AN: and we're finally here! Blue Team's reunion!

I'm going to be honest, I hated how this was done in comic form, so I'm happy to have hopefully improved it while keeping it canon at the same time.

So I won't hold you any longer. Enjoy the conclusion to Just Say It.

John fought to hold keep a grip on light bridge and pull himself up to face the Didact. Every part of him hurt, his arms and fingers burned as he hefted himself up and over the side of the bridge.

This was the end of the fight for him, he had to stop the Didact, he had to halt the Composer. He probably wouldn't be making it out of here alive, but he couldn't think about that now. Right now he had a job to do.

John yanked a pulse grenade from his belt and held it up, gathering the last of his strength for one last run at the Didact. Cortana was restraining him enough for John to dash at him, and slam the grenade into his chest.

The moment the grenade locked into his chest the Didact freed his arms and took a swing at John, knocking him back hard and dazing him. The Didact picked him up using his constraint filed, gripping his throat tightly and squeezing the breath out of him.

John fought to hold onto his consciousness for what was just a moment longer, but felt like ages as he waited for the grenade to detonate.

His whole world began to flash before his eyes. He knew he wouldn't be making it out of here. When that nuke went off he would be vaporized instantly, and he would leave his the UNSC, his team, Linda, everything he loved and fought to protect behind.

There was no turning back now.

Just as John was about to lose consciousness, the grenade detonated, sending the Didact tumbling off the edge of the light bridge and into the pit of swirling, orange energy bellow him.

John watched him fall, making sure he saw him disappear before letting out a pained groan and trying to stand to make his way to the nuke, but the pain was too great for him to bear. He stumbled and fell, and began to inch his way towards the nuke, using his arms to drag himself towards his goal.

He gathered the nuke in both hands, primed it, and readied himself to detonate it.

We have asked you to give up your family, your childhood, your future, echoed Doctor Halsey in his head, but he was about to give up so much more than that.

He closed his eyes and visualized Linda's smiling face one last time before slamming his fist into the bomb's detonator, and letting go of his whole world in one, white, flash.

John stood at perfect attention near a holographic briefing table at the UNSC HIGHCOM facility in Sydney. Having just suffered a brutal dissection of his every move for the past five years by the UNSC security council he just needed an escape, he needed time to think, time to forget.

Lord hood had other plans for him however. He had just briefed him on his new assignment and offered him a promotion he knew he would never take, and now he was now rambling on about some team he was supposed to advise, but if he was to be candid, which he never would be, he didn't care. No one had given him a straight answer yet about where his team was, and he could only assume the worst. Right now that hung over his mind like a dense fog.

He couldn't bear the thought of his team truly being gone. They had been his family for as long as he could remember, even he and Linda had always managed to fit right into the team's family dynamic, now that could all be gone, for good. If that was true then what had Cortana saved him for? Without his team, he was nothing, and she would have been better off Savin herself.

When the briefing had finished and lord hood lead him to a nearby hangar to meet his new team he began to wonder how he would adapt to working with others. He had never had another family, and any other simply wouldn't be the same.

When the door to the hangar opened however, and his eyes met the team in question, all of his fears washed away in an instant.

Three familiar Spartans in brand new armor stood by a waiting longsword fight, gathered in a group and talking amongst themselves. Fred, Kelly, Linda, his team was back. His family was back.

Fred was the first to notice his entrance.

"Would you look at that," He said with a smile, snapping a crisp salute which John returned.

Kelly spun on the balls of her heels as quickly as ever and faced him, her face lighting as her eyes met his faceplate.

"John!" She exclaimed, running over and swiping a Spartan smile across his faceplate, "I never thought we'd see you again."

Behind his faceplate John smiled down at his Spartan sister, before looking up to find Linda.

Her reaction was small, as was characteristic of her. She simply folded her arms and smiled at him.

"Oh my," she said in passing, "the conquering hero has returned."

John simply swiped a Spartan smile across his faceplate in return. God how he wanted to embrace her right now, to feel her against him and forget everything for a brief moment, but now was neither the time nor the place.

After a few jokes about him being their new "advisor" the Spartans pulled up some ammunition crates in a circle near the longsword. They couldn't stay long, but a few brief minutes to catch up was something they all desperately needed. Kelly and Fred both had long, and certainly embellished stories to tell about their time apart, but When it was Linda's turn to talk all she had to say was, "I missed you John."

John's face lit up behind his visor. To yell out I love you would have been inappropriate at such a time, but he almost did it anyway.

"I missed you too," he responded simply.

Out of the corner of his eye John saw Kelly roll her eyes and smile at the two of them.

Fred simply smiled and didn't say anything before standing and saluting once more.

"We need to get moving John. Are you ready to go?"

John looked to Linda, who winked at him and then nodded to Fred. The four of them turned and entered the longsword, with John sitting down across from Linda in the crew compartment. It was a fairly short ride to the frigate that was to carry the longsword to Gamma Halo, but every moment of it was agonizing for John. Linda, the woman he loved, sat mere inches away from him yet she may as well have been a star system away.

He wanted to kiss her, to feel her embrace, to let her wash the pain of the last five years from him with her tender touch and soft voice, but it would have to wait.

