A/N: Thanks for all the notes and comments! Those who follow me on tumblr, you already know I have finished writing this part of Alec's story – I cried and sobbed, but I'm also excited. This is not the final chapter, but we are getting close... A million THANKS TO HAZELMIST for everything she does!

CHAPTER 41

Baxter searched the crowd for Karen White. She lingered in the back, eyeing her prey like a panther ready to pounce. Usually, press conferences didn't bother him, unlike Hardy who hated being faced with the 'vultures' as he called them. But today was different. He had something to hide that he knew they might have already gotten wind of. Surprisingly, no major headlines had hit the news since they had arrested Lee Ashworth the week prior. Some places mentioned a suspect had been taken into police custody, but nothing more detailed.

The flashes of the photographers went off in many short bursts, providing the soundtrack to the quiet murmur of the audience. Baxter ignored the few TV cameras as best as he could. He spotted the familiar faces of Ricky and Cate Gillespie. There was another woman with them who he presumed was Lisa Newbery's mother. He had never met her, but she resembled the pictures of Lisa he had seen. After the usual introductions, he embarked on the dreaded task.

"Thank you everyone for coming. The South Mercia Police Constabulary has called for this conference to inform you that we have arrested a suspect in connection with the murder of Pippa Gillespie and the disappearance of Lisa Newbery," he announced calmly.

The camera clicks rained down on him and a wave of noise ran through the room. People shifted in their chairs and the members of the press were getting restless. Baxter quickly glanced at Karen White. She had moved closer.

"The suspect is a thirty-seven-year-old local man. He was taken into police custody last week and has since been charged with the alleged murder of Pippa Gillespie. He has not been charged with any other crime. Lisa Newbery's whereabouts are still unknown," Baxter continued.

Karen White had made her way to the front.

"We would ask for you to respect the privacy of the families in this difficult time. I am happy to take any questions," he concluded. He hoped he hid his unease behind the professional mask he'd learned to wear so many years ago.

"CS Baxter, can you give out any more information about the killer?" someone shouted from the back.

"We cannot reveal the identity of the suspect at this point in time." Baxter had never understood why a journalist would bother to ask that question. They couldn't share more even if they wanted to.

"CS Baxter, are you still looking for Lisa Newbery's body?"

"We are searching for Lisa Newbery, not her body. We have no evidence that would suggest she is not alive any more, although we are very concerned over the fact that she remains missing." It was a lame statement and did little to distract from the fact that Lisa was probably dead after she had disappeared more than three weeks ago.

"CS Baxter, sources tell us that you have taken over as SIO. Can you confirm this change in leadership at the tail end of the investigation?" Karen White had finally entered the ring. She stood tall and looked him straight in the eye. The amount of self-confidence exuding from her thin figure was disgusting.

"Yes," he answered tersely. MacMillan had emphasized to give out as little information as he could.

"And why was there such a change?" Karen White probed.

"I cannot discuss internal police affairs with the public." MacMillan, Fairbanks and he had debated for a long time what would be the best approach to those questions. Refusal to answer could make them appear more suspicious in the eye of the public, but the true circumstances were worse.

"What happened to DI Hardy? There is a rumor that he and his two lead officers were suspended. What is the significance of that?" Karen White was like a bull dog. Once she had put her maws into her victim she didn't let go.

"DI Hardy was not suspended." Baxter wholeheartedly stated the truth. Never mind that Hardy was lying in the hospital struck down by his heart that wasn't whole at all.

"Then why did you take over as SIO?" she insisted.

"Ms. White, I don't think that the purpose of this press conference is to discuss staffing arrangements within CID. Let's focus on the case, shall we?" Baxter deflected her question.

"Oh, I'd be delighted to do that," she replied with that syrupy tone that Baxter had grown to hate. "Do you believe you have the right man?"

"Yes," he answered confidently, wondering where she was going with this.

"If you have the right man, then why did it take you more than forty-eight hours from arresting to formally charging your suspect?" There was a sly expression on her face that Baxter yearned to slap. But what was more upsetting was the fact that she knew information that no one outside of the police force should be privy to.

"I am not going to discuss procedural aspects of the investigation, Ms. White," Baxter answered neutrally.

She smiled smugly. "That's your privilege, CS Baxter. I do find it intriguing though, and I wonder what else was going on under DI Hardy's leadership. Where is he, by the way?"

