Chapter 29: Epilogue

All was normal in the city of Hillwood as the citizens could walk the street safely and not have to think twice about looking over their shoulders.

It had been two months since the sentencing on the Rhonda Lloyd case had occurred. Harold Berman got life in prison without parole. Lila Sawyer also plead insanity to the murder of Gino Vincent but would serve 8 years for her other charges. The jury felt sorry for the girl as she cried and explained her trials going through Gino's abuse. They described her as "beautiful but having a menacing way about her". No one was ever going to be manipulated by Lila Sawyer again.

Since all of the hype died down involving Rhonda's death, eyes turned to Eugene to see what his next move was. Today was the day he would resurface after being gone for two months. According to Gerald Johanssen, this story would shake everyone's perception of the rich business man.

~/~

Arnold and Helga laid in bed cuddling. Since the day Gino was killed their bond had strengthened immensely. Helga couldn't go anywhere without thinking and Arnold and Arnold just couldn't stand not waking up to Arnold's football head.

Helga laid in Arnold's broad chest as he stroked her hair and all was tranquil. For once, everything felt right. There were no murders, no death threats, and no more funerals to attend. Despite the peace Helga and Arnold had not talked about that day since they had to testify a month ago. There was looming sense of urgency in the air when they were together. They needed to talk about it but how were they supposed to talk about a situation so terrible that it was surreal?

"Hey Arnold?" Helga spoke softly as she nuzzled closer into the crook of Arnold's neck.

"Yea?"

"I think I want a new job."

When death had suddenly hit her in the face all those months ago, Helga had decided to experience life for what it was. Life was meant to be real and meant to be meaningful. If she learned nothing from knowing Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, it was that life demanded to be felt and if you spent too much time focused on things that didn't matter your time would run out before you knew it.

"This is a surprise. I thought you liked being a technical writer. Who's going to tell me all of the warning labels on my meds now."

"You can read yourself! Doi!" Helga joked then returned to her serious tone. "Ever since the case with Rhonda I've been reminded of how much my job isn't fulfilling me. I want to be happy and make my life count for something."

Helga stopped for a moment then said, "I want to be an investigative journalist."

"You mean like Nancy Drew, except with lots of paperwork?"

"I just want to write about things that matter to me that's all. I mean I'm pretty damn nosey anyway. Why not put my skills to good use?"

Taking a page from Sid's book, she could expose professional bullshitters and crooks in her career. That to her meant she was helping people and making a small difference in the city.

"You are pretty nosey Helga and you're good at the investigating part. That much was proven from your die-hard obsession with discovering the truth about Rhonda."

"I WASN'T obsessed. I was just passionate."

"Well, whatever you want to call it I'd be proud to have my girlfriend working hard at something she loves." Arnold gave her a peck on the forehead.

"G-girlfriend?" They just hadn't used those terms yet. Sure they did couple things. They slept in the same bed together. They went out on dates. They were affectionate towards each other but to label things seemed too soon.

"I didn't know we were...well a thing yet. I figured you'd want to recover from Lila. You know the whole sleeping with the enemy thing could be hard to get over."

"I thought it was clear when we almost died together in that warehouse that we had been threw something that made our bond undeniable. I don't know about you but I've come to realize there's no time better than the present to be with the one you love. Rhonda knew that better than all of us. Life's too short to keep dancing around our feelings. I love you Helga G Pataki and there's no other woman I would rather call my girlfriend than you. I'd be honored, if you'll have me."

"Oh Arnold, my beloved! Of course I'll be in a relationship with you." Helga kissed Arnold passionately. His hands tangled in her hair and he ground against her thigh.

Helga groaned and kissed down Arnold's neck. She whispered, "So Boyfriend, what are we going to do now?"

Arnold smirked and flipped them both over so that he was now on top of Helga. Her legs wrapped around his waist, forcing him to kiss her again.

Helga pulled away and said, "You have to go to work. We can finish this later."

"I'm sure they can wait on their alcohol tonight." Arnold ground into Helga's leg again.

She planted a stern punch his chest and glared, "Get to work Bucko. We need rent money."

Arnold flinched, "Fine. Fine."

Arnold dragged his feet and started getting ready. Helga remained in the bed, surfing through the web on her phone. Arnold was busy brushing his hair when a notification came through on both of their phones.

Helga saw it was text from Gerald.

Geraldo:Read today's paper. It's out now :)! Check out the tv. Channel 9.

