Resurrection 2013 - the return of Loren Singer

by fictionalmike

AU: what if Loren Singer miraculously survived her unscheduled swim in the Potomac that early January night in 2003? What if she survived, but was comatose for a long time? Who would take the trouble to care and watch over her as the years rolled by? How would she wake and come to terms with meeting her 10-year-old daughter for the first time? Could she ever get home? COMPLETED

11. Epilogue

Chapter 11EP - Epilogue: Closing the threads of "Resurrection 2013". The circle of life is completed.

See my Original A/N (added 19-01-2018 in Ch1) for the "they aren't mine, I'm just playing with them" disclaimer. To this, I now add "apart from any character created by myself". Summary: this is a fictional story, in a fictional Alternative Universe, about fictional characters who entertained us in a fictional TV series between 1995 and 2005. I simply wanted a more-positive outcome for one story-line in the "JAG" canon. After all, isn't that what fanfiction is all about? Mike (Moved up to a "T" classification from Ch5 onwards).

Final A/N 17-05-2018: Rae; thanks for your help and (constructive!) criticism. I am truly grateful for your wise counsel on parts of this story during development.

Now, on with the Epilogue; it is time to tie up the loose ends - you, my audience, deserve nothing less. I shall then return all characters to an upright position! Mike.

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Start Ch. 11EP - Epilogue - the circle is completed

Friday, 25th December 2015, 17:25hrs EST

Home of Carolyn Imes

72xx Old Dominion Drive, McLean, Virginia, 22101

Carolyn and David stood watching over their twins in the identical cribs in what was now *their* home in McLean. With sensible pre-nup agreements, David and Lizzie (at Lizzie's original suggestion, it must be said) had vacated their home in DC and moved out to the suburbs into Carolyn's home. It gave a sense of family for their new life after their wedding and enabled the rental income to be placed into a college trust fund for Lizzie's future. David had initially been nervous about broaching the subject of relocating Lizzie from the only home that she had ever known, yet it had been Lizzie herself who made the suggestion. It turned out that two of her best friends had also recently relocated to McLean (again through second marriages) and she was very happy to change schools and rejoin her friends at the local High School.

Rae and Richard were approaching their three-month "birthdays". With a small glass of sherry each (Carolyn was still breast-feeding the twins), David and Carolyn looked down at their little miracles. Above the cribs on the window-sill was Carolyn's favourite photograph from her wedding with David, some three months before the babies arrived; she stood alongside David as the same head height - she had surprised everyone (including her Matron of Honour Tracy Manetti) by wearing heels on the day. Her wedding outfit made no secret of her condition and the favourite picture in their wedding album had their entwined hands, rings displayed, resting on her 23-week "bump".

Following her marriage to David in the July of 2015, Carolyn's life was finally settling down following the births on Halloween night in 2015 (the loud fireworks explosions next door had jolted Carolyn into a slightly early delivery, which had surprised three "trick-or-treaters" standing on the doorstep at that precise moment! Fortunately, one of the parents of the "trick-or-treaters" was a nurse).

David kissed the crown of Carolyn's head. "Darling, if I was to die tomorrow, I would remember this moment forever. I will always remember Amanda and I shall always remember Lizzie's birth, but these babies - to me - complete the circle and tell me that healing is possible. I love you Carolyn-wife",

"I love you, David-husband". Carolyn relaxed against David's chest; the past two years had seen unbelievable change in her life - not just the resurrection of Loren Singer, but the arrival of Carolyn's twins. She remembered the hard work in the delivery room, but the pain (and the memory of the pain) had quickly subsided at the moment when she had, with a sense of wonderment, held both her babies in her arms the first time. Angela had provided perfect reassurance and the twins, Rae followed by Richard, had arrived within minutes of each other, at 23:57 on Hallowe'en and 00:08 on November 1st respectively, giving them different birth dates on the official records.

"Merry Christmas Carolyn-wife".

"Merry Christmas David-husband".

