The Hero's Flame
By
Dixie
Lieutenant Jennifer Hailey slowly awoke, keeping her eyes closed for as long as she could before opening them to the low light of the early morning. She kept herself snuggled under the covers to keep warm, her naked body easily chilled by the cool air of the bedroom.
A calloused finger trailed down her spine and Jennifer shivered slightly. She said and did nothing, deciding to enjoy his attentions and see how far he would go before she could no longer fake sleep.
"You awake?" Lieutenant Ryan Elliot whispered into her right ear. His breath tickled, causing the loose hairs near it to brush up against her ear.
She said nothing still as he placed a soft kiss on the ear, his tongue briefly tracing an edge, sending a stronger jolt of desire through her. Jennifer attempted not to moan, but the sound was out before she could stop it.
Ryan chuckled as he pulled back from her. "Busted," he said.
Hailey turned over on her back to look at his smirking face. Most men didn't look all that attractive when they smirked, usually they appeared smarmy, but something in his expression made him seem quite the opposite. Probably that air of innocence that he never could quite shake, she thought with some amusement.
"You gonna do more than just lie there, hero?" she mocked.
Elliot leaned in and kissed her lightly, teasingly, swiping his tongue across her lips as he pulled back. "Gotta go," he said, slipping out from under the covers before she could stop him.
To say she was stunned would have been an understatement. After all that build up he was just walking away? Jennifer sat up quickly, the sheet sliding off her. She ignored the goose bumps that pricked up along her skin, a response to the cool air.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Ryan turned as he headed for the bathroom, smiling apologetically. "As much as I'd love to continue this, I have a mission to get ready for, and you know what Colonel O'Neill is like when people are late," he stated, pointing to the clock on the bedside table.
She glanced at the offending item, surprised to see that it was almost ten hundred hours. "I didn't realize it was so late," she said, raising her hand to brush aside her tangled hair.
"Gotta love the mountains in the winter," Ryan said. "Not to mention a cloudy day."
Ryan padded out of the bedroom and Jennifer laid back down, appreciating the view of his firm ass as he made his way into the bathroom. He was right. Incurring the wrath of the Colonel was not a good idea, especially on his first official mission.
She contemplated offering up a rain check when he came out of the shower, but her offer was derailed by a fantastically devious idea. She got out of bed and made her way towards the bathroom, catching him just as he reached into the shower to turn on the water. His expression was curious, yet appreciative, as his gaze flitted over her. She felt a pleasant tingle rush through her body as she took him by the hand, their fingers twining with easy comfort. "You'll need someone to scrub your back," she told him, grinning mischievously.
His only response was a chuckle and equally mischievous grin as they climbed into the small cubicle together.
XXX
Ryan tried to catch his breath without hyperventilating, taking in the stale air as he tried to stay awake.
This visit with the Tok'ra had certainly taken an interesting – if bad – turn. Last thing he'd ever expected was to have a symbiote inside him. Oddly enough he was starting to get used to the quiet voice in the back of his mind, the one that was not his own.
He looked over at Major Samantha Carter who was valiantly trying to remove the rocks blocking their exit. He could see the strain on her face, but even knowing her such a short time he was certain she wouldn't stop until she was on the verge of exhaustion. He wondered idly if some of that knowledge came from the symbiote.
The Major glanced at him as she tossed aside more rocks, giving him an encouraging smile. For a moment Elliot was reminded of another beautiful blonde astrophysicist and felt a pang of loss. As much as the Major had tried to keep his spirits up by saying they'd all get out alive, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to make it. The symbiote within him was doing its best to heal him and relieve the pain, but it was starting to become too much for him – and possibly for them both. And the thought of not making it out, not being there for her, hurt him more than any wound could. He hated the very real possibility that she'd find out about his passing through the grapevine rather than in any official way. He didn't want that for her, and as he watched the Major continue her struggle with the rocks, he realized that she didn't have to.
"Major," Ryan rasped out, gaining her attention.
She immediately came to his side, her expression showing her obvious worry. She gently touched his right arm. "Is something wrong?"
He attempted to slow his labored breathing, needing to get out this, well, confession. "No more than before," he joked, making her smile tiredly. "I need," he paused, taking a breath, "I need you to do something for me."
"Sure, whatever you need."
"Hailey – Jennifer. I need you to be the one to tell her."
