A long night was endured, and Walt found himself deserving of, but not receiving, accolades for his patience. Jesse did not seem to appreciate what was most definitely extreme self-restraint.

The video games seem to go on for hours, with the incessant music becoming more irritating by the minute. With each level of the game, the music seemed to evolve into a heightened quality of annoying. Food was refused.

Finally, after Walt was ready to look for his noise cancelation headphones or to take a walk outside, he finally got an update.

'Confirmed cell data. He was there,' came the text from Saul.

Walt reread the message twice. Interpreted it. It was late to call but Saul's text message wasn't enough. Walt immediately flipped open the phone to dial the other man to force a phone conversation between them. He wasn't doing this over text. "And where else?" Walt asked.

Saul sighed. He sounded tired. "I can send a full report."

"I don't need a full report," Walt answered. He was fairly certain he could match Saul's tired and raise him an exhausted. "I need salient information and a decision on next steps." He could hear the irritation in his voice and sighed. Getting frustrated with Saul, who was helping them, wasn't worth it. "Can this doctor be trusted?"

"I know you don't seem fond of him," Saul acknowledged. "But he is pretty legit."

Walt wanted to echo the words 'pretty legit' and actually dissect it. But he didn't. He accepted it at face value because he really had no other options. Thinking about it further would only make him feel worse.

He cringed at the music behind him from the video game. It seemed to be louder than before. "Okay. So we need another meeting."

"Is that for me or you to set up?"

Walt thought that over. He wanted to be in control of the next steps to the extent he could. "I can do it."

"And Mike?"

Walt sighed yet again. "I'll fill him in once I get back in touch with the doctor and figure out when he's available."

They ended the call, and Walt immediately moved into action to secure a meeting. A text to the good doctor was immediately returned. His availability was also immediate.

A doctor with immediate availability was usually a red flag. But everything in this scenario was a giant red flag. Walt again tried to gloss over and ignore what would normally be warning signs.

Walt finalized plans for the next day. He then stepped away from the video game music to call Mike and updated him. Walt would cook, and Jesse would see the doctor. They would hopefully move towards having their lives go back to normal.

Hopefully.

Mike was tightlipped over the phone but generally fine. He cut off the conversation and the call with barely a closing statement.

Next for Walt was reinserting himself into the ridiculousness of the video game music. He convinced Jesse with a little bit of soft worded coercion to walk away from the game to have something to eat. A nine o'clock dinner.

Away from the game, Walt started to explain what they had to do next while also trying to keep Jesse busy, focused on dinner. The kid was sitting at the condo's kitchen table, with disregarded scrambled eggs in front of him. Because scrambled eggs were the only thing he agreed to eat at this time of night, given Walt's ban on pizza as a menu option for at least a couple days.

Jesse was less than thrilled with the updates Walt presented him. In fact, he was the opposite of impressed.

"What? But why? " was Jesse's response when informed of the news that he would see Dumont again the next day.

"You want to postpone this, Jesse?" Walt frowned.

"No," Jesse admitted. "But—"

"But don't you want to return to normal size?"

"I just don't know what 'this' is," Jesse objected. "I don't know how I was supposedly somewhere that I don't remember, and how any of that caused this…"

"And so what would you suggest?" Walt persisted. "What would delaying seeing the doctor, which is inevitable, actually do for us, Jesse? What would waiting another day or two do?"

"I don't know," Jesse admitted, and his voice wavered just slightly. "I thought you said this would be over soon." He picked up his fork and poked irritably at the eggs on the plate in front of him.

"It will be," Walt committed, cursing internally at his ability to lie without the slightest hesitation. He convinced himself it still wasn't a lie if he really didn't know what would happen. It was just an honest guess. "But only if we follow these next steps."

"But you said you're cooking tomorrow." Jesse stabbed the eggs with disdain. Ketchup smeared across the plate with the movement.

"I am," Walt responded. "So you'll have to go with Mike or Saul because –"

"No. Saul." Jesse shook his head emphatically. "Not happening."

Walt rolled his eyes and sighed. "Jesse…" He paused. "I'm sure Mike will take you." He said that with dismissed certainty because he knew for a fact that regardless of the outcome, that particular detail wouldn't be his problem. And Mike could deal with the inevitable tantrum if Jesse didn't agree with those aspects of the plan.

