Songs I listened to while writing this chapter:

Kruger Suits Up by Ryan Amon

Checkpoint by Henry Jackman & Alex Belcher

Let the Girl's Out by Ryan Amon

Rim Fire by Joseph Trapanese

Emma by Steven Price (Norman by Steven Price too)

Final Moments by Joseph Trapanese (I will never forget that scene from Only the Brave and the ones that followed it...never)

Also, NCIS: Los Angeles inspired an action in this chapter closer to the end, so that's why it's in there with a vague reference to it, and yes I know that particular scene wasn't until way after the year 2013, but I don't care lol.

Trigger warning for violent scenes in this chapter.

Lee was back in his apartment and waiting for Emily to text him back. He knew he'd just said goodbye to her, but he still wanted to talk to her. As the night went on, he wondered if he'd stepped too far. Was he being clingy? Was she annoyed with him? He stood in his kitchen and leaned his hands against the counter, looking at his phone. He willed it to chime with a text. When it did, he nearly toppled over from trying to grab it as fast as he could.

Barney.

He huffed and tossed it back down, not wanting to answer what he was up to. He tapped his fingers. He looked at his phone again. It had been almost two hours. Something wasn't right. He picked his phone up again to try calling her when it rang.

"Yea?" he said.

"Oh my God, Lee!" Alison's voice gasped. "I think something's happened to Emily!"

"What?"

"I lost one of the files I was supposed to give her like an idiot, and then I found it, so I went over to give it to her before work tomorrow, and her apartment door was wide open. She wasn't there, Lee. Tigger was freaking out, and all of her stuff was on the counter, like her phone and purse."

"Stay there," he ordered. "I'm coming."

"Shouldn't we be calling the police?"

"Do that. I'm still coming."

"O-Okay. I'm scared, Lee. What if they come back?!"

"Go to the neighbor's apartment and wait there with them."

"Right. I can do that. Oh my God. Okay. Oh, Tigger, I've got you," Alison said, and Lee heard the shuffling of movement as she obviously picked up the yowling kitten. "It's okay, baby."

"I'll be there in ten," he promised.

"Please hurry!"

...

Barney answered the phone prepared to say something witty to Lee when his friend started the conversation by shouting:

"She's gone!"

"What did you do?!" Barney asked, trying to think. Would he have been so stupid already and blown the relationship before it even got started?

"She was kidnapped, Barney!" Lee yelled at him. He was instantly sitting upright.

"WHAT?!"

"Get over here now!"

"I'm on my way." He hung up without saying anything else. Then he called up the boys. Gunner was gonna have to sit this one out, so Tool was gonna have to babysit him. He couldn't screw this up. Lee was counting on him, and he wasn't about to let him down.

"Toll," Barney said. "Tell the big man that Tool is gonna come babysit him. We gotta go."

"Where?" Toll asked, confused.

"Emily's been kidnapped."

"What?!"

"Wheels up in twenty."

"Got it."

"TOOL!" Barney bellowed.

"I heard you, I heard you," Tool said, appearing while pulling his coat on. "I'm already leaving. Go find her!"

Barney raced to get his gear and then tore off in his truck. He hated that his bad gut feeling was coming true. He got to his hangar to find Caesar, Toll, and Gunner there. He faltered upon seeing Gunner. Where the hell was Tool? Had he been knocked out or something?

"You ain't coming," he said to Gunner. "You're not in the best shape."

"Lee is my brother," Gunner said firmly. "I've sobered up in the last few hours. I'll be fine by the time we get there."

"Gun, I'm sorry," Barney tried.

"I can't let anything else bad happen!" Gunner shouted. "Okay?! I need to help. Just let me." Barney looked at him, and he knew he was wasting time fighting with him. They didn't have time.

"Fine," he said. "But you can't screw this up."

"I won't."

"No guns. You're just extra muscle if needed."

"Okay."

Barney walked past him and up into the plane with the three of them going after him. He pulled out his phone to see Tool had texted him a lot of WTF messages and threats to Gunner when he found him. Barney let him know that Gunner was with him and Tool could deal with him when he got back. He heard the three men talking to each other as he started his plane. He exhaled roughly and slipped on his lucky ring. He just hoped that they'd find her before it was too late.

...

Lee found Alison crying and wringing her hands when he got to Emily's building. Police were there too, doing a search and taking notes while setting up the crime scene.

