October 2017- Five Years After the Blackout

The house was filled with the sound of huffing and grumbling as Jeremy and Bass navigated a still weak Miles inside. Nora followed behind, shut the door, and dropped a couple bags under the bay window. They had finally left Trenton that morning after spending two weeks in the city. The stay had been partly due to Bass and his negotiations but it was mostly an attempt to allow Miles some time to heal before traveling again.

"Where do you want him?"

"Upstairs." Nora responded while Miles grunted, "The office."

Their friends exchanged a glance, unsure of who to obey. The couple stared each other down, waiting for the other to relent and rescind their answer.

"You're supposed to be resting." Nora said.

"Who are you, my mother? I can sit and read for a few hours." Miles argued.

"Then do it in bed."

"I've been in a bed for two weeks."

"Well, you're going to be in one for another few days."

Again, Bass and Jeremy looked at each other. The couple had fallen back into their routine so easily, it was as though their short separation had not existed. If either Nora or Miles were paying attention to the other two, they would have seen their silent, unanimous decision.

"Oh come on!" Miles exclaimed, his tone close to a whine as his friends started to hustle him upstairs to the bedroom.

"Sorry man, you know how she gets. It's not even worth the fight. Might as well surrender now and still come out with some of our dignity intact." Bass said. "She's right by the way. You need to take it easy for a while. We'll ease you back in, don't worry. Things are relatively calm right now. We don't need you."

"It's my goddamn militia. I need to be visible and working. I have things to do."

"Miles, either you agree or we'll knock you out and tie you down." Nora commented lightly.

"Hey now. No need to get kinky." Jeremy said, possibly only half joking. "What you do on your own time is fine but please don't involve us. There are some boundaries that even we don't cross."

"Who says we'd want you to join us?" Miles muttered sarcastically.

"As entertaining as this conversation is, can we continue it upstairs?" Nora asked.

"Oh God, I can say so many things." Jeremy snorted, giggling a little like an immature preteen.

"Shut up Jeremy." the other three chorused. Together they managed to corral Miles up into the master bedroom and deposited him onto the bed. He scowled at them as he shifted against the headboard, trying to find a comfortable position.

"I'll come by tomorrow." Bass told him quietly. "Give you some time to relax."

"Not sure when I'll drop by." Jeremy added.

"You- later rather than sooner would be a good idea." Miles responded. The other man gave a mock salute as he exited the room, squeezed Nora's shoulder on the way out. "We need to start getting posts set up in Jersey. If we wait too long, it'll pose a risk of us losing control of the area."

"I've been taking care of that. Don't worry about it."

"This is new territory. Of course I'm going to worry about it."

"Yeah, well being the leader gives me some perks. I can handle it. Just sit back and let this one take care of you."

"I'm not an invalid, just so the both of you know."

"Yeah, tell that to your gut. I have to check in with the others. Get some sleep. You look awful."

"I'd advise you to not look in a mirror if you're going to talk about looking awful." Miles muttered, rolling his eyes. The comment made Bass smirk but there was an underlying layer of relief in his expression. Miles was all too aware of it. During the past two weeks, Bass and Nora had looked like twins most of the time. Half the time, they looked like nervous wrecks and the rest of the time was spent acting as though every twinge, sneeze, and bitter glare Miles gave was a miracle.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah."

Bass nodded absently and stared to leave the room. He paused by Nora, tipping his head down towards her to speak quietly.

"If you need me, just send a messenger over."

"Thanks Bass." she laid her hand gently on his back, guiding him out the door. "Just lock the door on your way out."

"Will do." he gave a wave as he headed down the stairs. She lingered in the doorway of her bedroom until she heard the door shut softly. Then, she turned her focus on her husband.

"I'm going to go grab that pain medication Hannigan gave you. Do you want anything else while I'm down there?"

"I don't want it. I'm fine."

"He said every six hours."

"Guy barely graduated from med school. I think I'll know when I need it better than his estimates."

"Would you just-" she started just as he snapped, "Nora-"

They both cut off, looked away from each other, and lapsed into an awkward silence. Not even a minute alone and they were already squabbling. This marked the first time they had been completely alone since their short meeting in the stables before departing for Trenton. Any point they had been alone together while in Trenton had been cut short by Bass, Hannigan, the two nurses, and anyone else who seemed to feel they needed to see Miles at that specific time.

