For those of you who have yet to start following this show, you are either no fans of Santiago Cabrera or your TV is broken *g*

Seriously though, even if you have no idea what this is all about, all you need to know is that he plays the main character, that the Earth is set for devastation in a few, short months and that Santiago plays a sort of genius/madman who might well be the planet's only hope against the speeding train- I mean meteorite, racing towards home.

This story in particular is a coda to episode 4, set right before the beginning of 5. IF you have seen the show, (AND you know me) you know exactly why this particular episode had my muse jumping up and down, drooling like a horny dog.

If you have not seen it... good grief! Just go see it!

Last, but certainly not least, a BIG THANK YOU to Jackfan2 for her magical beta-fingers. Any remaining mistake is my fault.

It was hard to look at him now and still be fooled by the colorful and picturesque character he had worked so tenaciously to construct for himself; hard not to see the man he was in reality: fallible and fragile like the rest of us. Human.

Right now, there was no trace of the millionaire, of the science genius or the social butterfly that she had come to know and slightly despise. Darius, the self-proclaimed legend, looked nothing more than a little boy who had just lost his home.

"Will you be alright?" Grace asked, as the two of them watched some of her people wheel by, pushing a black body-bag on top of a stretcher. To say those words were inappropriate was a gross understatement and Grace, whose job was to maneuver words and make their meaning work to her advantage, felt utterly foolish the moment they crossed her lips.

Of course he wasn't 'alright'. How could he be, when the only person Darius seemed to care about in the whole word had revealed himself a traitor, right before blowing out his own brains?

The scientist looked up at her. It had taken two agents to move him from the floor where he had fallen to one of the couches in his room. While he had protested at the handling at the time, he hadn't moved from the spot since.

His brown eyes spoke volumes before a word even slipped his mouth. Bloodshot but painfully dry, they stared up at her for a moment -a too long moment- as if trying to translate what she had said into a language he could understand. And then he nodded, vacantly, trying his best to look bored rather than devastated. "Will this take much longer?" he asked, voice raspy from the abuse it had taken. "I have some... matters to attend to."

Grace found herself nodding sharply in return, a knot trapped inside her throat, dangerously close to making a fool of herself and start shedding the tears that he refused to let out. "Humm... yes, we're about done here," she said, voice struggling to remain strong. She sent a quick glance towards Harris, his curt nod confirming her estimation. "Do you want me to call someone," Grace offered. "Liam, perhaps?"

It suddenly dawned on her why she had been so quick to distrust Darius' intentions and actions earlier that day. She knew nothing about the man and, apart from his unconditional trust in Lazlo and the faith he seemed to have in Liam's capabilities, Grace had no idea who else Darius had in his life.

"Thank you," Darius offered in return, a forced smile on his lips. "I'd rather have some peace and quiet for a few hours, if the US government doesn't mind too much?"

Grace bit her lower lip, for once uncertain about what to do. She could offer to stay herself, but it was clear from his tone that anyone even remotely connected to the Pentagon was the last person Darius wanted near him now. In his defense, after what they had done to him, she really couldn't blame him.

She still couldn't believe that Harris had jumped onboard the torture-train so eagerly. Of course the situation was dire, and if Darius had been the man -the traitor- they believed him to be at the time, there was no other choice but to cut corners and make him talk before it was too late, but still... Harris was the man she loved and, right now, she could not help but look at him and see a monster. She felt terribly guilty for that.

But if Darius hadn't ripped that tracker from his hand and given it to her... Grace shuddered as the possibilities and grim outcomes of the past hours raced through her mind. They had lost the satellite, but they had come so close to losing their final hope...

Slipping her hand inside her pocket, she grabbed the case holding the microchip that had saved Darius, if not the satellite. "This is yours," she offered, feeling kind of silly holding a plastic box that looked empty.

"Keep it," Darius said dismissively, finally rising shakily from his chair. His right arm flew up, protectively curling around his chest as he moved away. "I've been considering an upgrade for some time now."

Grace stood there for a moment, feeling like an intruder. She knew he wanted them all gone, probably needed some solitude to properly mourn his loss, but she couldn't bring herself to make her legs move as she watched him pour himself a stiff drink using only one hand.

"Grace," Harris voice broke her somewhat intruding gazing. "You staying?" he asked, his eyes taking in the scene, analyzing everything in his path. She could tell he wasn't happy about what he was seeing, even if he could barely look at the man he had ordered to be tortured just a few hours before.