He watched Jesse poke and prod at the eggs another moment before continuing to speak. "So you really don't remember having been to that building before?"

"The doctor's building?" Jesse asked. He slowly shook his head. "No. I really don't."

"This explains how he had a file on you."

"Doesn't explain much, in my opinion…" Jesse murmured.

"Fills in some of the gaps though," Walt mused. He watched Jesse continue to assault the assumedly cold eggs. "Are you done eating?"

With a frown, Jesse pushed his plate away. "Yes."

Walt pushed back his chair and stood, walking around the table the clear the plates. As he made his way over to deposit them into the sink, he cleared his throat. "I'm going to bed. It's late." He turned back to view the table, where Jesse sat sullenly. "I suggest you do the same."

"But –" Jesse began to object.

"I suggest," Walt repeated, cutting him off with a raise hand. "I'm too tired to have an argument with you on whether or not you'll actually listen to the suggestion. Do what you want."

Jesse eyed him curiously, as though slightly surprised to not have been ordered to do something and instead being given an option. His expression was somewhat confused, almost conflicted. "OK."

"OK?" Walt raised his eyebrows.

"OK," Jesse repeated.

"So what are you going to do?" Walt asked, praying to himself and whatever gods existed that the response wouldn't be video games.

"I'll go to bed," Jesse answered. "I'm tired."

Walt was almost surprised as the ease in which Jesse responded. He'd tried reverse psychology successfully with Jesse many, many times. But never had he been so outright transparent about it.

He wasn't going to waste a moment questioning it or jinxing it so he simply nodded at Jesse in approval. "See you in the morning."

Jesse nodded, still looking uncertain, shoulders slumped. He chewed on his thumbnail distractedly.

"Jesse." Walt cleared his throat.

"Yeah, Mr. White?" Jesse looked up.

"This will all be okay. It'll work out."

Jesse nodded but didn't look convinced.

With that, Walter left the kitchen. He didn't want to test Jesse's mood by offering any assistance with getting ready for bed. He'd take the risk of the kid breaking something to have peace of mind.

Walt was awakened ahead of his alarm clock by a text message just shy of six o'clock. He slowly opened his eyes at the sound of the ring-tone at his bedside table, frowning in the dark before reaching for his glasses and then his phone.

'Diner,' the text read. '7:30am.'

Walt closed his eyes briefly, sighing out loud. He was already anxious about the course of the day. He didn't need Mike to jumpstart it.

After a pause, he texted back. A simple 'OK.'

With that, he slowly sat up in bed and turned himself to drop his feet to the floor. He allowed himself a loud yawn and ran a fatigued hand over his head.

Feeling like he was sleepwalking, he began to leave his bedroom, while at the same time disabling the alarm on his phone that he now did not need.

He walked out to the other room and viewed Jesse on the couch. Child Jesse, peacefully sleeping, almost hidden under the multiple blankets he had piled on top of himself.

Walt was sympathetic of Jesse's frustration and his fear of remaining in this state. Jesse was at the stage of his life where he still wished to be older and have more trust and respect from people. He did not crave a fountain of youth and did not have a desire to repeat any of his childhood, which was probably still relatively clear in his memories.

Walt on the other hand mused over the situation. Was the situation an automatic child-like state, or was it simply a turnback of the clock for a certain amount of years? Only a handful of years turnback would put Jesse on the cusp of child, whereas for Walt himself, a similar amount of time back would put him back into his prime….

He shook those thoughts from his head to focus on the present. He kept his mind on the current thankless task in front of him.

"Jesse," he spoke out loud as he closed the gap between himself and the couch. He reached down to poke the kid in the shoulder, and repeated his name. "Jesse."

The body under the blanket stirred only slightly and Walt sighed. Jesse was usually a difficult one to wake and given the day they had ahead of them, this morning would likely be one of the more trying efforts to get him motivated.

Taking the edge of one of the blankets and tugging it back, Walt continued to speak. "Mike wants us to meet him at the diner… In an hour."

Jesse's response was more of a moan than words. He tried to pull back the blanket that had shifted to uncover his arm but it was futile. His strength was limited in his current state.

"An hour," Walt repeated. He tugged the blanket further down. "Look, I know you're nervous, Jesse, but – "

"Am not," Jesse objected, voice laden with tiredness.

