Epilogues Chapter 59, Flame Out

Summary:

Virgil gets the full teasing treatment from his family after inviting Kip Harris over to the island.

(I adore this episode)

In 1972, Jean Boulet set the current world record for the highest altitude reached by a helicopter at 40,820 ft. On his descent, the engine flamed out and he was forced to land without power, earning him two additional world records. – WTF Fun Facts

Also available on AO3 & FFNet

... ...

Moving On

A holiday away, my goodness had Sally needed it. Not to escape her family, but time away so she could gather her own thoughts and feelings…

You see, it had been twelve years since she’d lost Grant, her first and only love. After losing him she believed that would be it for her on the romance. No one could replace him, and for years afterwards she had continued to stick to that belief, but now her grandchildren were all grownup, and doing her immensely proud by continuing her Jeffrey’s dream, thoughts about dating had begun to creep into her head.

At first, she had felt like she was betraying Grant’s memory, deep-down though she knew that just wasn’t true. Then small little confirmations that he was giving her his blessing, things that others would pass of as mere coincidences came to pass. Like spotting the type of flowers she had used for her wedding bouquet suddenly growing where they hadn’t before, smelling his aftershave, (Granted that may have been from one of her grandsons switching brands) but she liked to believe...

Then another confirmation arrived in the form of an invitation from a friend. Samantha Edwards, her best friend since the age of 5. Samantha had been her bridesmaid at her own wedding to Grant and she’d returned the favour at hers. However, both of them had been unlucky. Samantha, like herself, had lost her husband. He had passed from a long illness 7 years previously, and like she had, Samantha had believed she would never experience true love again…

Well, until now…

Samantha had chatted happily away about the man she had met just a year previously and was now preparing to marry. She was of course invited, and honoured to be asked to be beside her at her wedding. So, after much reassurance that they would be okay, especially now the Hood was loose, and the Chaos Crew were on the scene. She had packed her bags, kissed her family goodbye, and set off to spend some one-on-one time with her best friend before the big day…

And what a couple of weeks it was. Filled with laughter, tears, a few evenings drinking a little too much Gin, and the opportunity to talk openly about the feelings that she had been having… Samantha had been fantastic, admitting that she too had reservations at first, but once she was back out socialising she hadn’t regretted a thing, especially since it had led to her meeting her fiancé.

Her feelings validated, promises to Samantha that she would once again try this dating lark were made…