It's been nearly seven and a half years since the sudden downfall from the Southern Sugar case. America is a nation that's seen drastic changes. The battles of Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, and Washington D.C. remain fresh in people's memories. As a safety precaution from D.C.'s decimation, the federal agencies moved away to other cities to rebuild federal agencies.

Although pieces of the rebuild process were taken from the late President Klifton, his three prison cities' vision did come to fruition. Youngstown has been fenced off with guards and sniper towers as the minimal security prison city. The inmates here run their lives as if they're free, but supplies are brought in a couple of times a month with surveillance posts scattered throughout the city.

The second city has been set up in Detroit as planned. It's the mid-level security prison city. It's designed with two zones. Zone one harbors the guards and agents in charge of the city and the personnel to remain on hand for the more violent convicted criminals. Zone Two comprises government-built dwellings with females and males separated by electrified fencing.

Prison city for the high profile and convicted felons from the Southern Sugar fallout are shipped out to the code-named "Tundra." It's located in the most northern part of Idaho. The nearby town employs every member of the hardcore team put in charge of this extreme city. The inmates are forced to labor outside in the cold. Anyone convicted of capital crimes is shipped to his maximum-security facility for a life sentence of misery.

Those aren't the only significant changes in the aftermath. Life has slowed down for Josh's last team. Justin's made a full recovery and retired from the force. James' leg hurts when it gets cold, but he manages fine after moving from Chicago to Columbus to head up the newest federal sister agency to the FBI. He's the director of the Cyber Bureau of Investigations. Kyle's made good on his promise by completing his G.E.D. and becoming a federal agent working as a liaison between the FBI and CBI, also known as FBI-Cyber.

Even though time has healed their wounds, on a crisp day in fall, it's a sad one for the family. After the case was officially closed, they all felt the effects. Momma C took it the hardest becoming a more significant chain smoker. That lifestyle finally caught up to her after she succumbed to lung cancer.

Traveling from their homes, the family gathers to say goodbye.

"Hey, girl!" Audrey calls out when she sees Gwen and Delilah walk through the door.

"Hey! Girl, what have you been doing to yourself? You look like you haven't aged a single day." Gwen comments with Delilah stopping out in front of her playing the shy card.

"There's no way that's baby D. Oh my gosh, she looks so much like him it ain't even funny."

Delilah hunches her shoulders with her cheeks glowing a slight shade of red. She's the spitting image of Gwen with a button nose and blue eyes mixed with Josh's golden trait on the inner part of her iris. Her hair is as dark as her father's. Her laugh matches his exactly when he was growing up.

"Yes, it is, and she's been missing her daddy more than ever here lately," Gwen comments, picking up her daughter.

Gwen takes a seat on the couch when she hears the roar of a V8 that pulls into the driveway. Not long afterward, James and Scarlett stroll into the house.

"Well, how the hell did you beat us here?" James wonders out loud.

"I took I-64 the whole way. Plus, that Corvette can't outrun my Lincoln; you must be crazy to think that." She jokes with Delilah laughing along.

The sounds of her laughter bring everyone out as it reminds them of Josh. She fails to see everyone around her listening as a part of their lives feels lost.

"Gosh, mom loved her for being so much like him," Audrey mentions wiping a tear from her eye.

"When's the last time anyone talked with him?" Scarlett asks.

Gwen begins to feel frustrated when she notices no one says his name.

"Josh, his name isn't him, it is Josh! Just because he isn't here does not mean he doesn't exist! Be respectful to the love of my life."

"Sorry..." Scarlett and Audrey apologize with their heads lowered.

Audrey returns to get ready for the funeral.

Eventually, Justin appears along with each of the kids. Connor shows up first, with Kyle and Brooklyn arrive right after.

"Hey big sis, hey bub, how's the busy life treating ya?" Connor states going over to the rear door of their Ford sedan.

"Good, we stay busy, and this one here is restless," Brooklyn tells him when she reaches down for the diaper bag.

"Oh, I doubt that. My sweet little niece Gracie Lynn is the world's sweetest baby. Why yes, she is, oh yes, she is, you little cutie pie you." Connor coos his niece, lifting her into the air as she giggles and screams.