"That is none of your concern." He put a considerable amount of effort into keeping his face stoic.

She began again and Baxter cut her off. "If you don't have any questions that are related to the case, I think we might be done here." It wasn't the smoothest way to end it, but he felt he had no choice.

The journalists grumbled and some of them tried to stare down Baxter. They failed. Karen White left quickly, followed by an entourage of photographers and other press members. The rest of the audience filtered out slowly until Baxter was alone in the room. Almost.

"CS Baxter?"

He looked up. The woman who he thought was Lisa's mother approached him shyly.

"Yes. What can I do for you?"

"I'm Lisa Newbery's mother. We haven't met." He nodded in acknowledgement. She fidgeted with her purse and dropped her gaze.

"Ms. Newbery, I'm sorry that –"

"He didn't die, did he?" Her eyes came up, but didn't meet his. Baxter could have sworn there were tears in them.

"Excuse me?" he sputtered.

"DI Hardy. He promised me to see the case through, but he's not here now. That makes me wonder if he lost the battle against whatever was making him so ill." They locked gazes. "I hope not though," she added quietly.

Baxter was dumbfounded and speechless. How Hardy had touched this grieving mother in such a way that she was worried about him was beyond his understanding.

"You knew he's ill?" he asked finally.

She looked at him in surprise "Wasn't it obvious?"

Baxter gaped at her in disbelief. She'd seen what the people close to Hardy hadn't.

"He was so committed though. I take it he's still alive then?" There was warmth in her voice.

"Yes, he is," Baxter admitted.

"Would you tell him something from me?" Baxter nodded silently.

"Tell him it's all right. That it's time to take care of himself. Could you do that for me, please?" she said with a sad smile.

"I will," Baxter promised solemnly. When she was almost out the door, he added, "Thank you!"

She turned, a lonely figure surrounded by grief and sorrow, and said, "He deserves it."

Baxter stared after her for a long time before he left to go and pick up Hardy from the hospital.

"You win," Baxter exclaimed as soon as he saw Emily and handed over an envelope. She grinned and took it. Her eyes rested on it for a bit before she slipped her prize into her coat pocket.

"I wish I hadn't," she confessed, her face turning serious. "I shouldn't let him go yet, but he's going to leave no matter how much I protest."

"You told him he's free to go if he could make it to the loo," Baxter retorted.

"I didn't think he could! After everything that happened, he shouldn't even be standing."

Baxter raised an eyebrow. "I would have thought you'd learned that by now. You can't measure him by ordinary standards."

"I guess you can't," she sighed. They had reached Hardy's room and she took Baxter aside before they entered.

"Listen, Ed. He's going to need a lot of help which he won't want to accept."

She sounded as distressed as he felt. Hardy wasn't ready to go home, but he had insisted. He had demonstrated that he could do what was asked of him, heedless of the fact that he'd almost passed out after his run to the loo the day before.

Emily and Baxter had lost the battle. However, they both felt more at ease with sending him home with Baxter than Hardy staying alone in a hotel somewhere. He wasn't going back to his house. He had stated it once and nobody had ever spoken of it again. Baxter had retrieved some of his things while Daisy and Tess were not there. It pained Baxter to think that Daisy still had no idea, but it devastated Emily because she knew how much it hurt to be on the other side.

Emily handed him a few pill bottles. "These are his pain medications and something to help him sleep. Maybe he'll listen to you and take them." She looked him in the eye and cautioned quietly, "Don't leave them around. Just in case." Baxter held her gaze and nodded. He didn't need to say anything else.

They entered the room together. A pale and haggard Alec Hardy was sitting hunched over at the edge of his bed. His head snapped up and he tried to straighten his body, pretending to be ready to leave. Unable to hide the pain, he sucked in air sharply.

When Emily handed him the papers to sign himself out, she made one last desperate attempt. "Alec, this isn't a good idea. Your arrhythmia is far from being controlled and you can barely walk a few yards. I know Ed and his family are going to keep an eye on you, but there won't be any monitors or nurses to help out. I really –"

"Stop it Emily," he interjected roughly. They glared at each other. He'd lost the gruffness when he continued, "Please, we've talked about this. We all know the heart is as good as it gets for the time being, nothing much more you can do right now." He looked into her watery eyes and took her hand. "I promise to take my medications. I'll even take the sleeping pills or whatever it is that you gave Ed if it makes you feel better. Let me leave. I can't stay in this place any longer. All I do is stare at the ceiling and think about what happened and I just can't…" His voice broke and he needed to catch his breath. His hazel eyes were pleading with his doctor, as teary as hers.