The Major seemed confused by his request. "Tell her what?"
"When I die…"
She cut him off with a wave of her hand, her expression determined. "You will not die. I told you, we're getting out of here, all of us."
Elliot wasn't surprised by her reaction, but he knew no matter how much he wanted to live, he had to be realistic about his chances, and he had to make her understand.
"I know what you said, I really do want to believe," he stated, pausing again. She went to speak, but with some effort he placed his hand on her arm, stopping her. "But I have to look at this logically. While you may make it out alive, the possibilities for me are slim. Major, please. I need you to promise…I need you to tell Jen about what happened. Well, what you can tell her," he added on when she gave him a dubious look. "I don't want her finding out secondhand. She deserves better," he stated emotionally, feeling tears prick at his eyes.
The Major appeared to finally clue into why he was asking her. "You and Hailey are…" She trailed off, moving her hands to bring them together. Ryan nodded and she blew out some air, her expression contemplative. "Well, I suppose I should be surprised, but I'm not."
Her response stunned him momentarily into silence. He and Jen had been so careful, or so they had thought. If Major Carter knew, who knew who else did? Not that their relationship wasn't allowed since they weren't in the same chain of command, but still it just made sense not to flaunt it.
"How long have you known?"
"For sure, only now. But I guess I've always had an idea since I saw you two during your training."
Elliot smiled. Even though their training had been tough and tiring, the one great thing to come out of it – other than becoming a member of the SGC – was meeting Jen.
A shooting pain in his back brought his attention back to his present situation. He winced and grasped the Major's arm tightly, causing her to wince as well. As the pain faded he loosened his grip and let his hand rest at his side again.
"You okay?" she asked worriedly.
"Yeah, for now," he replied. As he was now able to refocus, he realized that he'd not got his promise. "Major, please promise me that you'll tell her in person. Please give me that peace of mind."
Emotions warred across the Major's features: uncertainty, disagreement and finally acceptance.
"All right, I promise. But," she paused, giving him a determined look, "that doesn't mean I'm giving up."
Ryan gave her a small, grateful smile. He wouldn't have expected any less from her. "Absolutely."
The Major nodded, then returned to her work of removing the rocks.
XXX
"What extra equipment do you need?" General Hammond asked. Colonel Christopher Pane opened his mouth to respond, the warning klaxon cutting off his words. Despite herself, Jennifer jumped, the sudden sound giving her an unwelcome burst of adrenalin.
Then again, she couldn't deny that it gave her a bit of a thrill as well. It was like Christmas morning, and every time that klaxon blared, it was like a giant present was down in that gate room, just waiting to reveal itself.
Colonel Pane rolled his eyes, keeping silent his irritation at the loud interruption. "General Hammond to the control room." Sergeant Harriman's voice echoed over the intercom.
The General frowned as he pushed back his chair, getting up from the table. "Excuse me SG-12, I think we'll have to postpone this briefing until later. Dismissed."
Hammond quickly disappeared down the stairs, and Jennifer glanced around at her teammates, all of them seeming extremely curious. Well, with the exception of her CO, who looked somewhere between annoyed and bored. She didn't know if she envied his calmness and cynicism or pitied it. She just couldn't quite understand how he could be so irritated at the very same device that was the heart of their base.
Pane stood up. "I'm off to do some paperwork. Once we have our briefing rescheduled, I'll contact you all." When he received nods of assent from everyone he too left the briefing room, heading back to the elevator behind the General's office.
Jennifer looked to her other teammates, Lieutenant Frances Kelly and Captain James Leffer. They all smiled at each other before they pushed away from the table and headed for the bay window that looked down upon the gate room.
So far they could see nothing beyond the glow of an open wormhole behind the closed iris. Within seconds the iris spun apart, appearing to pull back into the Stargate. Jennifer felt that tingle of excitement again, watching the rippling pool to see who – or what – was coming through.
The ripples started to get larger and the first booted foot appeared, quickly followed by the rest of the person, specifically the disheveled Doctor Daniel Jackson.
Hailey's heart started beating faster. Ryan was supposed to be on a mission with SG-1. As the rest of the team, including Jacob Carter dressed in Asian-style clothing, came through, she felt her stomach slowly clenching. Each looked just as messed up as the anthropologist, if not more so. And as of yet there was no sign of Ryan, nor any of SG-17.
