However, the moment the door opened, she turned.  Her eyes found his face, and something in her expression shifted.  It wasn't relief, exactly.  It was more like the first crack in a dam that had been holding back too much for too long. "Saul." She pushed herself up, her arms straining against the mattress, her legs shifting under the thin blanket.  "You came." Shaking her head sharply, she frowned up at him balefully, “I told you not to come. I told you to stay safe. You shouldn't be here." He was at her side before she could get any further. His hands found her shoulders, gentle but firm, easing her back against the pillows.  "Don't get up. You need to rest. Whatever happened, whatever you've been through, you need to rest." "I don't need to rest. I need to find my brother." But she didn't f

She paused and her voice dropped as she said the next bit. "He heard his comrades die over the com piece in his ear and he couldn't do anything about it. He just had to lie there and listen."Saul said nothing in response to that.There was nothing to say about something so horrific."After a while, he took a peek from his broken windscreen. The vans were moving. They were retreating. He could hear other sirens in the distance….the reinforcements, finally arriving. But they were late to stop them. Too late to save anyone." Her voice cracked, and the tears she had been holding back began to spill over. "He said he saw them drag Leo into one of the vans. They had a bag over his head and there was blood on him. Reyes couldn't tell if it was Leo's blood or someone else's. He couldn't even tell if Leo was dead or alive." She sobbed, turning her head and burying it in Saul's chest once more, her shoulders shaking while her hands clutched at his shirt, her fingers twisting in the fabric. I

Night had fallen, and Kim was alone in her house waiting for Saul.She had been cleared for discharge hours ago, the hospital paperwork signed, filed before being folded into a neat little envelope that now sat on the kitchen counter beside a bowl of apples she had no intention of eating and the police clearing her to leave with the assurance that they would call when they needed her assistance (or her compliance with the case).The doctors had been kind enough, checking her vitals one last time, asking her questions about her memory and her coordination and whether she felt any lingering dizziness from the gas. She had answered everything correctly, had walked in a straight line and touched her nose with her eyes closed and recited the alphabet backward without a single stumble, and they had smiled and told her she was free to go.Absurdly, she had almost asked if she could stay. The words had been right there on her tongue, heavy and embarrassing, but she had swallowed them down n

Saul was quiet for a long moment.  She heard him set the laptop aside, heard the soft sound of his footsteps crossing the room toward her.  He stopped a few feet away, close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body but not so close that she felt crowded. "I can't tell you it's going to be okay," he said. "I don't know what it will be. But I know Leo. Granted, I've only known him for a few weeks, but I know him. He's smart and he's resourceful. He survived a terrorist level attack in that police station and he managed to get you out of there alive. Whatever he's facing right now, he's facing it with that big brain of his and endless amount of optimism." "Well, he's not as optimistic as he pretends to be!" Kim snapped, and her voice cracked on the words.  "He's been pretending to be brave since we were children!" She scoffed, eyes rolling, “Idiot

Kim was already thinking ahead about how to solve that problem. leaning back she pushed a hand through her slightly curling hair. "You're right. Miss Hale said the site can only be accessed once. The moment we leave, it disappears." She stood up from the sofa, her legs stiff from sitting too long in one position."We need to write everything down. By hand with no digital copies or at least nothing that can be traced back to her server."Saul nodded and reached for the legal pad and fountain pen she had brought him earlier. "Right. But….this is going to take a while.""It might take all night." Kim paused, her hand resting on the back of the sofa. "I have supplies in my office. More paper. Better pens. And I have something else, too."Saul looked up at her, his brow lifting slightly. "S-factor."Kim nodded sharply."In the patch form. It'll help us get through this faster." She saw the hesitation flicker across his face and added quickly, "It's safe. I've used it before. Leo used it.