"I know."
He laughs. Just once, a short surprised bark. I almost laugh too but the laugh gets stuck on something and turns into a long breath out instead.
"Tell me he was standing," Dean says. "Tell me I saw what I think I saw."
"He was standing all the way up. In the corridor. Dropping orders like it was a Tuesday."
"He gave me a position. I did not think. I just went. The second he saidnorth doormy whole body remembered."
"Yeah. I had not heard that voice in two years and the second I heard it my legs did what my legs used to do."
Dean shakes his head, slow.
"How does he look," Dean says. "Your read."
"You saw him."
"I want your read."
"My read is he looks better than he should. He looks way better than he should. Whatever they did to him in there, he did not let it take all of him. Some of him got through."
"How much?"
"Most of him. I think most of him. I will know better when I have ten minutes with him at the safehouse. But what I saw in the corridor was Thaw."
"Dean."
"Yeah."
"Can you believe we have a mate?"
"No."
"Did you see her face?"
"Yes."
"She is fucking beautiful."
"I can’t stop smiling."
"She was standing there in the middle of all of it and she did not flinch."
"I know."
"She wasbrave,Dean. She was scared and she was brave anyway. Did you see her eyes?"
"About got lost in them. I had to leave to stay focused."
"What are the odds?"
"The odds are the odds. I do not care about the odds. The odds happened."
"Fuck."
He is grinning. I am grinning. Two grown men in a truck cab feeling like the impossible just fucking happened. Twice.
"How are we doing this," I say.