"Lee!" she gasped, rushing to him. "They can't find any clues. I heard them talking, and they said there is evidence of a struggle but that's it. What are we gonna do?!"

"Just breathe," he instructed. His mind was racing. Was it Scott? Was it another member of the Munroe family? Was it some other enemy of his seeking revenge? Was it Josh? Had he not actually been killed? He didn't know. It was driving him crazy.

He waited with Alison for almost two hours while the police did their investigation and asked both of them questions. He grew annoyed with her for being so emotional, but he knew this sort of thing had never happened to her before, so he had to be patient. He paced, knowing that Barney and the team would be there soon. They'd help him with this. He ran a hand over his head, praying that Emily was even still alive. Then his phone rang.

"Yea?" he answered quickly.

"Mr. Christmas," a distorted voice said. "We need to talk." Lee shot Alison a look and went to the stairwell where it was quieter.

"I'm listening," he said.

"Are you alone?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hear the sound of your loved one dying?" the voice asked. Lee gripped the phone tighter in his hand.

"If you touch her..." he started, his tone threatening. The voice laughed.

"I don't think you understand the position you're in, Christmas. There's no negotiating or threatening me here."

"What do you want?" Lee asked angrily. He made sure no one was listening to him still as he went farther up the stairs away from the door.

"I just want you to feel some pain, Christmas. I want you to suffer."

"Did I kill one of your family members or something?"

"This isn't about me. It's about you."

"Hard to teach me a lesson when I don't know what lesson I'm learning," Lee commented.

"I'm going to text you an address, and you're going to go there. You're not going to tell anyone. I'll know if you do."

"What happens when I get there?"

"You'll see."

He heard the door open, and Alison was tiptoeing up to him. He shook his head to indicate for her to stop moving, but she ignored him.

"Remember Lee, no one is to know. If someone finds out, they die."

Lee turned his head to catch the red dot on Alison's chest just above her heart.

"NO!" he shouted, leaping to shove her down just as the shot went off. The glass shattered, and Alison screamed as they went down together onto the floor of the landing. Lee heard his call disconnect, and he was breathing hard and shaking at how close Alison was to dying.

"Oh my God!" she shrieked. "What just happened?!"

"You okay?" he asked, pulling her up. "You good?"

"I'm f-f-fine," she said, teeth chattering now.

"Get out of here," Lee ordered. "Right now."

"Why?"

"Just go!" He had no time to argue with her. He ran down the stairs to the exit and burst out onto the street, avoiding the police and further questions. Then he looked at his phone to see the text come in. After reading it, he put it back into his pocket and ran for his truck. There, he located his hidden weapons and geared up. With his team roughly an hour away from being there, he had to do this on his own.

He didn't know what he was walking into, but he was gonna be ready.

...

"Is the craziness ever going to end?!" Andy exclaimed as she rushed into Jane's place to find Kevin, Nigel, and Alison sitting there waiting for her. "What's going on?!"

"It seems Emily has been kidnapped," Nigel answered. Andy gasped in shock.

"Lee's going to get her back, right?" Jane asked. She looked anxious. Andy knew Jane would be worried about what the stress would do to her baby, so she hoped for everyone's sake that Emily was found quickly and safely. Tigger was there since Alison had brought him, and he was distraught too.

"He took off," Alison answered. "I don't know where."

"He's going alone," Andy said, realizing. "Is he stupid?!"

"Well, someone tried to kill me for talking to him, so I think he can't tell anyone," Alison pointed out. Her hands were still shaking. Jane went to get her another cup of tea. She didn't know what else to do otherwise. She needed to keep her hands busy. She needed to stay calm.

"I can't even imagine," Andy went on. "Emily is going to be so traumatized!"

"I'll make sure she gets help after," Nigel promised. No one wanted to vocalize that there might not be an after. It was too horrific to even think about.

...

Emily groaned as she came to. Her head was pounding, and she was sore all over. She opened her eyes to find herself in a dark room. She had no idea where she was.

As far as she could tell, she was alone. She twisted her head around, noticing she was tied to a chair and couldn't talk. She could feel some blood on her face and vaguely remembered something hitting her head at one point.

