A/N This is part of a larger one shot that I'm still working on. I'm not sure if I'll include it so I'm sharing it now. It might end up making a reappearance.

John could hardly believe that, 3 months after Joss was laid to rest, here he was helping her unpack her boxed belongings. It was nothing short of a miracle, he mused, still amazed that once again death had been cheated.

Joss lifted up an old wooden box and smiled softly.

"What's in it?"

"Memories."

She dusted it off and carefully opened the lid. Slowly, she examined the contents and placed them one by one on her bed.

Her military dog tags.

Hair from Taylor's first haircut.

His first baby tooth.

Her gold wedding rings.

"Two of these belong to you."

John's bullet.

She handed him the tiny bullet. The bullet that he, not long ago, had credited Joss for it remaining unused.

"I don't need this anymore, Joss. Losing you was my closet call, not this piece of metal. You're the reminder that life is precious."

He placed it next to her other mementos.

The picture of John and Jessica.

John picked up the photo he hadn't seen in years, memories of another lifetime flashing through his mind. He looked at Joss quizzically, shocked to see it in her possession.

"I always meant to give it to you but it never seemed the right time. That day two years ago, when I went to New Rochelle with Donnelly and found it, was when I first began to understand you. What drives you and makes you tick. That photo was a constant reminder to me that you're the good man I always believed in. Validation for all the choices I've made."

"You're a brilliant detective so I can assume you figured out who I really am. Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I was hoping that you'd get to a place where you'd want to tell me yourself. A place where you trusted me enough. I guess you never did get there."

He shook his head and grasped her hand.

"It's never been about trust, Joss. Not with you. It's always been about keeping you safe. Safe from me and the darkness that I carry. It follows me everywhere."

She placed her hand over his heart and blinked back hot tears. It had been only a few weeks since she had resurfaced from the dead and reclaimed her place in his life. His grief and mourning she had witnessed firsthand but she hadn't been prepared for the guilt that had wormed its way into his head. All the doubts and the self loathing had returned and his walls had started to once again rise. Joss stubbornly vowed that no matter how hard he pushed her away, she would keep shoving him right back.

"That man in the picture, that's the John I know. The only one I've ever known. That's the John that's inside here and that John is full of light. I won't stop fighting for you. I won't stop fighting for us. All those demons in your head that you battle, we're going to destroy them together."

"I don't need this picture either, Joss. It's a memory too and it belongs in that box."