1Abby Mance had lived a long and fulfilling life. She never considered her life to be happy because of all the tragedies she'd suffered through, but she was happy in her life. She was happy when Jimmy had finally taken the big step and asked for her hand in marriage. They never, however, had a big church wedding; churches held too many bad memories. She was happy when she had her children, Nicole and Christopher. There were plenty of instances that made Abby happy in life, but there were also those that brought her back to her past.
Abby never could leave the past behind her, how could she? She became better with time; the nightmares lessened, she'd stopped crying so much, and she stopped seeing them, but the guilt never left her. The guilt of not foreseeing anything that had happened on that island all those years ago when it had been all about her ate her up on the inside. She wanted to believe that she could have done nothing to stop anything like Jimmy used to tell her and back then she had to believe that to stay sane, but no matter how much she believed what Jimmy told her there was always that one thought of "What if…?" in the back of her mind.
After she'd left the island the second time, Jimmy was the only thing keeping her going. He would make her eat, sleep, kept the nightmares away, and even tried to make her laugh. He was the one that chased away the bad thoughts and memories. But Jimmy wasn't with her anymore. Jimmy had passed away a few years before, peacefully, and with Abby by his side. Without Jimmy the what if's and the thoughts began to return to Abby.
Knowing her time on this Earth would soon be done, Abby finally confronted her thoughts.
What if I had distracted Wakefield long enough for Cal and Chloe to get away? They'd have been happily married, with kids and would've lived a long time. She smiled weakly as she imagined what their wedding would have been like. What if I had made it to J.D. a minute earlier? He would still be alive, and would have hopefully returned to being the jokester he used to be. What if I'd been more observant? What if I'd never returned to the island? What if…? What if…? What if.
Her guilty conscious was interrupted by a knock on her door frame, and she smiled at the familiar face in the doorway. "Madison."
After the incident she and Shea (as well as Madison) had kept in touch and got together often. Abby never did tell them the truth about Trish's death, how could she bring that up again, it would break their hearts. Abby had gone to Shea's funeral a couple years before and had said quite a few words. Ever since then Madison had visited Abby, and frequented even more often after Jimmy had died and she was living a nursing home.
"Hi Abby, how are you feeling?" Madison had stepped inside and sat in the chair positioned next to Abby's bed.
Abby's face was calm as she replied, "It's about time for me to go." She smiled slightly. "I've seen enough things in my life for two."
Madison nodded, reached out, and grabbed her hand in understanding, "Just tell them all I said hi and I've missed them when you get there."
Abby squeezed her hand gently, "Of course, how could I not?" Madison stayed for a bit longer then left, giving Abby a long hug and a tearful goodbye. Abby picked up the phone and called her children, telling them it was her time to go and not to mourn her too much because she'd always watch over them.
After finishing her phone calls, Abby called the nurse and requested a beer. The nurse was reluctant but after arguing with Abby for a while she gave in. Drinking the beer given to her, Abby looked at its label and smiled; Sacred Turtle. Only the best. Abby sipped her beer and finished in no time, feeling relief wash through her and eighty-nine year old Abby Mance closed her eyes, as she left the Earth behind her.
Opening her eyes again to a field of white, Abby smiled. Looking down at herself she was in a beautiful white dress and back at age 25, the age when her life was struck by tragedy. Suddenly, they started to appear; one by one. Jimmy, Shea, her Dad, her Mom, Trish, J.D., Cal, Chloe, Danny, Sully, Beth, Kelly, Shane, Nikki, Malcolm, Booth, Beth, Mr. Wellington, Catherine, Richard, Maggie, Lucy…they were all there.
Looking around a bit more, one more figure came into view. Henry. He smiled at her; his genuine smile, the one she had known since a little kid. This was her Henry not he Henry he'd become; the Henry she loved, her best friend. Running into Jimmy's embrace first, she then began to hug each and every one of them telling them sorry, and Madison's message. Sully merely laughed and clapped her shoulder, "What took you so long?"
She stepped back and looked around at all the faces surrounding her; everyone she had loved and lost was there, smiling and laughing together as if nothing had ever happened. Abby smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes, "I came as soon as I could."