The first few days, he had mostly slept and barely talked. Once he was ready to talk, she avoided the topic of their relationship. She wanted to ignore the idea they had been separated for two weeks and focus on getting him healed. She wasn't going to pretend they weren't having problems or roll over and allow him to revert to his usual attitude. They needed a change and that was going to happen. There was a time and a place for things and that time was not now. Their struggles were important but it was more important to overcome those momentarily to show she was there for him when he needed her.

His injury had been a wake-up call and also reaffirmed what she had figured out before leaving for the campaign. No matter what happened, she still loved him. She couldn't simply walk away from him. There was too much history between them. Even if, they did eventually part ways, there would always some tie holding them together. She wasn't ready to do that though and highly doubted she ever would be.

Maybe she was a fool and this would all be for nothing but she had to try. She had told him she couldn't- didn't know what to do anymore, but she had been wrong. The separation had rejuvenated the fight in her and she was willing to do whatever it took to keep their marriage afloat. The woozy promise of change he had given after his surgery had sparked interest in her. He had used the two weeks to reevaluate their life just like she had. The pessimist inside told her it was the meds talking and not to hold her breath. Yet, during the past several days, he was the one who continued to press the issue and she skirted around it. She wondered if her stalling was some subconscious effort on her part to see if he was serious about everything. It didn't seem like he would be backing down any time soon, which helped fuel the sincerity behind his actions.

"I'm sorry." his voice was quiet and the apology sounded slightly forced, as if grinding out the words was a physical effort. She kept her face neutral, even though she was surprised. An honest to God apology from Miles was a rarity these days.

"Just trying to take care of you." she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. She leaned against the door, using half the room as a barrier between them.

"I know."

"But you're right, you know better than I do how you're feeling. When you want it, it'll be there. I'll be downstairs. Just yell if you need anything."

"Wait, Nor-" he stopped as she disappeared from his line of sight. He stared out the door into the hallway, then banged his head back into the headboard.

She poked her head in a couple hours later and was relieved to find him asleep. The fact that he was sleeping showed how weak he still was. She didn't remember the last time or rather if she had ever even seen him sleep during the day. Even if he pulled an all nighter out on a battlefield or filling out paperwork, he would stay awake until the following night.

This was a dangerous situation they were in. As much as she wanted to coddle him, she knew he didn't want it. He hated any indication that he was weak and would try to endure as much pain as possible, as though that proved something. In her opinion, it only proved he was an idiot. He would push himself to his breaking point before accepting help. However, this wasn't a normal cut or a cold. She couldn't obey his wishes when she knew there were specific things that needed to be done in order for him to heal properly and remain in good health.

She sat on the edge of their bed and let her eyes wander over him. She knew if she tried moving the blanket and his shirt, he would wake up and probably start arguing with her. Hannigan's parting words rang in her ears. The wound had to be cleaned and bandaged regularly or there was the possibility for an infection. She glanced at his side, then leaned over, and touched his forehead gently.

"What are you doing?" he muttered, voice still drowsy from sleep.

"Making sure you don't have a fever."

"Think you just like touching me."

"There's that too." her hand slipped down to his cheek as his eyes opened and he blinked tiredly at her. "How are you feeling?"

He shrugged in response as he turned his head to kiss her palm.

"That's not an answer."

"Not one you like."

"Good to see Sassy Miles is making a comeback." she teased lightly. He gave a small nod while she noticed the tension in his jaw. "Please take the pain meds."

"Fine."

"Okay. I'll be right back." she left the room and was back a few minutes later. Once he had taken the medication, he tried to sit up but she put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "I want to check your side."

"It's fine."

"It hasn't been changed since we left Trenton."

"Are we seriously going to do this?"

"I don't want to but if you insist on being a stubborn jackass about it, I'm going to. You weren't the one listening to Hannigan's regiment on getting this thing to heal."

"Could have gotten a nurse."

"You said no when that was suggested. And honestly, if we had one, they wouldn't be able to stand up to you. All you'd have to do is glare and they'd let you go into septic shock. Unfortunately for you, I'm not as easy to deter. Stop being such a baby. It won't even take me ten minutes."

He opened his mouth to retort but remained silent as his conscience jumped in and reminded him you said you weren't going to do this with her. You were going to try harder. She correctly interpreted his silence as consent and got to work.

"Okay," she pulled his shirt back into place and stood from the bed. "I'm going to get dinner started. I'll check in on you."

