She lets me pass.
Sawyer's awake, right leg pinned and immobilized, but looking better than he has in hours. His eyes find mine immediately.
"Hey, troublemaker."
"Hey yourself." I take the chair beside his bed, our default position now. "How's the leg?"
"Repairable. Two surgeries, six weeks of physical therapy, but full recovery expected." He reaches for my hand with his left. "How was the debrief?"
"Thorough. Santos offered me reinstatement."
His expression is carefully neutral. "That's good. It's what you wanted."
"It's what I thought I wanted." I trace patterns on his palm. "But that was before."
"Before what?"
"Before I met someone worth changing everything for."
His fingers tighten on mine. "Savannah?—"
"CJ offered me a position. Field cyber warfare specialist. I'd work with the Guardian teams, help prevent situations like Prometheus." I meet his eyes.
"You can't make career decisions based on?—"
"On the man who saved my life repeatedly? On the person I trust most in the world? On someone I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with?" I lean closer. "Watch me."
He pulls me down, kisses me with days of suppressed want. When we break apart, we're both breathing hard.
"I love you too," he says against my mouth. "In case that wasn't clear."
"You barely know me."
"I know you turn earrings into weapons. I know you face your fears even when terrified. I know you dragged me bleeding out of Titan’s facility and never let go." His thumb brushes my cheekbone. "I know enough."
"This is insane. It's too fast."
"Probably."
"We're bonded by trauma.."
"Definitely."
"It might not work without the adrenaline."
"Only one way to find out." He kisses me again, gentler this time. "Take the job. Move here. Let's see what we are when no one's shooting at us."
"What if we're boring without death threats?"
"Then we'll be boring together."
I laugh, my first real laugh in days. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay, I'll take the job. Okay, I'll move here. Okay, I'll see where this goes." I kiss his forehead, his cheeks, his mouth. "Okay, I love you too, you beautiful disaster."
"That's my line."
