[EPILOGUE]

...

This time around, Miles falls asleep right during take-off. By the time he wakes up a few hours later they're coasting halfway through the Atlantic, and Frankie is lightly snoring and dribbling all over his shoulder. He rolls his eyes, then gently moves her towards her seat without waking her and retrieves his headphones from the bag at his feet.

Frankie wakes up with a start as the plane lands in Heathrow, which means she's ridiculously groggy through the whole passport control and baggage claim debacle. She practically falls asleep again sitting on her suitcase while Miles dips into a Boots to grab some food for them, and her mood only marginally improves as he comes back brandishing the snacks from the Meal Deals in her face.

It's a strange feeling being back, guiding his sister through this airport he knows so well by now. He feels weirdly at home, hearing snippets of conversations in British accent all around them as they walk across the Terminal and into the Tube station. They don't even need to get tickets, he just pulls out his spare Oyster card from his wallet and hands it over to Frankie, who is engrossed in the intricacies of the TfL map.

"Where are we getting off, you said?" Frankie asks.

"Old Street," Miles says. She's looking at a completely wrong portion of the Tube map, so he points to the right spot. "We have to change lines at King's Cross first, though."

"How long will it take?"

"About an hour, give or take. You tired?"

As if on cue, Frankie raises a hand to cover a yawn. Miles himself can't wait to get home, shower, and crash for a nap. Jet-leg is always so much worse when travelling East.

They end up nibbling at their pre-packaged sandwiches and sharing Frankie's earphones on the journey back. It's only a short walk from Old Street to his place, and soon he's pointing his front door to her. The building he lives in has a grey bricks facade – five-storey high, fairly new. It's one of those blocks of flats with full-length windows and little glass banisters, so you can pretend you have a balcony even though you don't. He carries Frankie's suitcase up the stairs, turns the key in the lock. They're home.

He's missed this place, this past couple of weeks. He's missed London in general, his friends, his routine — but also specifically his flat. It's the first place that's ever been actually his. Miles did the whole Student Halls experience his first year, then last year he shared an old Victorian house in Brixton with four of his friends. It was falling down, the bathrooms were mouldy and the corridor was covered in the ugliest carpet ever, but he loved it. It was home. Last summer he finally decided that fuck London rents, he has a trust fund, so he got himself this 1-bedroom place. It's less of a party house, but much better to actually focus on studying.

Frankie walks into the living room with her trolley behind her, taking in each corner of the space. "I like it," she says, "It's very you."

"The bedroom's yours, I'll take the sofa," he says, dropping his bag on the floor by the entrance. She turns on herself, locking eyes with him, and Miles perches on the armrest with a smile. "I promise, you'll love it here."

And Frankie smiles a little smile that reaches all the way to her eyes. And Miles can see a sparkle of excitement in them, and for the first time in weeks he's sure of it.

Everything will be okay.

...

...

But the ghosts that we knew made us blackened or blue
But we'll live a long life

And the ghosts that we knew will flicker from view
And we'll live a long life

(Mumford & Sons - Ghosts That We Knew)

...

Fin

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A/N: Guys. It's finished!

Honestly, I can't believe it. I always knew I was going to finish this, in my own sweet time – took me about three years but okay. It's just a bit surreal to be finally posting the epilogue! Let me know what you think, maybe this ending is a little underwhelming, I don't know. I wrote it so long ago I'm not even sure about it anymore.

To my extra-loyal reviewers who commented on every chapter: Thank you! It has been lovely reading your thoughts, please keep them coming and come stalking me in the PM, I love chatting :)

This story is finished, but the much-awaited prequel is coming up soon! Keep an eye out for it, follow me if you'd like, I'll post it in the next few days. It's called "Pretty Face".

Hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it (minus all the frustration at the multiple writer's blocks along the way).