I knew it that moment it was you. I would do anything and everything in that moment to keep you safe, to keep you alive. It didn't matter what would happen, what I would have to do to make you feel like you mattered, but I would. I would do it no matter the cost. Because, from that moment, I knew. When you looked at me the way you did, sure you were going to die. You were so defeated, and yet, so brave, so strong. The whole way you seemed so calm, so poised, like you were ready for whatever was to come. I don't know how you did it but it was enough for me to hope that maybe you would in fact beat the odds and come home again. And that made me even more confident that I would be able to help you get there.

You will make it. I will die for you, and you will go home.