Your POV - A year later

You had been working with Sentinel now for a year.

That was a year without seeing your friends at Atlas. The two groups worked together on some missions, but you never saw Mitchell, Ilona, or...Gideon. You had seen Ruin once, he was hard to miss, and you guys shared a fist bump..it was all there was time for.

These were the first days you had off in a long time and you were going to enjoy it.

Ilona had begged to see you so you were on your way to the Atlas headquarters. You could hardly get out of the car as Ilona hugged you and held on for dear life. "I've missed you too," you say. She looks at you and smiles, "You're here!"

She keeps her arm interlocked with yours as you start walking. "How is everyone?"

"Everyone is good for the most part..." she hesitates.

"Ilona, what is it? What are you not telling me?"

"Gideon was hurt on the last mission...he was shot, just woke up yesterday. He must have known you were coming." Ilona smiles at you trying to lighten the mood. You smiled back and looked away quickly before she could see the tears in your eyes.

"[Y/N]!" Someone shouts behind you. You turn to see Mitchell running full speed towards you. "Whoa!" you shout as he hugs and lifts you off your feet. "Hey Mitchell." He's squeezing the life out of you. "Can't...breathe."

"Oh sorry." He finally puts you down. "How have you been? We all missed you," he says.

"I've been okay, very busy," you say.

"Did Ilona tell you about Gideon?" Mitchell asks sadly.

"Yeah, I think I should go to see him now. If you two aren't busy later we should go out for drinks or something," you suggest.

"I'm always up for a drink or five," Ilona says.

"I second that. I need it," Mitchell responds.

"Okay, I'll see you guys later."

Mitchell hugs you again then Ilona. "Be strong," she whispers to you. She must have known seeing Gideon might upset you. "I will, thanks." Will you? You already felt like crying and you hadn't even laid eyes on him yet.

As you walk to the hospital you mentally prepare yourself and take Ilona's advice. Be strong.

Gideon's POV

Gideon could hardly move without pain shooting through his shoulder and his stomach. He couldn't remember much, but it felt as though he'd been sleeping forever. Waking up to Mitchell and Ilona made things a little easier.

When they left him, he had fallen asleep again, it's not like he had much else to do.

A nurse peeks into his room and knocks. "You have a visitor."

"Who?" Gideon had no desire to see anyone at the moment. He closes his eyes briefly. "Hey there, Captain," a familiar voice says. His eyes fly open and he attempts to sit up, sending a stabbing pain through his stomach. "Aghhhhhh!"

Feeling a little embarrassed, he looks at her, but doesn't see pity in her eyes only sadness. She walks over to him looking as though she wants to say something, but only a sob escapes.

"I'm sorry," she says through her tears.

"No, none of that." Gideon takes her hand and she holds on tight, bringing his hand to her face and holding it against her cheek. All he can do is stare at her, he can't believe she's here as beautiful as ever.

"I've missed you so much," he says not caring if he sounded desperate.

"I've missed you too."

"I thought I'd never see you again." His voice cracks and he clears his throat.

"Well, here I am and here you are..." She hugs him suddenly, but gently, not wanting to hurt him. He can feel her trembling so he squeezes her as tight as he can. "Don't hurt yourself, Captain," she manages to say.

"Too late," Gideon laughs lightly and he knows she's smiling. He loosens his grip on her, but still keeps his arms around her. She looks into his eyes, "You still look just the same."

"Liar. I look ten years older...more grey hair."

"Shut up, Gideon," she says rolling her eyes. Something takes hold of him and he kisses her. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, sorry." Gideon shrugs. She looks at him for a little while then kisses him back. "There. Now we're even."

That short, sweet kiss had him wanting to get out of bed and jump for joy. In that moment, he had forgotten about any pain he was in, physically and emotionally. Then he thought about that mission he was on and what he did with that woman after that business with Ruin.

Gideon felt guilty. He didn't want to keep anything from her, she deserved to know the truth. But she doesn't need to know this. "I slept with someone," Gideon blurts out immediately regretting it.