Emily worked hard to remember something, anything. The last thing she remembered was the trunk. Something had been jammed into her neck right before she was put into it, and she'd passed out. She couldn't remember the people who had kidnapped her at all. Then she thought of Lee. Was he hurt? Did he know? She had no idea who was doing this. Josh was supposedly dead. Was it someone getting revenge for his death? Was it Scott? She suddenly thought of Scott and how he'd tried to strangle her. Maybe he'd come back for a second chance at it, but why leave her like this? Her chest felt heavy, and she looked down to quickly discover she was wearing a vest.

A bomb vest, to be exact.

She started to breathe a little heavier and faster. There was no timer on it so far, but that didn't mean it wouldn't go off without warning. She swallowed, trying to keep calm. If they were waiting for something, then they were probably getting Lee involved. If Lee was involved, then he would find her. She knew he would.

All she could to do was wait.

...

Lee entered the building at the address he'd been given, gun aimed. He moved quickly, scanning right to left as he went. He felt his heart pounding and did his best to slow it down so he could focus. The building was a maze, and he knew it was chosen for that very reason. He followed a sound that could only be described as muffled screaming, and he approached a room on the top floor cautiously. He nudged the steel door open, and he gave a slight start at the sight of Lacy tied to a chair screaming through a gag.

She was not at all who he'd expected to find.

She shrieked upon seeing him and jerked at her bound arms. He checked to make sure he wasn't going to trip off anything before stepping into the room. He holstered his gun and reached to rip the tape off her mouth.

"OW!" she bellowed.

"Where's Emily?" he demanded.

"Oh, I'm fine, Lee," she said sarcastically. "Thanks for asking."

"I already knew that," he retorted. "Where is she?"

"I don't know! I didn't even know she'd been kidnapped too." She winced and grunted as he cut her free one section at a time. She rubbed her wrists gently. Lee was about to say something else when a voice started talking in the room. He whipped his head towards the TV screen on the wall.

"Congratulations on finding Lacy," the voice said. "You won't feel good about that for long because I can guarantee you that you won't find Emily before it's too late."

Lee stiffened as the image of Emily bound to a chair was put on the screen. She was twisting and trying to escape. He felt his heart shatter. Then he stopped breathing at the sight of the bomb vest on her.

"Oh God," Lacy whimpered, seeing it too.

"Shut up," he growled.

"It's a big city," the voice went on. "You've got one hour to find her, then she dies. I warn you, it won't be easy to find her." That's when Lee heard the noise and saw the door beginning to shut. Lacy screamed as he jerked her with him and shoved her through it first before sliding out in the nick of time and hitting the floor hard as he landed. The door latched automatically after closing. He could hear almost maniacal laughter through the speakers in the rest of the building.

"Maybe you dodged that trap, but there will be more. Have fun trying and failing to save her, Lee."

"Lee!" Lacy shouted, panicked. He got to his feet and pulled out his gun, looking around quickly.

"Get up," he ordered, and she obliged. "Stay behind me." She obeyed that too and hid behind him as they walked down the hallway together.

"Oh, and Lee?" the voice said, making him stop and look up at the nearest speaker. A timer started next to it, indicating 60 minutes. "The building's on fire."

Lee shot at the speaker, blowing it off with sparks flying. Lacy was whimpering and crying.

"Stop it," he said angrily. "I can't console you right now."

"We're gonna die!" Lacy wailed. He ignored her and ran on, making her run after him. They ran down the stairs, and he could smell smoke. He hoped to maybe sneak out of an exit, but he was met by flames at the bottom of the stairs. God help him, Lacy screamed again.

"Back up," he ordered, pushing her. She almost tripped but caught herself. They exited the next level of the building, and Lee ran to the window at the end. Lacy was still freaking out.

"I c-c-can't," she said after he shot the glass out of the window. He was looking at the other building next to them. It wasn't that far of a jump.

"You have to," he snapped at her. "Otherwise you die."

"But I'll miss and fall and die anyway!"

"No, you won't. It's not that far. You've got a good running start."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "No, I can't." Lee moved in front of her and grabbed her face hard, making her look at him.

"You can," he said firmly. She looked at him, blinking through her tears for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Okay," she agreed finally. "Okay."

