Lucas got out of the car without a word to Sean, opening the door to the backseat. He opened his bag and shoved the album inside, then zipped it back up. He picked the bag up, his hurt and anger evident in his every move.

"Lucas, I know you're pissed right now, but before you go let me tell you this. I'll come get you tomorrow night. If you feel like it call me," Sean said, handing Lucas a card. "I'm really sorry for how that turned out, it wasn't right."

Lucas took the card and looked at Sean. "Thank you. Sorry, I know this isn't your fault so I shouldn't take it out on you."

"Hey man, no apologies needed. I understand. See you tomorrow."

"Thanks again," Lucas said, shutting the doors. He stood there for a moment as Sean drove away, then he turned and headed for the door.

He opened it and walked inside. Shutting it quietly, he set his bag down in the entryway. Looking around, he saw no one. "Grandma Katherine?" he called out.

"Lucas?!" he heard her call back as he saw her rush through the door to the kitchen area. "Honey what are you doing back here?"

His frozen heart shattered into a million pieces at the sound of her voice, at the love with which she regarded him. He felt like screaming. "I…it…wasn't good," he stammered.

"What do you mean? What happened?" she asked as she reached him.

"I met Jennifer, she didn't like me, wouldn't hardly talk to me. She blames my mother for everything, and it extends to me. I just…I had to come back here; I didn't want to leave feeling that way."

"Oh Lucas…" Katherine said, taking him into her arms. "I'm so sorry dear. Of course you did the right thing by coming back here. I can't believe that she would have the audacity to not welcome you."

Lucas was distinctly aware that his anger was dissolving into nothingness and being replaced by the comforting feeling that someone loved and wanted him. It was the same way he always felt in Ellie's presence. Ellie. She was here, he could feel her.

"She took it out on you? She wouldn't talk to you?" he heard the familiar voice say.

"Mom," he whispered and looked up.

Sure enough, she was standing there with Patrick right behind her. She had done it. She had come right after he'd left. They finally knew.

Katherine looked back at her. "She came right after you left Lucas. I have you both home now, I couldn't be happier. She's told me everything."

Lucas looked at them all, Katherine and Patrick's sheer joy written across their faces. Ellie's was a different story. Her eyes had gone dark in her fury. Lucas recognized that look and knew that it never meant good things. It was the same look he'd seen a million times when he'd looked in the mirror when he was thinking of what had happened to Ellie and Gavin.

"I'll go there and tell her what she can do with that self-righteousness," Ellie fumed, heading for the door.

"Eleanor Elise you will do no such thing," Patrick said. Lucas watched, amused, as Ellie stopped cold. "Leave her to her bitterness Ellie. It's her loss."

"She hurt my baby, my child, I can't let that go. It's not his fault, none of it is."

"And it isn't yours either," Katherine said gently. "It's her anger and her demons talking, she's lost herself in them, too far to come back. Besides, he's come back here, where we can make up for that unpleasant encounter."

Ellie looked at Lucas. "I'm so sorry; I can't help but feel it's my fault that she treated you that way."

Lucas walked to where Ellie stood. Putting his hand on her shoulder he said, "It's not your fault. What happened, happened, and we can't change that. I've got one set of grandparents who love me, and that's more than I started out with. I think I can live with that." She smiled at him and touched his hand, a smile that he returned. He felt at home again, at peace.

"We were just about to go outside for a bit Lucas, would you like to join us?" Katherine asked.

"I'd love to," he said, hardly able to contain his excitement at the possibility of erasing all that had just happened. They all turned and headed for the back of the house, Lucas with his arm around Ellie's shoulders. "It's good to see you again," he said.

"Oh, it's good to see you too! I'm glad you had fun here. Mom tells me she gave you some medals huh?"

"Yeah, a really cool gift. I'll never take them off."

"I'm happy to hear that you think of this as your home."

"I'm happy to have a home," he replied.

"You wouldn't mind if I joined you, would you?" a voice called out.

Ellie and Lucas stopped and looked at each other in disbelief. Turning slowly, they saw Gavin, standing there in the entryway. Katherine and Patrick saw him too and just stared in shock. They couldn't doubt his presence with Ellie standing right there as proof that it could be done.

"Gavin," Ellie breathed. She pulled away from Lucas and ran back to the entryway, throwing herself into his arms. "You're here."

"Hi baby," he said softly in her ear. "I've missed you." He hugged her tightly. "Come on; let's join them, shall we?" She nodded and they walked back toward the group, hand in hand. "Katherine, Patrick, nice to see you. Hey Lucas," he said.

"Gavin…this is a surprise," Katherine said, amazed.

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry. Forgive my intrusion. I just felt that, given the circumstances…"

"Yes, yes of course, you're more than welcome here, as you always were."

"Thank you."

Lucas looked at Ellie. She was radiantly happy, happier than he'd seen her in a long, long time. Would he get his chance to know Gavin as he knew her? He could only hope. He turned and continued outside with the rest of the group. They all sat down at the small table where they'd dined the first night that Lucas had come.