Jennifer's eyes were pinned to that event horizon, willing him to come through. Without realizing it, her hand crept up to the glass. Her fingers splayed across the smooth surface, curling slightly, almost as if she could reach down and grab Ryan the second he came home. What the hell was taking him so long? Seconds later, the wormhole snapped shut and Jennifer stared, disbelief clawing at the back of her throat. The gate shut down. It couldn't shut down. Ryan wasn't home yet. It couldn't shut down until Ryan was home.
"Wasn't SG-17 with them?" Kelly asked, his faint southern drawl scratching like fingernails on a chalkboard.
"Yeah," Jim confirmed. "Maybe they stayed behind."
Stayed behind. That made sense, Jennifer thought. Teams did that all the time. And SG-1 looked banged up. It made sense for Colonel O'Neill to bring them back. He'd probably just brought them back for some medical care and…
She tore her gaze from the now-empty Stargate and searched the faces of each person who stood on the ramp. They were all tired, she could see that in the grime on their faces and the slump in their shoulders. That was why they came back. They were just tired. Then her gaze settled on the wan face of Major Carter and Jennifer felt her stomach drop. The woman had an air of sadness around her, a pain in her eyes that Jennifer could see from even this distance. She just stood there, silently behind O'Neill as he briefed General Hammond. Jennifer could see that she was looking past the general, the woman's eyes searching the control room. It was wrong. Something was wrong. She may not be the most astute person in the world, but she could see that something had gone horribly wrong with this mission.
"It looks like someone screwed the pooch," Kelly said, his words cutting into Jennifer's thoughts.
"I don't know about that, but something heavy's going down," Jim agreed.
She needed to get down there. She needed to find out what had happened. She needed to know where Ryan was. Jennifer started to turn, a bit of movement catching her eyes. Major Carter looked up, craning her neck to see in the briefing room window.
Their eyes met and in an instant she knew. Jennifer stared, daring the Major's eyes to be somewhere else, to say something different. Her stomach churned and Jennifer thought for a moment that she'd be sick.
"Wonder what trouble SG-1's gotten us into now?" Kelly joked, his voice seeming to come from somewhere far, far away.
"That's what they pay them the big bucks for," Jim said.
"You okay, Jen?" Kelly asked, his hand settling on her shoulder. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Jennifer blinked, the gentle heat of his hand breaking her silent communication with Carter. "Um, not really, actually. I'm gonna head home," she replied, denying how weak and tiny her voice sounded. She had to get out, get away. She couldn't stay here. She pushed past him, ignoring Jim's fumbling hand and Kelly's questioning voice.
XXX
Jennifer Hailey looked away and Sam blinked, dragging her attention back to her surroundings. "I think a formal debriefing can wait until tomorrow," General Hammond said. "You all look like you could use some quality time in the infirmary."
"George, I need to get back to the Tok'ra," her dad said.
"Jacob, you crashed a teltac—"
"Selmac will take care of it," he interrupted the colonel. "Jack, we need to regroup, and they're gonna need every hand."
"Whatever you think is best, Jacob," Hammond said.
"Thank you."
"With your permission, sir, we're gonna go get cleaned up. I can give you a preliminary briefing in an hour," the colonel said.
"That will be fine, Colonel. Dismissed."
Hammond turned and left the room. "Carter, Daniel, Teal'c, you guys get cleaned up and then presuming Frasier clears you, head home. A few more hours ain't gonna change what happened."
Sam nodded her assent and turned to her dad. "You have to go," she said, knowing the answer. Sam was barely aware of the rest of her team retreating, leaving her and her dad relatively alone.
"Yeah, kiddo, I do. Who better than the oldest and the wisest to pick up the pieces." Her dad pasted a reassuring smile on his face and Sam returned it, even though she knew that it was more for his benefit than hers. "Are you okay?" he asked, his hand grasping her arm and squeezing gently.
"I'm fine," she said. "I didn't crash a ship, remember?"
"No, you were just buried alive."
"Dad, I'll be okay," she said, squeezing his arm in return. She glanced up at the control room and saw Walter looking down at them. His eyes quickly darted away as soon as he realized that she'd noticed his scrutiny.
"He's waiting, isn't he?" he asked.
