never be alone

Alesia watched him as she listened, her hands almost desperately clinging to his, because he was her lifeline, he always had been. Shifting closer, she pulled her hands free so that she could wrap her arms around him in a tight hug. “I love you, too, Lu,” she murmured quietly, breathing out, but she nodded slightly. “I don’t care where we go, or if we go anywhere at all, I just… I just wanna be with you, that’s all that matters.” Because she’d missed him, she missed spending time with him, she missed feeling close to him, in more than just a physical way.

Michael rubbed her back gently as he held her close to himself, listening to her breathing, relaxing with knowing that, as long as she was in his arms, she was safe, nothing could harm her - at least physically. He worried about the toll her mind had taken on her, on the toll his continued absence had taken, and his arms squeezed around her slightly with the thought. When she looked up to him, he saw the tears, and his heart broke as he reached to wipe the tears away, though he listened to her with a small smile and nodded. “Then, that’s exactly where we’ll start,” he promised quietly, “We can pack up tonight, head out first thing tomorrow?”

Luke clinged almost as desperately to Alesia, wanted her to know she was safe, wanting to convey that he would protect her, come hell or high water, but when she pulled away, Luke instinctively reached for her, wrapping her into his arms and pressing kiss after kiss into Alesia's hair, the smell of her shampoo enough to give him strength for the both of them. "We're gonna get away from here, Al." Luke promised quietly. "Hell, we can even take Petunia. I know that wherever you are, I have a home, and I'll make damn sure you know you have a home within me." Luke nuzzled into the woman he wanted to share his last name with, pressing a kiss to the top of her head once more. "My brother has a camper van. We can hit the road, just us, explore the places that brought us together." Luke took a step back to admire Alesia then, his own blue eyes filled with tears. "Alesia Hansen, run away with me?"

Keira held onto Michael's t-shirt for dear life, adoring the smell of cologne that still brought her comfort, even after so, so long. Staying there for a long moment, in Michael's arms, in her small cavern of safety, Keira took a moment to breathe deeply, practicing what she had learned from her therapist. When Michael squeezed around her gently, Keira offered Michael a gentle smile, the way he wiped away her tears enough to make her heart swell with longing, with nothing but love. "Then let's get packing." Keira whispered, nodding to his words. "Hey, Michael... I love you, you know?" Keira murmured. "Nothing could ever take that away."