"It's so lovely to see you both together again. It's truly a miracle that either of you are able to be here!"

"I'm not sure how we are able to do it, I just know that if I concentrate really hard on being someplace then I'm there, and I can choose whether to be seen or not," Gavin replied.

"I'm happy you decided to come Gavin, I've been wondering where you've been," Ellie said.

"Ells, I've been with you everywhere you've gone. The sightseeing, the bridge, the jumps, Hollywood Boulevard; I saw it all. I thought about letting you know, but I decided that it was best at the time that I didn't."

"So you saw…" she started.

"Lucas go to my parent's? Yes, unfortunately I did."

Lucas looked down at the table, and fidgeted in discomfort. "I don't know what happened there."

"I couldn't believe my mother. The woman you talked to is not the mother I knew. My mother has died and someone extremely unreasonable, out of touch and bitter has taken her place. If this is the way they are now, perhaps it is better you don't know them. I'll tell you whatever you want to know Lucas, just ask."

Lucas looked up, locking eyes with him. It threw him for a moment, to look into what seemed like his own eyes. Odd to see what he would probably look like in 6 years, and he was looking forward to their conversation.

"Can you excuse us for a bit everyone? Lucas and I have some catching up to do," Gavin said, still looking at him.

"Yes, certainly, go ahead." Katherine said. "We can manage just fine out here alone."

Gavin stood and Lucas followed suit. They both walked back into the house, neither saying a word until they had almost reached the stairs.

"Grab your bag and come on," Gavin said.

Lucas silently obeyed and they headed up the stairs to the room that he had been occupying during his stay here. He threw the bag onto the other bed and looked back to Gavin, who sat down on the opposite bed. Lucas took up residence on the other bed and waited.

"I'm sorry that my mother treated you so badly Lucas, I don't know what to say about her behavior that I haven't already said."

"It's okay now; no one should make excuses for her. She made her choice and will have to live with it."

"True, way to be diplomatic Lucas," Gavin said with a smirk, causing Lucas to laugh. "She gave you my album though, let's have a look. I'll fill you in as best I can."

"First tell me, because I learned about where this family came from, where your family came from?"

"Well, Adair is Irish, though I don't think we have any family left there, at least none that I know of. I know though, that they were English, the first ones, which is why the fair hair, eyes and skin are still present. I kind of realized that they weren't the poor, tenant farmers I learned about in school, instead they were the ones who held all the land and doled it out as they saw fit. Can't say that I'm proud of that."

"Why does it matter? That was a long time ago, and it wasn't you, so you shouldn't feel responsible for their wrongs."

"Yeah, but sometimes your ancestors can have the power to make you feel a little bit guilty because of their actions. Let's have a look."

"Wait, please. I'd rather get to know you just by talking to you first. The family history stuff isn't what I really want to know, and what I want to learn about you I don't think can be put into a book."

Gavin lay down on the bed and faced Lucas, propped up on his elbow, his head in his hand. "Okay, fair enough. Ask away."

"Do you really have a tattoo? Sean said you do."

Gavin laughed loudly. "Yes I do. Want to see it?" Lucas nodded eagerly, like a little boy about to see something really special. "Here," he said, un-buttoning his shirt and pulling his right arm out of the sleeve.

Lucas realized in that moment that the clothes that Gavin was wearing were startlingly similar to ones that he would choose to wear. He was a fan of button up shirts and jeans, though on ship he didn't get to wear them much. Sweatshirts, turtlenecks and flannel shirts were the order of the day because it had a tendency to get a bit cold, and nice button up shirts such as the ones Lucas favored would be easily torn, stained or otherwise similarly ruined or destroyed. Glancing down, he noticed that Gavin was also wearing the same sort of black boots that Ellie had been wearing when he'd first seen her.

"Did Sean tell you what it said?" Gavin asked, derailing Lucas' train of thought.

"Yeah he did," Lucas said, turning his attention to the black markings encircling Gavin's arm. He could only hope his arms would look like this. His eyes scanned the script letters and, before he could stop himself, he reached out and touched them. "So freakin' cool," he whispered.

"You like it? You should get one!"

"Oh, no, that's not me, at least not right now. Maybe someday though."

Gavin smiled and gave him a nod as he put his shirt back on. "So, what else, because I know that's not all."

Lucas chuckled. "How was the research trip to Nova Scotia? What was that like?"

"Oh man, it was the coolest thing I've ever done. It was amazing to see it still there after so many years, and to see so many personal artifacts still there as well. We were cataloging the decay, the structure, to see what was happening to it after so much time underwater. We were also looking to see what was missing, what people had stolen or taken away from the ship. There was a list of things and their coordinates and we had to go through the list and look for those things. We went down in the mini-subs, which to you would be totally inferior to what you currently have. It was an awe inspiring experience. I wish Ellie could have been with me."

"It's gone now you know; the sea finally took it all. All they have left are the pictures taken from all of those who explored the wreckage, the research and the lists you mentioned. Once they realized the ship itself was gone, the personal artifacts that were left were recovered for historical purposes and to keep them from being looted. There is just a plaque there now. I'm totally jealous that you got to see it up close and personal."