"Okay, well I know the day's agenda is something you're thrilled about," Walt rephrased, "but we agreed. And the only way to get you back to normal is to do this."

Jesse's eyes opened then, and he stared at Walt with skeptical big blue eyes. "You keep saying that."

"Because it's the only next step, Jesse."

"How do you know?"

Walt stared back at him, into the deep blue pools of his eyes, which exuded a mix of uncertainty, fear, and anger. He felt like this conversation was forever on repeat. "Because it truly is the only next step, Jesse. Other than waiting. And we can't wait. Don't you want to get back to normal?" He felt like he could record this conversation at this point and just press play.

Jesse just stared back. He tried to pull the blankets back over his arms again but Walt held them back tightly.

"Up, Jesse," Walt persisted. He glanced at his watch and then back at Jesse. He noticed a change in his expression. Something was different. Almost as though the anger was gone. The uncertainty and fear filled that gap with more intensity. Jesse's lower lip seemed to be trembling just slightly.

Walt was not ready to have an emotional morning. He tugged more firmly at the blankets, not enough to rip them off, but enough to make a point, and then took a step back. "Come on, Jesse. We don't have much time."

"Yo, why do you even have to cook today?" Jesse responded, voice wavering.

"That's not a choice," Walt reminded. "You know that."

"Why today? We didn't have to yesterday."

"Jesse…" Walt sighed. "Enough. You want to meet Mike late?"

Jesse made a face, irritated. "No. I don't want to meet him at all. I want to go back two fucking weeks in time."

"You mean to a time where you apparently don't remember visiting the offices of Dr. Dumont?" Walter shot back. "Did it ever cross your mind, Jesse, that you're partially the reason you are in this situation? And that you should be thankful that we're trying to help you?"

"Oh, I should be thankful?" Jesse exclaimed. He pushed the covers back now and sat up on the couch. "Thankful?" His eyes shined bright with brimming tears. "For what, Mr. White? For being a fucking hostage this last week?"

"A hostage?" Walt echoed in disbelief, trying to keep his voice calm. The possible onset of tears was not enough to make him back off this time. "Hardly, Jesse."

"What do you mean, hardly?" Jesse answered. "Do you not recall me being handcuffed and interrogated in my own bathroom?"

"You weren't exactly helping in that situation, you realize."

"In my own home? Where I should have my own privacy and my own –"

"Don't forget you called me," Walt interjected. "You called me for help, Jesse."

"Yes," Jesse admitted. "Because I didn't know what to do, Mr. White. Not because I wanted this."

Walt wasn't even sure what he meant by 'this' and tried to redirect the energy of the conversation. "I'm not having another argument with you, Jesse. It gets us no where. It makes us late. I need to cook, and you need to focus on you."

"You said this wouldn't last long."

"Long is a relative term, Jesse."

Jesse frowned. "What does that mean?"

"This only feels long because of the situation."

"So how much longer?"

"Not much at all for this conversation," Walt responded. He shook his head and started to walk away. "I'm going to take a shower. I suggest you also start to get ready."

"But, Mr. White –" Jesse began.

Walt spun back around and pointed a finger at Jesse. "Enough. Get ready."

Jesse narrowed his eyes and resolved himself into a pout, but shut his mouth and started to get up.

Moods didn't improve by the time they met Mike at the diner, though they were on time.

Walt couldn't care much for Jesse's mood. His role today was to cook, and he didn't have enough energy to pacify.

Mike was already there when they arrived, sitting in a booth by himself with a cup of coffee in front of him. His expression stayed sedate as Walt and Jesse approached the table.

"Good morning," he said in an even tone. He watched them both slide into the booth, taking in their expressions wearily.

Walt envied the cup of coffee. "So I cook, and you take Jesse to Dumont," he said.

Mike nodded slowly. "And then we hopefully get some answers." He looked at them both. "Where's the bug?"

"In the car," Walt answered. "I'm sure they know we're onto it."

Mike shrugged, as if the notion didn't bother him. "And when you're done cooking?"

"Then we talk," Walt responded. "I'm more concerned about you both connecting with Dumont."

"Concerned?" Jesse echoed.

Walt sighed. "Not concerned in that sense, Jesse. Don't try to manipulate my words." He met Mike's eye. "He's not thrilled about the plan today."

