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A lot had happened since the night of the storm.

No one had found any evidence that John B and Sarah survived as of yet, but most people just assumed they had died and gave up any chance of a miracle. People just returned to their normal day to day lives and moved on. Claire found it hard at first, they all did. It was Pope however who seemed to take it the hardest. He'd become distant, spending more time with his dad working than with his friends, though Claire made the assumption that he was doing that to make up for bailing on his scholarship interview. JJ was back to running charters and ended up selling the hot tub (plus all the other things he bought) so that he could actually pay off his restitution. Kie was back to working at The Wreck and Claire almost went to Australia with her mother.

Almost.

What would've been her last day working at The Wreck, ended up being the complete opposite. She and Kiara were discussing options on how to keep in touch and complaining about the different time zones, when Kie out of nowhere suggested that Claire just move in with her instead. At first Claire declined, knowing that her mother wouldn't let her, but Kie was determined on the idea. She asked Anna and Mike, and they agreed, as long as it was okay with Jackie. When Jackie came to pick Claire up that afternoon, they discussed it and although she was reluctant at first, she agreed in the end.

So the girls finished work early so Claire could start moving her stuff into Kie's house, and then that night said goodbye to Jackie.

JJ was ecstatic when Claire told him that night that she was staying. He had the biggest smile on his face she'd ever seen and it filled her heart with an overwhelming sense of warmth and gratitude. That, she decided, was the best thing about staying–getting to be with the love of her life every day. Of course, now that she was living with the Carrera's, she had to respect their rules so it was a little harder for her and JJ to spend time alone, but they made it work. In fact, JJ seemed a whole other person now that they were together; he was happier, more romantic and spontaneous than usual and most importantly, he was the most open she'd ever seen him. He would talk to her about whatever was bothering him when she asked, he talked about his dad, and he even talked about his mom–something that he'd never done around Claire.

If it was possible, it made her love him even more.

Claire and her mum talked every second day, and their relationship actually seemed like it was on the mend. Jackie going back home and the distance between them, although long, was proving to be a good thing. Of course Claire missed her mother, but she also felt a sense of freedom. She finally felt like she had control over her life.

There were still obviously things she didn't have control over, like the fact that she might not ever uncover the truth about her father and what really happened or that she was still afraid of the water, and although her nightmares of the accident had settled down a lot, every now and then she'd have one and she'd feel like she was back in that same place she was in six months ago. Claire also didn't have any control over knowing whether her best friends were dead or not, but that was something else she had slowly started coming to terms with.

So things had changed since the night of the storm, both good and bad, but Claire had accepted that this was her new normal and there was nothing she could do except try and live her life.

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Aaaaandddd that's it!! Anchor is officially done yay! Hope you enjoyed this little epilogue, it wasn't long but I don't think it needed to be tbh. I just needed to wrap up Claire's story (for now) and didn't want to drag on too much.

So yeah, hope you guys enjoyed & thanks again for all the love on this <3

Much love,
Laura xx