It was Elizaveta who called the paramedics. While she waited for them to arrive, she also called Vash. At first she was afraid he wouldn't be coming: His voice was deep and breathy, and another voice in the background had urged him to hang up. But as soon as she explained the situation, he said he'd be over in five minutes.

It didn't take much for the court to find Gilbert guilty of second-degree attempted murder and rape. The gun he had used, and dropped on the porch as he ran away, was covered with his fingerprints. His sentence was long enough that he wouldn't be released from jail until Ludwig, Lili and Elizaveta were a few years out of college. It seemed a bit extreme, but all three of them were glad to have him gone.

With the exception of visiting Ludwig, Vash didn't let Lili out of the house at all in the few days following the incident. She assured him that she was fine, and that she would start to fall behind in school if she missed much more, but he would have none of it. He was obsessed with the notion that the world was a dangerous place for his sister, even though the person who had made it dangerous in the first place was behind bars.

He would have kept her in that house for the rest of the semester, if Elizaveta and Roderich hadn't teamed up. The plan had been simple: Roderich would spend the night with Vash, and the two would do whatever they pleased until the wee hours of the morning. With any luck, Vash would sleep through any noise that Lili made as she left the house in the morning. Once he woke, Roderich would explain to him that Elizaveta was keeping his sister safe, and if Vash made any move to go and bring her back home, Roderich would persuade him to stay. There were many ways of doing that.

So in that respect, everything was fine. Lili and Liz were safe, and with Feliciano's help, Ludwig healed completely. But there were still a few things that still needed to be resolved.

Vash replaced the door, Liz noted. Bummer. The bullet holes gave it character. She knocked, and Vash answered it. "Oh. It's you."

She grinned. "Don't sound so enthused. I'm just here to see your sister."

He shrugged. "She's out in the garden."

"Thank you!" She pushed past him and trotted through the house and out the back, to Lili's garden.

The garden wasn't one of your elaborate greenhouse-style gardens with rows and rows of flowers and herbs and a fountain, but it still wasn't all that shabby. There were a few herbs and vegetables, and at the center there was a small bench with a camelia bush on either side. Lili was on that bench, with her hands on her knees and her eyes on her feet.

"I brought you something."

The girl looked up, startled, and Elizaveta saw the puffiness in her eyes. Without hesitation, she dropped her purse on the ground and rushed over, enveloping her in a hug.

"I'm so selfish." Lili rested her head against Liz's shoulder.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am. Gil had been hurting you all this time, and all I could think about was…" She trailed off.

"Was?"

"Nothing."

"I'll leave unless you tell me." She loosened her grip on Lili, just a bit, to show that she was serious.

"I'd rather talk about something else."

"Like what?"

She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Like that night, before he showed up. That was real, wasn't it?"

Liz's lips tingled at the memory. "I'm so sorry for that. It shouldn't have happened and I don't even know why I did something like that…" Her arms fell away and she took a few steps back.

Lili grabbed her arm, though. "Please, don't be. I just wanted to know it you meant anything by it, that's all. Or if you were still acting."

Eyes darting back to her purse on the ground, she sighed. "I was never acting."

"Good, because neither was I."

Silence.

"So…" Lili pushed a few bangs off of her forehead. "What does this make us?"

Liz shrugged. "Whatever we want to be…?"

A grin formed on Lili's face, but she turned her eyes back to her feet. "I have a few ideas, then. Wait." She jerked her head back up to meet Liz's eyes. "Didn't you say you brought something?"

"Oh, right!" She backed up and snatched up her purse, digging around in it for a small box, which she pressed into Lili's hands. She took the spot next to Lili as she tentatively untied the ribbon and lifted the lid away.

"It's gorgeous…" Inside was a simple silver pendant, shaped like a lily.

"Consider it a thank-you gift."

"But you don't need to thank me for anything."

"Then… an early birthday present?" hands shaking, Elizaveta took the necklace out of the box and fastened it around Lili's neck.

"My birthday's not for another two months."

"Then what do you want it to be?"

"Maybe it could just be a prelude to this?" Without warning, Lili shifted her face just a few inches forward, where her lips hesitated just millimeters away from Elizaveta's.

"That works," she murmured. She closed the distance between them at last, with all her secrets finally out in the open.

There would be no more secrets, she vowed, for a long, long time.

Well it's not the best, but it could be a lot worse. I'm just thankful that it's finished. Onto the next project!