Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or ideas from The Killing. It's all just for fun.

Spoilers: None (Post series finale, this chapter happens solely in my head)

A/N: Last chapter… *sniff*

Jack's plane was getting in at 5:00 p.m., and Linden was beyond excited. She left work at 4:00 and drove straight to the airport. There was a little bit of traffic, but not too much, and by 4:30 she was parked and making her way into the terminal. She located Jack's flight listed on the arrival board, so she could see which terminal he would be coming into. She planted herself outside of security, so that she wouldn't be able to miss him when he emerged. It didn't make any sense, but she felt almost nervous with excitement. She'd seen Jack in Chicago a few months ago, and she'd talked to him even more frequently than she had been accustomed to since she'd been back in Seattle. So why was she feeling so anxious?

She was standing and fidgeting, trying to entertain herself for the twenty some minutes that remained before his flight was even due to land, when suddenly she heard a familiar little voice screaming her name from somewhere nearby. Turning and searching the crowd, all she saw was a blur of bright colors headed straight for her, and only seconds later she felt the impact of Kahlia running full speed into her legs, nearly knocking her off her feet. She managed to catch the girl so that neither of them fell over, though just barely. Linden couldn't help but laugh as she looked up, searching the crowd for Holder, who caught up with his daughter a second later.

"Olympic runners got nothin' on my kid," he said, shaking his head as he walked up to them. "She spotted you from across the room and just sprinted the rest of the way. Gonna have to have a talk with her about that later." She chuckled and shook her head at him, as Kahlia continued to cling to her legs excitedly, bouncing up and down as if there were springs in her feet.

Linden crouched down so that she could give Kahlia a real hug, and actually talk to her. "Hi, sweetheart," she greeted the girl when Kahlia finally released her from a very tight hug. "I didn't know you guys were coming to pick up Jack, too."

"It was daddy's idea. He thought it might be a nice surprise, and my mommy said it was okay. They traded days around or something like that," Kahlia told her, still so excited that she couldn't stand stop bouncing. Linden smiled at her, and hugged her again. Just when she thought they couldn't surprise her with any other sweet gestures… they did.

"I'm glad you're both here. I was feeling a little lonely standing here waiting by myself," Linden told Kahlia seriously. Kahlia nodded as if she understood completely. Just then, Linden felt Holder grabbing her hand and tugging on it. She looked up to see him looking at her impatiently, and pushed herself to stand up again.

"Is it my turn now?" he asked with a grin.

"Your turn for what?" Linden replied.

"To say hi. Apparently you have to be five years old and cute to get attention around here," Holder said, pretending to pout.

She grinned back at him. "Don't worry, I don't think you act any older than five most of the time, and you're pretty cute too. Feel better?" She bit her lip trying to keep a straight face, but it didn't work. Holder burst out laughing at that, but then pretended to be terribly offended. It didn't work, though, because he still couldn't keep a straight face.

"I always said you were extremely observant," he finally conceded with a smile.

"I didn't know you guys were coming," she told him happily.

"Yeah well, ya know, I don't just do airport runs when your kid's leaving. I like to see the happy ones, too. And this one," he pointed at Kahlia, "was so excited when I told her that Jack was coming to visit, I don't think she would ever have forgiven me if I hadn't agreed to let her tag along. She apparently waged a short but Oval-Office-worthy campaign to get Caroline to let her come along, even though it wasn't a day when we'd usually have her."

Kahlia was listening to their conversation, and she slipped her hand into Linden's free one. Linden couldn't help but look back down at her, beaming at Sarah like Holder had never seen before. She suddenly felt him watching her with what seemed like was an unusually big grin – and that was really saying something.

When she looked at him questioningly, he leaned closer to her ear, so that Kahlia didn't hear him. "You just look like someone handed you the fuckin' moon."

Her smile returned then. "You didn't know? Someone did," she replied with a grin, knowing exactly how sickeningly sweet her words were coming out, but saying them anyway and laughing at herself. He shook his head at her, and slid his hand out of her hand so that he could thread it around her waist, careful not to tug her away from Kahlia, who was looking around excitedly.

"Daddy? Sarah? Is it almost time?" she asked, her excitement seeming to have recharged while the adults had been talking.

Holder checked his watch, and replied, "Ten more minutes, little lady."

"Ten minutes?!" Kahlia moaned dramatically. "That's, like, forever!" Linden and Holder chuckled, looking at each other and shaking their heads.

Linden leaned down slightly toward the girl so she could hear her better. "Ten minutes isn't so long, Kahlia. It took me five years to get back to Seattle after I left."

The girl's mouth fell open and she looked up at Linden in shock. "That's… my whole life!" Linden was pretty sure she'd just blown Kahlia's mind a little bit, and she chuckled, but then nodded at her.

"And you know what? Your daddy waited all those five years not even knowing if we'd get to see each other again."

Kahlia suddenly looked confused. "But why wouldn't you see each other again?"

Linden just smiled at her. "It's a really, really long story, but I promise that I'll tell you someday, when you're older and it makes more sense. Okay?"

Once again, Kahlia displayed amazing maturity. She stood and appeared to be thinking the whole thing over very carefully for several minutes, and then finally she looked up at Linden and just smiled the same adoring smile that she always gave her. "Okay, Sarah," she said happily, "it's a deal." Then she looked from Linden to Holder as though she'd thought of something else, and said solemnly, "That's a really long time to wait for something."

They both nodded in agreement. "You know what? You're right about that," Linden replied. "But the really good stuff is worth it, no matter how long you have wait." Again, Kahlia looked at her wide-eyed, as though Linden had told her one of the biggest secrets of the universe.

