Thank you for reading!

By the time they reached the farmhouse in Oregon, Ravi had called twice. Major ignored the calls, not quite ready to admit to or talk about what he had done. Not until he had Liv settled and deep under the influence of happy married lady brain so she wouldn't try to run back to Seattle and sacrifice herself.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself, and opened the trunk of the car. Liv stirred and blinked at the sudden light, frowning up at him.

Major forced a smile, suddenly nervous about how he was going to manage this conversation. "Hey, buddy."

Liv climbed out of the car. "Where are we?"

"Oregon."

"Oregon? Major, what the hell?"

"Look. Liv. I couldn't let you do it."

"You couldn't let me? Where did you get the idea that what I do is in any way your responsibility?"

"Because I love you, damn it, Liv! I always have, I always will. Whatever happens, I was not going to stand there and watch while you went to Chase Graves. Not with him in his current state."

"What does that mean?"

"Ravi must have told you what happened at the party the other night. Chase—one of my squad screwed up, and Chase shot her. Again, and again, and again. And the other one—he loved her, so he shot Chase, and then Chase killed him. A bullet between the eyes. An eighteen-year-old kid, Liv, and he shot him without a second thought. What do you think he would have done when he found out that you, of all people, are Renegade? When he felt betrayed the way he would when he knew it was you?"

Liv stood there a moment, silenced for once, but Major could see she wasn't convinced by the blaze of anger in her eyes. "At least Curtis would have been safe," she said at last.

Major shook his head. "You don't know that. I don't know that." She opened her mouth to argue, but he held his hand up to stop her. "Chase Graves used to be an honorable man, but the burden of running New Seattle has changed him. He's exhausted, and angry, and distrustful. I don't know if the offer to exchange Curtis was a real one—and regardless, I wasn't going to take that chance with your life."

"You had no right."

"I only did what anyone who loved you would have done if they knew you as well as I do. Ravi, Peyton, that guy you're seeing—any one of them would have been here if they had been as sure of what you were going to do as I was. Liv." He grasped her hands. "You are important to people. We love you. None of us want to see you give up your life in an exchange that isn't even certain."

"I … Major, they'll kill him," she said, tears gathering in her eyes. "He has a fiance, and a baby on the way. He has something to live for."

"So do you. Look, Liv, if I was sure Chase would make the exchange, maybe things would be different." It was a lie; he would have done it anyway. But he told it to make her feel better. "But not knowing ... I can't lose you, too." He took a deep breath, letting go of her hands. "Look, it's been a long drive. Come inside, have a brain tube and some coffee, maybe a shower, and then if you still think this is the right thing to do, we'll talk about it and I'll take you back. Okay?"

"Curtis may not have that long."

"Chase isn't going to give up his leverage until he's sure it's not going to work."

Liv seemed to accept that argument, albeit reluctantly. She agreed to come inside. Major grabbed his bag, fishing out the brain tubes. He had made sure to label them so that he could tell which was which but it wasn't obvious that they were any different from regular brain tubes. When he handed Liv the wife brain she tore the tube open and squeezed out the contents without suspicion. Major toasted her with the husband tube, downing the brain.

"Here, let me show you the upstairs." He led the way. The house was silent, empty. For the moment, he was too glad for the safety and solitude of it to worry too much about the Fillmore Graves couple that was supposed to be here, but he'd have to give the whole place a look at some point to see if he could figure out where they'd gone.

The master bedroom was neatly made up, clothes still hanging in the closet, and the bathroom was sparkling clean. "Here," he said, rummaging under the sink and coming out with a towel. "I'm sure you'll want a shower after being stuck in the trunk all that time."

Liv sighed. "I might as well. I don't suppose you snuck any of my clothes or my shampoo out when you kidnapped me." She glared at him again, and Major hoped the brain would kick in soon, before she moved past tired and bewildered and irritated into really angry.

"Sorry, no time. Looks like there's some extra here." He handed her a bottle. "Strawberry. You'll smell like just springtime, beautiful." Oh. Well, husband brain was on its way in, he could tell.

Frowning at the endearment, Liv shooed him out of the bathroom, and he could hear the water running.

Crossing his fingers that the brain would be working its magic on her by the time she was out of the shower, Major headed downstairs to see if there was food in the cupboards. He caught himself humming a very old, very cheesy love song on the way down, and couldn't help but smile. Him, and Liv, alone together at last. It had been a long time coming.