A/N: First I'd like to say how truly sorry I am for the lack of updates since January. I've started my internship right after I posted the last chapter and since then I really didn't have any time to write another one. My internship ends in three weeks so I got some time to write as it's ending. It isn't long nor really highly-developped but I hope it will please you as well.

The real deal will arrive in the next chapter so stay tuned!

A/N2: Sorry for any mistakes!

The night was short for Tom. He had been constantly thinking of all the horrible things that life had inflicted on him, all the horrible images that daily haunted him, all the horrible decisions he had been force to take to "save the world". He had made a choice, he had retired from the Navy and had drawn a line on this side of his life and he wasn't a man who went back on his decisions. At least he thought he had moved on; coming back to a normal life, learning to be a simple citizen again, all these tasks of daily life,… He had difficulty adapting to all of this after having spent so many time on the Nathan James, living between wars.

He was a man of action and adrenaline, Tom Chandler without the Navy wasn't Tom Chandler. So when Sasha appeared on the threshold of his house the night before, asking him to go back to these things he had given up a few months ago, he was of course tempted to say yes. But reason was much stronger than madness and he refused, categorically, for the well-being and balance of his children, as well as for his own. He was a broken man, wiped out by punishment, hatred and guilt. He wasn't sure he could take another shot. He had thinking for hours, while he was holding his two children asleep in the hollow of his arms. Ashley's words had bring doubt in his mind: if the world needed him, could he say no?

The sun had already risen an hour ago, the sunrays were passing through the blinds and were lightly lighting the room. Tom pulled himself out of his bed without waking the kids and headed for the bathroom. He leaned on the sink, his two hands on either side of it and looked at himself in the mirror; he had grown thin, his cheeks were a little deeper than usual, he had grown his beard and his hair was a little longer. As every time, since he was back home, when he was looking at his reflection in the mirror, he ended dropping his head down. He was no longer the man who had saved the world and no matter what people could think, this man no longer existed.

After refreshing himself and putting on jeans shirt and trousers, he went down the stairs. When he got to the bottom, he could see Sasha from the back, sitting on the sofa she had spent the night on, he forearms leaned on her knees and she was playing nervously with her hands. Even after all these years, he still felt these same weird things when he entered the same room as her. Darien was the mother of her children, and God knows how much he had loved her with all his being, yet Sasha was and will remain his first great love.

He still had trouble believing she was in his own house. After how he had left last time they saw each other, he was persuaded that she would never talk to him anymore. After all, it wasn't the first time they parted painfully and he had forced himself to believe that this time was the too many one, that a man like him didn't deserve the love and forgiveness of a woman life her. Still, she was in front of him, her brown hair falling down her shoulders, even from the back Tom found her magnificent.

Although he wasn't the type to believe in second chances or miracles, previous events had shown him that everything could be possible. The fact that she was there with him today, made him want to believe in it. And although he was aware that with all they had shared at the time and recently, the task would be far from easy, she was giving him a semblance of strength and rage to keep fighting… fighting for his kids, for her, for them.

She seemed to be deep in her thoughts because she hadn't responded to Tom's arrival.

"Hey" He said. She jerked slightly and turned to the voice, she smiled and straightened up when she caught sight of him. "Hey!"

"Slept well?" He asked as he walked over to the kitchen.

"Your sofa is pretty comfortable." She shrugged as she approached him and he chuckled.

"You are the first person to say that my sofa is comfortable."

"I'm a one woman army, I've learned to sleep anywhere." She joked and shared a brief complicity look with him.

"Coffee?" He offered. She nodded as she kept walking closer until she was right next to him, at a reasonable distance. She was looking at him, and felt a strange feeling. She found herself disturbed by this semblance of normal life, that semblance of life that they could have had. When he handed her the cup, she grabbed it and stroked his fingers in a feather touch. Tom had noticed for a while that she was watching him, with a light smile on her face. The blue of his shirt was bringing out the blue of his eyes.

"What makes you smile like that?" He found himself smiling too.

"I like your new look."

"The look of a neglected man?!"

"You are not neglected, you're hot." She said it just before taking a sip of the hot liquid, trying to hide her teasing smile behind the cup but the look in her eyes just betrayed her. The silence quickly came back in the room, neither Tom nor she knew how to engage the conversation. The tension was too hard to bear for Sasha and she decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Tom, you know… If you don't want to, I won't force you." She started.

"I know…"

"I don't know if coming here was one of my brightest ideas but… when you make your decision, if you haven't already, do it thinking about your children." He gave her a questioning look so she kept going. "If we don't stop these people, they will destroy the world your children, and all others, are growing in."

"Sasha…" She cut him off."

"If you don't do it for yourself, do it for them." Their eyes were lost in each other's gaze for a brief moment, when Sam suddenly burst behind Sasha.

"Hello daddy! Hello Sasha!" They had to put an end to their exchange and both adorned a smile which concealed their emotions.

"Hey buddy," Tom said to his son, ruffling his hair as he walked past him. The boy walked around the island and climbed up on a stool.

"What do you want for breakfast?" His dad asked and the kid shrugged as they both looked at each other without saying anything.

"How about pancakes with chocolate chips?" Sasha suggested, then turned to Tom. The face of the child lit up with happiness.

"Yes!" He jumped up on his chair and quickly went down. "I'm going to get Ashley!" He rushed upstairs as if they were Christmas morning. Tom shook his head with a smile and met Sasha's gaze again; she gave him a shy smile.

"I hope you've improved your cooking skills since last time." He said, pretending to be surprised.

"Hey!" She gave him a slight kick in the shoulder. "My dishes weren't as disastrous as yours!" They both chuckled and the silence settled again between them as they ended looking tenderly at each other…

"Thank you." He finally whispered to her.

TBC...