11EP-11EP-11EP-11EP

Saturday, 27th May 2017 09:10hrs EST

Home of Loren Zhukov-Singer and Sergei Zhukov-Singer

73xx Old Dominion Drive, McLean, Virginia, 22101

Loren cleared the breakfast items into the dishwasher, tidied the kitchen and, taking a glass of fruit juice, wandered into the family room. Carolyn was out of her house next door, escorting a 14-year-old Lorna to the Memorial Day rehearsals at her school (Lorna was a keen member of the school marching band, where she was in final preparations for the Memorial Day parade the next day). Lizzie and David were at the stables, where Lizzie had expressed an interest in taking her dressage riding further.

Carolyn had continued (at Loren's insistence and with her active encouragement) to play a close and active part in Lorna's continued development once Loren had emerged from her resurrection and rehabilitation. Loren had steadily settled into her role of being a "new mom" to Lorna, steadily taking over the role from Carolyn. This was facilitated by the location of their two homes, sitting next door to one another and being linked by a covered walkway. The home had been built after Loren had finally consented to break into the trust fund which her deceased parents had established for her (another benefit from Tracy Manetti's dogged search for all Singer assets as she had built the case for long-term care and guardianship, way back in late 2003).

As part of the expanded "family support programme", Lizzie was happy to help out Lorna when babysitting Carolyn and David's 19-month-old twins Rae and Richard, who had arrived a little over three months after Carolyn and David had married in late July of 2015.

All family members who were in the area gathered regularly for what had become the traditional weekly "Old Dominion Drive Sunday lunch" at Loren's. This had started out as a house-warming event for Loren's new home, then assumed a place of permanence in the weekly calendar. By tradition, an empty place setting was always laid - both to honour those who had passed on and also to be able to welcome any last-minute surprise guests. Carolyn usually walked across on a Saturday evening to assist with preparing the vegetables ahead of Sunday, enabling David to concentrate on spending time with Lizzie (both Carolyn and David were determined that Lizzie should not, in any way, feel "left out" by the arrivals of little Rae and Richard, so Saturday night was "quality time for first daughter"). Tracy Manetti and her family usually dropped by on the first Sunday of every month, to catch up, share gossip and compare the growth spurts in the various offspring.

Loren also knew that, since her resurrection in 2013, Carolyn had many, more-pleasant reasons to mark the Memorial Day weekend (although Carolyn would, of course, be travelling to Arlington in her black outfit on Monday). However, Carolyn would never be making that walk through the Arlington cemetery alone, ever again, because her extended surrogate family would be accompanying her, as they had every time since she had got together with David, on each pilgrimage to Arlington to pay respects at Pete's grave and Amanda's grave.

Similarly, the Christmas Eve visit to Pete and Amanda's graves had evolved and extended. The visits had spun off a respectful pair of birthday lunches at Arlington around their graves. The Christmas Eve gatherings saw everyone together at the gravesides ahead of an extended family lunch, before the families attended Chaplain Turner's traditional JAG Christmas sermon in the evening. This service provided a friendly and convenient opportunity for JAG friends, old and new, to catch up and re-acquaint, whatever the intervening year had thrown up. The sermon was followed by a "bring the drinks, Harriet will provide the food" party at the home of Bud and Harriet Sims-Roberts. The Zhukov-Singer family group then accompanied Sergei to the long black wall of the Vietnam Memorial, where he bade "Merry Christmas" to his long-dead father and usually met up with his older half-brother Harm Jr and Harm's family, if they were spending Christmas in the cold of DC rather than the Californian sunshine of La Jolla.

Loren's thoughts turned once more to how she had been able to invest successfully in Carolyn's practice, growing the advocacy side of the business whilst cross-funding the "pro-bono" work from the increased litigation fee income. Loren had also started working there two days a week, most weeks, in the practice after her re-qualification (or "aggressive re-instatement" to describe the campaign which Tracy Manetti had run on her behalf) to the Virginia State Bar.

The fact that no previous Bar-certified attorney had ever survived a ten-year coma made the Loren Singer case unique, but the Virginia Bar had rapidly conceded to Tracy Manetti's eloquent arguments and had rapidly re-instated Loren, as well as welcoming her with an unexpected present - an invoice for twelve years of back membership fees! Loren had been very pleased to settle that invoice, then had it framed in her office alongside her new and original Bar certificates.