Sam nodded. "You now Sergeant Harriman, he lives for dialing that gate."
Jacob nodded and released her arm. He made his way towards the control room and Sam followed, standing behind him while he told Harriman his destination. They returned to the control room and stood at the base of the ramp as the gate slowly spun. "I'm sorry about Elliot," he said softly. "I wish there had been another way."
Sam nodded, aware that his words were no simple platitude. He was sincerely sorry. "Me too."
She could barely see him nod slightly out of the corner of her eye. "Major Carter. I appreciate the sacrifice of Lieutenant Elliot," Selmac said. "Even though their blending was not long, nor was it successful, the Tok'ra do appreciate that Lieutenant Elliot tried to save Lantash."
Sam frowned. "Selmac, you're assuming that Elliot TOOK Lantash. How do we know that it wasn't the other way around?"
Selmac stared at her. "You spent several hours with them. Do you believe that Lantash took Elliot?"
'Major, please promise me that you'll tell her in person. Please give me that peace of mind.'
Sam sighed. "No, I don't," she confessed, her words barely audible over the splash of the gate opening. "It was, at the very least, mutually consensual."
Selmac nodded and closed his eyes as her father returned to control. "Sam—"
"It's okay, Dad. I'm just tired," she interrupted. "Selmac's right. I talked to Elliot in that cave, not Lantash."
Her father abandoned the topic, the shimmering surface of the wormhole reflecting off his face. He abruptly pulled her into a hug, holding her tighter than she was expecting. Sam closed her eyes, indulging herself in a moment of parental comfort. She ignored the people around her, the curious eyes in the control room, the knowledge that every second the gate was open racked up one hell of an electric bill.
After a few seconds, they released their grasp and Sam gave her father an encouraging smile before he pulled away. He walked up the ramp and through the gate. The wormhole snapped shut and Sam stood there for a few seconds before Elliot's words seeped into her brain.
'Please promise me that you'll tell her in person. Please give me that peace of mind.'
Spurred on by her promise, she spun on her heel and marched out of the control room. It didn't matter that she was sore and tired and filthy. Her team may be home, but her mission wasn't over, not yet.
XXX
Jennifer laid in bed, her face buried in Ryan's pillow. She breathed deeply through her nose, sucking in Ryan's scent. She closed her eyes, taking another breath as her fingers dug into the cool cotton.
XXX
Jennifer walked briskly across the common, her shoulder hunched against the rain.
Squeaking brakes caught her attention and she looked up, watching as the city bus rolled to a stop. Three figures got off and her eyes settled on one of them. A trim, jean clad man waited patiently while the driver opened the storage compartment and pulled out his duffle. She studied him for a second then dismissed him. He may be her classmate but he certainly wasn't competition, she could see that in his stance and the shyly polite way he thanked the driver.
Pushing him out of her mind, she resumed her trek towards the library and what was destined to become her home away from home for the next four years.
XXX
"With respect, sir, my grades—"
"Yes, yes, yes, we all know you're very smart, cadet," Colonel Wilkerson interrupted her. He glanced over his reading glasses. "But there's a saying, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. You, as you never tire of telling us, are a whiz at math. Cadet Elliot is not. You are now his tutor."
"Colone—"
"I do not recall giving you permission to speak, CADET," he snapped.
Jennifer snapped to attention, her eyes fixated over her shoulder. "His grade is now your grade. And before you consider doing his work for him, you WILL be tested separately. Dismissed."
Jennifer spun on her heel and left the colonel's office, her cheeks stinging with indignation. It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fair.
XXX
Jennifer jogged down the path, her feet slapping on the pavement and her breath rasping harshly in her throat. She could see the rest of the class a good hundred yards ahead of her, a large grey and blue mass forging their way across the common.
She was behind, again. She was always behind. It wasn't that she didn't try, she just couldn't keep up with them with her shorter stature. And she'd be worried about her failure to keep up, if she didn't know that she wasn't destined for field work. She didn't have to excel at the physical stuff, she just needed to pass. And she did well enough in all the other physical requirements to more than compensate for a slow time.
"Hey."
She glanced over, frowning as Ryan fell into step behind her. "What are you doing?" she asked breathlessly.
"Jogging, you?" He smiled and she noticed with no small amount of annoyance that he was barely sweating.
Jen shook her head. "You're always in front. Why are you back here?"
