While Abby was making breakfast the next morning, she saw a small figure dart behind a tree nearby but she played it cool and pretended not to notice. She acted as though she was completely focused on stoking up the fire and cracking eggs onto a pan. Once they were finished, she divided them up into two portions and scooped them onto a couple of plates. Then she tossed the bacon slices that had come in their morning basket onto the pan one by one. "Hmm," she said out loud. "I wonder how much of this bacon I should make. Ellie will want two, but I only want one. I have an extra. If only there was someone else who wanted one."

JJ sighed and stepped out from behind the tree. "How long have you known I was there?"

"The whole time," said Abby with an amused smile. "You're pretty sneaky, though. I just have sharp eyes."

"'Cause you fight a lot?" JJ asked as he approached and plopped himself down on one of the empty chairs.

"Maybe. I guess we do have a lot more practice than most people."

"Do you like fighting?"

"Not really," Abby replied as she prodded at the bacon. "I mean, if I had to choose I'd pick a book over a fight any day."

"Then how come you made yourself get so strong?"

"If a fight finds me or the people I care about, I wanna make sure I win." When JJ frowned and looked down at his dusty, untied sneakers, Abby prompted, "What?"

Without looking at her, JJ admitted: "My mom said you're dangerous. She told me to stay away from you."

This was not entirely unexpected, but it caused a flash of pain to shoot through Abby regardless. "Then you shouldn't be here," she said.

"Are you? Dangerous?"

"It doesn't matter. If your mom said you shouldn't hang around with me, then you should listen to her."

"I think she's wrong," said JJ decisively. "She's been wrong about other stuff before. She said I would like dark chocolate but it was really gross. It didn't even taste like chocolate."

Abby snorted with laughter. "It's an acquired taste."

"Have you ever noticed," said Ellie as she emerged from the RV, "that people always say that gross things are an 'acquired taste?' Why would I want to eat enough of something gross to acquire a taste for it?" She ruffled JJ's hair as she walked past him and plopped herself down on a chair beside Abby. "Now don't take this the wrong way because we both loved that picture you drew for us, but what the fuck are you doing here, kiddo? Did you wander off again? You know you're not supposed to do that."

"All anyone ever wants to do is tell me what to do," JJ complained. "It's only Jackson. It's safe here."

"That's not the point. It's a bad habit, and you need to listen to your moms," said Ellie as she took her plate from Abby. "Thanks, babe."

"It is my absolute pleasure," replied Abby.

JJ watched the interaction with interest, then continued to stare as he accepted the promised slice of bacon from Abby. "You're just like my moms," he said, his mouth full of bacon. "I never met any other couples with two girls."

"There aren't more in Jackson?" Ellie asked curiously. "I mean, pickings were always slim but there were a few other gay people here. Isn't Kat married now?"

"Yeah - to a guy," JJ said.

Ellie blinked at him in confusion. "Seriously?"

"Uh huh."

"Well… Shit."

"There's Terry and Sue, but they don't count 'cause they're super old," JJ said. "And they don't have kids. I'm the only kid with two moms." He paused for a moment to finish his bacon, then said quietly: "Sometimes the other kids tease me because I don't have a dad."

Abby's heart shattered in her chest, and she was suddenly awash in a sea of guilt. Part of her was screaming to get up and walk away, and another part wanted to drop to her knees and beg for forgiveness. But JJ didn't know what she had done, and maybe that was because Dina didn't want him to know, and it wasn't Abby's decision to tell him, was it? She was so lost in her own thoughts that she barely even noticed when Ellie reached over and laid her hand on her knee in silent support.

"But the other kids don't get to have two moms," JJ continued. He shrugged. "I like it the way it is."

"Families can look a lot of different ways," said Ellie. "There's no one right way to be a family. What's important is that you all love each other."

A new voice drifted over to them: "How did I know I'd find you here, you little goober?" Amanda was walking towards them, with John by her side. "Mom is not happy you ran off."

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled JJ. "You guys say the same thing over and over."

"And yet somehow it never sinks in," said Amanda dryly. "Well, you might as well stay here with Ellie, Mom's coming to help with the vaccines soon."