"Well," Mike responded dryly, "I'm not thrilled about the entire situation. But we don't have much of a choice, do we…"

Walt watched Mike pick up his mug of coffee and take a sip, and wished the waitress would come around so that he could get an identical cup. But unfortunately coffee didn't seem to be in the cards that morning.

"Kid, you ready to go?" Mike eyed Jesse with a sense of suspicion.

"He's ready," Walt answered for Jesse.

Jesse frowned but remained quiet.

They all hoped today would be the day where things changed.

Cooking without Jesse had its pros and cons. On one hand, there was silence, and Walt was able to focus on getting the job done without interruption. Everything in the lab was in his control. At the same time, everything in the lab was also his responsibility and he did miss the extra set of hands for some of the task.

And even the silence, while he wished for it many times, could also become a bit tiresome. Jesse at times did offer pleasant conversation. He could offer thoughtful insight and sometimes asked good questions, even philosophical ones, though that was only half the time. The other half the time, Walt resisted wringing his neck and asking him to leave the lab altogether.

Given it had also been a handful of days since being in the lab, Walt found the day to be tiring. It was easy to get back into the routine of cooking, but his thoughts were heavy and weighing him down, and he found himself constantly checking his phone for any potential updates from Mike.

After a few hours there was still nothing, and Walt resisted the urge to call. He convinced himself they were fine. Of course they were. Mike would never let anything happen to Jesse. As much as he threatened, he would put himself between Jesse and any danger to make sure nothing happened. Walt trusted that, even more than he generally trusted the man.

It was roughly halfway through the day, at a time that Walt had chosen to take a break, sitting for a few minutes in a folding chair with a paper cup of water, that he found himself not alone in the lab.

He found himself with an unexpected visitor.

Gus entered through the doorway at the top of the stairs, and when he did so, Walt felt a chilling sense of uncertainty go through him.

This was not in the plans.

Then again, they hadn't cooked in a handful of days, and it was very possible that the man simply wanted to understand the status, and to hear it first hand. That was a true possibility.

Walt was silent as the man made his way down the stairs. He watched him and listened to his heartbeat shift to an increasingly fast rhythm in his chest. He raised the paper cup to his lips and took a slow sip of the water.

"Walter…" Gus greeted as he made his way to the last stair and his shoe touched the concrete floor of the lab. "How are you?"

"Gus," Walt returned the acknowledgement while trying to keep his resolve. On the outside, he needed to remain cool and confident, but on the inside he could feel himself shaking. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Indeed. It's good to see you, Walter…" Gus began. He moved towards him. "I know it's been a little while, so I wanted to make sure we connected and that everything was progressing as planned."

"It is," Walt confirmed. He watched Gus approach and stayed seated, while the other man located another chair and dragged it over, placing it a few feet from Walt's before sitting down. He took another sip of water.

Gus didn't speak for a moment, instead just maintaining eye contact. He then cleared his throat, and ran a steady hand down the front of his shirt, smoothing out his tie. "Any updates you want to give me, Walter?" he asked. "Or any questions?"

Walt paused. He was wondering if Gus was referring to the fact he was alone, and whether he was questioning where Jesse was. Or it could have been a polite, earnest question. Walt didn't know for sure. But what he did know is that he definitely had to carefully plan his words around Gus.

"Updates?" Walt responded. "I'm sure you're pretty aware of what's gone on here, Gus. Considering the cameras and everything else."

Gus smiled just slightly. "Yes." He nodded. "Here, that's the truth. What about outside of here, Walter? Everything going well?"

Walt's heart pounded in his ears. Before he could respond, Gus continued.

"Where is Mr. Pinkman today, Walter?" He raised his eyebrows.

Walt paused a second and then answered simply. "He couldn't cook today."

"No?"

"Unfortunately not," Walt confirmed.

Gus continued to smile. "Interesting." His gaze at Walt continued. "And there isn't anything else you want to tell me, Walter?"

Walt tilted his head slightly to the side, studying Gus's expression. There was something about the smile that the other man had. There was more purpose to his visit than asking how Walt was doing. Walt tried to maintain his confident exterior. "Maybe there is something you want to tell me, Gus?" he answered, speaking slowly.

"Depends on the question," Gus replied.

Walt frowned just noticeably. The lab was suddenly incredibly quiet except for the sound of his own heartbeat. "What question should I ask, Gus?"

