Jon paced back and forth at the meeting area. Mark had never been late, not in the months of weekly meetings they'd had. He tried not to think that something had happened, not now, not when he was about to get her back…

"Jon, they'll be here soon."

"They're a half hour late."

"I know. It could be technical problems."

"With both Mark and Jennifer on board? I don't think so."

"Maybe Jennifer packed so many treats for us that it weighed them down and made them travel slower than they'd expected," Scout offered, trying to lighten the mood that had been getting progressively more tense as every minute ticked by. They were all so excited to see their missing team member, especially in any condition that was better than they'd last seen her, that they'd actually arrived at the rendezvous area over half an hour early. That only made the fact that Mark was late feel even worse. Tank just looked at Scout, shaking his head.

"Something is wrong." Jon dragged a hand over his face. What if she'd re-injured herself? Pushed herself too hard? What if the transport had been attacked? "Jon – "

They all froze as they heard someone approaching. They hadn't heard a ship approach, and it was highly unlikely that Mark and Jennifer had been sitting there twiddling their thumbs all this time. Especially since Mark had planned on landing closer to the rendezvous point to help Jennifer unload her things. All four of them drew their weapons. Jon was about to power his suit up until he saw Mark come into view.

"Captain – I'm sorry. I know you've been waiting." Mark's hands were held up, and he approached cautiously.

"Mark, what happened?" Hawk approached the younger man in confusion – he was alone.

"Where's Jennifer?" Jon asked stiffly.

Mark's shoulders slumped. "She's not here. They wouldn't let her leave."

"Why?" he asked, his mouth dry. He was dreading the answer, picturing her back in the hospital, sick again, confined to a bed…

"Because they're a bunch of political, cowardly, back-stabbing, hypocritical morons, that's why."

That answer took Jon by surprise. It took him a minute to re-focus on what Mark was actually saying. "What? What are you talking about?"

"They've decided she's a security risk. They found out about her past, and they decided that they're not sure that they can trust her to leave and keep Eden a secret."

Her past? "You mean about escaping from the Dread Youth." The puzzle pieces were starting to fall into place, and Jon could feel his confusion starting to give way to anger. "They think that she'd betray them?"

"Yes."

"Because of her past?"

"Because she was in the Youth. Because of something that she didn't ask for, and suffered for, and broke away from years ago. Yes."

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Jon was pacing again. Mark had explained what had happened – that someone in his shop had apparently overheard a conversation Jennifer had had with him while they were talking in his workshop. She'd come to borrow something to work on the cloaking device with. "She didn't exactly broadcast anything about her past, Captain. You know she only tells people that she trusts." But the damage had been done. Mark had asked her (in private, he thought) about flight training in the Youth. He'd just been curious, one pilot to another. But someone had overheard.

So they were keeping her there against her will now. The man who had heard had kept his mouth shut at first, but when the paranoid idiot heard her making plans to leave he got nervous. "The people there don't want the war to ever find them again, Captain, and some of them feel so strongly about it that they'll do almost anything. There are groups that lobby continuously for us to limit the amount of people we take in, that we need to be careful about who we allow for fear of a spy or a plant from Dread. This idiot went to the leader of the strongest of those groups sometime in the last few days. We had no idea – we were packing the transport last night to so we'd be ready to leave bright and early today. Pip was almost bouncing, she was so excited. I've never seen her that happy before. And then they came storming in, demanding to know if she was a former Dread Youth member."

And now, Jennifer was basically a prisoner in the place they'd sent her to heal. The leadership in Eden, of course, thought they were being more than reasonable. She wasn't being detained – she was still at Vi's, and as of now her actions wouldn't be restricted. But she was being forced to wear a monitoring device so that they'd know where she was at all times – so she wouldn't bolt. She had been an anomaly of sorts, the only person that ever had arrived in Eden with a definite plan to leave it again. Knowing that, they were worried she'd try to leave despite their ruling. The tracking device, to them, kept their minds at ease and allowed her to live what they considered a "normal life." To them, she was fortunate. She could remain in paradise and not have to fight. She could enjoy everything that Eden had to offer. No one considered, Mark had said quietly, that her heart was out here, and that she'd never be happy just being safe while people she loved were still out fighting. That she felt a need – a compulsion – to keep fighting until everyone could enjoy what Eden had to offer. They never even took that into consideration.