"My grade is your grade, remember?"
Jennifer shook her head. "You need the points—"
"Let me worry about my points. Now pick up the pace cadet. Last one done buys the pizza."
XXX
Jennifer opened the door to her room and slowly walked in, not quite able to believe that it looked just the same as she'd left it just the day before.
She sat down at her desk and stared at her computer, the star field screen saver evoking memories of just how she'd spent her day.
She'd been to another planet.
Despite herself, she giggled, enjoying the adrenaline rush. An honest to god alien planet.
And it looked just like Earth. Felt just like Earth. Hell, it had even smelled just like Earth.
In fact, if it hadn't have been for the very un-Earth like moon in the sky, she wouldn't have believed that she was on an alien planet. Jennifer chewed her lip, or had it been a planet in she sky because she'd been on an alien moon? "Whatever," she muttered, shaking her head. The sky wasn't just the limit anymore it was just the beginning.
Her brain bubbled with the possibilities. Major Carter had all but promised, all she needed to do was graduate, without another mark on her record, she she'd be assigned to the SGC. She'd get to study and do things that her classmates could only dream about.
Hell, more than they could even begin to dream about.
"Jen?" She heard a knock on the door and looked up, smiling as she saw Ryan. "Are you okay?" he asked, stepping in. He carefully left the door open, well aware of the regs concerning mixed gender cadets in the same room. "I heard about Cadet Brown. Scuttlebutt is that you were expelled."
Jennifer shook her head. "No, I'm fine," she said. "General Kerrigan…I've been punished but I'm not gonna be expelled," she said, not quite in the mood to go into everything her punishment entailed.
"Man, I thought for sure. I mean you were gone and no one knew where you were and…where HAVE you been?" he asked.
"I—" Jennifer stopped, the words of her non-disclosure burned into her brain.
'You cannot tell ANYONE what goes on here. ANYONE! Do you understand me Cadet? You shoot your mouth off it's treason and you can be shot. I'm not kidding and I'm not playing around.'
"—was away," she finished lamely.
"You were away?" Ryan asked skeptically. "You? Miss Study all day long, just up and took a break in the middle of the week, three weeks before finals?"
"Yeah." Jennifer smiled, enjoying the puzzled expression on his face. He was kinda cute that way, all puzzled and questioning.
XXX
"We need to go, we have an early class," Satterfield said, reaching for her coat. Grogan helped her and the two of them tossed some money on the table to cover the bill before they left the bar, leaving Hailey and Ryan alone.
"Hell of a day, huh?" Ryan asked, taking a gulp of his beer.
"Hell of a day," she agreed, sipping at her own beer. She never could understand how he could drink the stuff, it tasted horrible to her.
He stared at her for a few seconds. "That was where you went last year, wasn't it?" he asked. "After you punched that cadet and vanished for a day."
Jennifer nodded. "Yep," she said, glancing around to make sure that no one was in easy ear shot. "Major Carter took me off-world."
"You've been—" He caught himself and lowered his voice. "You've already been through the Stargate?" he whispered.
"There was this moon and it had these glowing killer tinkerbell things. It was so cool."
"Why didn't you tell me—"
"I couldn't," she interrupted. "Just like you can't."
"We signed that non-disclosure a week ago," he reminded.
"I was helping with the scenario. We were hoping that you wouldn't put two and two together," she apologized.
Ryan finished the last of his beer and the two of them got up, settling the tab before retreating out into the warm Colorado evening. Without even realizing it, Jennifer found her hand entwined with Ryan's and she leaned into him, enjoying the warm comfort of his presence.
"I have something to show you," he said.
"Really?" He nodded. "Okay." They got into his car and he drove a couple of miles away, pulling into the parking lot of a small apartment complex.
"You got an apartment?"
"It was my graduation present to myself," he explained. "I was getting sick and tired of being crammed into the dorms. Do you want to come up and see it?"
Jennifer agreed and Ryan led her up, pulling the keys from his pocket to open the door. "Home, sweet home," he said, turning on the lights and illuminating the tiny space. "It's not much but—"
"It's nice," she said, moving through the tiny living room to look out the large window. She heard the distant roar and caught sight of a jet taking off from Peterson Air Force Base.
"I think that's why the rent is so low," he said, joining her. "The sound doesn't bug me but I can see how it annoys folks."