As much as he was honorable and a gentleman, Harris was a difficult and jealous man. Grace knew that perfectly well, it was one of the little flaws that made him so much more endearing to her.

She could stay and deal with his jealousy later, that had never been a problem between the two of them. But she was unwelcome there and, although she had played no part in what had happened inside that Pentagon interrogation room, Grace couldn't bring herself to further assault Darius by imposing her presence, even if every fiber in her body was telling her that he should not be alone.

"Let us know if you need anything, ok?" she let out, her hand raising to touch his shoulder before she aborted the motion. Even with his back turned, she could see that he did not wanted to be touched.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Darius whispered, back tense as he downed his drink.

****SALVATION****

Unsurprisingly, Grace couldn't sleep. Every time she would close her eyes, all she could see was that needle, going inside Darius neck and killing everything that made him who he was.

She had offered Harris a place in her bed that night, sensing that, after such a shitty day, he would be needing the presence of another human being, a warm shoulder to lean into just as much as she needed it. Instead, he had gone back to the Pentagon.

And she had been left alone, with the memories of the longest, crappiest day of her life. Which was saying something, given that she had actually stole uranium from the US government. Grace turned in her empty bed, trying very hard to not take out her frustration on her own sheets.

She closed her eyes again, grinding eyelids against each other, praying for the darkness to remain dark and void of images. But all she could see was him, strapped to that horrible table, pale as a corpse, wet and shivering, barely breathing.

"Goddammit!" Grace yelled to the emptiness of her room, sitting up. "This is ridiculous," she whispered, knowing that a big part of that ridiculousness was her, talking to her herself in the dark.

She sat there, clutching at her hair, wishing she had the ability to pry her head open and fish those images out. Her phone, buzzing on her nightstand, was a most welcome distraction.

"Yes?"

"Hello," a female voice, vaguely robotic, answered from the other side. It took Grace ten seconds to identify it as TESS, the AI that ruled over the Tanz building. "Darius, I'm calling to inform you of an emergency."

Grace stared at the phone in confusion, wondering why the hell was she getting phone calls from fancy computers in the middle of the night. That is, until her eyes landed on the plastic box on her desktop, the one she knew to contain Darius personal tracing chip. "Look, I'm not Darius, so you can..." Grace started, quickly realizing that she was arguing with a computer.

"Very well, Darius," TESS went on, ignoring her words. "Should I dial 911 instead?"

Grace was about to hang up, or throw her phone at the wall, when the words registered. "W-What?"

"There is a male subject in severe respiratory distress in your private quarters," TESS reported emotionlessly. "Should I dial 911?"

Grace felt like she was going to be sick as the implications of what she was hearing registered. "YES!" she yelled into the phone, rushing up from her bed and trying to find something to put over her pajamas. "Open all doors when the rescue team arrives and notify me as soon as Dar-" her voice faltered, throat choked as images of the millionaire in his room, alone and slowly dying, invaded Grace's mind. "I wanna know where they take him, ok?" she whispered, once more forgetting that she was talking to a computer software that believe her to be its creator. "Please?"

****SALVATION****

Instead of doing the rational thing and stay put until TESS called with a confirmed location, Grace just rushed to her car and started driving to the hospital nearest to Tanz Industries.

She had never ignored a red light in her life before. That night, she flew by three of them, not caring if the traffic cameras caught her or not. All that matter at the moment was that she arrived at the hospital that very second, so that... what?

So she could save him? The idea sounded ridiculous even in her head.

Grace paused for a moment, taking a long delayed breath, like she had stopped breathing altogether when TESS told her what was going on. What could have possibly happened to Darius to put in such condition? He was perfectly fine -health wise- when she had left...

Maybe he had some breathing condition that they knew nothing about, something like asthma or... "Oh, God," Grace let out, her hands strangling the steering wheel. "The stress, or the grief.. both..." what if he had an asthma attack after they left?

Kelly, Zoe's best friend from school, had asthma. Grace remembered perfectly well the stories her daughter told her about the poor girl, how her lungs would close up when it was too cold or too hot... Stress could set off an attack too, couldn't it?

Her phone rang then, an unknown number on display. "TESS?" she answered, hopeful that the computer would be on the other end.

"Salvation Hospital," the robotic voice replied. "They should be arriving in approximately three minutes and seven seconds. Do you want me to notify anyone else?"