"What about you?"

"I'm going on patrol with John and Abby."

Abby raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really?" she said.

"Yeah, really," replied Amanda. "So look sharp. Are you ready to go?""

"Uh, yeah," said Abby. "Let me just-"

"Say goodbye to yer wife," interrupted John with a grin.

"Yeah, that," laughed Abby.

Rising from her chair, Ellie said, "Give us a minute, alright?"

"Take yer time," John said, "but hurry the fuck up."

Abby rolled her eyes and followed Ellie inside the RV, shutting the door behind them. As soon as they were alone, Ellie gripped Abby's shoulders tightly, looked her right in the eye and said: "Don't panic. It's gonna be fine."

"Why is she doing this?" Abby asked urgently. "Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, JJ just said Dina told him I was dangerous. Why would she let her wife come on patrol with me? And why-"

"Quit it!" snapped Ellie. "You're panicking! Stop fucking panicking, alright?"

This did make Abby stop short. For a second she just looked at Ellie, then she reached out, wrapped her hand around the back of Ellie's neck, and pulled her in for a kiss. "I fucking love you," she said. "You know that?"

"Yeah, I know."

"So what do I do?"

"Just be your awesome self," said Ellie. "All it would take for anyone to change their mind about you is for them to spend time with you. This is a perfect opportunity for you to make a new friend."

"I wish you could come."

"Me too. But it's good for you to do it on your own. And you'll be fine. I'm sure you two will be drinking buddies by the time you get back."

"Please come?" Abby asked pleadingly.

Ellie laughed and shoved Abby towards the door of the RV. "Get the fuck out there, you wimp." She followed Abby outside and said to John and Amanda, "Don't murder her, alright? I don't respond well to that. Just ask Dina. ...Or Abby, for that matter."

"Ignore her," said Abby irritably. "Let's go."

"Bye, Mama! Bye John! Bye Abby!" chirped JJ.

All three of them responded with farewells, Amanda gave him a bear hug that made him giggle, then they headed off towards the front gates.

"Just you and me now, huh Potato?" Ellie said to JJ. "You can help me clean up breakfast before everyone else gets here. Here, put these in that bucket over there." She handed JJ the dirty plates and pointed to a bucket of water that was sitting near one of the tires of the RV.

"Why do you call me 'Potato' and 'little spud' all the time?" JJ asked as he complied.

"Because when you were first born, you looked like a little potato," Ellie answered, and she set to work scrubbing the bacon grease off the pan.

"I don't look like one anymore."

"Nope. But you'll always be 'little spud' to me." Ellie looked over and watched him as he kicked nervously at the ground. She knew enough about kids to know he had something else he wanted to say, but he was too shy to say it. "What's going on in that noggin of yours, huh?" she asked him kindly.

"You knew me when I was a baby, right?"

"Yeah, I did."

"And you like girls, just like my mom."

Leaning back in her chair, Ellie said, "Yeah."

"So… Were you…"

Ellie sighed. "Yeah."

"What happened?"

"It… We… It just didn't work out, okay?" Talking about this with JJ was making her pretty uncomfortable. How could she explain to him that she'd chosen revenge over her own family? And how could she explain that ultimately she now believed it had been the right choice? "I think this might be another one of those things you have to wait until you're older to understand."

JJ huffed in annoyance and said, "I'm gonna start making a list."

Relieved that he seems to have accepted this, Ellie reached over and patted him on the head. "You do that, little spud."

To her surprise, Maria showed up a few minutes later with a dozen volunteers to help administer vaccines. "I figured you might want a chance to spend a day on the town," she said, her tone noticeably frosty. She was obviously still not over her displeasure about Ellie's relationship with Abby, but she was a woman of duty and she wouldn't let it keep her from doing her job.

"Thank you," said Ellie sincerely. "Here, uh, come inside and I'll give you the safe combination."

This seemed to catch Maria off-guard. "Are you sure?"

"You planning on stealing from us?" When Maria glared at her, Ellie chuckled and said, "Come on."

