It has been exactly one year since I published the first chapter of this story, so happy anniversary.. I guess. Thanks to everyone who stayed so patient & stuck around for this long. I truly appreciate it.

Enjoy! :)

7:22 PM. This was when she could finally see it in front of her. This was when the sound of police sirens was all she heard. This was when her tires squeaked along the wet pavement and an undesired sense of deja vu came rushing back.

She could barely breathe. Her chest was intensely burning, causing many forced coughing fits and a face stained with black tears and ashes. Between heat exhaustion and the thought of Shaun Mars drowning left her very unsettled.

She didn't dare take her time to park the car and get out, no matter how weak she felt. Her joints ached and she couldn't walk straight, but still managed to run towards the scattered policemen watching the front doors of the old warehouse.

"Hey, you there! What are you doing?" She heard an oddly familiar voice call, and turned to where it came from.

It was him. The man in the suit who's been up Ethan's ass for the past week. He's always the one behind the failed attempts to capture Ethan and arrest him. She didn't know anything about this man, or where his head was at, but she sure as hell needed to set him straight.

"Sir, Ethan Mars is innocent! I have proof! He's not the Origami Ki-"

"Ash, who let this girl over here? I thought I told everyone to keep their mouths shut!" He interrupted, not caring about anything she had to say.

"But he isn't-"

"Now get her out of here, I don't want her getting in the way!" She began to get angry. Who did this guy think he was? He had no evidence that Ethan was guilty, yet had no interest in what anyone else had to say about it.

"Okay lieutenant. Alright, come on." The other officer grabbed her by the arm, but she immediately pulled away.

"Ethan Mars isn't the killer! I was just face-to-face with the real Origami Killer! He locked me in a room and set his apartment on fire!"

"Right. Ash, get her out of my face." He avoided looking at her, as if she was lying. As if she was insane. Oh, she'd show him insane.

"He didn't do it, for chrissakes! He wouldn't! Why would he try to drown his own goddamn son? You're why these poor children keep dying!" She fought, the man trying to pull her away again. In trying to escape, she elbowed him and ran towards the doors.

She didn't know if they were going to shoot her down, or put her under arrest. She just kept running, not risking looking back.

She whipped one of the doors open with everything she had before running inside the warehouse and concealing herself from the police. Even though the inside was really dingy and unclear, she could see Ethan on the other side, looking at her, the smallest amount of light on him.

"Lauren, what's going on?" He asked in a worried tone, his eyes red with a noticeable sense of relief.

"The cops. They're out there" She took ahold of his wrists, panting from the lack of air. "They have the building surrounded. They'll shoot you if you go outside!"

He took a few steps towards the exit with an unreadable expression. "I'll go out alone. I'll talk to them. I'll explain-"

"Ethan, they will kill you before you can even open your mouth!" She tightens her grip on his arm, hoping that he will at least listen to her. He looked at her, and then glimpsed behind her.

She turned to where he was looking, astonished to see an unconscious little boy lying on the ground. "Oh, Shaun!" She laughs, completely dumbfounded, before falling to her knees. She.. she couldn't believe it. He was alive. Shaun Mars was alive. She almost convinced herself that this poor boy was dead.. but he wasn't. She could finally feel the dominate mass of stress and guilt fall from her shoulders. It was the best feeling in the world.

Her laughter grew as she examined Shaun, and soon enough, it turned into uncontrollable tears. Ethan crouched beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Listen, I'm sorry I didn't trust you." He looked down at her, and then at his son. "I was only thinking about Shaun and I thought-"

"It's okay." She looked back at him, wiping her eyes. "Shaun is safe now and.. so are you." They looked at each other and smiled.

"Congratulations. Ethan. You succeeded." An unexpected voice came from behind them, the two turning around in confusion.

"You're the father that I have been looking for all these years, and I've been looking for a long, long time. The man capable of doing what mine could not do, giving his own life to save his son."

There he was. Scott Shelby. The Origami Killer. Before he tried burning her alive, she's seen him around town a few times before, and recognized his face from the time when Johnny died. This was the man who turned her life into hell.

"Oh, I searched, searched, and searched, and then... I remembered you." The private detective admitted, looking at Ethan. She didn't understand. How did Shelby even know Ethan? She glanced at him, his body tense and frozen.

"All those murders... just to find a father capable of saving his son?"

"Just to find a father?!" He said instantly, getting closer to the both of them. "Do you have any idea how it feels to be a worthless nothing in your father's eyes? Believe me! I've suffered... just as much as my victims."

"That's bullshit." She defended.

"You, shut up!" Scott said louder, glaring at her. "You're supposed to be dead!"

After a moment, Ethan spoke up. "You got what you wanted! I finished your damn trials! Now give me back my son and let us go!"

"I'm afraid that's not possible."

"What do you mean 'that's not possible'?!" She yelled.

He chuckled in response. "Your lady friend here knows my little secret. I don't intend to end my days in prison, and since she's not dead, I'm going to have to kill you both... now."

Her body became stiff and her heart started to race. "Y-you can't do that!"

"Can't I?" He smiled, lifting the gun in his hand.

"I watched this man suffer just to complete your fucking trials, and you're just going to kill him after everything he's done for you?!" She exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Ethan. You earned my respect..." The gun was pointed at Ethan's head.

"You sick bastard!" She snapped. Before she could process what was going to happen in the next few seconds, she looked to see Ethan struggling to wrestle the gun out of Scott's hand. She started to panic. There were so many possibilities that stood in front of her; to save the boy or to save Ethan. But before she could do anything at all...

A gunshot rang.

She couldn't imagine what horrible image appeared before her. Everything was just happening too fast. Her vision was awfully blurry and her head was pounding with the sound of the rain.

Soon enough, she opened her eyes to Scott Shelby running towards the exit, being chased by a man in a black coat. An alarmed Ethan stood there, watching after them, the gun on the ground next to him.

He looked back at her, his eyes filled with fear. She stepped towards him, rushing into his arms.

"We have to go out there. All of us, together." She said, backing away. "If we keep our hands in the air, they can't shoot us. They wouldn't shoot us."

He kept his eyes on nothing but Shaun. "Okay."

She began towards the front doors, waiting for Ethan to come with the child. It was so admiring to see him with his son again. She'll never understand how someone so considerate could be mistaken for a heartless murderer.

"Ready?" Ethan asked, carrying the boy.

She nodded, sliding the rusted door open for a last time. The flashing lights from the police cars flooded the gloomy warehouse once again and hit their bodies as they were now exposed. She glanced over at him and couldn't help but smile. They were now free. There was nothing else to worry about anymore. It felt almost as if a curse has been lifted from the both of them.

They continued to walk forward, to walk away from all the bad memories, even if it took some time. This was a start of something new. Maybe they would have something after this, maybe they would start a family. Anything was possible, or at least it felt that way.

The most important thing to her was that Ethan was happy. That's all that really mattered, even though she couldn't experience a moment like this for herself. It was an indescribable feeling to know that she prevented Ethan from experiencing such a trauma, and herself from reliving another one. She officially accomplished her biggest goal.

She gave to him what she had lost.