The irony of the hospital's name was not lost on Grace as she pressed the gas pedal. "You better still be alive when I get there, Darius," she mumbled to herself. Once more, the thought that she was basically a stranger that knew nothing about Tanz's life grated on Grace, as she had no idea who else to call. "Warn Liam," she ended up saying. "Tell him to meet me there."

She had no idea who else was a part of Darius life, but as she drove into the night, Grace realized that she did not wanted to be alone if the worse happened.

****SALVATION****

Liam almost forgot his shoes. Again.

TESS wasn't the most informative of 'creatures', which was ironic as hell, given that she -it- was basically one giant assed computer with access to basically... everything.

It took him about two seconds to realize that 'the male in respiratory distress' that TESS was talking about was actually Darius, given that no one else had been in the millionaire's private quarters and that the 'Darius' TESS had been talking to so far was actually Grace, still in possession of the implantable chip.

What had happened and why Darius hadn't called anyone in the company were two mysteries that a part of Liam's brain was currently trying to solve. The rest of his grey cells were occupied mostly with screaming and wondering what the heck had his life turned into.

The paranoid chunk of him couldn't help but wonder if this wasn't part of Darius plan for... something.

If there was one thing that Liam had learned during his brief tenure working for the mysterious man, was that Darius always had a plan and he never did anything without having at least three reasons for it... good or otherwise.

The idea that the millionaire, who so far seemed to only care about himself, had kept his mouth shut under frigging torture! -and when exactly had his life turned him into an extra in a bad James Bond movie?- to save both Grace and the Salvation project, was just mind boggling.

Bad James Bond movie or not, the one perk of working directly with Darius was that Liam had access to most of the millionaire's toys, like his private chopper. Even if he hated to fly.

When Liam finally arrived, Grace was waiting for him at the front desk. In her pajamas.

"Humm... how is he?" Liam let out, trying to ignore how disheveled the always composed woman looked. Then again, he had almost boarded the chopper without his shoes, so who was he to judge?

"Alive," Grace reported, sounding less relieved than the word would imply. "That's all that they'll tell me."

"But..."

The blonde woman bit her lip, worrying at the fray of her blue bathrobe. "They have him in the ICU, won't let anyone but family in..."

Liam blinked, pulling her away from the front desk, where the receptionist was already sending them weird looks. "But you work for the, you know..." he whispered, like it was a dirty secret, "...government. Can't you pull some strings or make some calls?"

Grace shook her head, pulling her hair behind her ears, a gesture that she seemed to fall into whenever she needed to buy some time and find her composure. "I can't... he's a public figure. If word got out that a Pentagon worker was making a fuss over this, people would start asking questions, questions we don't want asked and that we certainly can't answer," she whispered back. "We can't risk a scandal. Not now."

Liam ran a hand through his head. "Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit..." honestly, he couldn't think of anything else to say. What a mess... "So, what can we do?"

Grace looked exhausted, like the weight of the world rested upon her shoulders. Liam knew that, in some measure, she blamed herself for what was happening. And that she was all out of magic tricks up her sleeve. He, on the other hand...

"We can lie," he offered, a hint of smile brushing his lips.

"W-what?"

Unwilling to risk explaining his plan out loud, Liam went back to the reception, waving his hand around to catch the woman's attention.

"Yes, sir... can I help you?"

"I'm here to see my brother," Liam let out, straight faced as he bullshited his way through the worse, fake British-ish accent. "Darius Tanz."

The woman behind the counter blinked in surprise for a moment, staring at him as if trying to guess his genome. Liam knew that he didn't exactly resembled Darius, but some sort of blood relation wasn't completely out of the realm of possibilities.

"Can I see some identification, Mr...?"

"Cole, Liam Cole," he volunteered, kicking himself for all the James Bond crap floating around his head. "Different fathers, you see," he added, sliding over his driver's license.

"I wasn't aware that Mr. Tanz had a younger brother," the woman let out, making a quick copy of his ID.

"My brother is a very private man," Liam offered, hoping that he was using the right amount of threat in his voice and not simply making an ass out himself. "And I would very much liked to see him now, if you please."

For one poignant moment, Liam was sure that the woman was just going to call security and instead of seeing Darius, he was going to be spending the rest of the night in some God forsaken, stinky prison cell. Why was he doing this, again?

"Mr. Tanz is in the fourth floor ICU, Mr. Cole," the woman supplied. "You can use the elevator on your left. Someone will meet you upstairs to inform you of your brother's condition."