Gus's smile briefly turned into a smirk. "Let's not dance around the topic, Walter. It's not a good use of either of our time."

"What topic are you referring to?"

"The topic of Jesse."

"Jesse."

"Yes." Gus folded his hands together in his lap. "Jesse. I'm quite aware of his status, Walter. And I thought it was due time that we talked about it."

"What do you mean by status?" Walt asked, a bit tentatively. His stomach turned as the conversation continued. If it were possible, his pulse accelerated further.

"Status," Gus repeated. "I'm quite aware that you know what I'm talking about, Walter."

Walt felt like a curtain was torn away from a shocking stage. While he could lie to himself for another few seconds on what this was about, it was clear. This wasn't about Jesse's past. This wasn't about drugs or being an addict. It wasn't about his reliability. Or any of those other old topics of painful conversations they'd had in the past.

This was about the real situation.

Walt suddenly felt a bit cornered in the lab. He stared back at Gus, trying to think of the right thing to say.

"You do know what I'm referring to, of course?" Gus continued.

"Yes." Walt found himself a bit speechless. "You caught me a little offguard with the topic," he admitted. He then slowly pushed the subject further. "And as you seem well aware of it… What did you have to do with it?"

"He's in good hands with Dr. Dumont."

Walt felt a chill go down his spine. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"You know what I'm talking about," Gus continued.

Walt stared at Gus. "What do you mean? How did you do this?" His mind raced. Had Saul known about this? And not said anything? That asshole. What about Mike? Walt got to his feet, the folder chair rattling behind him as he pushed it back in anger.

"Sit down, Walter…" Gus spoke calmly.

"How did you –"

"Sit," Gus said more firmly. He gestured at the chair. "Sit or I'll have to call my men in. And then we won't be able to have this discussion."

Feeling anger and a surge of newfound fear, Walt did the only thing he felt was an option. He obeyed. Settling back down in the chair stiffly, he narrowed his eyes at Gus. "What did you do?"

Gus looked so pleased with himself that Walt had to fight back the urge to physically go after him. He knew that was futile but the temptation was there anyway. If he did that, he'd be killed. He knew that. So he sat back and waited, anger racing through his veins.

"I'm an investor, Walter," Gus began. "And an inventor. I protect my assets. And I build new ones."

Walt reached into his pocket for his phone. No messages. Should he call Mike or Jesse?

"No phone calls please, Walter," Gus spoke slowly, shaking his head. "This is a conversation between just you and me."

"How did you do this? And why?" Walter persisted. "The whole thing… It's impossible. It's –"

"It's obviously not impossible," Gus answered. "In fact, it's all very, very possible. And Jesse has been the perfect example of that."

"But why?" Walter was in a state of disbelief. "Why would you do this to him? And can you undo it? How is this even something that could happen?"

"Dumont has the details," Gus responded. "But this is something we have been working on for a very long time. We just needed to square away the final details and then find our first specimen."

"Specimen?" Walt was incredulous. Angry. "So he was your specimen?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"It hasn't gone as planned," Gus continued.

"No?" Walt challenged, feeling anger well up inside of him.

"We felt Jesse himself was the perfect person to run the first trial on," Gus explained. He adjusted his glasses. "We felt he could disappear and it would allow us time. His family wouldn't interfere given his limited presence in their lives and vice versa. There aren't many personal ties that he has…"

"Sounds perfect," Walt answered bitterly.

"However, we didn't know he would reach out for help. To you. And to Mike." Gus frowned then. "We thought he would actually try to hide the situation from you both. This would give us an opportunity to step in."

"I guess you don't know your specimen as well as you thought…" Walt snapped.

Gus raised his eyebrows at Walt. "This is a very emotional reaction from you, Walter…" Gus mused. "Something I also was not expecting."

"Apologies for having a small issue with using an unsuspecting victim as a medical experiment without any consent. How did you even do it? Whatever 'it' is?"

"We set the steps up to get the plan in motion." Gus spoke slowly. "As you've probably already figured out, Jesse's visit to see Dr. Dumont was not a first visit. He'd been there before."

"Yes," Walt said with a sigh. "There as a whole file on him."

"We managed that by getting Jesse to take something that would render him a bit … unaware… So that we could start the procedure."

