Hope

Day one, day one / Start over again
Step one, step one / I'm barely making sense
For now I'm faking it / 'Til I'm psuedo-making it
From scratch, begin again / But this time I as I
And not as we

- Not As We, Alanis Morissette -

---

The night air was thick with sirens as the rest of the police force converged on the railroad warehouse; cars surrounded the building, but it was ultimately unnecessary. What the force had come there to do, they'd already accomplished; now, it was just getting the criminals back to the police station where they belonged.

But, most of the police force was oblivious to who the true hero was, tonight. Yes, it was Jebidiah Kane; but was it Jebidiah Kane the Private Investigator, or Jebidiah Kane, Master of Thievery?

Perhaps it was best they remain oblivious, for the answer would probably not be swallowed easily by the more righteous minded in the force. Yes, probably best they do not know.

Things weren't sitting at all well with Meredith Kane, either -- her mind was in turmoil over all the things she'd just heard and seen. As the rest of the occupants of the building swarmed around the cars outside -- mostly preparing to bag, tag, and leave -- Meredith stood by the exit with her face in her hand, her husband speechless beside her.

"I-- I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this, Jeb. You-- you threatened to hurt a man's daughter. I'm so angry, but... I'm just so relieved it's all just overwith. I know it's so selfish, but... All I seem to care about is that my I'm not the one being taken away, right now."

"And Meredith, you're not going to be. Ever." Jebidiah took his wife by the shoulders, doing his best to comfort her. "It's in the past, now."

"But Carolina, and Thomas... They know..."

"And no one is going to believe a word they say, after what I said about it being false evidence. It was my own damn fault that Naomi ended up finding that on my computer -- but now, it doesn't matter. You're as good as proven 'not-guilty', Mere. It's done."

"And-- and Naomi?" Meredith said, still quivering.

"Naomi used our daughter, Meredith. She betrayed the trust we put in her. Those sort of decisions aren't made by innocent, sweet little girls." Jeb frowned when he realized that that didn't seem to be making his wife feel the least bit better. "And Mere, there wasn't any way that I was going to let her get hurt. I gave Naomi the option to cooperate,so she could even the score she set with me. Now, all is forgiven. Do you understand?"

"I... I guess. But I'm still not sure how I feel about it."

"And you're allowed to feel however you want about it, Meredith, but, you have to understand," Jebidiah said after taking a deep breath. "This is my life. I can't be someone I'm not anymore. Not even for you. If that means you want to leave me..."

"Oh, Jeb..." Meredith quickly took him into her arms, wrapping them about his neck. "No, nothing like that. I mean, I'm not really all that happy about all of this, but..."

"...But?"

"But," she answered as she pulled far enough away to look into her husband's eyes. "I realized a long time ago that I love you, and this is part of who you are. I won't always agree with you, Jeb, and I won't always be happy about it; but I married you because I love you, not you pretending to be someone else. Even if it means I've gotta put up with this for the rest of my life... I wouldn't want to put up with it from anyone else."

"So... You're okay with this?" Jeb asked, so surprised that he couldn't help but smile.

"Not perfectly okay, but..." Meredith smirked. "I certainly could have done a lot worse."

As they pulled apart, Jebidiah couldn't help but chuckle to himself -- he could probably say the same. He was incredibly lucky to have someone like her.

"Well, looks like everything's taken care of, Jeb," Tana said as she approached them, the rest of the cops behind her now starting to put the criminals into their cars. "Between this and the evidence that Tatianna gave us, we've got enough to ensure the Lemans stick behind bars, this time."

"Good. And no questions asked, correct?"

"Correct. Tatianna's agreed to put everything she ever knew about the Kanes and Chandra Hawkins out of print so long as she gets her portion of the goods."

"Well, I'll make sure we get what we need out of here before any of your cronies decide to come in here and tally it all up," Jeb said stiffly, pointing towards the crates. "We won't be getting much out of it this time, since Tatianna's got a rather skewed idea of what 'fair' is, but it's worth it in the end."

When Tana scowled, Jeb shrugged and continued, "It's a small price to pay for what we've gotten. Now the Lemans are out of our hair, and there's nothing else in our way from taking over this town."

"Well," said a voice creeping up behind Jebidiah. "Except the politicians, but I think I've got my finger on a perfect candidate to... persuade to our cause, boss." Marta brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes as she smiled at her accomplices.

Jebidiah laughed, still looking at his law enforcing sister-in-law. "I think she's just saying that so she can do something other than just flip a light switch, this time."

"Hey!" Marta yelped, whacking her boss on the arm. "It was a  very complicated light switch, thank-you-very-much!"

As Marta whipped out her wrench to prove just how complicated it was, Jebidiah continued to laugh -- but this time, his laugh changed.

It was not the laugh of amusement, but of the sudden euphoria of power; the criminals were his, the police force was his, and now the government was only a small step away. There would be many positions of power in Twinbrook, all wearing different faces -- but underneath at all, there was only really one man pulling the strings:

And thus, the new Emperor of Evil was born.

---

With each small push she made, the metal chains in her hands sang a rusty melody against the pole they hung from; Alesha swung to and fro, going no where, watching the world in front of her as if she were apart from it. The swings were a small escape, but at least she found one.
 

The view before her slowly darkened as the sun began to fall yet again, and as the sky turned colors she grudgingly considered that it was time to go home. The beach, the lake, the trees were peaceful -- but Alesha knew she couldn't stay here forever.

It made her happy, though, this place -- you could feel serene in the midst of a storm, or alone in the midst of a crowd.