To think that anyone would accuse Jennifer of doing anything remotely disloyal, anything that would put anyone in danger! She'd spoken so carefully in all her letters about how important it was to keep Eden safe, that what they were doing there would ensure that the human race would survive and have a place to start over when this insane war was over. To judge her like that – without knowing how hard she'd worked to get there, to forgive herself…

"Jon?"

Mark was approaching him. Jon had separated himself from the group to try to get a hold of his emotions. "Jon, I need some help. Jennifer, she…she shut down. She didn't even defend herself for that long. She told them the truth – of course – and then she just got quiet, and as soon as they put that damn tracker on her, she almost ran for her room. Kelly went after her, but she wouldn't talk to her. We tried for a long time – I don't think Kelly actually left her last night. When I left this morning, I had a message from Kelly that Pip had holed herself up in her workshop, and would barely talk to anyone."

Jon's eyes closed. He knew that there was a part of her that, deep down, didn't blame the people that were condemning her because she thought she deserved it. It was a mindset that the entire team had fought against ever since she came to them – that she had to somehow make amends for what she'd been a part of. That, he knew, was why she hadn't really argued. And the almost compulsive need to work? He could picture her the way she'd been when they'd first found her. She was so very angry, and she would try to work those feelings out by focusing completely on whatever task needed done.

"It's almost like she thinks if she keeps working, she won't have to think about it."

"No, that's not it. It's actually her way of trying to work through enough of her anger to get to a point where she can talk about it. We would always wait until she'd had some space, and then we could get her to talk. It was important that she had someone who would listen to her without judging. And we had to tell her we were ready to hear it – that we wanted to listen. I would always make sure she knew that I was ready to listen, whenever she was." But I'm not there… "Mark, she needs someone to just listen. Someone she can trust…someone she cares about. Maybe Kelly…With all of this bringing up bad memories, she needs someone to just listen. I wish…" His hands balled into fists again, and his voice rose in anger. "I should be there. I should be there with her, helping her, listening to her, defending her. None of them know what she's been through. Not like I do."

"Jon, I'd take you back with me in an instant. But honestly…there's no telling when they'll let her go. These people are paranoid and determined like few you've seen. Are you willing to stay in Eden as long as it takes? Or are you willing to see her, and then have to leave again?" Mark watched him carefully.

Could he stay in Eden as long as it took? For a moment, Jon pictured himself sitting outside on a blanket, Jennifer resting against him, the sun shining down on them both. It was more tempting than anything he'd ever experienced. But deep down he knew – he knew that after a little while, the war would pull at him. Knowing that he was safe and happy while others suffered was something he wouldn't be able to deal with on a long-term basis. And he also knew that it might honestly kill him to be with Jennifer again, and then have to leave her. No, he was almost certain he wouldn't be able to bear that. That left him no choice but to leave her in the seemingly capable hands of the people who'd grown to care for her there.

"No. I couldn't."

"I didn't think so." Mark sighed, and took a packet of letters out of his pocket. "The only things we managed to get out of her were these letters. They were in her bag…I think maybe she couldn't break the habit of writing to you each night. Maybe she was going to give them to you in person? I knew that you'd want some kind of contact with her." Mark sighed, seeing Jon's emotions play across his face. "I'm so sorry, Jon. I wanted to bring her back to you."

"I know." Jon felt like he was dangerously close to becoming physically ill. The thought of going back to the base without her…He wasn't sure he could do that, either. There weren't many choices for him today. He looked at the letters in his hand. "I left the ones I wrote her in her quarters back at the base. I don't have anything for her…Mark, could you wait long enough for me to write to her?"

"I can do whatever you want me to, Jon. I can't begin to understand what you're going through, but I know that if I was that far away from Kelly and she was in any kind of situation like this…it'd be hell. And I'd want to reassure her however I could. I've got paper with me – let me go back and get it. It might not be a bad idea for you all to write her a note. I think she'll need it."

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"I take it there hasn't been any change." Mark took in the sight of Kelly and Vi sitting in the boarding house's private living room, looking dejected.

"Hey….so glad you're back." Kelly got up and threw her arms around him. "Did you explain everything?"

"As best I could. I left behind one pretty darn unhappy team, and a resistance captain that almost stormed my transport and came back here to take everyone out."

"I'd be angry if that wasn't the case," Vi retorted. "Honestly, I almost hoped he would. Those idiots on the Council would probably bend over backward to make him happy."

