Notes: Surprise! Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me. This actually will be the last installment of this series – thank you again for all the lovely comments! Let's hope we get a lot more of these two together next season.

A good night's sleep was becoming hard to come by—one more thing that fell on the other side of the line between her old life and the world now. Her father would have told her it was a guilty conscience that woke her in a sweat before dawn, that left her stomach in knots from nightmares she could only half remember. Anna slipped from her bed and padded barefoot across the cold floor to peer out the window. There was only a sliver of light on the horizon, but the birds were starting to stir and sounds out across the bay.

She dressed quickly, not bothering to pull her hair from its braid before wrapping herself in a shawl and stealing silently from the house. Nothing seemed to clear her head like the morning air, cold with the fading traces of winter, sharp in her lungs. She crossed the lawn slowly as the light crept over the edge of the sea. She caught herself in her own lie—there was another source of comfort, though she was reluctant to admit it. Incongruous as it was, Hewlett's friendship steadied her in this shifting, dangerous world.

Still, she did not know what to make of it. She stepped onto the outlook next to Hewlett's telescope, her hand falling fondly on the object as Abe's words pulsed in her mind—hidden love, love was such an inconvenient word, especially when applied to a man who stood on the other side of this war in which she found herself tangled and torn apart. And yet—

"You're up early."

Anna jumped. One hand over her racing heart, she turned to find Hewlett approaching.

"I'm sorry," he hesitated, a foot on the step below her. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Not at all," she smiled, glad to see him despite herself. "I didn't think anyone else would be awake at this hour."

"Nor did I—couldn't you sleep?" he asked, concern knitting his brow as he stepped to her side.

Anna shook her head. "Couldn't you?"

"I confess," he sighed, "I am made too anxious by recent events."

He could never know how deeply she felt that same disquiet, how it had rooted in her. If he ever knew the whole truth of her—again Abe's words stirred in the back of her mind—what changed for you?

"Still, I have faith that order will be restored before long," Hewlett was saying, his eyes narrowed as he watched the seagulls passing overhead. He was too earnest for his own good. She had changed, she may have lost her old self to these dark days, but Hewlett seemed to bind himself tighter in his honor and his hope. It was a feat she envied.

Anna was almost as surprised as Edmund himself when she slipped her hand into his. He looked down at her hand as it curled around his with an expression of wonder on his face that made her breath stick in her ribs. He tightened his fingers around hers.

"I hope you're right."