Helga jumped to turn on the tv. She was shocked to see Eugene Horowitz on the screen dressed in a bright purple dress shirt, black pants, and with his short hair curled into small spiral curls.

Arnold commented on his appearance. "Well this is a change."

"Shhhhhh" Helga coaxed as Eugene started to speak.

"Hello citizens of Hillwood. As you all know, I am Eugene Horowitz. I know my abscence in the past few months has been alarming to some and has caused some curiosity regarding my well-being. Some of you may think that I took two months off to mourn my fiancee' Rhonda, but if I was to continue to tell that lie it would be extremely negligent and frankly disgusting of me to do so.

The truth is that I have been living a lie for far too long. I have been using Rhonda's untimely death to continue to be dishonest with you all. The truth is that I, Eugene Horowitz, am a gay man and have been running away from that fact for awhile.

My relationship with Rhonda was a facade and simply, a way for me to maintain an image that I believed would be pleasing to you all. I am sorry for manipulating you all into believing my lies and I'm sorry for using Rhonda in such a manner. May she rest in peace knowing that I am truly remorseful for how I treated her. I retract all statements involving Rhonda and a drug problem. I was trying to protect myself and ended up defaming the character of a dear friend.

Despite me not being attracted to Rhonda she was still an important person in my life. She taught me that life is meant to be lived and not created or fabricated. From now on I will be living authentically as a man who is attracted to other men."

"Wow. Way to go Eugene!" Arnold gave encouragement as Eugene continued his speech.

"I also know people have been wondering about the state of my company. Unfortunately, I have been negligent in that aspect of my life as well. I was not paying attention and was not watching the people around me like I should have. As a result, so many of you citizens have been cheated out of your money and frankly cheated out of your energy by having hope and faith in me.

I will be remedying that situation by giving the money back to the people that deserve it, the citizens of Hillwood. I will be putting my personal salary into the restoration of this city, which includes repairing lower income neighborhoods, creating more safety measure so citizens feel protected, and giving back to schools like P.S. 118. I want to make this city great again.

In addition to bettering Hillwood's infrastructure I would like to donate money to the Rhonda Wellington Lloyd scholarship which was proposed to me by Frankie George. I wholeheartedly support his initiative to give back to students of Hillwood so they can have a secure future.

I thank you all for your time. I hope you all forgive me and support me as I begin to live in my truth and repent for the mistakes I've made. Thank you. Oh, yea and also today's paper contains an exclusive interview with Gerald Johanssen and I discussing some questions you may have regarding my sexuality and personal affairs. Please pick that up today! Again, thank you all."

Helga turned off the tv and smiled. "Wow. Eugene finally grew some balls."

"I'm proud of him and I'm proud of you." Arnold gave Helga a quick kiss on the cheek. "Bye. I'll be back after I get off."

With Arnold gone Helga could entertain herself by giving Phoebe a quick call. She hadn't been speaking to her like usual so there was a lot to catch up on. She dialed the number quickly.

"Hello?" Phoebe's soft voice came through the reciever. It was pleasant for Helga to finally get a chance to properly talk to her friend after all the chaos.

"Pheebs! What's going on?"

"Helga, it's nice to hear from you. I've been doing better. I'm happy you called. I got tired of Gerald talking my ear off."

"Gerald's there? So you and Gerald?"

"Yea, he's been really great. He's supported me through everything, even therapy. I've been getting a lot better Helga, I promise. I can actually leave the house now and work without having anxiety attacks. Gerald's doing great too. He thinks the Eugene story can push him over the edge. Word on the street is that Eugene wants Gerald to write his biography. This could be a great opportunity for him."

"That's great Pheebs. I'm happy. Maybe you and Gerald can do a double date? Figured it's time to do couple things now."

Phoebe squealed, "FINALLY! You and Arnold has been a long time coming!"

"Yea maybe we can go out on Friday. I have lots of time since I'm looking for a new job. How does investigative journalist sound?"

"Sounds wonderful Helga. I'm excited for your new career endeavors."

A knock came at the door.

"Listen, Phoebe I got to go. We can talk later and let me know if you and Gerald can go out Friday. Bye."

"Bye."

Helga jumped up to answer the door. She hoped it wasn't the stupid maintenance man again.

She opened the door and was surprised to see Sid, who she hadn't seen in at least a month. Since the case, Sid spent two weeks in the hospital and he had been asked to take leave from his job until further notice. Helga assumed shooting Harold had taken a toll on him, even if he didn't kill him.

