A/N: I have been told that I ought to give tissue warnings, so here it is. I took so long to write this because I kept tearing up as I worked on it.

Never Forgotten

My sister has a tendency to come off a bit rough and abrasive, but she has a kind heart. I've known this all my life and yet, I've never been prouder of her than I am right now. I've seen a depth of kindness in her that I could never have imagined. It's not just what she did but what she inspired others to do and that is what makes all the difference.

I expected Rhiannon to contact Alice in some way. Perhaps she'd invite her over for the holidays, or find some way to get Alice together with her family. I assumed she'd tell Alice about my relationship with Jack and my death and how that made them sisters. Once Rhiannon decided someone was family it was almost impossible for them to escape. I thought it would be good for Alice to belong somewhere, to be part of normal family life, but my amazing sister had planned so much more.

Rhiannon was never much of a letter writer, but that was how she decided to contact Alice. She did explain who she was and about Jack and me, but that was not all. She told Alice about David and Mica and the soldiers who came to take them away. She told her about trying to hide them and the other children and how they ultimately failed. She told her of the crying mothers and desperate fathers as they watched their children being taken away to a fate worse than death by a government that said they weren't worth anything. Then as a mother who nearly lost both her children to a mother who did lose her child, Rhiannon thanked Alice (and Steven) for saving her children's lives. She even included a picture of them, so Alice could see at least two of the children saved by her son's sacrifice.

Then Rhiannon wrote about how she knew this would do nothing to stop the pain Alice was feeling, but she wanted her to know that this above all made her a permanent part of the Davies family. David and Mica were now just as much Alice's children as Rhiannon's because, if it weren't for Alice and Steven, David and Mica wouldn't be here. Rhiannon wanted Alice to know that she wasn't the only mother that felt this way. She had made sure to tell as many people as possible just how their children were saved and at what cost. To hell with government cover-ups, if Rhiannon had anything to do with it, Steven would always be remembered for the hero he was and Alice's loss would never be forgotten.

As if that wasn't enough, the kids added their own bit. From now on, Alice was their auntie and Steven was their cousin. They would both be remembered for as long as David, Mica, and their families lived. They knew Alice was sad, but they wanted her to know that Steven would be okay if she let herself be happy once in a while. After all, that's what they would want for their mother. They ended the letter with a picture Mica drew and the hope that Alice would come visit them.

If I could have cried I would have, but that was only the beginning. Soon Alice began to receive letters and packages from other families. Not only did the people Rhiannon talked to contact Alice, but so did the people they told the story to and so on. I'd like to say the story made it around the world, but that's asking a bit much. It did make it around much of Wales and hit a few other spots in the UK. All the messages gave their heartfelt thanks and their sorrow for Alice's loss.

The messages were truly amazing. One mother, who was expecting her third child, promised to name the new baby after Steven and make sure that he and his siblings knew the significance of that name. There were many other promises of children to be named after him, including a twelve year old girl who promised to name her first son after him when she grew up to thank him for saving her little brother and sister. Judging from the letters, the next few years were going to see quite a jump in popularity for the names Steven and Stephanie among new babies in Wales.

Alice also received photos of the children who were saved. Their parents wanted her to be able to put names and faces to some of the children who were still here because of Steven. They all felt that, at least in some part, she was mother to all these children. Without her, the parents of millions of children would all be feeling her grief first hand. They would never forget what Alice and Steven had sacrificed, and they would both be in their hearts and part of their families for as long as those families went on.

All of that was very touching of course, but it was the messages from the children themselves that made me wish I still had tears to cry. One little girl drew a picture of Steven with wings so that, whenever Alice was sad, she could look at it and remember that he was an angel now and was watching over all the little children. There were other pictures of Steven in Heaven, smiling and waving to his mother. There were poems from some of the other children, and one very talented young man even wrote and recorded a song about Steven. They all said the same thing in one way or another: Thank you for bringing them home to their parents, thank you for saving their lives.

I was worried that this would be too much for Alice, but it wasn't. The pain didn't go away, of course, but it did seem to lessen. What did go away was the anger and loneliness, washed away by the tears brought on by this outpouring of gratitude and love. Alice wasn't alone with her loss. All of these people felt for her and understood because they had faced that same horrifying loss themselves. Steven didn't die for the government, or for some nameless and faceless number of children. He died for all of these little boys and girls whose parents loved them as much as she loved Steven. He died so that they would live and remember him and teach their own children how one little boy had saved millions.

Alice eventually did visit my sister and her family. They actually got along quite well despite how different they were. Rhiannon was true to her word and treated Alice just like a sister. I think she fussed over Alice just as much as she had ever fussed over me. I've even seen Alice smile once or twice when the kids had done something just for her. I'm still holding out hope that one day she will forgive Jack for his part in Steven's death. Maybe now she can see that he was able to do it, not because he's a monster, but because he felt responsible for all of the children of Earth, not just his own. I guess I just want her to be able to see Jack the way I see him, flawed and complicated but full of hope and determination to make things better no matter what it costs him.