She knew that Carolyn was unlikely to ever retire fully, although as the flame-haired lawyer settled into her fifties she had been forced into stepping back slightly, because of the birth of "bump-female-1" (Rae Amanda Carolyn) and "bump-male-1" (Richard Peter David), aka "The Terrible Twins".

Lizzie, as a fully-involved stepdaughter, had been a god-send to her stepmother and assisted with many aspects of the babies' upbringing. Carolyn's continuing practice was well-regarded and envied far beyond the Beltway; all of her staff loved "The Boss Lady" and she continued to achieve great results for families with problems. She had trained her staff well and everyone delivered to her high standards.

Carolyn and David had got back into the saddle in May 2016 (when Little Rae and Little Richard were seven months old) and there were several trips to Shenandoah Valley during 2016, including the second anniversary of their first weekend meeting on 15th September. Lorna usually came along on these trips and Lizzie and Lorna always enjoyed the weekend expeditions into Shenandoah Valley.

The year of 2016 had been devoted to further improving Loren's stamina. Although she had never (yet!) achieved her goal of cycling the entire 45-mile length of the W&OD Trail (along the old railroad grade of the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad from DC up to Purcellville) she had regularly driven the support vehicle for the group expeditions up the trail (which Lorna, Lizzie, David and Carolyn had cycled regularly once Carolyn was back to fitness after the births of Rae and Richard). On one occasion, Loren had cycled around seven miles out towards Leesburg, to greet the group at the Route 7 crossing point and then cycled back up to Purcellville. She knew that she was able to pass the US Navy Fitness tests for re-instatement, had she decided to apply to re-join the JAG corps. For now, inactive Reserves suited her fine - especially after the shock of her honeymoon pregnancy.

Loren put her glass of juice aside and stretched out on the sofa to peruse the huge Saturday edition of the newspaper. Looking down the length of her body, she realised that her feet were beginning to disappear behind the baby bump. This unplanned pregnancy at the age of 46 had come as a considerable shock to her - and triggered another round of visits, studies and "poking and prodding" by the NASA team, ESA researchers and a visit from Dr Andersen. Jokes about "supporting your child when you are in your walking frame" had been dismissed with the ultimate put-down from Loren (usually accompanied by a wide, welcoming smile): "I don't care, because I am alive!"

Loren had supported Sergei and had eventually adopted young Yekaterina Galina Zhukov (known universally as "Galina Katyusha") after Sergei's transfer to the USA - which followed the tragic death of his beloved Galina in a car crash in Russia during March 2015, some two years after Loren's resurrection. Sergei's role as Aeroflot station chief at Washington Dulles had enabled him finally to put down roots and Harm's obsessive determination had finally revealed and uncovered, in Trish Burnett's long-stored possessions, a set of letters from Harmon Rabb Senior - sufficient to provide direct DNA evidence to support an ultimately successful application for Sergei's US citizenship.

Yekaterina's birth in late 2005 had occurred two years after her parents' marriage; Sergei had last visited the States in early April 2003 to introduce Galina Borkova to Harm. They had enjoyed a "honeymoon" year before starting their family, with the result that Yekaterina had been about to celebrate her 10th birthday when her mother was killed. Grieving, Sergei had taken the Aeroflot job at Dulles when it unexpectedly became vacant in October 2015 and had introduced a 10-year-old Yekaterina to American culture - and her distant California second-cousins in Harm's family.

On Christmas Eve 2015, Sergei had met Loren at the Vietnam Wall, where she was meeting with Harm Junior to commemorate the loss of Harmon Rabb Senior. In a sense of "deja vu", Sergei and Loren found that their mutual attraction was still there (although buried deep) and they began dating ("again?" Lorna had enquired when she heard the news) on Valentine's Day of 2016. Loren had appreciated the increased maturity that she found this time around in Sergei, and their two bodies had fitted together very easily during the summer of 2016. Although Loren had been fairly certain that her fertile days were behind her, she stayed on the Pill until the autumn, when Sergei had surprisingly proposed marriage.