As soon as the longsword docked John made a break for the armor bay. It was only a short, twelve hour slipspace jump to Gamma Halo from here, and he didn't want to waste a single moment of it. Linda followed him, but made sure to keep her distance so as not to attract at any attention.

When the last piece of John's armor clattered to the deck he headed towards the officer's quarters. The Captain of the ship had personally made one available to each of the Spartans for the journey as a gesture of respect, but John had a feeling Linda's would go unused.

He waited for several more agonizing minutes, sitting on the bed and waiting to be reunited with his Spartan, until he heard the door slide open with a soft hiss, and Linda stepped through silently. John stood and silently looked at her as she slowly approached, unsure of how to proceed.

"Linda..." He said softly.

She didn't respond, and slowly approached him until her finger tips rested against his chest. She traced her fingers over him for several seconds before finally looking him in the eye.

"John, it's really you. You're alive," she said, her hand finally coming to rest on the side of his face.

He let his hands rest on her waist and rested his forehead against hers.

"My beautiful Spartan, why would I ever let something like death keep me from you?"

Normally Linda would have rolled her eyes at the corny line John had obviously rehearsed in his head, but instead she leaned in and kissed him, slowly relearning the feeling of kissing and being kissed.

When they broke Linda looked deeply into his eyes, and beneath the tenderness and love she so obviously saw was an immense amount of hurt, something she absolutely could not stand for him to feel. She kissed him passionately, and was surprised when she felt John spin her around and push her up against the wall.

He kissed her just as desperately as he had the day he told her he loved her, and Linda smiled at the memory, allowing him to deepen the kiss. He didn't apply to much pressure to her however, in fact he barely applied enough to keep someone who wasn't augmented in place. She wasn't sure if he was afraid of hurting her, or simply wanted to treat her gently, but either way she felt a little bit of pride at his protectiveness of her. He had fought so hard to protect so many things in his life, but not as hard as he had fought to find his way back to her.

He was hers, and no one else's. She would be the first and the last to see John in this state. When he broke off from kissing her he looked a little embarrassed at his lack of control, but she didn't allow him any time to dwell on that. She guided him to lay down on the nearby bunk, taking refuge in his warmth as she laid next to him.

Her look quickly switched from one of excitement and pride to something more serious. He had been through a lot, and pushing him back into this too quickly wouldn't be good for either of them.

"There's so much I want to tell you," he said carefully, noticing her look of concern.

John always kept his emotions hidden, fearful that they might weaken himself or others, but the crushing tenderness in Linda's eyes and the feeling of her warmth made him want to confess everything to her right then and there. She leaned in and gently kissed him, giving him a smile and a nod to indicate he could proceed. John held nothing back, telling her every horrible detail of the last five years, the Flood on high charity, drifting cold and alone on the forward unto dawn, Cortana's death, all of it.

When he finished with Cortana's line about finally being home, Linda squeezed his hand gently, offering a bit of encouragement and comfort. As much as he tried to hide it, she could tell that Cortana's death had hit him on a level she hadn't seen since her death.

"John, I'm so sorry..." She said tenderly.

He nodded his thanks, pulling her just a bit closer to him.

"The worst part of all of it was not knowing if I'd ever see you again. At times it was almost too much to bear."

He looked sadly over at her. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he was reliving those very moments of angst over and over in his head right now, something she couldn't stand for him to have to do.

"Well, I knew you'd make it back to me John," she said, nuzzling her head into the crook of up his neck, and hoping to pry his mind away from the subject. He remained silent, staring blankly at the ceiling as he ran a hand through Linda's hair.

"John," she said worriedly, "are you going to be ok?"

"I'll be fine, I just have a lot on my mind," he said sadly.

She rolled out of his grasp and on top of him, smiling at him coyly.

"Well, I could take your mind off of it..." She said as she traced her fingers over his chest.

John smirked at the implications of her words.

"Is this part of your teaching me to be human?" He asked with a small laugh. She placed her hands on the back of his head and rested her forehead against his.

"Yeah, sure big guy," she said with a small laugh, "now come here. I'll teach you a thing or two."

John tried to say something back, but was cut off by a kiss he fell readily into.

He wondered for a moment why on earth it had taken him so long to say three simple words to Linda. How had he had the strength to fight without her to guide him.

As she began to pull up on his short he stopped her, and was met by a mildly annoyed expression from her.

"I love you," he said simply.

Linda laughed a deep, beautiful laugh and pressed her mouth close to his ear.

"I love you too," she whispered, sealing her words with a kiss.

John relaxed and closed his eyes. He knew this moment wouldn't last long, joyful reunions never did, but he didn't care. For at least the next couple of hours there wouldn't be any war to worry about, and now that his Spartan was safe in his arms, that was all that he cared about.

The End

Thanks to Jaeger Gypsy Danger for that ending line from Linda :)

Well guys, it's been a helluva ride. Thanks y'all for reading, special thanks to my many and frequent reviewers who gave me the resolve to get this thing done. If you have any parting thoughts or criticism, I'd be glad to hear them.

This marks the end of my first popular fic, but hopefully this won't be the last you'll hear from me.

I'll see you starside Spartans,

Actual was here.