"No, I think we're in deeper than that," Mark said, shaking his head. "That idiot Krauss went to the right people – they've got their talons in on the Council so deep that the members can't cough without Stanton's group knowing it."

Kelly's voice shook with anger. "There's no way we can change his mind – that old man is insanely paranoid. And as long as his group is working behind the scenes, we're in the position of having to fight to prove that Jennifer is trustworthy. The man has never even met her." She paced back and forth across the room. "How dare he? She could have given away this place fifty times in her letters."

"Hey – I haven't exactly been broadcasting the fact that I've been meeting Power's team as regularly as I have been, and they definitely don't know anything about the letters. We have to keep that a secret…it's the only connection Jennifer has with the captain. Do you really think she could take it if she lost that?"

"No," Kelly sighed. "Though at the moment, I'm not sure anything is going to help her. She hasn't said more than five sentences since it happened. She didn't sleep at all last night, and she hasn't eaten anything. Sam just went home – he was almost begging her to rest, to eat. He's afraid she's going to set herself back. You know that they were only releasing her because she promised to go back to limited duty for a month or two."

"How'd she talk them into that?" Vi's voice was incredulous. "Sam knows her well enough to know that she's not likely to stick to that kind of agreement."

"Yes, but he also knew that she was really missing home, missing Jon. He thought that being back there with him would be enough of a benefit to outweigh the cons of sending her back earlier. I think he thought maybe she'd actually rest a little more if she could rest with him."

Vi snorted. "Really? And how many resistance cells has Sam been involved in? They don't have time to rest – those two will be lucky to sneak away for some downtime once every few weeks or so. It's not an easy life she's so eager to go back to."

"It's not the life she's trying to get back to, Vi. You know that." Kelly turned around to face her. "She really doesn't worry about how hard it is – she's lived it, she knows what she's in for. She just wants to be back with him." Her eyes met Mark's, and he nodded. "It's what we'd want."

"Well, it apparently doesn't matter what any of us want." Vi stood up, her temper back up high enough that she had to move again. "I'm going over to Martin Hummel's house myself and trying to talk some sense into him." Hummel was on the Council, and was a friend of Vi's – there had been a rumor that he was trying to court her at one point, but she'd put him off. "I'd give anything if I could figure out what Stanton is holding over him – and the rest of the council. It can't just be his ability to pass out credits like they're glasses of water."

When she was gone, Kelly walked over to Mark and laid her forehead against his chest. His arms wrapped tightly around her. "Nothing I say has made any difference, Mark. She's been out there all day, working constantly."

"According to Jon, we're going about it wrong."

Kelly leaned back to look at his face. "Jon, huh? You and the Captain are on a first name basis now?"

"I just had to tell him that he wasn't getting Jennifer back today – and that I have no idea when he will. I had to tell him that people are judging her for something that she's tried to put behind her for years…and then I had to leave him there. I really don't think he cares what I call him." He rubbed her back soothingly. "Anyway, he says that this is an old habit of hers when she's frustrated, upset, angry – any and all of it. It's like she's trying to get enough of her emotions under control until she can manage to talk about it. He said he could get her to talk if he just listened."

"I've been trying to! I've been trying to get her to talk to me – I've tried giving her space, even. I spent an hour just sitting there watching her work earlier."

"Jon says we have to tell her that we're there to listen. She needs someone to offer to do it, because so much of what she can tell us about her life before this is…well, not happy stuff. It was the Dread Youth – it wasn't pleasant."

"Even though this time it's more the Council and this place that's making her frustrated?"

"Yes...and for the record, until she talks to us, we don't know that." He kissed her on the forehead and pulled away from her. "Jon also said that there's probably a part of her that doesn't blame them for doing this." He put both hands up in front of him as Kelly pulled back, an argument on her lips. "I know, I know. But I had to ask him – we obviously don't know what we're dealing with here. The bottom line is, we have to make her understand that we want to hear what's going through her head." Kelly nodded, not saying anything. He reached out and rubbed his hands along her arms. "Do you think she'd be ok talking to both of us, or do you want to go down there on your own first?"

"Probably on my own. She's close to you, but it's not the same as when it's just us girls."

"Ok…I'm giving you a little time, and then I'm heading down. I know you've been closer for longer, but I don't like seeing her hurt, either. Besides, I have strict orders from Captain Power himself to report on her next week."

"Jen?"