Jennifer grinned and again threaded her hand into his. "I never did say thank you," she said softly, keeping her eyes staring out the window.
"Thank you for what?"
"You came back for me." She glanced over at him. "By all rights, you should have let me die, or at least grabbed a suit."
Ryan smiled down at her. "I wasn't gonna let you die," he said.
Jennifer smiled, reaching one arm up to wrap around his neck and pull his head down. "Thank you, hero," she teased, kissing him on the lips. Ryan's arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her forward, deepening the kiss. Serenaded by the roar of aircraft, she surrendered to the feeling.
XXX
The roar of a jet rumbled the apartment window and Jennifer sniffed, blinking her eyes as she pulled the pillow closer. Outside, she could hear footsteps climbing the stairs and the rasp of a key in the lock. The front door squeaked as it opened, and Jennifer sat up, holding the pillow close. "Ryan?" she called out, struggling to make sense of it all. It had to be Ryan, who else could it be? They only had two keys and no one else even knew where they lived and—
"Jennifer?" A female voice cut into the quiet of the apartment. Jennifer sat in the bed, unable to move as a strange woman explored their apartment. "Hailey?" The figure appeared in the doorway to the bedroom and Jennifer stared. It took her a moment to realize that Carter was standing there. "God, Jennifer."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Jennifer demanded, pushing herself up off the bed. "How did you get in?"
Carter raised her hands, sheepishly holding up a familiar ring of keys. "Elliot's locker," she said. Jennifer stared at the keys for a second before snatching them out of Carter's hand. "You had no right. How the hell is he going to get home now?" she demanded, not caring that she was being very insubordinate to an superior officer.
"Jennifer—"
"No!" Jennifer interrupted. "You had no right! Just like you have no right to be here."
Carter sighed and looked down, shoving her hands into her jacket pocket. Jennifer could see that the woman was still wearing her fatigues, the material stained and dirty. Her face was still smudged with blood and her hair was tangled and dirty. It was obvious that she hadn't even taken the time to shower. "Get the hell out of our house!" Jennifer yelled. She spun on her heel and threw herself back onto the rumpled bed. She pulled Ryan's pillow close, seeking comfort from its chill embrace.
"His last thought was of you," Carter said, her voice barely above a whisper. Jennifer ignored her, willing the woman to just go away and leave her alone. "He fought Jennifer, he fought so hard." She took a breath. "We were in the Tok'ra tunnels and they collapsed. Major Mansfield was killed in the initial attack, along with a bunch of the Tok'ra. Lieutenant Elliot and I were…He was hurt so badly. He even…he even took one of the Tok'ra into him. Lantash tried to save him but the injuries…Not even Lantash could fix them and there were Jaffa everywhere and we were running and…" Jennifer felt the bed sink as Carter sat on it. The woman's hand touched her shoulder. "He saved us. He saved all of us. He was a hero."
The woman's consoling words struck Jennifer to the core and a sob tore from her throat. Arms pulled at her and she surrendered to them, allowing the older woman to pull her to her. She could hear Carter's own sobs and feel the woman's tears mingling with her own.
XXX
It had happened so suddenly, surprising them both a bit. The next morning when she'd woken up next to him in her bed, she'd felt a bit of shame, blaming it on the beer they had downed at the bar the previous evening in celebration. But as she watched him sleep, his hair messed up and his arms curled around the pillow he cradled, she felt a certain calm. He snored quietly, making her giggle a little, and he woke up.
"What's so funny?" he questioned tiredly.
"You," she responded, grinning. "Big bad hero that drools in his sleep," she teased, one hand tracing a pattern on his chest.
"And you, Miss Brilliant, that can't figure out how to run the toaster." He grabbed her hand and pulled it towards his face, kissing her fingertips in turn.
She shrugged. "Toast is overrated." She moved, rolling him to his back as she straddled his waist. Her eyes sparkled with amusement as she felt his body begin to stir. She bent over and kissed him, giving her body up to the pleasure that coiled in her insides.
This moment was something she never wanted to forget. It wasn't anything in particular that she could place, but it was most definitely just him. Any regret she'd had when she'd first woken was gone; all she wanted was to have him with her forever.
XXX
"I didn't want a hero, I just wanted him," she said, her voice rough and choked. "And I want him back."
The End