Baxter cleared his throat to rid himself of the lump that was stuck in there. They couldn't all cry. He sighed. Again, it was up to him to keep calm. He resorted to pragmatism, his trusted ally in life.

"Emily, don't worry, please. I will take care of him." Before Hardy could say something that wouldn't help the situation, Baxter shut him up with a glare. "He can stay with us as long as he wants to. I assure you, he won't do anything stupid."

"You know I can hear you, right?" Hardy grumbled.

"Ach, shut up, Alec. You haven't exactly been the most reasonable person in all of this, so you better take some of the uncomfortable truth. I very much agree with Emily that you shouldn't leave, but I also know how god damn stubborn you are. So, we are going to make the best of it."

With that he pushed the wheelchair he had brought closer to the bed. "Time to go. Don't want to get a parking ticket. Get in and don't you dare argue." They exchanged a daggered glare and then Hardy sighed.

"Fine. For the record, I'm only doing this because I don't want you to make me pay if I take too long," Hardy growled. He got up slowly. His face paled and his aim for the chair was slightly off. Baxter caught him by his arm and maneuvered Hardy into the right spot. Hardy winced in pain, pressing his lips into a line.

Emily shook her head and pocketed the signed paperwork. "I'll call in later today to see how it's going. Your follow up appointment is in two days. If you are worried about anything, don't hesitate calling 999." Her last words were directed at Baxter who nodded in affirmation.

Baxter rested his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it firmly. Then he wheeled Hardy off quickly before anything else could be said.

Emily and Hardy waited in silence while Baxter fetched his car. Hardy didn't want to leave her on a bad note. She had done so much for him, saving his life more than once. His decision of discharging himself wasn't the wisest, but he'd go insane in that room.

He turned around in the chair and reached for Emily's hand. Once she had found his eyes, he broke the silence.

"I'm sorry, Emily, but I can't stay. Lying in that bed all day long is driving me mad. Maybe being with Ed's family will distract me enough. My life is gone and I have to see where I go from here." He smiled away his sad feeling as best as he could and added, "I meant to thank you and apologize for all the shenanigans. At least you won your bet."

"Oh, Alec." She rubbed her thumb over an old IV scab on the back of his hand. "Your life isn't gone, but it's going to take you a while to understand that. If you want to thank me, then do me one favor. Talk to your daughter soon. She deserves to hear from you what's been happening these past weeks. And you deserve to tell your side of the story – the truth."

Hardy lacked the words to reply. He was afraid of talking to Daisy, knowing how much she would be hurt that her parents were splitting up. Tess and he had agreed not to disclose the adultery to Daisy with the hope that she would buy their explanation of having grown apart. His heart condition was harder to hide. His daughter still believed him to be on a business trip for the investigation. He had sent a few text messages to Daisy, supporting the cover story. He hadn't mentioned the made up car accident. Tess and he had yet to find a good time to talk with their child.

Another reason for him to get out of the hospital. Under no circumstances was Daisy to believe that her mother was leaving her ill father. It would have a detrimental effect on their relationship. Considering his grim outlook on the future, that had to be avoided at all cost. His health was fragile at best. The fact that he couldn't get the pacemaker for an undefined period of time had dampened his spirits. Luckily for him, they hadn't been high to begin with, so it didn't make a difference.

He snorted at his own cynicism. He meant it when he said that his life was gone - his family and marriage were destroyed by the careless behavior of the one person he would have trusted with his life. And she had taken down his career, the other pillar of his existence, with it.

Granted, nothing of this was only her wrong doing. Telling Daisy they had grown apart wasn't a lie and perhaps what Tess had thrown at him – that he had driven her into the arms of another man – was right. He would never know as she had never given him the chance to make changes. Most likely, his career would have been over, considering his heart disease. But still, maybe if she hadn't told him that night of all nights when he had been so vulnerable, and maybe if she hadn't lost that fucking pendant, then maybe he wouldn't have died the next morning and ruined his chances of ever getting better. Maybe he would have had a shot at coming back to the job. Now, he had nothing.

