(This is a bit of an OC/AU thing, so let's pretend this is possible)
Ilya had received a package from Stevlana. The last time she visited Russia, she had managed to save some of Irina's things. Now the box lay before him. Shane, beside him, approached to open it.
The first thing they saw were a couple of photographs, all worn and yellowed with age. In the first one, a young Ilya could be seen next to a beautiful blonde woman, both smiling in front of a frozen lake.
"I didn't know you had pictures with her," Shabe exclaimed as he gently took the photo in his hands. Little Ilya looked happy, very different from the image Shane had formed in his mind of those days.
"My father destroyed everything, or so I thought. She must have hidden these," Ilya said, holding another photo, one where Irina was cradling baby Ilya in her arms, wrapped in a blue blanket. His mother smiled wearily as she seemed to be cradling him.
The box contained a wealth of memories held within objects. A scarf that, if Ilya really tried, still smelled like her. Ilya's baby blanket, a woven bracelet. The latter was given to Shane, who looked at it in awe.
"Keep it. She'd want you to have something to remind you that she's with you too." Shane looked at Ilya with teary eyes, nodding and tying the bracelet around her wrist.
At the bottom of the box were papers: birth certificates for both siblings, faded receipts, and notes. Shane reached in and pulled out a book. As he flipped through it, a note fell out. Shane could barely decipher the Cyrillic script, but he quickly recognized Ilya's name. He handed him the note, and Ilya began to read it aloud.
"Ilya, if you find this, I hope you know how much I love you. I never stopped, but I'm tired, darling. You were always enough for me, and I hope that someday someone will see this, will see the beautiful person you'll become. I hope that whoever it is, man or woman, will always make you happy. I'll make sure to be with you every step of the way."
Ilya sobbed as he finished reading the note. "I never, ever told her anything about..."
"She knew her baby." Shane hugged Ilya tightly, praying that wherever she was, Irina would know that Shane had fulfilled her wishes, that he would love Ilya for the rest of his life.
