His reaction was visceral; Holder let everything he had been holding back for years pour through his kiss - devotion, possibility, loyalty. Big hands secured on either side of Linden's face, his hope blossomed when her small fingers crept around his neck to pull him down, closer. If pressed, Stephen would not deny that he had wanted this, as he snaked a hand down to her waist and tugged her closer. When their lips separated, the partners smiled at one another before Linden pressed her ear to his chest. Holder lowered his head onto the hair of his favorite carrot top.

Feeling her body tense, the towering man pulled back and loped around to the other side of the car. No need to test her tenacity by pushing her when she had just triumphed in a wrestling match with her demons that still were nipping at her heels. Holder could see it in Linden's eyes, as she fiddled with the keys, blue eyes uneasily watching as he brushed her pinky with his thumb. He recognized the look, the collision against wave the panic.

"I'm hungry. Wanna catch some dinner?" Holder knew she had grabbed her fear by its proverbial cajones to get the sentence out. And her resolve made him smile. His red haired addiction within reach, he crowded her space, gut aching and demanding more. Stephen wanted there to be no doubt in Linden's mind that her future was riding shotgun next to her; his kiss chased her to breathlessness, pupils blown in dilation.

Her pale hand on his cheek had reminded Holder to apply the brakes to his craving; the last thing he wanted was to give her reason to run again. "I just wanted to do that again." Best to be honest. "Cause you probably needed to differentiate if you were dreamin'." Better to be cocky.

The car ride was silent, but Holder didn't care; he was with his ride. When the car jerked to a stop at the diner, Stephen resisted every bone in his body to jump over the center console again and kiss her. Too much, too quickly; there were baby steps going to be adhered to. So instead, he sat across from her and rubbed his thumb over the ridges of her knuckles after they had ordered.

"So where did your nomadic wanderings take you?" he asked nonchalantly, hoping she would take a deep breath in and spill it all out. Countless times, Holder had held his breath at the sight of an ugly, bulky sweater in the mall or a red headed jogger. There had been nights that he stared at the ceiling, wondering if Linden blamed him as much as he blamed himself.

Holder watched her turn her blue eyes to the window. And so he talked; Holder babbled about his job, the apartment he had moved to with a second bedroom, but mostly Kalia. Still, her mind galloped away into the rain. "Yo, come back to earth and at least eat."

While Linden chewed her pastrami sandwich, Holder could almost hear her internal debate: run, stay, run, stay, run…run…run. Lamely, she threw out some locations. "Try again, Alex Trebec. You're mixing up your cities and states." How many places had she been to just toss those out? His heart broke a little more when he realized that while he stayed in Seattle to find himself, she roamed the country to lose herself.

His pocket vibrated and he swore as he dialed the number by heart. "Daddy!" Kalia yelled into the phone. There was nothing like his little princess to bring him back from any shadows, her voice was the light at the end to any of his tunnels. Stephen asked her about school and laughed as his miniature reiterated the lesson on the colors and their meanings.

"Yes, I know about the cupcakes! I didn't forget!" he smiled into the phone, eyes closed to imagine his little girl bouncing her legs on the chair at Caroline's house as she spoke. "I love you, my little goddess," he repeated for the millionth time in his life. Holder would never quit telling his daughter that he loved her, even when she rolled her sassy brown eyes at him.

Sarah was ready to go, antsy, fiddling with her napkin. "Where to, boss?" Stephen extended his hand to her, craving her touch. There wasn't any part of Linden that Holder didn't want; the guilt, the opportunities, the feel of her body pulled against his. Refusing to release her hand, he drew circles into her palm with her thumb. They would conquer their demons together. Together, they made sense, even when they didn't.

Thanks for sticking around! I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it! I miss this show!