"Hold on a minute."

"It's getting late."

"It's not even dark yet." he pointed out. She looked trapped and the one corner of his mouth lifted in a lazy smirk. "Why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you. I've been here. Every day."

"You can be here and still not be here. Y'know what I mean?"

"God, give you one near death experience, and you think you have all of life's answers."

"No, I just know what you avoiding me looks like."

"I think you should worry about getting back on your feet before we delve into our problems. You need time to-"

"All I've had is time. No one will let me do anything. I've had plenty of time to think things over. You have too. You said after Trenton we'd talk about this."

"Yeah, that was before you went and got shot."

"Look, you know me. You know it takes a lot to get me to open up. I'm trying to lay it all out there and you keep refusing to listen."

"That's not true."

"Unless you're fussing over my injury, you're not in the room. I'm not going to bite."

She snorted at this and he rolled his eyes, saying, "Would you at least give me a chance to plead my case?"

"Fine make it." she sat on the edge of the bed and crossed her arms over her chest. He stared at her, suddenly quiet. "Cat got your tongue?"

"I realized how much of a dick I have become. You were... right that night when you said I always expected you to be waiting here for when I wanted you and that's not right. I don't know how things got so off track but I'm sorry. When I got shot, I... I was more pissed at the idea that I wasn't going to be able to tell you these things." he cleared his throat, glancing off to the side. "I never wanted this, us, a relationship in general, or expected it to happen. I was happy with the way things were going, and then you showed up."

"Technically, you showed up."

"Whatever. All I'm saying is you changed how I viewed things and—holy shit, I sound like a freaking Hallmark card."

"No, no, this is good. Keep going."

"I love you. I never wanted to hurt you. That is the last thing I would ever intentionally try to do. I acted like I could do this all on my own, pretended like I was cocky enough to not need anyone else but the truth is, you're a huge factor in so many ways and I don't give you any credit. You don't deserve the shit I put you through and I can give every excuse and apology in the book but it's not going to change what I've done. But I can try harder and I'm going to. Being without you and realizing how hurt you were and how serious you were made me realize I came real close to losing you. I don't want that and karma, God, whatever decided to give me a swift kick in the ass by nearly killing me and making the decision for me. I was taking things for granted, let you think you weren't good enough, let you think I didn't love you, went to bed angry. I don't want that. I don't want another Trenton and worrying that there's too much left unsaid between us if something were to happen."

There was a bout of silence as they gazed at each other. He rubbed a hand over the top of his head and added, "So there, I've said what I wanted to say and that's all there is."

"It was raw and heartfelt."

"Glad you think so. You won't get another confession like this for at least another five years."

She smiled slightly as she leaned in and kissed him. One of his hands immediately came up to cup the back of her head, fingers winding through her hair.

"I'm sorry too." she mumbled, pressing her forehead against his. "I kept thinking that maybe I was being too harsh."

"No, don't do that. You were right. You deserved to call me out on my bullshit."

"Yeah, but that morning in the stables, you tried to apologize and I was being stubborn. I sat in the clinic, thinking you were dead, and was so mad at myself. I could have forgiven you and I let that opportunity go by. If... if you had, I..." she shook her head, breaking off with a sigh. "Hell of a wake up call, huh?"

"That's one way of putting it."

"You know I'm going to hold you to all of this, right?"

"I was counting on it."

"I'm serious. The first sign of your garbage and I won't hesitate to freak out on you."

"I believe you."

"We still have a lot to talk about."

"I know." he reached for her hand, trailed his thumb over the top of her wedding band. "It'd be nice to have a clean start, after everything."

"We can't just ignore this."

"And we won't. We've gone through a valuable lesson. I've gone through a valuable lesson. I'm just saying, I think a lot of people try a separation and not many come through it stronger and better."

"True."

"So, then, would you... y'know, want to marry me again? Technically, probably for the first time. I still don't think what Bass did was legal. I never did give you the big wedding that I promised once things settled down. It's been two and a half years but better late than never I suppose."

"We don't have to do that."

"I know we don't have to."

"But you want to?"

He shrugged, keeping his eyes locked on hers, "Like I said, a clean start would be nice."

"It would be nice." she agreed softly. A smile started to form on her face and she turned her hand upward, locking their fingers together. "No one can accuse you of not being romantic."

"Yeah, well, don't spread it around. If anyone asks, it was your idea."