She took Maria into the RV, showed her the safe under the bed, and gave her the combination. Of everyone in Jackson, she trusted Maria the most with this. There was absolutely no way she'd do anything untoward. Maria implicitly understood this, and it seemed to help defrost her attitude a bit, because she said: "Take Dina with you, if you want. I can get more people to help if we need them, and we can train them too."

"Sheesh," said Ellie. "I don't know how I feel about pawning my Firefly duties off on a bunch of country bumpkins."

"I find that incredibly shocking, considering how often you used to sneak off to smoke weed with Dina instead of patrolling."

"Oh, you knew about that, huh?" said Ellie guiltily.

"I know about a lot more than you all think," Maria said. "For example, there's a certain library outside town I happen to know that Dina spends an inordinate amount of time in."

Ellie's jaw dropped. "Are you fucking serious?"

"Don't worry about anything. We'll take care of it," said Maria shortly, opening the door to the RV. "Enjoy your day off."

Knowing when she was being dismissed, Ellie simply said, "Thanks, Maria," then walked over to Dina. "Hey," she said awkwardly.

"Hey," Dina replied.

"So Maria says I can leave for the day if I want. You feel like coming with?"

"Maria says?" repeated Dina teasingly. "Gee, and here I thought this was your show."

"So did I, but apparently Jackson is still Maria's territory through and through. So what do you think? Wanna play hooky with me?"

"Won't your wife be jealous?"

"Probably. Will yours?"

Dina laughed. "Definitely. Yes, I definitely want to go with you. She's so hot when she's possessive."

"I literally told Abby the exact same thing the other day," said Ellie, and Dina raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"Possessive Abby doesn't sound hot to me. She sounds terrifying."

In a profoundly odd moment of clarity, Ellie realized that Dina was going through the same process that she herself had gone through during her first few weeks in Avalon. She remembered doing a training exercise with Lev the same day that Abby had proposed the truce which had been the catalyst for their initial friendship. She had complimented Lev for being brave and standing up to Abby when she had gone into a rage, and Lev had been dumbfounded by the very idea that she had thought he was afraid of Abby. It had never even occurred to Lev to be afraid of Abby. And it hadn't occurred to Ellie in years, either. She floundered for something to say, something to help Dina understand the fundamental error she was making in her thoughts about Abby. Remembering Abby's rambling panic from earlier, she decided to repeat the exact phrase that had stuck out in her mind: "Abby isn't dangerous, Dina. She won't hurt us, not ever again."

"Not you, maybe."

"Not you either," Ellie insisted. She ran her hand through her hair in frustration, looking at the crowd that was beginning to form around the RV as the townspeople lined up for their vaccines. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Let me just make sure JJ knows to stay with Maria - not that he'll listen, anyway." Dina went over and spoke with her son for a minute, then came back and said, "Alright, let's go."

"Tell me something," Ellie said as they walked towards the main area of town. "Do you honestly think Abby would hurt JJ?"

"Ellie, if I learned anything in Seattle it's that bad shit happens when you least expect it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you should be expecting it from her. And to JJ? Abby loves kids."

"I can't afford to let him think he can let his guard down, and it's pointless to try and change my mind about that. You said she wanted to kill me even after you told her I was pregnant."

Ellie frowned. She didn't like thinking about that night in the theater, but she understood that until they'd come face-to-face in that bookstore the other day, that was the only encounter Dina had ever had with Abby. "Put yourself in her position," she said. "She was angry and hurting, just like I was after what happened to Joel."

"After what she did to Joel, you mean," Dina said.

"Yeah," Ellie said. "And what happened in the theater was after what I did to her friends."

Shaking her head, Dina said, "There you go again, thinking that your misdeeds cancel out hers."

"Obviously they don't," said Ellie irritably, "but I chased her to Seattle, and she let us both live - twice, for me. She could have killed me in Jackson, and she could have killed me in the theater. But she walked away when I couldn't."

Dina was silent for a long moment, then she sighed and said, "I know. I almost brought it up the night you left for Santa Barbara. I had questions after they left you and Tommy alive when they killed Joel. And then that night in the theater… I mean, it's not easy to admit it, but you are right that she's always been a little more… discerning, I guess, in that way."

