?" finished James dryly. "Yeah it was. Bannister knew, obviously, because he was the one I sold the information to."

"And we're assuming he was the one to…to kill Isaac?"

James nodded. "Most likely."

"Okay. Thank you."

They went their separate ways. When Esther entered the office floor, she couldn't help a smile. It was back to the way she liked it: agents everywhere, the hum of conversation, and the overall vibe of life that emanated from it.

On her way to Ferb's office, Esther bumped into Ruth and Robin, who were standing together by the water cooler. They seemed to be chatting happily together with cups of water in their hands.

"Hey Esther," grinned Robin. "How's life?"

"Can't complain," Esther said, returning Robin's grin. "How's your face?"

Robin frowned for a moment before apparently realising. She laughed. "Ha, I was about to take that as an insult before I remembered what you were talking about. Yeah, my face is healing. I'm just as beautiful as ever."

"I'm glad to hear it." Esther turned to her protégé. "And Ruth, I want to thank you. You weren't even a full agent when you helped save BOWCA. You really stepped up to the plate in a time of need and I'm really grateful."

Ruth smiled. "It's alright. I couldn't even call myself a BOWCA trainee if I failed to even try."

"Ruth, you managed to beat up both the wind machine AND the tremor machine," Robin said, nudging Ruth amusedly. "You saved the day while the rest of us were busy being knocked on our butts or knocked unconscious or knocked out a window." Here she shot a mock-angry glare at the nearest window, which wasn't even the one she had fallen out of, making Ruth and Esther giggle. "Like Esther said, you really stepped up. I can tell you're going to be a contender for BOWCA's best agent."

"Really?" Esther eyed Robin mock-sternly.

Robin grinned and stage-whispered to Ruth: "But it won't be easy. I know: I've been trying for two years."

This made all three women giggle. "I gotta go now," Esther said. "I want to check on Ferb and Gretchen."

"They're in Ferb's office," said Ruth, pointing.

Esther waved goodbye to her friends and headed to Ferb's office. She peered her head in and saw them both inside. Ferb was sitting in his chair while Gretchen was perched on his desk. They both looked like they were laughing together, so Esther decided to leave them alone.

As she turned away, she bumped into just the man she was going to look for. "Hey, Esther!"

"Hi Zero," Esther said, blushing like a teenage girl.

"Have you seen James? I was about to go check on him."

"He's gone to see Inspector Initials," Esther replied. "He's fine."

"Oh. Good."

For the third time that day, there was a slightly awkward silence.

"So…do you want to try a second date?" asked Zero hesitantly.

Esther let out a laugh. "He's forward, isn't he?"

She laughed again at the panicked look on Zero's face. "I'm kidding," she giggled. "You're cute when you're panicked."

Zero grinned and took her hands. "I'm not going to say I love you, mainly because I don't know if that's true yet, but I do deeply care about you."

"I deeply care about you too," Esther beamed.

Zero decided to take the risk and lean in. Esther leaned in too, and their lips met in a kiss.

And it was the most perfect moment in the world.

…

Man, this story took ages to write XD I posted it before PRIYA'S PAIN for crying out loud! XD but I'm glad it's finally finished :D