"This is all illegal," Walt objected. "You can't subject someone to medical treatment without their consent. That's –"

"Illegal?" Gus responded. "Unethical?" He smirked. "Walter, you're not a simple man. You must realize there are other factors that have a more prominent reason for doing something. This…" he gestured around the lab, "… maybe be a phase. A hobby. But the desire for youth? That is an immortal quest that will never go out of fashion."

"So what happens now?" Walt demanded. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"We were obviously successful," Gus answered. He eyed Walt patiently. "And there are a few things that we need to continue to assess before moving forward, and it wasn't worth even bridging the concept with you until we could wager our success rate of this trial."

"No?"

"No," Gus confirmed. "You'd never have believed us. You'd question the ability for something like that to be true. And that questioning and disbelief… It just wouldn't be a good use of any of our time. You still want to question it – even though you can't."

"What about Saul? And Mike?" Walt clenched his hands together.

"Saul knew…" Gus responded slowly. "We needed him involved so that we could get Jesse seen by Dumont again. Mike did not know. He has a tendency to have a bit of an odd… fondness… for Jesse. I didn't know how he would react to our need to use him in this project. I couldn't risk it. Mike is loyal but he also has his boundaries."

"But Mike had us go to Saul. To ask about this. If he didn't know then –"

"That played well in our favor," Gus interjected. "We had other contingency plans in place, but when we knew you were heading to Saul, the next steps became much easier."

"And now what?" Walt persisted. "Can you turn him back?"

Gus smiled. "Walter, are you serious?" He chuckled. "It's the fountain of youth… Why would anyone want that to be reversible?"

Walt felt the color fade from his face. All this time, assuring Jesse and even himself, that there would be a way to turn him back. All this time and that was it? No cure? No rewind button? No undoing this?

"You seem surprised," Gus pondered out loud. "Which continues to surprise me… I didn't expect this reaction, Walter."

"What did you expect?" Walt shook his head in disbelief.

"Intrigue, intellectual inquisitiveness…" Gus answered. "I thought the proving science wrong aspect you be intriguing to you."

"Science is never wrong," Walt countered. "People are."

"And I would argue people are behind science…"

"So what is the point then, if you can't turn him back?" Walt sighed. "He's going to Dumont today, and for what?"

"We need to monitor the situation. There are tests and –"

"Tests?" Walt was incredulous. "What kind of tests?" He felt himself fill with rage. Was Jesse just an object to them?

When he got himself into this situation, this agreement to work for Gus, he knew that there would be sacrifices. He knew it wouldn't be straightforward and he would constantly find himself surprised. He also knew Jesse would be a liability. Jesse was always a risk, and he knew he'd find himself balancing his relationship as partner and pseudo-parent.

But he never expected this.

"Tests," Gus repeated. "Standard tests."

There was nothing standard about this. What the hell was he talking about? Walt didn't know if it was the anger or the disbelief, but he began to feel it taking its toll. His pulse was still racing, and he still felt this surge of anger and red-hot fury.

Gus stared at him quizzically. "Walt, are you okay?"

Was he? Walt himself wasn't sure. This whole experience had thrown him for a loop. They'd been hiding something, protecting Jesse, from this man, and now it was clear this man was the reason behind everything. He wasn't sure if he was okay. Actually he was sure that he was not okay. The problem was that he didn't know what to do about it.

He needed to talk to Mike. He did believe Mike was also an innocent party in this and while it felt crazy enough for him to admit it, Walt thought maybe he could be trusted. Maybe there was a way they could talk directly to Dumont and figure out what to do. Because there had to be a way to reset this.

"Walter?" Gus persisted.

Walt felt a light flash in front of him. It was like his vision went out for a moment. The lab suddenly started to feel unreal, like the edges were blurry. Was this the impact of shock on his body? Was he really feeling so out of touch with reality?

"Walter, come on now. You can't be that surprised by this. Think about the potential upside here. You can help us with this."

There was another flash. And Walt started to wonder at that moment if maybe he was having a heart attack. Maybe this is what it felt like. He held out his hands in front of him and studied them. They almost seemed to fade out of sight and then back again.

What was going on?

He needed to call Mike and Jesse. He had to talk to them.

There had to be another option here. There always was. As much as he never would have believed this situation was possible to begin with, he now didn't believe it wasn't possible to turn things back to normal.

There had to be a way.

It was impossible for them to have this be their new normal.

With that last thought, everything went black.