Dear John,

I have no words to express how sorry I am that I haven't been able to write back to you. Things went poorly very soon after we chatted on Christmas, and I was unavoidably detained for what felt like forever. I promise that my nearly every waking thought was of you. Far from our Christmas chat being unwelcome, it was the one memory which bore me up through some very difficult times. I hate that my silence made you doubt yourself - I can think of no universe in which I would not have participated wholeheartedly in that endeavor with you, real or imagined. I sincerely apologize for my prolonged silence.

The bad news: I'm going to be spending some undetermined amount of time in hospital. Not in the country where I was injured, thank goodness - I'm at a very good facility in Switzerland right now, and I will be here until I'm well enough to be moved to London. Which is the good news: despite everything that happened, I did manage to finish my project and I'm now free to return home soon.

The end of this endeavor means some huge changes for me, both privately and professionally. It also means I can be a bit less guarded about what I say, although - John - I want to be there in person when I tell you all the more meaningful bits. So much nuance is lost when we only have words on a page, and I don't want to miss a single nuance when I finally get to see (and kiss?) you for real.

My phone and laptop were both unfortunate casualties of the last few weeks, so my internet access will be spotty until I can replace them, but I am making the ability to communicate with you my absolute top priority. Second is healing as quickly as possible so I can reassure myself you're actually real.

William