But, as she smiled at the beauty around her, she didn't realize how quite not-alone she really was.

Bradley could feel his courage dwindling the longer he watched her, so when he felt the urge to run away, he gently cleared his throat. "Er, hi Alesha."

When she stood -- more out of surprise than anything -- her face fell from it's content smile to a pained grimace, seeing who it was who was speaking to her.

"Please, Brad," she began, her voice weak. "I honestly don't have the energy to go through this, again. I get it, you don't want anything to do with me -- you don't have to rub salt in the wound, you know."

"Salt in the-- No, Alesha. That's not why I'm here."

Alesha raised a brow, now skeptical. "Then... why?"

"Look, Alesha," Brad began, his voice shaking from nervousness. "I know I haven't been very nice to you, the past few weeks. I could give you a list of excuses on why I've been the way I have, but in the end, they'd all just sound pretty stupid. There's not really anything I can do to make up for that, and... Well, I'm honestly really sorry. You didn't deserve that from me."

"I--" Alesha paused, biting her lip. "I guess, it's okay. I understand, Brad."

"I know you're still not all that happy with me, but... There's something else," Brad said slowly, the shakes in his words now spreading to his hands.

"And what's that?"

"It's just-- Those things I said to you, Alesha... They aren't true. I was just afraid of moving on, and I was just saying anything I could to prevent it from happening."

Alesha's face barely seemed to change; she still seemed so sad, and now her eyes averted to the ground, avoiding looking into his gaze.

"Alesha--" He said, reaching out to take her hand from her side. "From the very beginning, you cared about me more than I thought anyone ever could. Every step of the way you've tried to help me, to comfort me, to be my friend... Even to love me. I didn't see it before, but now I do. Now I really see how you feel about me..."

"And... and I think," Brad said, closing his eyes as he clenched her hand even tighter in his. "I feel the same way, about you. Even when I feel the worst about everything that's happened, you always find a way to make me feel whole again. It's going to be hard for me, moving on, but... I think I can do it, if I have you."

"What are you--" Alesha began, but was cut off by Brad, who was now finally beginning to smile.

"What I mean is," he said, looking deep into Alesha eyes. "I want to give 'us' a try, Alesha. I want to try to be the guy for you that takes care of you like you take care of me."

"You mean... You want to-- to be with me? Really?" Alesha still was trapped in disbelief, but the smile on Bradley's face began to melt that away; she could see that he was sincere.

"Really," Bradley said, confirming it.

But it wasn't until Bradley leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers that all her worries finally melted away; yes, he was finally ready to move on.

And, when he shared his first kiss with her, the last weight on his heart finally faded; Bradley knew, finally, he'd be okay.

---

"Aaaaggh, Travis, you're-- Ouch! That was my elbow!"

"Sorry!"

Travis turned at a different angle, but it still didn't seem to be perfect. He didn't care, though; he was going to get it, even if it took all day.

"Why are we even doing this, again? This is so ridiculous," Jade grumbled into Travis' ear. "I've walked into your house, like, a thousand times already. The chivalry is already kinda wasted."

"Pffft, whatever," he responded, rolling his eyes. "This is your first time coming in with this as your house, and I don't want you tripping over your two left feet to be the first memory you have of moving in."

"Besides," he continued, inching a bit more through the doorframe. "If I'm gonna have a girl move in with me, I'm gonna do it right, okay?"

"Agh," Jade said, rolling her eyes this time. "Whatever it takes to make you stop being a baby about it."

Travis, however, was having a hard time concentrating on getting Jade through the door; as he paused, he noticed someone standing on the street corner... And a pit sunk deep into his stomach.

"What's wrong, Travis?" Jade muttered, impatiently wiggling her toes.

"Er, nothing," he responded. "Why?"

"Becaaaauuuseee... You're just standing there?"

"Oh, right! Right. Sorry." Travis cleared his throat, and then finally began to turn and ease the girl held in his arms through the door.

"There! See, that wasn't so bad," he said with a smirk as he crossed the threshold. "Welcome home, Ms. Greenwood."

"Eeerrggh! Just put me down, already!" Jade was getting fidgety in his arms, but at least she was finding it in her to giggle about it. "Just because I'm clumsy doesn't make me a freakin' damsel in distress!"

The sound of Jade's laughter flodded the street as Travis began to tickle her, leaving the sole occupant of the sidewalk only one choice -- to leave.

Lolly felt the pain, but the thick Racket blood in her helped her keep her composure. There was nothing more she could do, and no sense crying about it -- with a deep breath and a gritting of teeth, Lolly turned, slowly, and walked away.

Travis had made his choice, and it was not her.

"That better?" Travis said as he carefully let Jade's legs fall to the ground.

"Much," she said, a smile beaming brightly on her face. "Now... How about some pancakes?"

"That sounds amazing," he smiled back. Nope, nothing could quite ease the commitment jitters like the best food on the planet -- and she knew the way straight to his heart.

---

Yes, who we are has much to do with where we came from and how we were raised -- but in the end, what truly defines us is the choices that we make.

These choices had led the Kanes down very different paths, but this time -- this day -- it was a path of victory and success. The Kanes were finally reaching the life that they deserved, for better or for worse.

Whether it was a plan for domination that was finally beginning to manifest...

... a step into a commitment that could lead into happily ever after...

... or even just reaching out their arms, and giving someone a chance -- the Kanes were finally taking a path towards a new life and new hope, and a place where happiness could be found.

But, this may not be true for all, for there is still a story that is yet to be written; for others, the paths are only just starting to begin --

Paths leading where only the stars can see.