Counting Coup -for real, though. Serious spoilers. Serious Walt and Vic shipping. As always, thank you for your reviews. I hope you enjoy the interpretation.

I avoid asking the only question I want to ask her, "Are you staying?" I don't want to think about her. At all. I can't afford to lose my focus and lose my way. All the cards are crashing down like meteors over my head. I am responsible for everything and it's my fault that Branch is in so much trouble, it's my fault that Ferg has been left out, and I am certainly culpable for my feelings for Vic. I can't let the house crash down around my feet and have everyone destroyed in the process.

This burden is heavy. The new growing love and the true existing love that I carry in my heart have me conflicted and they are tearing me apart. I love Martha. I will always love Martha. As the days pass, the pain lessens but the pain is still there and it is still very much a part of who I am as a man. The past weeks have ripped open the scabs that hold my fractured heart together and as I get closer to who is responsible for Martha's murder it bleeds a little deeper and a little longer. My desire for Vic sometimes feels like salt in the wound and at other times like a healing salve.

At Chance's I knew so clearly what to do and in many ways I didn't care if I lived or died. I didn't care until I looked into Vic's crying eyes at the hospital. Her tears were for me, not for the situation she was spared, they were unselfish tears just for me to see. My compulsion to touch her, too hold her, ignited the slow simmer hidden away. I never want to let her go. I didn't in the hospital and I don't now. My primal desire to protect Vic billows over when Branch flares and she stays on the forefront of my mind. I need to protect her. I need to be there. Nothing can happen to her. My judgment can't be clouded. I'm in trouble because she can so very easily be a distraction. I have to keep this inside.

I've pushed aside Sean's divorce papers. How can I tell her? Sean's idea of irony does not escape me nor does Ruby's coyness. How in the hell and I going to tell her? I don't want to be the vessel for more pain. I have already caused enough.

I stand before her and start clumsily not sure of my footing. I tell myself just say it. Just give her the papers, Walt. Just do it. You don't have a choice. All of this resonates in my mind as I think how much I don't want her to walk out of the door. How much I want her to stay and not just as my deputy. I want her to be mine but I need her to be patient. I need her to wait for me. I need to be ready and be my best for her. The only way that will happen is if I resolve Martha's murder.

As she sits and reads her divorce papers, I wrestle with the timing of my coming admission, but if I don't say anything now I never will so I summon the courage to tell her that I want her to stay. I hold my breath until she finally looks up at me, her eyes large with revelation, and the corners of my mouth rise with relief. I pause and think how we have switched roles, last week she handed me a letter she didn't want to give and this week I had her a letter I didn't want to give but in the end we both stay true to who we are despite the pain, the anguish and it is clear to me that I want to continue my journey with her.

There will be time for us, Vic. Be patient and wait for me. Those thoughts permeate my consciousness but I dare not speak another word. I have said enough already.

On my quest to find Ridges I take the time to resolve my mind and prepare to face a killer when Ferg interrupts the locomotive of thoughts letting me know that Branch is on the loose. My first and immediate thought is of Vic. She didn't go home to Sean. She signed the papers and she means to stick to it. It pleases me that she locked herself in my office, that I am her safe haven, all of the time. I re-shift my thoughts to confront an enemy. I should have expected an OIT but damn it Ridges got the drop on me.

I recognize the White Warrior. This is it, ol' boy. There is a moment where I think if this were two years ago I would not run. I would die an honorable death. The thought flees because I have someone to live for, someone to protect, and someone to love. I will fight for my chance to live again. Counting coup, indeed.

Robert Taylor killed it in this episode. Looks like he did his own stunts. As my girl TayTa1895 says he is a BAMF