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Major still felt numb by the time he and Justin pulled up in front of his house. The horror of what had just happened was beginning to sink in, but he was able to hold it off, at a manageable distance, where it felt as though it had happened to someone else. Not to him.

The lights were on in the living room, so Ravi, at least, was here, and he could hear the TV going as he climbed the steps onto the porch. Letting himself in, he found Liv in his arms almost immediately. She clung to him and he let her, but having her here, holding her, only made the night feel more surreal, like it was part of a life that belonged to someone else and somehow he was the old Major, the one who wanted nothing more than to marry Liv and help people.

"You're alive," Liv breathed in relief, resting her head on his shoulder.

The door closed behind him, and Liv let Major go and turned to Justin, calling his name and taking him in her arms in his turn. Major walked into the living room, hugging first Ravi and then Peyton, grateful for their familiar presence. Not everything was lost tonight, then. Just most things.

"We were so scared," Liv said, holding on to Justin's hands.

"I'm okay." He glanced at Major. "We're okay."

It was more than Major would have been willing to say, but really, what could you say? We weren't in the house, so we lived, while all our friends died, and we still don't know who killed them or why? No one could help them with that. They were going to have to deal with it on their own.

Liv looked at him. "We thought you were dead."

"Natalie's dead," he told her. Maybe if he said it out loud, it would feel real. "Coyne and Hurley and Zach … Most of my squad." He was alive, that much was true—but it didn't feel like it. "Only reason we're alive is—" He nearly said 'you', but of course, it wasn't Liv's fault that they had been outside talking about her. If she'd been there, they would all have been inside; they would all be dead. But Liv didn't need to hear that, and he didn't need to say it. "Dumb luck," he finished, instead.

Justin didn't seem to have gone through the same thought process Major had. He looked down at Liv and asked, "So what happened to you tonight? Where were you?"

Wherever she had been, Liv wasn't happy about it. She hesitated, then gestured for Justin to follow her into the kitchen.

"Major," Ravi said once they were gone. He held up his French press. "Coffee? Beer? Pizza?"

Shaking his head, Major sank onto the couch. He couldn't imagine ever being hungry, or thirsty, again. And not for beer, or pizza, nothing that reminded him of parties. Or Natalie. Ravi poured him a cup of coffee anyway, and set it in front of him.

Justin came charging back into the room from the kitchen with Liv following him, calling his name. He stopped and looked at her, spitting the name "Chase Graves" back at her. Liv stood frozen.

The picture was very clear. Instead of being at the party, Liv was with Chase Graves. Sleeping with him, Major guessed. So instead of being there for Justin when the world went to hell, Liv was across town in another man's bed. Their boss's bed. He winced, the painful irony of it all piercing some of the fog surrounding him. A brain, no doubt—or at least, that's what she would say, the excuse she would make. But he noticed she only claimed she couldn't fight the brains when they were leading her to do things she secretly wanted to do anyway … and every time Major had seen them together, he'd noticed an undeniable interest in Chase Graves' eyes when he looked at Liv. She'd been oblivious—but apparently she wasn't any longer.

Justin left the house without another word, closing the door firmly behind him, and Liv stood uncomfortably in the middle of the room, her bare feet and the fanciness of the dress she wore combining to make her look like someone taking a walk of shame. Her expression said she knew it.

She turned and hurried back into the kitchen, and Ravi followed her. Peyton reached out and put a hand on Major's knee. "You going to be all right?"

He shrugged.

"I've got some sleeping pills back at my place. I could get you some, just for tonight. You'll need a good night's sleep."

Major nodded. He supposed he would.

"Major." Peyton moved closer, looking into his face. "You may not feel like it now, but … it's okay that you're still here."

"Is it?"

She nodded, shaking his knee and smiling a little, gently, like she got it. "I'm sorry about your friends."

Major didn't want to think about this, not yet, not even to accept her sympathy. "Thanks for the offer. I think I will take those sleeping pills."

"Okay." She got up, glancing toward the kitchen. "I'll be back in half an hour. Don't go anywhere, okay? Don't … do anything."

"No." He couldn't have done anything if he'd wanted to, and he didn't want to. He just wanted oblivion. "No, I won't."

"Okay." Peyton leaned down, hugging him again, and then grabbed her purse and keys. She stopped in the kitchen briefly to explain what she was doing, and then she was gone, and Major was left alone with only the murmur of Ravi and Liv's voices from the kitchen, and the memory of the explosion slowly unfolding itself over and over again in his mind.