Liam struggled to keep a straight face, completely surprised that they had fallen for the younger brother routine. "Miss Barrows is coming with me. Sh-she's..." he stuttered, not having planned that far ahead.

"... his girlfriend," Grace supplied without missing a beat. "Thank you," she offered politely, not giving the receptionist any room for further questions.

****SALVATION****

As soon as elevator doors closed, twin sighs of relief burst out.

"I can believe they bought that crap!" Liam admitted, the surprise he could not show before more than clear in his expression now.

Grace nodded distractedly, her mind already on the next problem at hand. Only when she had arrived at the hospital and had seen her way barred, did it registered that she should have called Harris to informed him of the possible shit-storm coming their way. As if an asteroid wasn't enough.

If anything in Darius current medical condition was traced back to them and what Harris had done...

As soon as the doors opened, they could see a tall woman in a white coat, waiting for them. Grace broke out in a cold sweat. What if she asked where Darius got his bruises? What if he had told them that the US government had tortured him for hours? Why hadn't she called Harris to warn him?

"Darius Tanz family, I assume?" the doctor enquired, reaching out to shake their hands. "My name is Dr. Advika," she informed, quietly leading them to an empty waiting room. "First of all, I want you to know that Mr. Tanz is currently stable and free of danger."

"What happened?" Grace let out, unable to keep wandering for a single second more. She needed to know that, whatever had happened, they -Harris- weren't responsible for it. "Was it an asthma attack?"

"No, Mr. Tanz doesn't have asthma, as far as we know," the doctor pointed out determinedly. "May I ask you some questions?" she politely pushed through, barely waiting for their nod. "The hospital received a file from his company, with all of Mr. Tanz medical information, the very second his name was inserted in our database," she went on, sounding vaguely amused by the event. "So we know for a fact that the patient had no history of heart failure and was in perfect health condition. What we don't know is whether he had been diving or hiking in high altitudes in the past days. Has he?"

Grace looked at Liam, the confusion on his face a mirror to hers. "No... not that we're aware," she replied. "Why do you ask?"

Dr. Advika shifted in her chair, leaning closer to them, her voice softer.

"When Mr. Tanz arrived, he was in near respiratory arrest due to a severe pulmonary edema," the doctor informed quietly, pausing for a moment at Grace's sudden intake of air and seeing the greenish tint of Liam's face. "We were able to reverse the situation in time," she assured them, her voice without a trace of doubt. "He is breathing on his own now, his lungs are clearing up from fluid, but the team decided to keep him here for a few more hours, just to make sure that his condition doesn't suffer any changes before we release him. And until we can understand what cause this."

"A-And what does that have to do with diving?" Liam ventured, still looking like he might lose his dinner after all.

"Well, me and my team we're intrigued as to why a healthy man like Mr. Tanz would develop such a serious condition without an external agent. And there are a limited set of situations that can cause pulmonary edema," she pause, gauging their expressions, "You may know it better as dry or secondary drowning, as its more commonly known," she added with a face that made it clear how poorly she regarded that term.

The world lost all color for a moment, time slowing to an almost complete stop. Grace found that she couldn't breath, like it was her own lungs filling in water this time around.

Drowning.

They had done this.

"Can we see him?"

Liam's voice sounded distant and distorted. He had forgotten to keep up the phony accent, which seemed like the most absurd observation to be making at that point.

"Of course," the doctor supplied. "He's awake and already asking to be released... maybe you two can help us keep him in bed for a few more hours."

Grace could not recall the short walk from the waiting room to the ICU. Her mind was lost in the images of what little she had seen inside that interrogation room, even if her imagination seemed more than happy to supply for the things she had not witnessed. They had beaten and waterboarded Darius, like he was nothing but some lowlife terrorist with the brain of a cockroach.

And Darius had let them do it because he was protecting her. Because he was protecting the fate of mankind. Because he would not risk exposing Salvation. The idea that this was something that he was willing to die for -something that he had almost died for- stole all strength from Grace's legs.

She stumbled, finding herself being closely watched by Liam and Dr. Advika. "You alright, Miss?" the doctor asked, grabbing her wrist for support, no doubt noticing how fast her heart was beating as she pressed two fingers against her pulse.

"Yes, fine," Grace brushed their concerns away. "It's just... a lot to take in, you know?"

They didn't know, but one word from Darius' mouth and they would find out, wouldn't they?