Angry desperation was boiling hot in him and he gripped the handles of the wheelchair until his knuckles turned white. His sharp breaths must have alarmed Emily as her fingers found his artery on his wrist to check his erratic pulse.

"Don't say a word," he growled, trying to calm down.

She sighed. "Where are your pills? Coat pocket?" He grunted an affirmation. She fished them out and placed two of them in his trembling hand. She gently closed his fingers around them and looked him straight in the eye.

"I don't know what you were thinking about, but if you need to talk, I'm only a phone call away. Don't let it eat away at you, not good for the heart, and I don't only mean the arrhythmia."

He held her gaze while he swallowed the bitter pills. Eventually, he nodded. She placed her hand on his shoulder, resting it there until Baxter arrived with the car.

Hardy took in a deep breath and made every effort to get inside by himself. He almost succeeded. Baxter's steadying hand prevented him from losing his footing. By the time he was seated on the passenger side, he didn't have the strength to buckle up. Baxter clicked the belt into place. It was uncomfortably snug around his bruised and battered ribcage, but he'd stick it out. At least it didn't rub over the surgical site on his neck. Before Baxter could close the door, Emily poked her head in. She surprised him with a quick and timid kiss on his forehead.

"Goodbye, Alec. I'll see you in two days. Remember, your life is not gone. Call me anytime." With a last smile she was gone.

When the car pulled away from the curb, Hardy's anxiety rose. He would never admit it to Baxter or Emily, but he was afraid of leaving the relative safety of the hospital. Now he'd be on his own, something that he really shouldn't and didn't want to be. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. Exhaustion won over anxiety and he had drifted off to sleep before they even reached the main road.

Baxter eyed his snoring friend. He hadn't driven into the garage, hoping the early morning sun would keep the car warm while Hardy was napping. He left the car as close to the entrance as he could to shorten the walk. There were three steps up to the door. Hopefully, Hardy would be able to climb those. Fortunately, their guest room was on the ground floor opposite the bathroom. He sneaked out of the car quietly and entered his home, letting Hardy rest.

His wife, Louise, was waiting in the hallway. "So, how is he?" she asked.

"Asleep." He sighed deeply and tugged her close to his body. "Thank you for agreeing to this. It's not going to be easy."

She kissed him on the cheek. "I know. We've been through something like this before and he's a friend. He needs someone right now and he would do the same for you."

"Yup, he would." He rested his head on her head, breathing in her comforting scent. "He's not like when you saw him last, honey. If it didn't sound so overly dramatic, I'd say he's a shadow of his former self," he added, quoting Duncan's words. He had a hard time keeping it together in front of his wife.

She ran her fingers through his hair. "Then we'll try our best to get him back on his feet. Maybe we can teach him a few manners and social skills while we're at it."

Baxter's lips curled up in a wry smile. "That's a lost cause. Let's hope we'll do better on the other account."

Hardy woke up half an hour later. Baxter was sitting on the steps in front of his house, together with Louise, quietly talking and enjoying the calm before the storm. The sun warmed their faces, and for the first time in days, Baxter felt peaceful. When Hardy stirred, Baxter jumped to his feet and hurried to open the door for him. That earned him another piercing stare which he ignored. He watched Hardy struggle with the seat belt until an exasperated huff announced Hardy's willingness to be helped. He reached in and unbuckled his friend.

"Thank you, Ed," Hardy said quietly. Their eyes met briefly and Baxter realized that Hardy wasn't only referring to assisting him getting out of the car.

"You're more than welcome." He smiled and held out his hand. Hardy slowly folded one long leg after the other out onto the ground and scooched to the edge of the seat. His face was drawn in pain and there was sweat gleaming on his forehead. He grabbed Baxter's hand so tightly that it hurt, but Baxter didn't let on. He pulled him to a stand more than Hardy actually got up. He gave him a few moments to adjust to the upright position after having been cramped up in the car for so long.

The few steps to the stairs were slow, but Hardy walked on his own with Baxter right by his side. He stopped and eyed the three obstacles in front of him. Then, of his own accord, he reached for Baxter's arm and leaned heavily on it while climbing up to the door. Louise greeted him there.

"Hello Alec, welcome to our house." Her face brightened up with a warm smile. She put her arm around his waist, tiptoed, and brushed a quick kiss on his stubbly cheek. "You need to shave and take a nice shower. Hospitals are rubbish when it comes to that."

