Author's Note: Shall I begin by saying I am so sorry for waiting to update? (Watches with guilty look as people turn, wipe their glasses off, squint and say "who's talking?" Oh! It's you!) Never mind all that. No excuses. I am sorry. On to the quasi-legal portion of this ramble: Standard disclaimer applies. I own no part of the LJS universe. I offer this up merely as homage, a way to kill the boredom until Strange Fate comes out. Please don't sue me! I am not worth the trouble, I assure you. As always, feedback is welcomed and so very much craved. Thanks for reading! I will throw in an acknowledgement part in the next section (so there's still time to weigh in!)

A long moment of silence followed Tom's reply. It was as if the mere utterance of Julian's name had shocked their collective vocal cords into paralysis. An outsider observing the scene would have noticed a near-identical look of guilt on each of the friends' faces, save Tom's, whose features bore a look of disdain flavored with resentment. A query as to why the guilt-stricken looks were present would have yielded completely identical answers—they were all thinking about Julian when Tom's voice startled them.

"But how?" Michael's voice again spoke for the group, as it had before.

As the voices overlapped once more Jenny added her voice to the mix, but she could only say one word—"grandpa"—and it was a barely audible question. She wanted to voice the other thoughts tumbling about in her head but Zach's voice stopped her.

"Let's stop asking each other how and why and go in and ask the one person who can actually answer our questions, okay?"

Jenny got up with the others and slowly walked towards the house. She paused at the door and looked to Zach for support.

"Oh Zach. I don't know if I can go in there." He embraced her in one of his rare hugs and whispered into her hair.

"I know."

"It's not like preparing myself to see Julian."

The rest of the group said nothing but similar quizzical looks were flying between them at Jenny's choice of words.

"This is our grandfather. We are talking years here. We are talking assumed dead here. I just…I'm scared."

Dee and Audrey exchanged a glance, and then they nodded simultaneously.

"Right," Dee said, "You tackle breakfast and dad, and I'll handle setting the table and mom."

So when Zach and Jenny finally made it into the kitchen the problem of dealing with Jenny's parents and their astonishment at their daughter and nephew's tears upon seeing their grandfather was resolved. And cry they did. Not just Zach and Jenny, though. All of them, huddled together, no words…it was one of those moments that made life worth living and a time that would be forever etched into their memories.

It was during the tail-end of the sob fest that the questions started flying. And they were piled on, one after the other, coming from all directions. No one bothered to wait for an actual answer to any, though, and poor grandpa just kept looking from one face to another until he couldn't take it anymore. He threw up his hands in a gesture of surrender and erupted in laughter. They all stared at him for a moment…then joined in.

There's nothing that leaves you feeling as drained as a good cry. And then there's nothing that leaves you as happy as a great laugh. So combining the two left the group exhausted but feeling better than they had in a long while.

"Let's just get through breakfast and then we'll find a way to have a nice long chat. Agreed?"

It turned out that the part of grandpa's story they were most interested in—what happened after Jenny released him—was pretty short. He felt himself slip into darkness, and after all the years of torment it was so peaceful and full of bliss he assumed it was death. So when he became aware of himself and then his surroundings once more he was amazed to find that he was in the basement of his own house. His first conscious thought was that he must be in hell, trapped in the place where he made his life's biggest mistake. But being a curious man by nature he started to test his surroundings. He started with the door, using the logic that if he was indeed trapped inside the room for all eternity he would have plenty of time to explore the room's contents.

He was pleasantly surprised to find the door able to be opened. That was his first clue that he maybe wasn't in hell. His next clue came when he closed the door behind him. It was then that he noticed the additional markings on the door from Jenny, Zach, and the others. Using more logic he decided then to try to find out if he could contact his family—Jenny and Zach specifically. So he left the house and made his way to the local payphones.

"That's one of the nice things about living in a town where things never change. I knew where the phones were before, and so I went there and sure enough, they were still there. So I called here and through some vague questions and blind luck I determined that everyone assumed that I had hurt Jenny the day I left and that I had not been heard from since. And so I had to come up with something to say about everything."

"What did you say?" Audrey asked.

"I said that first of all I was sorry. Then I said I had not hurt Jenny but that she had seen someone hurting me and so I felt I had to go away to keep my family safe. And that again I was sorry that I stayed away but I had to. I was about to come up with a reasonable explanation concerning why no one had heard from me when your father interrupted and provided me with a perfect one himself. He asked if I had been put into the Witness Protection Program, or something like that. And I doubt any idea I would have come up with would have fit as well. So I told him he was very intuitive and apologized again. So that's the story. I asked if I could come and visit and here I am. We had a nice reunion…well after all the crying, of course…and I avoided asking about you guys. When I didn't see any of you here I figured you were on your way. To be honest I didn't know but I hoped you were on your way and so I guessed that my arrival would defer any notice of the lateness of your arrival. I got here very late last night and couldn't sleep until I knew you were okay. So I watched for you out the window and when I heard your dad get up I snuck downstairs and made like I was just getting in from the aforementioned sunrise."

They were quite content to sit there all day but Jenny's parents soon returned and reminded everyone that it was a school day tomorrow. There was a round of good-byes and hugs all around. When it came time for Tom and Jenny to say their good-bye Jenny was dismayed to find it awkward. They settled on a hug, and Jenny couldn't help but notice that as she and Tom parted his eyes traveled to her hand, where she was wearing his ring—Julian's, that is.

"Tom…" she began.

"We'll talk later, okay?" Tom asked, already moving towards the door.

"Sure. See you tomorrow."

As the door shut behind everyone Jenny knew she had only earned yet another stay of execution. It was only a matter of time before she had to face her friends' questions.

"Now then, Jenny, I need to ask you something. And I'm guessing you're smart enough to know what it is. So take your time and start from the beginning."

What was that about a stay of execution?