He looked a little rough. His hair was all over the place, he was beginning to grow a beard, and his hands looked dry like they were beginning to crack. What was going on? This wasn't the Sid she knew.

"Come in Sid." She gestured for him to sit down on the couch. He followed suit and took a seat next to Helga. "What's going on?"

"I just wanted to check on you. You look good Helga, really good."

"Thanks and you look terrible. What's going on with your hands Sid? They're all cracked and starting to bleed."

"Oh, yea my OCD has been coming back. The hand washing, the checking, and the 2 hour showers. I can't seem to do much else."

"Sid…"

"Helga, I'll be fine. I can get it under control. I don't have choice really. Sergeant won't let me back until I get a clean psych eval. I just want to go back to work."

"You shouldn't go back if you aren't ready. I know you miss Harold since he's in jail and I know you feel guilty for shooting him but you have to take your time to heal."

"I, I am healing. Actually that's why I'm here."

Helga was nervous. She had a feeling the next thing he was going to say wasn't something she wanted to hear.

"I'm leaving Helga."

"Leaving? For good?"

"No, just for a little while. Those plane tickets I had for you and Arnold have to go to use somehow."

"I see. When are you leaving? I want to see you off."

"Helga, you don't understand. I want to leave with you. Come with me. Please, I just feel so much better when you're with me."

"Sid, I don't know. I can't just run off with you."

"Why? Is it Arnold again? He can be without his roommate for one month."

"Sid, we aren't just roommates. We're together now. It happened so fast and you disappeared. I didn't get a chance to tell you."

"Geez, I should have never given up on us. Now, it's too late." Sid smacked him on the forehead. "God, I'm a fucking idiot. I just embarrassed myself."

"Don't feel bad. You didn't know and you aren't an idiot. You're still important to me, Sid. Go on the trip without me, get yourself together and come back to Hillwood ready to catch some bullshitters and crooks again. We need you out on these streets."

"Hmm I have been missing the feeling of calling bullshitters out on their bullshit."

"Exactly! The sooner you get better the sooner you can do what you love and things can be normal."

"Normal? Being a cop will never be normal without Harold. He betrayed me. He tried to kill me. I still can't believe I was sleeping with the enemy this whole time. I should've known. I should've been able to see through his bullshit."

"It's no one's fault. Think on the bright Sid, you saved lives. You saved the entire city from Gino. You should be proud."

"Yea, well I couldn't save you though. I can see the scar through the makeup Helga." Helga rubbed her neck right over where Lila was about to slit her throat. "I'm not stupid. I know he hurt you."

"I'm doing better everyday which is what you need to do. Hurry up and pack so you can get away. That's what you need. There's too much pain here for you right now."

"Ugh not sure if I need ten shots of whiskey, two weeks of sleep, or sex."

"Maybe you need all three."

"Ha, what do you know about needing sex? Ms. Virgin. Unless…"

Helga blushed scarlet red. "Siiiiiid, it's time for you to go now. Byeeeee."

Helga pushed Sid towards the door and opened it.

He winked at her and said, "Arnold's finally the lucky one huh."

"Shut it Sid."

"I'm sure we'll talk later. Bye Helga. Until next time."

"Bye." Helga shut the door behind her, hoping this wasn't the last time she saw Sid again.

~/~

The sun had set on Hillwood. Another day was done and night was about to begin. Everyone knew that at night Hillwood was full of secrets, but to some it was when they felt most alive.

Frankie George crept into the graveyard like he did every Sunday at 9:22PM. He visited the grave of his beloved and would leave roses because he knew how much she would've hated her tombstone not being remotely fashionable.

He dropped the roses on her gravesight and looked up at the headstone. It read:

Rhonda Lloyd Wellington

December 12 , 1990- September 4, 2015

"Fashions fade, style is eternal."

Though she wasn't always the most beautiful person in actions, Frankie would remember her inner beauty that was rare. She was rare.

Rhonda certainly had her own style and it would be remembered throughout time. There would never be another woman like Rhonda to ever live.

"Good night Rhonda. Stay beautiful in heaven."

Author's Note: Well it's been a long and bumpy ride but the story has come to an end. Thank you all for reading :)!

For those of you who are interested I am working on a Sid spin-off. Considering I turned some of you into Sid lovers I think I can do him justice. There's a general lack of Sid stories here so I'm going to give it some life. It will feature Sid taking names, drinking whiskey, having flings and solving crimes.

If anyone is interested I can post a sneak peek :)!