Shots fired made them both duck and Lacy scream once more. She went for cover as Lee turned to fire back at his assailant. He shoved himself into the nook of the wall as he reloaded and felt some bullets whiz past. He dropped to the floor onto his knee and leaned around the wall to fire again. The gunman ran and hid, making Lee miss him. He growled, frustrated. Lacy was crying in her hiding spot, and he knew he couldn't keep wasting time with this, which was exactly what the goal of this attack was: to make him late. He surged down the hall after the gunman, rounding the corner to find a fist grabbing his throat. Lee went to shoot, and the gunman ducked it, elbowing him in the face in return. Lee grunted and was thrown against the wall hard next. He managed to get the hand off his throat and started landing some blows himself. The gunman barely made a sound and didn't take long before he was throwing Lee down again. He skidded across the floor, losing grip of his gun, and it clattered away from him. He pulled out a knife just as the gunman went to land on him, and he stabbed the man's chest repeatedly before rolling out from under him as the man collapsed onto the floor.

"Lee!" Lacy shouted, coughing from the smoke now. Lee grabbed his gun and ran towards her, wiping the blood off his face with his arm.

"Come on," he said, stopping in the middle of the hall. She approached him carefully. "You first." He knew if he didn't make her go first, she'd stay back and die. She was breathing hard and shaking, but then she loosened up her limbs and made some quick, short exhales from her mouth before making a run for it. Lee heard her scream as she jumped, and he had no idea if she made it or not. He ran himself, pumping hard. He launched out of the broken window, sailing through the air and landing hard on the rooftop below on the other side. He tried to do a tuck and roll, but it was more of a land and flip. When he finally stopped moving, he groaned and pushed himself up to his feet slowly, looking to see Lacy doing the same thing.

"That hurt," she commented.

"No kidding." To his surprise, she started to laugh, and he let out a few chuckles himself.

"I always wanted to know what it was like to fly," she said, still giggling a little.

"It wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Not at all." She smiled and was swiping her hair out of her eyes when the bullet ripped through her chest. For a second, she stood there with her mouth open in shock, and then she fell to the ground.

"LACY!" he screamed, dropping to his knees next to her. He looked around anxiously, but he knew the shooter was not going to kill him. That was part of the game, the torture. This person was doing good on their promise to cause Lee suffering.

"Lacy," he said, "hang on, luv." Lacy gasped and grabbed at his arms, but she was bleeding out fast. Lee knew the shot had gone through her heart. He started to feel a bit emotional as he watched her begin to die in front of him. He knew it was pointless, but he ripped off his hoodie and rammed it against the wound anyway.

"L-Lee," she gasped. "I'm s-s-scared."

"It's okay," he said, holding her hand tightly with one while pressing against her wound with his other. "I'm right here."

"I'm s-s-sorry," she went on. "I am. I'm s-s-s-o sorry." He looked at her, knowing what she meant. Despite being so angry at her this past while for her lies and betrayals, he knew she needed forgiveness, to hear him say it before she died. He couldn't not give it to her. It just wasn't him.

"Lace, it's okay. We're good. I forgive you."

"Y-You p-promise?"

"I promise." He nodded his head, and she started to cry.

"I d-d-don't wanna...die," she said through her tears. Lee gave up on the wound and pressed his now bloody hand against her face, resting his forehead against hers.

"It'll be alright," he said, not knowing what else to say. "It'll be alright, Lacy. It'll stop hurting soon." He felt her slowly stop moving, and then he heard her take her last breath as she looked into his eyes. Then she was gone. He knelt there for a moment longer with his eyes closed. He didn't want to see her like that, but he had no choice. He opened his eyes again, pulled back, and reached to close her eyes. He barely felt the wind or the cool air. He didn't feel anything. His phone vibrated with a text, and he looked at it.

Better hurry up.

He shoved it back into his pocket and resisted swearing and yelling. There was no point. He picked Lacy up and made his way down to the street where people were gathered and talking anxiously with each other. One shrieked at the sight of him.

"Are you alright?!" another asked.

"Is she dead?!" a third questioned, sounding panicked.

"Get off the street!" Lee called. "There's an active shooter in the area!" Everyone panicked and moved to hide instantly. He set Lacy down, not knowing what else to do with her. He couldn't take her with him. It hurt to leave her, though. Someone caught Lee's arm as he tried to disappear.

"Did you get shot?" they asked, looking at the blood on him.

"No, I'm fine, but call for help," he said. "This woman's been shot. She's dead. The scene is on the roof." He gestured before he moved quickly, not waiting for an answer and not wanting to be around when the police showed up. He didn't have time for that.