Loren's Russian-language skills had come into use when she travelled with Sergei and Yekaterina to visit Galina's parents in Minsk, to successfully obtain their blessing for Sergei to marry Loren. Yekaterina's IT skills had already enabled SKYPE conversations to become a regular feature of her communications with her grandfather (dedushka) and grandmother (babushka). The Zhukov-Singer home often rang to the sound of international conversations as well as English conversations, all taking place simultaneously in different parts of the large house. Loren and Sergei had agreed (with young Yekaterina's consent) to formally adopt Katyusha on the day of their wedding.

Loren and Sergei had married on January 5th 2017 - the 14th anniversary of her "swim" - and thus had enjoyed a great start to 2017. The honeymoon activities that week had resulted in the conception of what was now being referred to as "The Bump 2.0" as Loren headed towards her fifth month of pregnancy. Loren had rationalised that Sergei's age, 12 years younger than her, meant that he had lived through her 10-year coma and was therefore more-or-less the same "soul" age as she was after her deep-freeze - a good enough reason for her to marry the (physically) younger man. Sergei's first marriage, to Galina, had caused him to mature from the slightly nervous, reticent young man whom Loren had first met that day long ago in Harm's apartment. At Sergei's request (and mindful of his initial comment about her hair in its Navy-style "bun"), she customarily wore her hair loose or, at best, in a long pony-tail.

Loren and Sergei were glad to receive the periodic updates from (and contacts with) Harm's family in California. The Rabb dynasty, just like the Loren/Lorna/Sergei/Galina/"Bump 2.0" dynasty, spanned a number of decades. Lt Matilda Grace Rabb-Walden (USN) was now serving as an F/A-18 Hornet pilot, although this year the 29-year-old was on maternity leave awaiting the arrival of her first child. She and Loren had hooked up and frequently exchanged news and views as their pregnancies advanced almost in parallel.

Mattie's husband, Lt Cdr Daniel "Danny" Walden (nickname "Spliff"), had matured significantly following his enlistment in May of 2001 as an alternative to prison and he had subsequently qualified for OCS, which he had emerged from as third in class. His mother Sydney Walden was still very proud of him and his progress, although she lamented the fact that Danny's teenage shenanigans had deprived her of more quality time with Admiral Chegwidden (their time together had been cut short by AJ's death from prostate cancer).

Sydney doted on Mattie and was very proud that her former "wild child" Danny had knuckled down and grown into a fine young man and serving officer - validating the faith and trust of AJ Chegwidden as well as Judge Geary. Indeed, it was the "nod" from AJ that assuaged Harm's initial doubts about supporting the start of Mattie and Danny dating, given Danny's "wild child" (or "problem child reformed" as AJ described him) reputation. Both Mattie and Danny were looking forward to their impending parenthood later in 2017.

Loren looked at the Celtic "wedding" ring on her right hand and the Russian wedding ring (three inter-twined gold bands of different colours) on her left hand. Her life was definitely complete - and with no signs, at all, of still wanting to become the Navy's first female JAG. Her life was stable, satisfying and enjoyable. Once more, she offered up a short prayer of thanks for her deliverance from the waters that dark and cold and snowy night on the Potomac back in early '03.

Reading the weekly summary of local news, her eye was drawn to an article on an inner page:

"Parents bid final farewell to Irish couple at Great Falls".

The article included a backstory which rehashed a report from a year earlier, when two more people had died in Great Falls. This was not an isolated incident. In a report published in 2013, it had been announced that 27 people had died around Great Falls since 2001.

The name of one of the latest victims caught Loren's eye. Declan, who had (just prior to the tragedy) sold up a highly-successful IT services company headquartered in Shannon Ireland but with a large US operation based out of Boston, had fallen into the river along with his pregnant fiancée, an Irish lady called Mairead. The bizarre coincidence was too much for Loren to ignore. Further reading confirmed her worst fears - the surname matched "her" Declan - the accidental father of her Lorna.

She read through the article and came upon the reason for this week's article in the paper in May 2017. The parents of Mairead and Declan (both sets of parents came from Galway and had travelled over to the USA together) had returned to the bridge to scatter the united ashes of the two deceased Irish love-birds at the place of their deaths. This small, private ceremony had happened on the previous Monday and the parents were now back home in Galway, enjoying the peace and tranquility of the western Irish coast as they healed following the loss of their children.