Suddenly Holder was nudging her in the side. "Hey, yo, Linden, this guy claims that he knows you—" Linden looked up in confusion to see what Holder was talking about, and was surprised to see Jack standing in front of her. She immediately let go of both Holder and Kahlia so she could hug her son tightly, happy tears immediately squeezing themselves out of the corners of her eyes.

"You're early!" she exclaimed in surprise, unable to contain her excitement that Jack had just suddenly appeared before her as if by magic.

"Yeah, the flight left on time, for once, and they told us we'd probably be here early… and we were." He smiled, then looked over Linden's shoulder at Holder. A look of recognition passed between Holder and Jack, which Linden saw in Holder's eyes, and then turned slightly to see it in Jack's as well, as they nodded at each other.

They've got a secret of some kind, she thought, thinking back to all the times Jack had talked about Holder when she'd been on the road. She'd have to ask them about that sometime.

Then just like that, Jack extracted himself from Linden's hug so that he could perform the same multi-part salute ritual with Holder that they'd done each time they'd seen each other when Jack had lived in Seattle, many years ago. It made Linden laugh to see that Jack still remembered it. When that was completed, Linden was surprised to see them clap each other on the back in a typical "guy hug." He's so grown up, she thought. When did this happen?

Kahlia was watching quietly from the other side of Linden, and now she leaned against Linden's leg, excited but nervous. Jack saw her peeking at him, and he squatted down to her level to say hi. "Hey, you must be Kahlia. It's really nice to finally meet you!" He held out his hand for her to shake, and she grinned at him with the same adoring look that she always gave his mom.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Kahlia replied in awe. She was only silent for about ten seconds, though, before she started talking to Jack excitedly about anything and everything. Her school, her friends, her favorite things… she just went on and on.

Linden turned towards Holder, who was watching the two proudly, and took a step closer to him. Jack glanced at the two of them in surprise and amusement, clearly not having expected Kahlia to be quite as much of a bundle of energy as she was. That was when they overheard Kahlia tell Jack in an unnecessarily loud voice – probably for their benefit – that, "sometimes they kiss. They do it a lot, actually. It's kinda gross, but it seems to make them happy. I've gotten used to it."

They looked at each other, and Holder winked at her, a grin on his face, then shrugged and whispered "Yeah, well, you know how we do," and then leaned down to kiss her quickly on the lips.

They heard Kahlia groan, and tell Jack in her very adult, yet very young voice, "See? They're doing it again. I just don't understand grown-ups." They glanced at Jack, who looked like he was working hard to keep a straight face and nodded at them, then looked down at Kahlia solemnly and told her, "Don't worry, just stick with me. I'm not kissing anybody." Linden bit her lip to keep from laughing at that comment, and Holder grabbed her hand once again, giving it a squeeze.

"Thank goodness someone isn't," Kahlia replied dramatically, and she grabbed Jack's hand, then looked over at Linden and Holder. "Daddy? Sarah? Are we ready to go? We've got Jack!"

"Yes we do, and yes we are!" Holder replied quickly, "Now what do you guys say we go out for pizza?"

"Pizza!" Kahlia almost screamed with delight. If the airport hadn't been so noisy at this time of day, they would have attracted far more looks from passers by than they did.

Jack shook his head at the girl beside him, smiling in amusement and then replied, "Sounds great, Holder." Jack and Kahlia started to walk forward through the crowd, Linden and Holder close behind them.

"And what about you, Linden? Pizza sound good?" He watched her and he just knew the wheels in her head were turning again, but not in a bad way. Squeezing her hand, he was about to ask if she was okay when she finally replied.

"Anywhere is perfect," she said, her voice choking just a little bit on the wave of emotion she suddenly felt. "This… is perfect."

"Yep, it is," Holder agreed. "It's like someone very wise once said… about two minutes ago… The good stuff is worth waiting for," he added matter-of-factly. She looked at him and shook her head, in awe that he was allowing something quite so cheesy to come out of his mouth. But he wasn't wrong.

She looked at Kahlia, now skipping along hand in hand with Jack, in front of them. "What can I say? She's a good influence on me."

"You're a good influence on her," he replied. The look that she gave him made it clear that she couldn't be farther from agreeing. "What? I'm serious," Holder told her looked at the floor, her pace slowing. He let go of her hand and pulled it around her waist, keeping her moving at the pace they'd been walking, and leaned down closer to her ear, murmuring, "Let the past go, Linden. You're here, and I'm here, and they're here, and we're all ok. We're better than ok. …Okay?"

She smiled slowly and nodded in surrender, leaning into him as he pulled her tighter to him still. Jack turned around just then and looked at them over his shoulder. He smiled and rolled his eyes. "Watch out, Holder, she's got that look on her face again. The sappy one."

Holder grinned at the young man in front of him proudly. "Just means I'm doin' my job, Little Man." Jack shook his head, but the smile on his face told them that he couldn't be happier as he turned back and said something to Kahlia that they couldn't hear. Whatever it was, it resulted in her once again bouncing up and down with excitement.

If Linden could have frozen time, it would have been in that moment right there. This was it.

She was home.

A/N: Okay, this is really the end this time. Thank you so much for sticking with this story. I came late to the party for The Killing, only discovering it months before season 4 came out on Netflix, but I think I made up for it in my love for these characters. I saw so much of myself in them, and writing this has been like therapy for myself in a way, just MUCH cheaper. As much as I have LOVED writing this story (and my other one for The Killing, "Running"), I don't really see any more stories for them in my future. But then again, you never know, because I never would've thought I'd spend nearly 145,000 words and 68 chapters (plus the nearly 35,000 words and 16 chapters of "Running") over the course of seventeen months devoted to them, either. Thank you Shelby, for telling me to watch The Killing in the first place, and for reading and giving me your "world's shortest text reviews" on pretty much every single chapter. Thanks to everyone else who read this story and left reviews here as well. I'm really going to miss these two.