"It's not about being discerning. It's about being the bigger person. It's about understanding that revenge and hatred only tears you apart inside. She understood that a long time before I did."

"Not before she killed Joel, though."

"No. Not before then. And I'm telling you, she wishes she could take it back, even though Joel ripped her fucking life apart in so many ways."

"And you believe that? You believe she regrets it?"

"I know it," said Ellie firmly. As they had been talking Ellie had been subtly leading them in one particular direction, and now they reached their destination. "Do you mind if we stop here?"

Dina looked around and noticed where they were. "Jesus, Ellie. Are you serious?"

"I loved him," Ellie said as she began walking towards Joel's grave. "I want to say hello."

Rather than join her, Dina stood back and watched as Ellie went over to Joel's grave and sat down cross-legged in front of it. Ellie reached out and began gently clearing away some of the grass that was beginning to overgrow the stone. There wasn't a lot of it - clearly, at least one other person still regularly visited here. The thought comforted Ellie. She took some time to silently speak to Joel, telling him that she missed him and that she was happy and healthy.

When she was finished, she kissed her fingers, pressed them to the stone, and rose to rejoin Dina. Her reception was rather frosty - she simply said: "You done?"

"Ouch," replied Ellie. "Come on. If you've got something to say, say it."

"I can't help but wonder what he'd think if he knew you were sleeping with his murderer."

"I'm not just sleeping with her, I love her more than I've ever loved anyone or anything before. So… your guess is as good as mine, honestly."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"It does, but not enough to keep me from being with her. I can't live my life based on what he would think. He's gone, and I'm still here."

Dina gave her a cold glare that clearly meant: "And who's fault is that?" Then she turned and walked out of the cemetery in the opposite direction of Joel's house, as though she didn't think Ellie deserved to continue to reminisce about him. This suited Ellie just fine - she'd find time to go have a visit on her own later. But she wasn't ready to leave the cemetery just yet.

"Hey, wait," she said, and Dina paused to look back at her. "Let's visit Jesse, too."

Turning and continuing to walk away, Dina said, "Visit him your fucking self. I'll be waiting out here for you."

Ellie looked up at the sky and muttered, "If there really is a higher power up there, please give me strength." Putting aside her icky feelings about Dina for now, she walked over to the opposite end of the cemetery and found Jesse's grave. It was covered in flowers and notes, which made Ellie happy to see. He had been extremely well-loved in this town. Again Ellie took her time to sit down and say hello, to apologize once more for what happened to him, and to tell him that she no longer blamed Abby for his death - she blamed herself. If she had only followed him to Tommy instead of chasing Abby to the aquarium, he would still be alive. Abby, of course, would always blame herself, too. But Ellie could see that she'd signed Jesse's death warrant the second she'd stepped foot in that aquarium.

Once she was finished, she kissed his grave the same way she had done with Joel, then paused a moment in front of the stones beside him. They were new since the last time she'd been here - his parents. Both of them must have passed while she had been with the Fireflies. It saddened her, but based on the years on their tombstones they had both lived to be older than 70, which was pretty much the best anyone could hope for in this world. Except she was willing to bet they both wished their son had outlived them. Swallowing her guilt, she nodded at their stones and made her way over to Dina, who was leaning against a street pole, her arms crossed grumpily over her chest. "You done?" she asked shortly.

"Yep," Ellie replied. "Come on."

"Now where are we going?"

"Well, I'd like to get my tattoo touched up by Kat-"

"Then I'm out," interrupted Dina. "Did you hear she married Tucker?"

Ellie's jaw dropped. "Your ex-boyfriend Tucker?!"

"She's why we're ex. He was sneaking around with her while we were together."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nope."

"What an idiot!" said Ellie incredulously. "What kind of fucking lunatic would cheat on you? You're like… The cream of the fucking crop."

Despite her grumpiness, Dina gave her a flattered smile. "I appreciate that. But I wasn't enough to keep you around, either, remember?"