Just like all the other times, there was no response as Kelly made her way into the tool shed that Jennifer had taken over for her own use as a workshop. She was seated at the workbench that she'd fashioned for herself from a spare piece of wood and a few concrete blocks, staring intently at the control panel of some small appliance that was in too many pieces right now for Kelly to recognize. Her body posture was still stiff, and there were some telltale smudges on her face near her eyes – had she broken down? Kelly mentally kicked herself for letting her be alone.

"Jen? Come on, honey, you need to take a break." Jennifer finally at least glanced up, but just shook her head and returned to her work. Well, it was a start, Kelly thought. It was the first time her friend had acknowledged her all day. "Jen, I'm here. I'll listen to whatever it is you need to get off your chest, but you're not going to solve this by fixing…whatever that is." There wasn't any response this time, and Kelly closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. What next, Jon? she asked silently.

"A communications pad."

Kelly's head snapped up. "What?"

"It's a communications pad. They've scavenged several older models to use at the school, and they asked me to get them back into shape."

"Oh. Word's gotten around that you're looking for things to do, huh?" Kelly asked with a smile.

"Yes." Jennifer actually tried to smiled back…it didn't quite reach her eyes, though, and ended up looking more like a grimace. "I don't know if they'll still want me to now…" She looked down at the pad, at the tools in her hands, and sighed. "I'm sorry, Kelly. I just needed to work through some things."

"Yeah, I've been told that's your routine." When Jennifer raised an eyebrow at her, Kelly just shook her head. "I have my sources."

"I'm sure you do. Nothing much gets past you."

"Then you might as well talk to me, because you know that I'm not going to let up until you do."

Jennifer looked down, fingers toying with the tool she hadn't put away yet. "I don't like having my decisions made for me. I put up with that for too many years."

"And this probably feels a little similar – a group of people telling you that you don't have a choice, that you have to do something. Expecting you to follow orders and be happy about it."

"Yes! I think that's the worst part. They can't even understand why I'm upset!" Jennifer pushed off the stool and started to wander the perimeter of the shed. She seemed to need to move, much as Vi had. "To them, I'm not a prisoner because I'm here, and I'm not physically locked in a room. The tracking device," she spat as she pulled her sleeve away from her wrist where the hated thing was clasped, "is nothing to them. Well, I'd like to see them wear one, then. I'd like them to know the feeling that someone is watching over their shoulder. It's just like Volcania – only there, it was observation drones and overunits that were always monitoring where we were."

Kelly wished the members of the Council who had voted to stop Jennifer from leaving could have heard her. Did they have any clue the kind of memories they were dredging up for her friend? "I'm sorry," she said, feeling helpless. "No one has the right to make you feel that way again."

Jennifer laughed softly, though there wasn't any real humor in it. "For the longest time, I believed that I deserved every hateful look that I got. Especially in the beginning, when I first started going on missions with the team, there were places I wasn't welcome. All some people had to do was look at me and they knew where I'd come from. I'm still surprised more of the people here didn't realize it more quickly. Back then, I'd enter a settlement and people would either hide or come out swinging. It took a long time before I really just became one of the team, and not someone that people distrusted on sight."

"You were there to help them, and they still treated you like that?"

Jennifer sighed, finally stopping her pacing and resting against a wall. She was looking out the window, but Kelly was certain she wasn't seeing Vi's garden. "So many people were hurt by things the Dread Youth did. It didn't matter – still doesn't – that the overwhelming majority of its members had no idea that what they were doing was wrong. That we had no choice in the matter – you had to believe, or you disappeared. We all knew that. And many of them wanted to believe. It was all we'd ever known. But none of that matters to the people who haven't lived it. To the people on the outside, the people that were hurt? When you've seen loved ones cut down by someone who looks very much like the person in front of you… it's hard."

Kelly couldn't believe she was sitting here listening to Jennifer defend people who had judged her on sight alone. "Jennifer, I didn't know you then. I didn't know you when you escaped. But I know you now. And I know that you're one of the best people I've ever met in my entire life. Don't let yourself believe what stupid, ignorant people think – not for an instant!"

"I know – in my head, I know that I am a completely different person from Youth Leader Chase. I've grown, and I've learned, and I've changed for the better. Thanks to Jon, and the rest of the guys, I know what it means to be human now. I've been given a second chance. But it doesn't make me feel better about what I had a part in, whether I knew it or not. And there's always been a part of me that feels like…like I can't blame them for what they feel when they see me."

