Present Day

She was awake. He knew before he even entered her room because the man standing outside it had relaxed considerably, and not by the sight of them coming back without some sort of a fight breaking out. Plus he wasn't holding onto a teddy bear anymore.

"All good?" He asked as they approached, not just his friend but him too.

No longer just respect for him because they respected Tess.

But because he'd earned it.

It was a nice feeling and their nods as they went to return to their posts urged Jay to bolster it. "I never asked your names."

"Nate." Answered the one who'd stayed behind, hooking his thumb at himself before he pointed it as his friend. "Josh."

"Thank you."

Both men nodded, Nate hesitating for a second before he bumped his fist against his arm and then Josh was quick to the same, each returning his appreciative smile with kind ones of their own before they finally left. And then it was just him and Tess. And Will. His brother stood as soon as he entered her room, making his heart clench when he pressed a soft kiss against her forehead before likewise clapping him on his shoulder as he made his silent exit. And then it was just the two of them, staring at one another as if they were finally able to process the last twenty-four hours.

"You should say it." Tess said quietly as he made his way over to her, pausing for a second when she patted the bed beside her before deciding he really did need to be that close to her again.

"I'm not going to say it."

"You should." She urged, tilting her head to stare at him as he settled against her. "I think it'll make us both feel better."

He wasn't too sure about that, it seemed like an obvious way to make her feel bad, and then him for going along with it but when he looked her over the humor in her eyes told him that his seriousness would make her feel worse than anything. "I told you so."

"Yeah you did." Tess whispered, pushing her head closer to his and taking a deep breath before she took his hand. "But I couldn't listen."

No shit.

Tess Danvers might aim to be a team player but there wasn't anyone who could tell her what to do when her mind was set on something. They were similar that way.

It was one of the things he loved about her, much as it also drove him nuts.

"I ran." She continued quietly, so solemn it took him a second to recover from the pain the guilt in her gaze sent coursing through him.

"We've been over this-"

"When they died. I ran. And I didn't stop. Not till I made myself." She finished with a sad huff but while his hands moved to soothe his mind stayed stuck on her words.

She was talking about her parents.

When they had died, when she had lived, when she had left the only home she'd ever known… She'd run. Run from the grief, from the pain that loving anyone inevitably brought and even though she'd eventually learned to let people back in, had made a strength from it she'd continued to run. All over the world for two decades and that…

That wasn't on him.

That wasn't anything he could have prevented, or stopped, especially when it didn't look like she'd realized it herself until she'd been forced to. "And now?"

"I don't want to run anymore." She whispered, certain, and settled, but still so tired. "But we have to keep fighting."

They did.

Even if they tried to run together their problems would follow them, or take advantage of their absence and while neither minded being in a war they both knew that things were going to get worse before they got better. A lot worse, in ways they also both knew they weren't prepared for and telling her they weren't in it alone wasn't going to help her.

Tess didn't need something to fight for, she needed to know it would be worth it.

"We're going to win." Those big blue eyes he loved so much flared, surprised by his confidence but taking it as her own the longer he held her stare.

"To our end."

"No. To our beginning."