Hardy rubbed his hand over his scruff and grinned. "Thought I'd try out something new for a change."

Louise chuckled. "Nonsense. You've been lying on your lazy bum and dwelling in self-pity. That's not gonna fly in this house." She nudged him gently and he moaned when she accidentally touched his broken rib. He didn't complain though. Instead he played along and Baxter allowed himself to be optimistic for one tiny moment.

"Oi, not fair. 'S not my fault that these guys battered my body with the excuse of trying to save my sorry arse." He paused and dropped his head. He shot Baxter a sideways glance, before he continued, much more subdued. "You might be right about the self-pity though."

Louise swiped his bangs off his forehead and lifted his chin so she could look him in the eye. "It's all right, Alec. Healing takes a while. You can't force it. You don't need to worry about anything else, we'll be right with you – to give you what you need, no matter if it's a hug or a bollocking. We've got you."

Hardy stared at her, his hazel eyes growing wider and moist with tears. Then his arm came out, looking for support while his body folded in. Baxter caught him and propped him up against the wall. He slung Hardy's arm over his shoulders and wrapped his around Hardy's slender waist, just like he had that morning when he had found Hardy in his office. He dragged him to the guest room and gently lowered him onto the bed. He helped him get comfortable. Then he sat down next to him. Louise watched them from the door.

Hardy's eyes were falling shut when he muttered, "Don't deserve a friend like you."

Baxter tucked the blanket around him. "Yes, you do. Quit being a knob and go to sleep."

Hardy grunted and rolled over. Before Baxter left the room, he took a long look at the man who'd collapsed on his bed, broken by events that had spiraled out of his control. And despite all the grief he'd caused him over the last weeks, he did not regret for one split second that Alec Hardy had become his friend over the years.

It was dark in the room, when Hardy was roused from his restless slumber by a knock. He startled and groaned in pain, but his heart took it better than he would have expected. The door opened slowly and Emma stuck her head through the crack.

"Oh, did I wake you up?" She sounded apologetic.

He sucked in some air through his nose and struggled to sit up. "Yes, you did. But it's all right. Can't sleep all day."

Emma chuckled. "You sort of did. It's supper time." Nudging the door with her shoulder, she walked into the room. She was carrying a tray with food.

She brought it over to the bed and set it down next to him. Then she turned on the nightstand lamp. He blinked into the light and eyed the food. He had assumed he wouldn't want to eat, but Louise's culinary skills were supreme and his stomach growled.

Emma smiled. "You don't have to stay in here. We didn't know how tired you'd be."

His eyes found Emma's. "I think...," he trailed off. He couldn't tell her that he'd rather not be part of a happy family's dinner routine. It was too much to bear.

"You know, when I came home from the hospital after I had relapsed and the bone marrow transplant, I couldn't stand being around people, not even my Mum and Dad. I didn't eat with them for days." She tilted her head, observing him struggling to get comfortable. She stepped up to the bed and started tugging on his pillow.

"Let me show you a trick." She removed the pillow from behind his back, fluffed it and folded it up to a triangular shape. Then she stuck it at the small of his back and added a second one to prop up his upper body. It was surprisingly effective and relieved a lot of pressure on his spine and neck.

"Better?" she wanted to know.

"Aye. Thank you," he mumbled. A pleased expression flicked over her face.

After she had placed the tray in his lap, she dragged over the paper bag on his nightstand that contained all the many pills Emily had prescribed him. "Dad told me to remind you to take your meds."

He huffed and reached for it. Before he could grab it, she had opened it and taken out the bottles and blister packs. She scrutinized the instructions that Emily had written down for him. Her eyebrow went up, reminding Hardy of her father.

"You've got quite your own little pharmacy here. This is worse than what they sent me home with. And I was on all the big guns to suppress the rejection of the transplant." She looked up and tilted her head.

"Alec, I hope you remember what I told you a few weeks ago. If you need to talk, I'm here."

"'M fine. Don't worry," he said unconvincingly.

"I don't think you're fine. Not when I look at you. And I don't mean physically," she argued gently but firmly.

"Emma, please, I –" He broke off. Her kind eyes rested on him. She didn't look away or move. Instead she sat down next to him, moved the pills and the tray to the side, and grabbed both his hands. He tried to withdraw them, but she didn't let him.