Kelly watched as her friend seemed to shrink a bit before her eyes. "Jennifer, you told me what happened when you left the Youth, and when the Power team found you. It took an amazing amount of courage for you to do what you did. Not everyone could have done that! And I know that you couldn't have done it if even a part of you still believed that what the litanies the Youth spouted had any truth in them whatsoever."

"I was put on trial once for it, you know." Jennifer saw Kelly's mouth drop open in shock, but she shook her head and continued the story before she could protest. "I'd been on a mission with Jon – we were returning to the base with data on Dread's latest project. Soaron shot us down as we were heading home, and Jon was injured. I had to walk to the nearest water station for help…when I got there, there were several people living there that had been at Sandtown."

Kelly knew that was the pivotal moment – when Jennifer had realized that everything she'd believed in was a lie. They'd had this conversation in the hospital one day when she'd arrived for her shift to find out that Jennifer hadn't slept because of a nightmare. It had been a recurring nightmare – one she'd struggled with for years. One where she saw that day over and over again in her mind, heard the voices of the people being hurt, captured, digitized… "What happened?"

"The only way they'd agree to send help for Jon was if I agreed to a tribunal. What else could I do? There was a boy there that had lost his family. Because of something I said…something I'd been programmed to say, yes, but it came from me…his house was burned, his family destroyed." Jennifer took a deep breath. "By the time we were done, I think they realized that I really did feel remorse, and shame, and every other awful thing I could feel about that day. It's a long, complicated story, but they ended up letting me go. Blastarr…Blastarr showed up and started shooting up the settlement. They let me go help defend it."

"You fought for them? You fought for them after they tried to blame you for things you had no control over?"

"That's what we do, Kelly. We help anyone who needs it. I knew how to fight biodreads. I was the only hope they had of getting away. Of course, we didn't know much about Blastarr at that point, and he almost did me in then. I guess the stupid thing did kinda have it in for me…" her voice trailed off as she lapsed into thought.

"How did you get away?" Kelly asked softly.

"Jon." A ghost of a smile crossed Jennifer's face for the first time that day. "He'd seen Blastarr kill the people the settlement sent to help him. He managed to drag himself over to their transport and follow Blastarr to the settlement…he got there just in time to help me force that monster into regeneration and give us all a chance to get away." She looked at Kelly from across the room. "There's another trend I didn't see…Blastarr might have had it out for me, but Jon kept riding in to the rescue."

"That hasn't changed, Pip." Neither woman had seen Mark at the door. "I saw him today. And it was everything he could do to keep himself from jumping on that ship and riding in to try and rescue you again. I really think it almost killed him not to."

Jennifer's eyes began to glisten. "I don't want him to have to worry about me. He has enough to deal with."

"Well, that's part of the territory when you feel so strongly about someone, I'm afraid." Mark came in and closed the door behind him. "I told him that I was sorry. I couldn't imagine – still can't – feeling so helpless, knowing that the woman I loved was being treated like this. And I felt like a heel for having to leave him there."

Jennifer shook her head. "He can't. He can't come here – he's needed out there. Who knows how long it will take them to change their mind about keeping me here. If they do change it…" She almost choked – she couldn't let herself think about that possibility for very long. She was too close to losing control over the tears that had been threatening all day as it was.

"I know that. He knows that, but it doesn't make it easier to stomach." Mark reached into his pocket and took out the letters that the team had written her. "He left his letters for you in your quarters - I guess he thought maybe you could read them at home. But when he found out what a mess everything was in, that you weren't there…he asked me to wait so that he could write this. He needed so badly to make contact with you somehow. They all sent you something, Pip. They're all completely torn up that you're going through this. You have so many people pulling for you, out there and here in Eden. We're going to get you through this."

"I know." She tried very hard to smile at them, wanting to reassure them. "I…" She bit down on her lip and shook her head, looking away.

"Jen…honey, let it go. You know we're your friends. You can't keep something like this inside." Kelly approached her and gently laid her hand on Jennifer's arms where she had them tightly crossed against her chest. It was almost like she was physically holding herself together. "It's ok to be upset. This has been about the worst day imaginable, and it was supposed to be the best."

That did it. The tears she'd been holding back since the Council had marched into the hangar and stopped her from leaving broke through. Her shoulders started to shake. "I…I was supposed to be with him right now. I was…was supposed to be able to show him that I was ok, that I...Oh, I miss him so much it hurts, Kelly! And I don't want to hurt like this anymore –" Her sobs kept her from saying anything else. Kelly fought back her own tears as she wrapped her arms around her friend.