He got attacked from behind, and he fell forward from the impact of what hit him as bystanders screamed. He hit the ground, stunned, but was soon fighting to get back up amidst the throbbing pain in his upper back. He saw his assailant standing over him with a ski mask hiding the his face and a sniper rifle in his hand, which Lee surmised was used to hit him just now. He rolled as the man went to hit him again, and the gun hit the pavement loudly. Lee got up and dodged the swinging rifle a few times before he managed to grab it and shove it against the man's neck, propelling him backwards into the building next to them. He easily dodged the man's attempts to hit him and kick him, feeling satisfied at the gurgling sound that was coming out of the man's mouth from being strangled. Lee pressed hard, feeling his anger for Lacy's death take over. He vaguely heard the people around him freaking out.

"You shoulda left her alone," he said to the man now. "She didn't deserve that." The man couldn't respond, and he was fighting to push the rifle off but was failing to do so. Lee waited a moment before yanking it back and hitting the man in the head with it as hard as he could. The man fell like a tree, and Lee stood over him, making sure he didn't get back up. He knew this wasn't the leader. This was just someone hired to do a job. He bent down to check for a pulse and found one. Then he moved to pull off the ski mask, and he felt his blood boil.

Scott.

"Here," a woman said, stepping forward and handing him her scarf. "So he doesn't hurt anyone else." Lee appreciated that no one thought he was the bad guy in this scenario. He set the rifle down away from Scott, took the scarf from her, and tied the Scott's arms behind his back securely. Someone else handed him a piece of rope from their car, and he did the Scott's feet next. He wanted to kill Scott, but there were too many witnesses. He was working hard to not just see red right now.

"What's happening?" someone asked him.

"Just a bastard trying to make me feel pain," Lee answered. Then he disappeared. He knew the police would find Scott and Lacy. They'd see he was Lacy's killer. He figured they'd also find the other assailant in the burning building. He didn't know how many hired hands were in this thing helping. He hoped not many. He couldn't keep wasting time fighting them off. He'd wasted enough time as it was.

He got to his truck and tried to calm his shaking hands. Lacy's terrified face was trapped in his mind. He shouted and pounded his fist on the wheel before biting it hard, tasting her blood that was still there. He tried to think, tried to visualize the room Emily had been in. In the end, it was the chair she was sitting on that gave it away. He knew exactly where she was. He cranked his truck on and yanked the wheel, driving like a madman. He had about 35 minutes left. Then he reached and flicked on his tracking device.

...

"I can't get a hold of him," Barney said, growling as he hung up his phone. They'd landed and were loading up into an SUV courtesy of a contact. Barney was trying to call Lee to find out where he was to meet him, but his friend was not answering.

"Maybe he's not allowed to talk to anyone?" Caesar suggested. They all looked at each other. That seemed like a viable option, especially if someone was messing with Lee intentionally.

"Check his tracker," Barney instructed Toll, who scrambled to pull out his laptop. Barney had given each member of his team a tracking device in case they were in trouble, and it would seem that Lee was in trouble. Toll opened the computer, and they all looked at the screen as he pulled up the tracking app.

"There," Toll said, pointing.

"That's close," Gunner commented.

"Hang on," Barney said, frowning. "I know where that is..."

...

Emily felt tears going down her cheeks as she tried to free herself. She could see the timer on her vest counting down now, and she had ten minutes left. Obviously Lee hadn't been able to find her in time. She cried over her parents losing a child and her sister becoming an only child. She cried for her friends. She cried for Lee. She knew he'd never forgive himself.

Her head snapped up when she heard something, and her heart jumped. Did she dare hope?

"Emily!"

It was faint, but she could hear it. It was his voice calling for her. It got closer, and she started to scream his name as loud as she could through her gag. The door blew open, and then suddenly he was there, and she realized where she was.

Her office.

"Emily," he said, moving towards her. He looked like hell. He had blood all over him, cuts on his face, and scraped knuckles. She noticed he had a slight limp as well.

"Lee!" she cried when he pulled her gag off.

"Hold on," he instructed, cutting her loose. "I got you." She grabbed his shoulders on instinct as he moved to work on her feet.

"How did you find me?" she asked.

