*****

Epilogue: 26 years later

Liz Parker was pacing. She was nervously waiting in Maria's hospital room. Maria was asleep. Liz's eyes lit up as she saw Max Evans form in the doorway.

"You're here," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. He nodded and walked over to Maria's bed.

"How is she?"

"Not good," Liz answered. "Isabel will be back in a minute. She went to get something to drink."

Max stared down at Maria. Liz was glad that he was here. Even if there was nothing that he could do. She supposed Max Evans would always be her savior.

*****

Isabel Guerin walked slowly through the hospital hallways. She felt a lot older than twenty-six. She thought about her mother having done this at the age of twenty. Her mother had survived so much. Sighing, she walked through the doorway of the hospital room.

"Uncle Max!" She threw her arms around him. "I'm so glad that you're here."

"Where else would I be?"

She pulled back and looked at her godparents. Such a strange set. But in her heart she knew that one completed the other.

That night, she watched as Uncle Max stared at her mother. She had always tried to get them together when she was a kid. But her mother's heart belonged to her father. She had dated some men, but she never got serious with any of them.

>>> "But, Mom, I just worry about you living here all by yourself. It's been years since daddy died."

Maria had laughed. "Isabel, I'm fine. I'm tough. Pure Teflon." <<<

That was her mother, she thought. Pure Teflon. She wished that she had known her father. In ways she did. Everyone talked about him all the time. Everyone loved him. And, of course, there were her powers. They were his gift. That and completely unmanageable hair.

But it was mainly always just her and her mother. When Uncle Max would visit, her mother would be so much happier. She thought that he must remind her of Michael.

Her Aunt Isabel arrived later that afternoon. She was the one that Isabel was named for. Maria had told her that at first she had wanted to name her Elizabeth Amy, for Liz and her mother. But when she had been born, Maria had taken one look at her and said, "Isabel." She took it as a compliment, really. Her aunt was the most beautiful woman she knew. She asked her mother once what it was that made her think of Isabel.

"Your eyes," she had answered. "They sparkled the way Isabel's used to."

Alex arrived around seven. He hugged her. "How's my girl?" She smiled. He always called her that. It wasn't true. But she was named for his girl.

And Kyle arrived last. He brought his wife with him. He and Liz talked for a while. Isabel saw the way that they looked at each other. They had been in love. But it was different from the way that Max looked at Liz. She couldn't really understand all of it. She had asked Liz about it once.

>>> "Well, Isabel, I have been lucky. I was loved by two men. Most people don't get that. Most people don't get one."

"But if you had to pick," Isabel had asked, "which one would it be?"

"That's just it, Isabel," Liz had answered softly. "I will love them both forever. It's something that I wouldn't stop, even if I could. But Kyle deserved to be with someone who would love only him."

"And Uncle Max?"

"Your Uncle Max and I share a connection, a bond that can never be broken. We are a part of each other, forever. He and your mother are my best friends." <<<

Isabel smiled as her uncle looked out of the corner of his eye at Liz. She sometimes wondered how friendly they were.

This is it, she thought. My whole family. She turned and entered her mother's room.

"Hey, Mom," she said, sitting down on the side of the bed. Maria looked up at her. She had very little strength left. "They're all here."

Maria nodded. "Mom, please," she begged once more. "Please let me help you." Maria shook her head. Isabel was so frustrated. She could fix this. At the very least, she could make the pain cease a bit. But her mother refused.

"Isabel, listen to me," she whispered. "I love you. But it's time for me to go."

Isabel nodded. "I love you too, Mom," she said. She knew that her mother had managed to survive twenty-six years without her father. It was a long time to live without your heart. But that didn't make this any easier.

"I may be leaving, but I'm not leaving you."

Isabel sat there, holding her mother's hand until the machines around her began to scream and the doctors came in and pushed her out of the way. She rejoined her family in the waiting room.

Max took her home that night. He looked over and saw a peaceful smile on her face. She had fallen asleep.

She dreamed that it was snowing. She had only seen snow a few times in her life. But it was snowing. And she could see two figures walking ahead of her. They turned to wait for her to catch up.

"She heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all of the living and the dead."-James Joyce, "The Dead"