"I want you to listen to what I have to say and then I will leave you alone if you want me to."

He stared at her with stinging eyes, his hands resting in hers.

Smiling sadly, she began, "Your life has changed forever. There is nothing that can undo it. You found out about this disease and it has taken over everything. It may kill you. Maybe tomorrow, maybe when you're old and grey."

He was breathing heavily. Emma squeezed his hands and continued, "It makes you weak and dependent and you hate it. You hate your body for doing this to you, for betraying you like this. And you hate yourself because you let it get this far. This is not how it's supposed to be. You're supposed to be strong and take care of the people you love and not the other way around."

He had no idea how she could know. Her words were shaking him up and he felt cornered. Unconsciously, he pulled on his hands, but Emma held them tighter and didn't let him escape.

"You're angry – at yourself, but you don't know why, because frankly it's the unfairness of life that you want to be angry at. You feel out of control and the only way to gain control is by keeping it all inside, so that you can pretend to everyone else that things are fine. Everyone treats you like you're this poor thing that needs protection because you're so fragile. You hate it and you want them to leave you alone and take their pity with them. The things in your life that gave you meaning and fulfillment seem to be unreachable, and there are moments when you really don't see the point in going on."

She paused and made sure they looked each other in the eye. "And you're scared. So scared of dying, but also so scared of living with this unfathomable monster that is lurking around every corner. It's eating away at you and you don't know how to make it go away. You can't ignore it, not even for one second, because it might come at you and then you would have wasted those last precious moments without knowing that they were the last."

Hardy was trembling. Everything that she'd said was true and he would have never been able to put it into words. But she had been there, she'd gone through it. She had faced the abyss and made it to the other side.

She let go of his hands and tentatively placed one on his arm. When he didn't shrug it off, she scooted closer and wrapped her arms around him. He cried into her shoulder until his eyes were red and swollen. When all his tears had been shed, she gently pulled away.

"Better?" she asked again with a smile.

"Aye," he replied, the corners of his mouth curling up.

"Good. That's a start." She put the tray back into his lap. "Time to eat." She stood and he looked up.

"Emma, would you mind staying?" he asked shyly.

She tilted her head, the smile still lingering. "No. Not at all."

She grabbed a chair and reached for his pills. He glared at her, yanking at the blister pack she was holding. She raised her eyebrow and Hardy's memory took him back to that moment when Baxter had caught him having an attack in the interrogation room. He let go and she nodded.

"It's okay to accept help. Nothing wrong with that. It doesn't make you dependent on someone."

"It so hard though, Emma," he admitted. "I feel so useless and crippled by this."

"I understand, I really do." He believed her. "But it'll get better. You're recovering. Don't be so hard on yourself. Don't push us away. You're not alone."

"You think so? I'm not so sure about that. I feel pretty alone right now," he blurted out, his guards down.

"I know. I felt like that too. And I didn't have to deal with all the things that are happening in your life right now. It's so hard to connect to other people once you've been so fundamentally shaken up. Your foundation has been torn down and it's going to take a while to rebuild it. If it's of any consolation, I did it. And I know many others who also struggled through this. You can get through this. Don't lose courage. You have to give it time."

"How can I give it time, if that's exactly what I might not have?" he cried out in distress. He fisted his hands into tight balls.

Emma cupped one of them and gently loosened his fingers, one by one. "Take it day by day. Don't worry so much about the tomorrow. If there is one, great. And that's all that counts. Nothing else. I still live by that despite being cancer free for almost six years now." Their eyes met and he saw the peace that she had found. He wanted to have the same, but he knew he couldn't, not now, not yet.

"I don't think I can do that," he whispered, falling back onto the pillow and closing his eyes.

"All you need to do is try," she reassured him. They sat in silence, her hand resting on his. He was grateful for her company.

"Thank you." His words felt inadequate, but his exhausted mind couldn't come up with anything better.

"You're welcome. Now try to eat something before you fall asleep again."

She stayed with him until he had finished the soup and salad Louise had made for him. He barely got through the meal, and when she took away the tray, he was halfway gone already.

"Good night, Alec." She pecked a quick kiss on his temple and left the room quietly.

A memory of Emma and Daisy running through a meadow and waving at him lulled him to sleep. Maybe he wasn't so alone after all.