"Perfect."
I fall asleep to his heartbeat, steady and sure, the rhythm that kept me going when everything else fell apart. Tomorrow there'll be paperwork, arrangements, and the business of building a new life. But tonight, there's just this—us, together, alive despite the odds.
When I wake at 3 AM from habit and trauma, he's awake too, watching the ceiling. Without words, I curl closer, and his arm comes around me, anchoring us both.
"Can't sleep?"
"No."
"Want to talk about it?"
"Not yet."
"Okay."
We lie in comfortable silence, two damaged people choosing to heal together.
It shouldn't work. It's too fast, too intense, built on a foundation of violence and fear. But maybe that's why it does work—we've seen each other at our worst and chose to stay anyway.
"I love you," I say into the darkness.
"I love you too."
Simple words for a complicated truth, but they're enough. We're enough.
Together.
THIRTEEN
Epilogue
SAVANNAH
Six Months Later
"You're still dropping your shoulder on the left cross."
I adjust my stance in the Guardian HRS gym, sweat dripping. Sawyer circles me, critical eye catching every flaw in my form. His leg is fully healed, barely a scar remaining, and he moves with the lethal prowress that caught my attention that first night when he saved me.
"Better?" I throw the combination again.
"Better. But your footwork's sloppy."
"Your teaching's sloppy."
He grins, steps into my space. "Insult the teacher, pay the price."
I duck his playful grab, use his momentum against him—a move he taught me—and somehow we end up against the wall, me pinning him despite the weight difference. His eyes darken, and the air between us charges the way it always does.
"Gym's for training," CJ's voice cuts through the moment. "Not whatever this is."
We spring apart like guilty teenagers. CJ stands at parade rest, amused despite his stern tone.
"Morning briefing in five," he tells us. "New situation in Seattle. Domestic terror cell. Cross, I need your expertise."
"On it."
CJ leaves, and Sawyer pulls me back for a quick kiss. "Be careful up there."