"How sad," Gavin said. "It's too bad that it's all gone now, though we all knew that someday it would be. Also too bad that people are so greedy that they would take things from the last resting place of so many."

"What did you want to do? As a job I mean."

"Well, I think I would have kept on working the expeditions such as the one I'd done until the UEO came about, and then I think I would have tried to work for them. I'd have loved to have gotten a place on the SeaQuest research team. What an ideal job."

Lucas grinned. "I hated it when I was first there because I felt abandoned, but not now. Now I love it, it's my home, all my friends are there."

"Yeah, like Ben and Sam?"

"Yeah! Wait…how did you know about them?"

"I told you, just because you don't see me doesn't mean I'm not there. I love to watch the goings on there. Sometimes I can spend all day just watching Dr. Westphalen do her work, it's fascinating."

Lucas stared hard. "Wow, that's kind of weird."

Gavin laughed. "You're right, that came out a little creepier than I intended. I'm not there all the time or anything, not as often as Ellie, but I've been known to be around a time or two."

"What did you think when you found out about Cynthia and Lawrence?"

"Ah, now the hard questions. I was really angry about it but there was nothing I could do. Your mother married him almost immediately after I returned. I tried to talk her out of it but she just got angry with me and walked out. I didn't want to lose her, and I knew that if Lawrence had his way, I would."

"Is that why you didn't come to the wedding, because you were angry?"

"Yeah, that's exactly why. I was angry with her for doing it, for being so blind, so naïve, so trusting. I didn't want to see him stand there before God and make promises that he knew were lies, I didn't want to see him touch her or look at her. I realized though, that I couldn't just abandon her that way. I had to let her know that no matter what, I was still there for her, I still loved her, and she was still my friend; which is why I went to the reception."

"And the day she came to you after that argument?"

Gavin sighed heavily. "It was the last straw. It wasn't the first time she'd come to me upset by something he'd said or done to her. I wasn't thinking straight, I only knew that I wanted her to know how much I truly loved her, and that it wasn't platonic. I knew that it was wrong, and part of me felt like I was taking advantage of the situation, and maybe I was. Maybe I was selfish, but I wanted her for myself, I always had. I guess I thought that she would leave him then, but I was wrong."

Lucas could see how much these thoughts pained Gavin, but he pressed forward. "Maybe she would have if you had lived. What happened, when you died, what happened? How did it happen?"

Gavin flinched. "It wasn't long after that night, maybe a week. I was coming down the hill from visiting my parents, back to the city and my apartment. Everything seemed fine, when suddenly a car approached from the opposite direction. They flashed their brights at me and swerved into my lane. I hit the brakes and swerved to avoid them, but my brakes weren't working. I couldn't stop and everything locked up. I went over the edge. I know that they discovered later that the brake lines had air bubbles in them."

"Were you afraid? Did you feel anything?"

"I…" he began, stopping to think. "I think I was afraid for a few seconds before the car hit something on its way down. I remember that everything was jolted around, including me. I think I must have hit my head because it was the last thing I remember. I'm glad too, because the car pretty much exploded by the time it hit the bottom of the ravine."

"Then what?"

"Are you asking if I saw anything, like a white light or something?"

"Yeah, like that."

"Um…sort of. I opened my eyes and I was outside of the car, watching it burn. I knew then that my body was still inside the car because there was no way I could have lived through that. I heard someone call my name, and I saw family who had passed on standing there smiling at me. They told me that I had died and it was time to come home. I knew that what they were saying was true, and so I went with them."

"And Ellie? Did she feel it?"

Gavin looked at Lucas, the eyes of both filled with a pained sadness. "No. She didn't even know. But I was there Lucas, I came for her, to take her home so she wouldn't be afraid. I was always with her though, I saw it all. I saw Sean stand by her and help her, take her to the Lamaze classes and do all the things that Lawrence should have been doing, or that I would have been doing if I was there. I knew whose child you were and I was there when you were born. Worst of all, I knew she was going to die."

"What? What do you mean by that?"

Gavin sighed again. "I knew what he was going to do Lucas. When you die, you can see everything and know everything. I knew he was going to kill her because he'd done it to me. He was just waiting for her to have you, and then it would be over."

"Why didn't you stop him," Lucas said softly.

"I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough yet. I couldn't interfere with what was going to happen. Believe me, if I could have saved her I would have. The pain I felt when I watched her die is something I can't even describe. Lucas, I would have done anything for her, anything she asked. Someday you'll know that feeling; you have a bit of it now for Sam, though in a different way. Sam is your friend and you'd do anything to protect her and keep her from harm. Imagine that multiplied by an infinite number and you'll have an idea of what I felt and what you will someday feel."

Lucas was quiet. He knew that Gavin was right; he'd do anything to help Sam, to protect her or any of his other friends. He couldn't imagine feeling that pull stronger than he already did. He knew it was time to change subjects.

"So, tell me about your guitar lessons," he said.