Liam looked at her strangely, as if he was already putting two and two together and arriving at the same terrible conclusion that she had. "You sure?" he asked, and for one terrifying moment Grace was certain that he was asking her if she was certain about her findings, checking facts like the scientist that he was.

Grace nodded, unable to find the words to speak her mind, afraid that if she opened her mouth, all that would come out was 'I'm guilty! This is on me!'

The ICU was shredded in darkness, only a small lamp above each bed spot-lighting each patient there.

Darius was on the third bed on the left, the one closest to the window. He was looking outside, his gaze intense as if he could see something other than the black sky and his own reflection on the glass. As he turned towards the sound of their steps, it was easy to see that the left side of his face was one giant bruise. Grace couldn't help but cringe.

"Mr. Tanz," Dr. Advika called out. "Your brother and girlfriend are here to see you. How are you feeling?"

There was a fleeting moment of confusion on Darius' face before his eyes lit up in amusement and mischief. Grace felt like groaning out loud- she was never going to live this one down.

"Honey! Baby bro!" he called out loud, his throat instantly complaining at the overuse and sending him into a coughing fit. "So glad you could make it," he let in a whisper as soon as he could breath again. "Are you my ride home?"

The doctor spoke up before either Grace or Liam could answer that. "Mr. Tanz, we've yet to determine what caused this situation and until we can make sure that this wi-"

"I was drunk," Darius cut in, looking straight at the doctor, daring her to say otherwise before throwing a quick glance to Grace.

Grace blinked, unprepared to believe in what he was doing, consider the ramifications of what he had done or how far he was willing to go to protect the things he believed him. It scared her more than she would ever admit.

"I'm sure you've made an extensive blood work panel as soon as I arrived," Darius went on, pausing dramatically to wait for the doctor's nod, but mostly to catch his breath. "So, you know that I was very drunk... still am a bit, to be honest," he added with a loopy smirk.

"High levels of alcohol in your system do not cause pulmonary edemas, Mr. Tanz," Dr. Advika pointed out very patiently. "So, we-"

"Ah!" Darius interrupted again, one finger raised for effect. The fact that it was the finger stuck inside his oximeter stole some of the effect he was going for. "What about falling drunk in one's own pool and almost drowning?"

"You... fell into your pool," the doctor parroted, like she was tasting the words in her mouth and not finding the flavor at all agreeable. "And this was today... I imagine at the same time you acquired the bruises on your face and chest?" she added, looking pointedly at the two other people in the room, as if trying to figure out if they were in on his bullshit or a part of it.

"Yes," Darius agreed all too fast. "So, I'm free to go?" he asked, already busy disconnecting wires from his chest. "And by that, I mean 'I'm going to go, now'," he added with a smile that would put white sharks to shame. "Baby bro, a little help, if you don't mind?"

Liam, as stunned as the rest with the fast turn of events, barely stopped to question the older man's actions, moving to the chair where he could see Darius clothes neatly folded up.

"You will have to sign an AMA form," Dr. Advika said, her voice stern and even. "And by that I mean that I strongly advice against you doing this."

Darius paused on the edge of the bed, offering the doctor an honest smile for once. "I like you," he let out, pushing to his feet.

Grace rushed forward as she saw all color leave his face, holding him awkwardly by one arm and a hand on his bare chest. His muscles were shivering under her touch, enough to make her realize how much of an effort he was putting into pretending that he was alright. "Maybe you should listen to her and stay a few more hours," Grace offered in a hushed tone, helping him to sit back down.

Like before, in his room, right after they had found Lazlo's body, Grace looked into Darius dark eyes and caught a glimpse of the man he truly was underneath all the masks he wore. He was just as scared as the rest of them, but most of all, he was pissed at what had happened and determined to make things right.

There was no way they were going to manage to keep Darius in that place for a single minute further and Grace would rather have him safe, with her and Liam, than trying to escape his hospital bed on his own.

"Darius is right," Grace out loud, looking at the disappointed face of the doctor. "We appreciate all you have done to save his life," she went on, hating herself for the way her voice broke at the words, "but I'm sure we can take care of him from this point on."

The doctor didn't bothered arguing with them, probably already used to the pretentiousness of rich people and knowing that it was a lost battle. "I'll go get those forms," she huffed, leaving the room.

"You sure about this, man?" Liam whispered, handing Darius his clothes. The millionaire looked exhausted just from talking.

"One more time... yes!" Darius let out pushing his way up once more, managing to keep his balance and some color on his face this time around. "Now, unless the two of you paid for the kinky peep show, I suggest pulling those curtains closed and giving me some privacy?"