The fun picks up when Emily and her spouse arrive. They pull up in Lucas's new midnight blue sedan BMW 5Series. The others stand there to greet the world-traveling couple with their new bundle of joy.

"There's my partner in crime!" Brooklyn cries out, hugging her sister, who's not happy to be back at the house.

"Hiya sis, I know I'm ready to get this over with to get back home." Emily looks over at Alex's teenage home and then over at Josh's and finishes her statement.

"Too many bad memories and I'm only here for grandma."

Everyone begins to talk back and forth until the next guest arrives. Sara makes her presence known with someone Gwen and Connor haven't met but have heard so much about.

"I'm home!" Sara announces with her fiancé walking in behind her.

"I finally got Bryan to come home with me."

"Well, there's the brand new cyber forensic expert." Kyle teases, which causes her to turn red in the cheeks.

"She's damn good at it too. Let me tell you what she's helped hunt down some of the worst digital cyber threats. She's a bulldog when it comes to her job." Bryan compliments with his arm around her shoulders.

All Sara can do is hunker down, but that doesn't save her when Audrey rushes down the hallway. She crashes into the door, squeezing Sara and Bryan's necks. She refuses to release her death grip as her eyes fill with tears of joy and sorrow.

"I wasn't sure if you were going to make it!" Audrey cries.

Other than her crying, the small talk in the living room comes to a standstill for a bit. The realization of saying good-bye to a large part of their lives means that things in life aren't about to slow down.

"It feels like this as just picked up speed. The next thing any of us know is that we'll be attending their wedding and the next chaotic scenario that'll further split us all apart before the end." Connor mentions pointing over to Sara and Bryan.

"Easy for you to say, little brother; you're on the fast track to leaving anyways. Mom told me, the Trans-Siberian Symphony Orchestra and a European tour. I couldn't be prouder!" Emily squeals while she rocks the baby in her arms.

Connor smiles and slightly bows his head. He's worked hard to be selected since he graduated from the Conservatory of Cincinnati. He's the only child not to graduate from Ohio State. Connor wanted to make a path much like his father, as it takes him down a path of much less uncertainty.

"Thank you, sis, that means a lot, and you know I wanted to honor mom this way. She loved playing music, and well, you know the rest from there." He pauses when he realizes what he said.

"OH! Momma Gwen, I didn't mean no disrespect by that. You're still my mom too, but you know..." He cuts himself off, humiliated.

Gwen's been nothing but understanding by the two torn sides of Connor. He was young when Erin vanished and didn't take offense to his comment.

"She brought you into this world, so yes, she's your mother. I'm not hurt because it's not like she up and left out of nowhere or abused you or harmed you. I know if she were still around, she'd be here too. We would probably be swapping embarrassing memories of your dad." She says to calm her stepson.

They return to small talk and interrupting chit-chatting up until the last minute to leave. One by one, they drive down to Gallow Chapel to pay their final respects. As they pull up, they notice a charcoal colored Hayabusa motorcycle parked in the funeral line.

Inside they see a tall man with blond hair with an Army crew cut wearing a leather jacket with a helmet in his hands. Gwen doesn't waste time hugging her son.

"I didn't think you were gonna make it." She says, refusing to let him go.

"Hi mom, I've missed you too. Don't worry about a thing, and I'm taking it easy at school. I haven't changed my mind about joining JAG after I graduate. I'll be fine, I promise. Dad was an MP, and I'm taking it to the next level. It is something I need to do for me." Aaron expresses his desire to make his father proud.

More guests arrive to pay their final respects; as usual, Justin is one of the final people to show up. He makes it inside with only minutes before the eulogy begins. Off in the back, he sits alone as the pastor rambles on with quotes from the Bible and memories of growing up with Momma C.

"Now, as we take Paula to her final resting place, may I ask that we bow our heads for one final prayer." The pastor says with the room collectively listens to his final prayer.

The drive from the funeral home downtown Huntington to Glenwood's cemetery is a lengthy drive but one that allows Justin and James to talk after he hands over the keys to his Infiniti sedan to Scarlett.

"Thanks for making it, man, more than I could say for the missing part of the team." James starts with a quick fist bump.