"Okay," she says and he looks at her in shock.

"Okay?"

"Yeah. Did you want me to say something else?"

"I thought maybe you'd slap me or something." Gideon says.

She laughs. "Would you like me to? I had no idea you liked that kinda stuff."

Gideon shakes his head. "Only if you do it." The next question she asked took him by surprise.

"What did she look like?"

"W-what?" Gideon stammers.

"The woman you slept with, what did she look like?" she repeats.

"You. She looked like you." Gideon looks at her, gauging her reaction. "I'm sorry, okay?"

She shrugs, "Why? We're both adults that have needs. We're not together or anything." He HATED when she said that... "Besides, I hurt you and you did what you had to do to cope, right?" Still so damn stubborn.

Part of him wanted her to be angry, to be jealous. She had too much pride for that though. "I thought about you the whole time if that makes it any better," Gideon says.

"Oh my god...stop," she says blushing fiercely. She looks at him shyly and bites her lip. He can automatically feel his body responding so he shifts a little so it won't be too obvious. "Are you okay? You're not in pain are you?" she asks, worried.

"Not exactly." Think of something else. "So how long are you staying?" Gideon asks.

"I'm not sure, maybe a week or so."

He knew he wouldn't be out of he hospital by then and he really wanted to spend time with her. She must have seen the look on his face. "Every day I'm here I'll come to visit, I promise."

"Yeah, but I want to be out of this place. I want to be able to take you out at least, have some fun. And look at me, I'm not very sexy in a hospital gown." Gideon looks down at himself.

"That depends...does it open in the back?" She asks and cracks up. She had the most beautiful, contagious laugh and now he was laughing even though it hurt.

He pushes her hair out of her face, holding her cheek gently, tracing her cheekbone with his thumb. "God, I missed you...I love you." Gideon has butterflies, he never got butterflies. She closes her eyes slowly, "I love you, too." She says it so quietly that he wasn't sure she had said it, but he hoped he heard correctly.

He felt himself getting tired and he dreaded it. He didn't want her to leave. "Gideon, you look tired. Get some sleep," she says.

Fuck me...

"Will you be here tomorrow?"

"Of course." She smiles and squeezes his hand. "Sleep."

Gideon doesn't know if she stayed until he fell asleep, but when he woke up the next day he could still feel her hand in his.

Over the next few days, Gideon made remarkable progress. Having [y/n] around made him want to try even harder.

Of course the day she was leaving was the day that he was finally able to walk for more than a few minutes without getting tired or being in extreme pain.

She was sitting in the room watching him intently, nervously. "Please be careful," she says.

"I told you I'm fine," Gideon responds. As soon as he says that, a pain shoots through his shoulder and he winces, stopping him in his tracks. [Y/N] jumps up out of her seat, but he holds his hand up to stop her. "I'm fine," he says again.

She sighs and rolls her eyes. "Fine."

"Your eyes are going to pop out of your head if you keep rolling them like that," Gideon jokes. [Y/N] laughs, "You've been saying that to me since we first met."

"Yup and you're still as stubborn as you were then." He walks over to her slowly and she stands, holding her hands out just in case. He takes her hands in his. "Do you have to leave today?" She nods slowly, "I do, but it doesn't mean I want to."

Gideon smiles sadly. "You better come to visit."

"I'll tell you what, in a month we'll meet at your favorite pub. How about it?" She looks at him and he nods. "I'd like that."

[Y/N] brings her hand up to touch his face. "I'll miss you," she says.

"I know," Gideon says. "Okay, Han Solo." She laughs and he kisses her gently at first then a little more passionately.

"Gideon..." she whispers.

"I know. I know. I'll see you in a month." Gideon looks down.

She walks away slowly, looking back at him.

"I love you, [y/n]."

"I love you, too." She sprints from the room and Gideon lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He sits down in the chair she was sitting in and sighs.

A month is not that long...