****SALVATION****

Grace found herself sitting on the same waiting room as before, this time waiting for Darius to finish signing his discharge papers so that they could take him back to Tanz Industries. After dodging that many bullets in one day, she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Liam, sitting by her side, was worrying the skin between his left thumb and pointing finger, absent minded and staring at apparently nothing.

"You ok?" Grace found herself asking the young man. God, he was probably only a few years older than her own daughter...

"There's no pool," Liam supplied, his eyes still trapped by something that only he could see. "At the tree house... there's no pool in there."

Grace's heart skipped a few beats. Here was the shoe. "What do you mean?" she asked as casually as she could manage.

The gaze Liam turned on her reminded her somehow of Darius' own intense look and she found herself sympathizing with the receptionist that actually believed those two to be related.

Liam knew Darius hadn't fallen into any imaginary pool at his place, and while he might not know the details of what had been done to the older man at the Pentagon, there were no words that would make it plausible for Grace to deny the government's -Harris'- responsibility over what had happened to Darius. "Liam... I-"

"Do you think he planned the whole thing?" the young man bursted out, a nervous laugh escaping his lips. "I mean, it sounds a bit farfetched and lately my mind seems to be filled with nothing but shitty Bond plots," he babbled, "but do you think it's possible?"

Grace had a denial poised on the tip of her tongue, ready to be deployed. She swallowed it down.

Had Darius planned the whole thing?

At the time, when he poured that first drink, it seemed like the reasonable reaction to having just lost his best friend... and when he refused to take the tracing chip back, Grace hadn't even questioned the action because he had offered such a good excuse...

But there was no way Darius could have guessed that something like this was going to happen, could he? If he was feeling poorly, he could have just asked them for help...

No. Grace couldn't finish that thought even if it was only in the privacy of her own mind. Of course someone like Darius would never lower himself to ask for help from the very same people that had cause the damaged in the first place.

And any other hospital that he sought out, would have asked questions about how all that water had ended up in his lungs and he would have had no choice but to tell what had happened... what Harris had done.

God... had Darius planned the whole thing so the government could have an alibi, a free pass over torturing him? Had he risked his life all over again to protect Harris? Why?

As far as Grace could tell, the two men could barely stand each other before this whole mess happened, so why go to such length to ensure that what had happened stayed under the radar and scandal free?

Oh, God... scandal free...

"You DO, Don't you?" Liam exclaimed as her silence drew too long. "Oh, my God... what kind of person plans that far in advance?"

"Noah," Grace deadpanned, finding that Liam's comment earlier was now, more than ever, an accurate one.

Noah had close to eighty years to built his ark, dedicated his whole life to it actually, according to what the stories told. Darius didn't had nearly as much time, but he certainly had a dedication of Biblical proportions. And, like Noah, Darius had little time to waste with nuisances like political scandals or Harris possibly losing his job and being replaced by someone else that, in all honestly, might like Darius even less and make his job harder.

"Who's Noah?" Darius asked, from his reluctant seat as he rejoined them. "Never mind... come on, we have work to do!" he ordered, motioning for the orderly pushing him to move straight ahead, like he was riding a chariot rather than a wheelchair.

It was only as they were flying back towards the Tanz building that Grace realized that there was one part of Darius' insane plan that didn't make much sense.

If TESS was programmed to call 911 at any sign of a person in distress inside the building, why make sure that Grace had the chip and would therefor be the first person TESS would call?

It was pointless high risk, valuable time wasted, time that Darius might not have when things started to go sideways for him. So, why do it?

Grace stared out the window, lost in thought. Outside, the sun was starting to peek from behind the horizon, signaling the beginning of a new day in bright pink colors. As the chopper made a sharp turn, Grace could hear Liam, on the far side of the seat, whimpering at the sudden motion, quietly praying for all the laws of physics to hold on for a little big longer and keep that metal bird in the air.

A weight pressed into her shoulder, and Grace turned to find Darius' head resting against her shoulder, his eyes closed, body lax. He was sound asleep, exhausted by the events of the previous day, his breathing louder than usual and slightly labored. Still, with his eyes closed and his face relaxed, he seemed almost... at peace.

Grace finally realized her part in Darius daring plan and couldn't help but smile, even though he was in for a serious word-lashing as soon he felt better... and they had saved the world.

In the mean time, everyone needs a warm shoulder to lean in to, every once and again.

The end