Three days later, the Hinkley home was bustling as a few guests and hosts were celebrating another case solved. Aidan, however, was lying on her back in the back yard, staring at the sky. While the city lights pretty much blocked out the stars most of the time, that particular night, there were quite a few visible.

Looking from behind the kitchen door, Ralph sighed. Pam recognized that particular sigh. "Ralph, you're going to have to talk to her sooner or later," she said. "Aidan's going to have quite a few questions."

"I know, hun, it's just, how do I explain it to her," he said. "It's been 19 years since they died and everything happened to her. I still have trouble talking about anything that happened that night. And now with her dealing with Dylan and what I said at the funeral home..."

"Listen, the only way you'll know is if you talk to her or let her talk to you."

"Still, what if she's angry with me keeping all the details from her..."

Tony frowned at seeing his old teacher so worried about something like this and interrupted. "Mr. H, you know as well as I do that the Cub doesn't hold grudges long. If she did, I'd get into hot water all the time."

"You're right there, but I don't know, given how she still will react before think..."

"Look, I saw she's not wearing the fancy underwear, so you don't have to worry about her knocking you into next week if she is upset with ya."

Ralph chuckled, realizing that Tony caught him in probably the biggest concern he had. Even though Aidan would protect her family and friends from harm, she did have a temper. "All right, I get your point," he said and opened the door out to the back.

Hearing the door open, Aidan propped herself up on her elbows to see who was coming out. "Hey Ralph, have a seat," she said, smiling. "I've been looking up at the stars. You can see Orion tonight. Pretty cool too considering how few you get to see around here."

"Yeah, you sure can. Still, it's nothing like it was in Wyoming that one time we visited you and there were all those stars. You know, when we'd all have dinner at that campfire, your mom and dad made the best ..." he said as he sat down, only to stop when he saw Aidan frown as she sat up completely. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I didn't mean to..."

"No Ralph, that's how I remember them, and want to remember them," she said, drawing up a knee and resting her chin on it. "Got an e-mail from the Onyxsards today."

"You did?" said Ralph, surprised. "What did they want? Did they want you to not press charges…"

"No, nothing like that. They said that they found out about what Dylan was doing, and they disapproved. Found out he was deep in gambling debts and he was going to use the money he got from my death to pay his bookies off."

"Killing because of his mistakes," said Ralph, shaking his head in disgust.

"Yeah, and they said while I'm not part of their family anymore, they weren't going to protect him this time. He went too far."

"What about your inheritance?"

"They're not going to go after it either. Since it's been in my security deposit box, they conceded it belongs to me. Even found out that Misha put it in the form of savings bonds, adding to it each year. Some of those bonds are mature and can be cashed, but I won't do that unless I need the money. Right now, I'm just glad that everything's straightened out."

Ralph nodded, and decided it was time to talk. "Listen Aidan, now that everything's done and Dylan's in jail, if you want to talk about what all happened the week of your parents' memorial service..."

"I don't want to know," she said simply, making Ralph blink in surprise.

"You don't want to know? What do you mean, you've been asking..."

Aidan smiled softly. "I know, but right now, it isn't a good time. It'll only bring back memories of the Onyxsards and the past few days. Besides, there's something else I've been thinking about, and it concerns you."

"What do you mean Ade?"

Aidan frowned, knowing this wouldn't be easy to ask. She knew Ralph was never totally comfortable telling her anything about that night, even present day. "I've been thinking about what you said at the funeral home about my accident. Do you blame yourself for what happened?"

Ralph didn't say anything, but his face said enough. Aidan continued. "Ralph, I've never blamed you for my missing memory. I mean, from what Pam's said, you didn't have time to catch me."

"Ade..."

"Come on, you and I both know that when I was younger, I didn't always react like a normal kid. Most of it was because of the way that side of the family treated me. Even that night I didn't. Instead of crying, I nodded... then collapsed."

"But still, I should've known you'd..."

"You couldn't, you know that. I want you to know that while I've wondered at times why you've never told me anything too specific about that night or the events afterward, I felt there was a reason," she said firmly. "When you talked about it the other day, I realized that part of it was you didn't want to hurt me. You didn't want to worry me about possibly becoming an epileptic or not remembering why we went to the funeral home several times. While I understand that, you were hurting yourself. Now that you've confessed it to me, that healing process can start to happen."

"Maybe, and I have to admit that the memory isn't as painful anymore, but it'll still take time for it to go away," said Ralph. "And, some of that pain will never go away. We all miss your mom and dad, and there were times that night Pam and I thought we'd lose you. And then, a few days ago, having to see you in a casket, even knowing you were alive, was tough on Pam and me. Even the bit with you pretending to be critically injured in the hospital was tough."

Aidan only nodded, knowing there was more to those comments than just that one event that night. While she didn't, and in some cases wouldn't, remember parts of it, as she grew older, she thought of what Ralph and Pam might've had to deal with that night: the trip to the hospital in the ambulance, hearing Aidan had a seizure in the emergency room, waiting the six hours it took for her to wake up in the hospital, going to the morgue to identify...

Ralph put an arm around her shoulders, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I'll tell you though, it was funny to see Dylan's reaction to you breaking open the coffin lid. I was quite surprised he didn't just faint from shock there."

"That'd been an interesting way to catch him."

"Yeah, but I don't get why he said that you felt cold. It wasn't that cold in the funeral home."

"Oh, that. I think the suit mimicked the temperatures and helped me hold my breath then to make me appear as a corpse when he touched me. Got warmer once I shattered the casket. But, I still can't believe I let the suit knock me out again…"

"I have to admit, it was odd seeing the suit do that to you because of what you said," said Ralph, chuckling. "Did you know that Tony accused me of showing you that EpiPen so you'd pass out? He even called it an Elephant pen."

"You don't carry that around, I do. And as you'd know, I tend to go out only when I get the shot," she said, rolling her eyes. She then laughed. "Actually like that… Elephant pen. But it doesn't surprise me he thought that. We thought that the suit power died out after the sodium pentothal left my system. Guess we were wrong."

"Hey, at least it's sporadic, and you did have lingering effects from the epinephrine."

"It's a stimulant though, not a depressant. Should've made me Speed Racer or something… no, not Speed Racer. I think that title should still belong to the neighbor's cat."

The two laughed out loud as they heard someone coming toward the backyard. "Hey guys, dinner's ready," called Pam as she opened the door. "Why don't you come in sit down? You can talk more later, and I need to have someone else talk to Tony so he doesn't keep pestering me. I'm about to bash him over the head with a frying pan, he's getting aggravating."

"I'm not being aggravating Mrs. H, I'm trying to help ya out since Ralph and Micah are trying to figure out their past instead of helping cook."

"Tony, my name's Aidan," the young woman scolded Tony, making a face. "Either Aidan or Ade. Hell, I've even gotten used to Cub and Artie, but not Micah. I hate that."

Tony, realizing what he said, started backtracking. "Well, I thought I'd try something new, and I guess it came out wrong. Why not that one?"

"Easy Anthony," said Aidan with a slight smirk. "I don't want to be called by my middle name. Besides, you keep adding new names. Right now I never know if you're talking to me using my formal name, my nickname or why I have a bear pendant. And..."

"And what?"

"My name, Aidan, means fire… and if you ever call me Micah again, I'll use pyrokinesis to set your britches on fire."

Tony made a face, but chuckled in concession. After Aidan helped Ralph up, the group went inside to eat dinner, visiting with each other about life, past, present and future.