"Hey," I said.
He crossed the space in three steps. His hands found my face, cupping my jaw, tilting my head up so he could look at me.
Like he needed to see me breathing, blinking, present, before he could believe any of this had actually happened.
"You're okay." His voice was rough. Scraped raw, like he'd been breathing smoke too.
Which he had. For me.
"I'm okay."
"Ava said your lungs are fine. Your oxygen is stabilizing. The burns are minor."
"She told me."
"You're okay." He said it again, like saying it made it true.
"I'm okay. Because of you."
His eyes closed. He pressed his forehead to mine, and the shudder that ran through him, I felt all of it. The release of everything he'd been holding.
"I thought I lost you," he whispered.
"You didn't."
"When I heard your message. When I heard you say you were trapped." His breath hitched. "Nothing else mattered. Not the fire, not the building, not anything. Just you."
"You got to me." I lifted my bandaged hands to his face. Traced the line of his jaw, rough with stubble, smudged with ash. "You came for me."
"Of course I did." He pulled back enough to look at me. Gray-blue eyes fierce with determination and relief and love, all tangled together. "I'll always come for you. Every time. No matter what."
"I know."
"I'd run into a thousand burning buildings if it meant getting you out."
"Let's hope you don't have to."
He almost smiled. The ghost of it flickered across his face before the weight of the night pulled it back down. "But if I do, I will. That's not even a question."
I pulled him closer. Pressed my lips to his. Soft and slow and full of everything I couldn't put into words.
Gratitude. Relief. Love so big it felt like it might swallow me whole.
When we pulled apart, his forehead rested against mine again.
Breathing together. Existing together.
Letting the reality of survival sink in.
"I love you," I said.
"I love you too." His thumb brushed my cheek, gentle against the soot I hadn't managed to wipe away. "More than anything."
A knock on the curtain frame broke the moment.
Brian's head appeared through the gap. Tired but relieved, the easy grin softened by genuine concern.
He'd been in that building too. The night had aged all of us.