"I know, honey, I know." She laid her cheek on Jennifer's head and rubbed her back soothingly. "You need to let it out, though. It'll just get worse if you don't." Mark looked helplessly on as Kelly rocked her friend gently and allowed her to cry herself out. After a while, Jennifer's sobs quieted down, and Mark approached them. Kelly nodded and let go of Jennifer so that he could wrap his arms around her.

"Come on, Pip. Let's get you back to the house. You need to rest, you need to eat – you need to take care of yourself. That captain of yours was pretty adamant that he wanted a full and detailed report about you next week. I don't know if I can look him in the eye and tell him you're not taking care of yourself." She nodded, wiping her face with her hands. "Don't worry about that – we'll take you in the back way. Kelly can make you up a tray and bring it to your room. Lottie's been making all your favorites all day, you know, so that when you came back in she could get you to eat."

"Would...Would you guys stay with me for a little while? I don't think I want to be alone quite yet." She looked at them gratefully through her tears, and her voice was a little steadier. "I'll think too much."

"Of course we will," Kelly soothed. "Come on, let's get out of here. You don't have a bad set-up here, honey, but it's kinda cramped with this big guy taking up all the space." She smiled up at Mark, though, and squeezed his arm as he guided Jennifer out the door, his arm around her shoulders for support.

Later, after Mark and Kelly had said goodbye, Jennifer was lying in her bed when she saw the letters Mark must've left on her desk. She stared at the one on top of the pile from across the room…her name was on it in Jon's handwriting. She needed so badly to feel connected to him, but at the same time she didn't want to fall apart again, and she knew that was a possibility if she read a letter from him. Finally, the need to connect won out, and she slipped out of bed, picked up the letter, and laid back down. Slowly, she opened it and began to read.

Dear Jennifer,

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I'm not there. No one else knows what you've gone through, no one else was there with you while you dealt with everything you've dealt with. I'm so angry right now I can barely write. You should be here with me right now. You should be back here where you want to be – not forced to stay somewhere against your will, monitored because they don't trust you. They don't know you – they can't know you and think that you'd ever do something like they're saying. I almost came back with Mark. I would've gotten on that ship in a heartbeat. But I could hear my dad's voice in my head, talking about our responsibility to everyone out here. I've never wanted to turn that voice off as much as I did today.

Jennifer, you're the strongest woman I've ever met. Don't give up on this, ok? We're going to get you home. Mark tells us that Vi, Kelly, and Sam have already been in touch with everyone there they can think of, and they're mounting a defense for you. No one is giving up on you. No one is going to let just stand by and let them treat you like this. I can't tell you how thankful I am that you have these people around you. I'm going to owe them an awful lot.

Can you do something for me? Can you talk to someone? Kelly, Vi, Sam, Mark…I don't care who. But Mark says you've shut yourself in your workshop and won't talk to anyone. You won't eat. Please…please talk to someone. They care about you, Jennifer. Not as much as I do, maybe, and I know they don't have the history that we have. They haven't seen you through some of the other things I've been there for. But they do care, and you need to talk to someone. Don't hold it in. I can't do what I need to out here if I'm wondering if you're ok. I tried that before your first letter got here…I just can't do it again. Please…if you got sick again because you didn't take care of yourself right now, I'd never be able to forgive myself for not coming and getting you. Please talk to someone.

It's killing me to go home without you. This wasn't supposed to happen. We got your quarters ready, we have birthday presents wrapped and waiting for you…Hawk had plans for a feast (not probably like you're used to, but it was going to be as special as we could make it)… I just want to wrap my arms around you, to see you smile. I want to be able to touch you and know that you're ok. And I will. We'll get through this. We'll make them see reason. They have to. Anyone who really knows you could never believe you'd do anything to harm anyone. And when you finally do get home, I'm going to hold onto you and not let you go for a very, very long time.

I love you, and I'll be here – no matter how long it takes.

Jon

She smiled despite the tears that had started falling when she began to read his words. She folded the letter back up, and after thinking for a minute, simply held onto it as she laid down. She was so tired, so drained…she wouldn't be able to string more than a few sentences together if she wrote him now. She knew he needed reassured just as much as she had earlier. She would do just that…in the morning.