Declan's mother was quoted: "We were informed from witness statements that Declan and Mairead were at the edge of Great Falls and that Declan was proposing to Mairead when they fell into the waters. The couple had recently revealed to friends that Mairead was pregnant with the couple's first children. Mairead's brother, back in Galway, is still inconsolable regarding the loss of his younger sister and the unborn nephew and niece. It is our eternal regret that we shall never see our grandchildren or watch them thrive". That line took Loren's breath away.

The article continued, beneath a photograph of the four older Irish parents standing on the bridge over Great Falls, holding the cremation urns containing the ashes of Declan and Mairead prior to committing the ashes together into the Potomac river, to mingle for eternity. Loren shivered - the saying "someone walked over your grave" suddenly rang true to her.

Loren folded the newspaper so that the article was on display and fired up her laptop, researching flights to Ireland and deciding that it was time to lay yet another ghost from her past. Unselfishly, she wanted to let Declan's parents know that, however accidentally, they now had a 14-year-old granddaughter resident in the USA. Obviously, Loren needed to track down Declan and Mairead's parents - a quick referral to a private detective agency in Dublin would facilitate this, if she wasn't able to find what she needed with an internet search. Carolyn's practice also had an excellent investigator on the books, so she had several routes to find the information that she needed in order to build an itinerary for the trip to the Emerald Isle.

Long ago, Loren had made her peace with the river. On July 5th 2015, twelve and a half years after her swim, she had stood once more on the bridge where her life had nearly been ended on that winter night long ago, with Lorna, Carolyn, David and Lizzie, recounting the tale. A stray piece of tape still remained, stuck under the corner of the railing where her blood had been found during the subsequent NCIS investigation; she touched the back of her skull, grateful that there had been no permanent impairment of her faculties. Looking into the river (which was more placid in summer than the raging winter torrent into which she had been thrown), she realised that the margin between being thrown up onto the rock where she had been found and simply being washed away to the Tidal Basin was something like two feet - a metre at most. Standing on the bridge, a cold sinking feeling had settled on her as she realised how lucky she had been, as she re-dedicated herself to becoming a better person.

Loren finally knew with certainty what she needed - no, she corrected herself, she *had* - to do. It was only fair; it was right; and it signified, far better than any other action, how far Loren Marie Zhukov-Singer had developed from the self-centred, self-obsessed, driven, spiky, shrewish individual whom Ted Lindsey had dumped uncaringly into the raging waters of the Potomac that night at Great Falls on January 5th, 2003.

She offered up, once more, a quick prayer of thanks to Carolyn's Marine Pete for rescuing her that night. Her mind wandered over the folded newspaper in her hand. She looked at the framed photograph, on the window-sill, of Carolyn and Pete taken in the summer of 2003. It was time to do some good for a number of strangers, and to "pay it forward" in terms of a good deed for an unconnected stranger. She had made her decision. Her resurrection was complete.

Loren pulled out her Gold American Express card as she prepared to call Amex Travel Services to price up flights and hotels for the trip to Shannon. She tapped Sergei on the shoulder with the newspaper, pointing to the article.

After waiting until he had read it, she then asked him a question as he looked up into her eyes; even having a husband who was 12 years younger than her didn't detract from her happiness at being able to discuss "anything" with him.

"Sergei: how would you fancy taking Lorna, Galina and "The Bump" to Ireland? I think we should invite Carolyn and Lizzie along as well".

Sergei's reply was swift and affirmative: "Da, my darling; we should go - and soon".

FIN-END-FIN-END-FIN-END-FIN-END

Thank you for your time, your comments, your reviews and your suggestions during this Alternate Universe journey based around Loren Singer's unscheduled swim in the Potomac on that early January night in 2003 (the fictional event which spawned the excellent "NCIS" series). The ripples in the timeline of the "JAG" universe can now return to their previous smooth pattern and I'll put the "JAG" characters back in their box. Let me know if you would be interested in reading the "Ireland" follow-on short story at some point - post a review please, preferably when you are signed in so that I can reply to you.

Mike: England, 20-May-2018.

FIN-FIN-FIN-FIN

End Ch. 11EP "Epilogue"