A/N: Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who's out there reading this! I haven't been able to write as much as I would like between school and kids, and I have another fic going I really need to finish before I die, so this one's been slow coming along. I haven't given up on it though! This chapter's for kitcat, who kindly reminded me I needed to get a move on! I hope you have a GREAT time at Dragoncon!

Keira

There it was. Everything she thought, everything she feared. It was terrifying to say it out loud. It made it real somehow, saying it to someone else.

"I have to wonder if I made the right choice, Carlos," she said softly, pulling her hand back in and almost weeping when he reached out and pulled her up against him. "Did I do the right thing coming here, or did I just make everything worse? Maybe it would have been better for everyone if I'd just died in the other timeline. Then maybe none of this would have happened."

Carlos was silent, staring ahead, the muscles in his jaw shifting as he clenched his teeth and carefully avoided looking at her. She might have thought he was angry, but the arm he'd wrapped around her shoulders was warm and reassuring, and it squeezed tightly to hold her in place when she moved to get up.

"I think," he said slowly, turning to face her, "that maybe there doesn't have to be a reason. Maybe it's just enough that you're here." Shifting so he was sitting sideways on the couch, facing her, he pulled his arm back and scrubbed his hand over his face. He didn't look angry, or withdrawn, or shielded, the way he had for months. He just looked tired.

"I know it's hard, but maybe it's time to start letting go of the future you thought you were waiting for and learn how to live in the now." His mouth quirked wryly, and he reached up to tug her hair. "It's not all bad you know. Some of it's pretty gosh darned awesome when you give it a try."

Let go of the past. Let go of Greg and Sam. Let go of any hope of going home, of picking up her LIFE. Only, it wasn't her life anymore, was it? This was her life. This time, this place, this people.

"I suppose," she said slowly, leaning her head back against the couch in exhaustion, "that I should probably learn to make the most of it."

Carlos

Looking at the woman slumped back against the back of the couch, her eyes dark with pain and fatigue, her body drooping, Carlos…wanted to hurt somebody. Because this Keira, this broken shell trying to pick up all the pieces…this wasn't what he wanted. What he wanted most was for her to be happy.

Liar, a little voice in his head whispered. What you want is for her to be happy with you.

There it was, he realized as he reached out to pull Keira against him, closing his eyes at the softness of her hair under her chin and the warmth of her body against his. That's what he'd been fighting against so hard from the very beginning. Somewhere along the way, he'd fallen in love with his partner, had started to hope as time passed that she would stop obsessing about going back to the future she'd left and be willing to explore the possibility that maybe, just maybe, there was something here worth staying for.

Well, he had his wish. Keira was here, and she wasn't going anywhere. The question was, what was he going to do about it? Was he going to continue pulling back, pushing her away, or was he going to accept that this was his partner? Even if she was a slightly different version of herself, she was still the woman he loved…and she'd been through hell.

It was going to be a long road for both of them.

"You don't have to figure out the rest of your life right now," he murmured, squeezing her a little tighter, shaken to the core by what he had just discovered about himself. "It'll look brighter in the morning."

"I hope so," she said with a sigh, fatigue already starting to drag at her voice.

"How long has it been since you had a decent night's sleep?" he asked, running a hand up and down her back.

"I don't even remember," she admitted.

"C'mon." He gently extricated himself, standing up and reaching down to pull her up after him. "Stay here tonight, get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be here soon enough."

"Thank you Carlos." Stretching up, she hesitated for a moment, then gently kissed his cheek. "Thank you for everything." Turning, she started walking toward the guest room…then sighed, turned back around. "I feel ridiculous for asking, but…can I sleep on the couch tonight? It's too quiet in there. Too much room to think."

Her eyes were at half-mast now, and she looked like she was about to fall over. He hesitated, thinking about her sleeping alone on his sofa, then dismissed the idea. Before he could talk himself out of it he'd walked over and swung her up in his arms.

"I have a better idea."