"That was all me being a jackass. I was sick. You know that."

"Yeah, I know," said Dina. "I still kinda think you're sick."

"Well, you're wrong." She motioned for Dina to follow, and they started down the street again. "Okay, fine. We won't go see Kat. But we could go see Edna instead."

Dina grinned. "Now that I will happily do with you. I love that crazy old bat."

"Me too, dude. Me fucking too."

They walked over to the bakery, which was filled with people as usual. As soon as they entered, though, Edna cried out with joy and yelled, "Out! Everyone out! I'm shutting her down for the day!" Disappointed and annoyed chatter filled the shop, and Edna shouted, "Shut up and get out!" Ellie and Dina stood aside as everyone else filed out, then Edna shuffled forward and locked the door behind all the departing patrons. Then she turned and threw her arms around both of them. "My girls! My beloved girls! Oh, seeing you both together makes me miss that old bastard Eugene."

"I miss him, too," said Dina.

"He'd love having the gang all together again." Edna backed off and glared at the two of them. "As I understand it, you two are both married to other people now. What kind of funny business is going on?"

"No funny business," Ellie assured her. "Believe it or not, our wives are actually out on patrol together at the moment."

"Really," said Edna with interest, raising her eyebrows at Dina. "Decided to give that Abby a chance, did you?"

Dina frowned at the mention of Abby's name. "I didn't. Amanda did. She insisted on going."

This was news to Ellie - good news, most likely. But she didn't want to press the point. Instead she decided to say, "So, Edna baby, you shut the store down for us. What kind of debauchery did you have in mind?"

"Well," said Edna with a mischievous glint in her eye, "I've got smoke, my fiddle, and a guitar in the shop. Can you still play with that hand of yours?"

"Not really, but I haven't actually tried in years," Ellie admitted. "I've been a little afraid to, to be honest."

"The fuck happened to those fingers, anyway?"

Ellie held up her left hand. "Abby bit them off," she said with a laugh. "During our last fight ever."

"Went out with a bang, did you?"

"No, the bang came much later," quipped Ellie without thinking, and Edna burst into raucous laughter.

"Oh goodness, child, I did miss you!" she roared.

When Edna brought out her guitar and passed it to Ellie, an unexpected rush of emotion came over her at the familiar feel of it. After leaving the guitar Joel had given her at the farmhouse, Ellie had only attempted to play one other time. It was on a rare night which she and Abby were forced to spend apart. The two of them, Lev, and Brandy had joined up with another squad for a week-long mission about twenty miles from Santa Barbara - that was how far out from Los Angeles the Fireflies had cleaned up all the infected and spores so far. Everyone involved in the mission had drawn names from a hat, and Abby had drawn someone else for a night patrol. While she was gone another Firefly found a guitar in a shop, and Ellie had decided to give playing another try. She'd been able to make it work a little, but it was difficult. She kept accidentally moving her finger stumps out of habit to lay on the strings where they would normally go. It was so depressing that she'd passed the guitar to someone else and hadn't tried again since. To date, Abby had never heard her play.

Now she picked at the strings carefully as they sat on the back porch of the bakery with weed smoke floating around them in the afternoon sunlight, playing the first few notes of a song that she might be capable of playing with only three fingers and trying to adapt to the feel of it. Edna watched her as she did it. "Hold on. I've got an idea," she commented. "Give me that." She took the guitar back and began removing the strings. Then she put them back in the reverse order and passed it back to Ellie. "Try playing it the other way. Think you can do that?"

"Yeah, maybe," said Ellie skeptically. She played a few notes of a song, her brow furrowed in concentration. "It's hard, though."

"Well, it was hard when you first started with five fingers, too, wasn't it?" She lifted her fiddle to her shoulder and played along with the hesitant notes Ellie was plucking. "Doesn't sound too bad."

"No, it sounds good," agreed Dina. "You haven't lost your stuff, El. It's still hiding in there somewhere."

Ellie smiled at her, a bit too overwhelmed to speak. She hadn't realized how badly she'd missed this. Blinking away her tears, she looked back at the frets and focused on her playing.