"The damn chair," he answered, cutting her free quickly and looked back at her once he was done. "I've only sat in it and gotten a backache for days at a time because of it."

"See? I told you it was a good chair," she said, choking on a sob and a laugh. He briefly touched her face with a small smile in return before getting back to work. "Did they get you too?"

"No, this whole thing was a game to whoever's behind it. I wasn't meant to get to you."

"What do you mean?"

"I've had nothing but obstacles this whole way," he explained while examining the vest. "The last one was almost getting run down by a car outside the building, and my timer had roughly 20 minutes left, but your timer says less than 10. I wasn't meant to save you."

"But you're here..."

"Like I said, the chair saved you."

"Why are they doing this?" Emily asked, feeling despair suddenly. "Who is doing this?"

"I'm gonna find out. Hold still," he instructed, still examining the vest carefully. She watched him work, and he looked like he was growing more anxious the more he examined it.

"Lee?"

"I'm not the expert," he said, looking at her, "but there's no way to cut this off of you. Not without it going off. I can't disarm it because there's too many complications with it." She looked at him, and she realized suddenly what that meant. It was written on his face.

"You need to go," she said. "Don't stay here with me. Please, go..."

"No," he said firmly. "I'm not done yet."

"But you just said..." she started, and he gripped her shoulders hard, stopping her.

"I'm not gonna lie," he said. "This is gonna hurt."

"Wha-?" She didn't get to finish before he reached and dislocated her left shoulder, making her scream. She barely registered through the pain that he was now getting the vest off easily and setting it down before righting himself and putting her shoulder back in place as she screamed again. She was gasping and whimpering as he grabbed her sweater off the hook on the door and made a sling out of it for her.

"How...how did...y-you know...that would work?" she asked through the pain.

"Lucky guess," he replied. "Or maybe some crime show Barney watched and told me about. He lets on he doesn't watch TV, but I don't know what else he does when he's not sleeping."

"I'm too...in pain...to hit you," she said, grunting.

"Come on," he said, picking her up in his arms. "Let's get out of here." There were five minutes remaining on the vest, and Emily definitely didn't want to be around when it went off.

"My files," she moaned.

"Are you seriously fretting about that right now?" he asked as he walked away as quickly as he could. Her right arm was hooked around his neck tightly.

"Won't it...bring down the...building?"

"Depends how much power is in the bomb. You really wanna hang around to find out?"

"No."

They made it to the door where they found yet another large fire raging. Lee stopped in his tracks, trying to comprehend the situation. Whoever this person was, they really liked fire. It was pissing him off.

"Is there a back door out of here?" he asked.

"No," Emily whispered, shaking her head.

"Shit," he said.

"W-What do we do?"

He set her down on her feet, and she tried to think. Where could they go?

"Lee," she said, reaching to grab his sleeve. "It's everywhere." He turned to see more flames in the rest of the building, blocking off all access to any windows. It had been set while he had been in the other room with Emily. That meant the killer was close by. It unnerved her. She whimpered again. That's when his face showed pain and recognition of what was going to happen next. It made her feel scared and upset.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice cracked. "I wasn't fast enough..."

"It's okay," she said, tearing up now. "It's okay, Lee."

"No, it's not okay."

"You s-s-should have just left me," she said, still crying. "Why didn't you just l-leave me here?"

"Because I love you," he said back, emotional as well. "And there is no life without you, Em. I might as well be dead." She burst into more sobs, and he pulled her close so she could cling to him tightly with her good arm. Then he moved them towards the corner that wasn't ablaze, shielding her as best as he could. If the bomb didn't kill them when it went off in a few minutes, the fire certainly would.

"I'm scared," Emily said through her tears.

"Don't look at it," he instructed, gripping her face and making her look at him and not the fire. "Just look at me, okay?"

"Okay."

"I love you," he kept saying. "I'm so sorry."

"I love you too," she said back. She did her best to swallow her fear, but it was hard. "Lee?!"

"It's gonna be okay," he said back. It wouldn't, but at least in the end, she had him. They had each other. She kissed him hard, tasting his tears and smoke as she did so. When he stopped, he rested his forehead against hers and held her face with his right hand. She looked into his eyes and focused only on him.

"I'm here," he said, his voice ragged. "I'm right here."

"So am I," she replied. "I got you." She grabbed his hand holding her face, and together, they braced themselves for the end.