"Hey now, you know he's here in spirit, bro. Not everyone has the option to be here in person. Alex's here in spirit, too, I'm sure. Even Uncle Mike, I'm certain, is watching from his spot in Heaven. It's a crowded event," Justin says, looking up in the sky at the partly cloudy overcast.

They wait patiently in the car while the others make their way down Fifth Avenue. Silence doesn't last long in the car when memories of their past begin to swell.

"Ah man, remember coming down here to Cruise back in the day? We did crazy things, like the race with Aiden and his boys. I can remember all the dates over there at The Downtown Cinema. Gosh, it doesn't seem real, does it?" James recalls playing so many events in his eyes.

Justin envisions his old memories along the way. They used to rollerblade and skateboard in the corridor between the buildings to skipping classes in high school down at the comic book store.

"Yeah, bro, we had some wild and crazy times, but we were always together." Justin pauses to recall a memory from middle school.

"Remember the time Josh and I made that volcano, and we snuck in some of the chemicals that were supposed to be locked away. I remember how he jimmied the lock, and we ruined the ceiling with the chemicals we mixed in it."

Both friends share a hard laugh recalling the sight of the chemicals bubbling when mixed with the baking soda that created a pinkish eruption that stained anything it touched.

"Yeah, I remember everyone calling y'all the pinky twins because you were covered with that junk. The look on Ms. Bruin's face was priceless. That was nothing compared to the times we played poker in her class." James' recollections of the times that their deeds landed them in trouble.

"No wonder why we were called The Troublesome Trio. Oh man, bro, what about the time Leah and I were whispering about our first time having sex in the car at Skate'O'Rama in her cousin's car."

James reveals something he almost said at that moment back then.

"I was about to ask if you two needed a condom because holy hell, you two seemed like you were about to go at it on the table in class."

The laughs they share in the car roar through the glass. They can be heard in Gwen's SUV behind them.

"What in the world?" She asks as their heads bounce in an uncontrollable laughing fit.

Audrey isn't sure what to make watching her little brother and his best friend act like a couple of hyenas.

"I don't have a single clue, but knowing them, it's some sort of inside old joke or prank they did back in school. Lord have mercy; those boys were always in trouble."

The fun goes on until they reach the cemetery, which brings the camaraderie to an end. They still snicker as more memories rise to the surface. They even struggle at first to keep from snickering when Momma C is laid down to rest.

The sight of red, white, and blue roses nestled together on top of her grave marker grabs everyone's attention.

"Who..." Sara mumbles when she sees the roses.

"I have an idea," Gwen whispers while she stands there waiting for the final goodbyes to be said.

Gwen takes the three roses gently to place them on the casket. She kisses her hand and places it on top of the roses.

"Goodbye, you dear sweet woman; you'll never be forgotten," Gwen whispers with her eyes closed.

Nobody leaves even when a drizzle falls from the heavens. They stand there like statues for the longest time, but then Gwen asks Justin for a favor.

"Hey, could you take Delilah and Audrey back to the house for me? I have something I need to handle."

"Sure thing, sis, don't even need to ask. It'll be my pleasure."

Gwen takes out her keys and is the first one to depart from the cemetery. She pulls out, making her way down along Route 2 into downtown and then over to the west side of the city, where she pulls up and sees a classic candy apple red 60's Mustang parked along the curb to the Rose Garden.

"Always predictable," She mentions.

Slowly she makes her way up to the pavilion, with the only sound of her high heels clicking against the blacktop. When she makes her way up to the top of the landing, she sees someone in a black suit with a sky-blue dress shirt standing at the edge that looks over the city.

"Hey stranger, you were missed. I guess you couldn't make yourself say goodbye, huh." Gwen pauses to wait for a response.

"Well, the roses were a lovely gesture, and I'm sure she would've loved them." She says, still trying to get a reaction.

"Are you okay?" She calls out when the man refuses to turn around. "Hey, c'mon, it's time to go home."

That statement garners a reaction when the man turns around to say one thing. The only reaction Gwen gives is a sudden gasp when she sees the glow of gold eyes.

"Then let's go home before it's too late..." Josh says before the moment between them freezes in time.

(To be continued In Twisted Saga ReGenesis)