This wasn’t supposed to happen, Felicity. You have to know that. You should never have seen me again. And now I have to prove myself to you for all our remaining shared decades. – Briel’s explanation and pleading to Felicity upon returning to America.

“one’s not half two. It’s two are halves of one…” – E. E. Cummings

Within fifteen minutes, a doctor had splinted Briel's arm, and the four friends had undertaken the journey to Paris. The group had mentally separated into pairs, Nessa and Jase quietly conversing in the front, and Nick and Briel each staring silently out the windows in the back.

Though Briel longed to speak, no topic presented itself, and she despised small talk. She opted instead to eavesdrop on the conversation in the front seat, searching for something to occupy her mind. She couldn't imagine what Nick must think right now, why he sat so soundlessly staring out his window. Without something to distract her, she would go mad.

“What's wrong, Jase?” Nessa queried in a subdued tone.

For one moment, Jase didn't speak; he just stared over the steering wheel. “Liam was, um,” he paused as if he searched for words. “He was very upset with me for interfering between Briel and him.”

“Of course he was,” Nessa responded, somewhat confused by the obviousness of the statement. “Why does that bother you? I'm not particularly seeking his favor; are you?”

“No, that's not it, it's just that,” again he left his sentence unfinished.

“Jase, you don't have to explain to me if you don't want to, but you seem really unhappy.”

“Yeah, it's just that now my cover is completely blown with the ProtoComm group. I could have possibly helped ferret out the rest of the parties if I had remained covert, but I'm pretty sure Liam will be reporting for duty with Henry shortly.”

“I can see why that's frustrating,” Nessa assuaged him, reaching for his hand. “Technically though, you could fabricate a believable cover story. This had nothing to do with ProtoComm. Maybe you just came to save a friend, nothing more. You played the role pretty convincingly when you talked about me.”

Jase's hand tensed immediately on the steering wheel. “You know, Nessa...” he began, but she interrupted him.

“I do know, Jase. Don't worry about it. It didn't come to that.”

“But if it had, I would have interfered.”

Watching Jase, Briel wondered whether he tried more to convince Nessa or himself of his intentions. Nessa never questioned him, no matter how ambivalent he appeared. Thinking back to her time in captivity, Briel remembered the words of Amélie, With Jase, even I do not fully know. Is he heaven's angel or the devil himself? In the current case, Briel could relate to the Frenchwoman.

Nessa turned her face to gaze at the passing road, “I never doubted you, Jase.”

Though Nessa could not see Jase's wince at her words, Briel could, and she understood his self-reproach. If she had to guess, she would bet that Jase had not decided whether he wanted to cut all ties with the criminal element, and he realized the full implications of his interference with Liam.

Jase would also realize that if he had allowed Liam to follow through with his threat against Nessa, Jase's identity as a criminal would prove even more solid with Liam, and eventually with Henry.

Though Briel could not guess the power which this thought had held over Jase, she knew him well enough to know that he had considered the possibility. If anything, his obvious remorse surprised Briel more than his wayward thoughts.

“We need gas,” Jase changed the subject after a few minutes of silence. “The drive from Le Mans finished out our tank.”

“We're almost to Caen. We can easily stop there without drawing too much attention to ourselves,” Nessa replied, seemingly relieved at the cessation of the previous topic.

After ten easy minutes, Jase pulled the van into a Total gas station, and Nessa jumped out eagerly. “I got it,” she offered. “Does anyone want a drink?”

“Get Briel a water,” Nick insisted.

“I'm fine,” Briel corrected in a hushed tone.

“I don't care if you're Atlas, you've been through a lot of trauma, and you need water.”

“Fine,” she agreed in a contradictory tone. Really, though, she didn't seem to mind when Nick took care of her; the sudden realization shocked her almost as much as his gun shooting skills.

Nick had apparently noticed Jase's equivocation during his earlier conversation with Nessa. More had bothered Jase than just his cover within the criminal element. Pulling open the van door, Nick strolled around until he could engage Jase in private conversation. Briel leaned toward the broken window to listen.

“What was that all about, Jase?” Nick accosted him once Nessa had entered the gas station. “You seem much more upset than you would over purely professional considerations.”

For a moment, Jase's face screwed up in thought, but he turned back toward both Nick and Briel with an open countenance.

“Liam didn't buy my story earlier. He knew that I wouldn't sacrifice Nessa.” Jase looked pensive once again. “He seemed to sense the nature of our friendship,” he explained, and Briel wondered at her own lack of insight. How had Liam recognized Jase's emotions when Briel thought Jase as cold as ice?

“Did he threaten her?” Nick guessed.

“I think so,” Jase admitted and then shifted his focus to Briel. “Of all the people in the world that Liam could have attacked, I would have worried the least about Briel. If he could even stay in the arena with Briel, I'm concerned about my ability to protect Nessa. It's hard enough to protect myself. How can I protect her? I don't know what I'm going to do.”

Jase's despondency seemed to temporarily disable him, and Nick placed his hand on Jase's shoulder.

“You'll do whatever you have to do,” Nick reassured Jase.

Raising his face, Jase stared into Nick's resolute eyes and seemed to draw strength from them. “You're right,” Jase agreed with a slight smile. “I'll do whatever it takes.”

At that moment, Nessa returned from the store that accompanied the gas station, lifting a bottle as if in toast. “I went ahead and got you boys sodas,” she informed them, climbing back into her seat in front. Halfway up, she stopped and turned to Nick, “Do you want to ride in front now? We still have two hours to Paris.”

“No way,” Nick responded, grinning from ear to ear. “The company's much better in the back; no offense, Jase.”

“None taken,” Jase assured him with a smirk.

Returning to the door, Nick clambered up into the van but did not take his seat. “Come on,” he insisted turning to Briel. He unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her uninjured hand, tugging gently until she acquiesced.

“What are we doing?” she queried suspiciously.

“It's getting cold outside, and your window's broken. You'll be warmer back here.” He seated himself on the outside seat of the bench seat in the back and pulled Briel down in the middle. Not wanting the lack of support in the middle seat, she started to inch to her left, but Nick restrained her.

“Not a chance,” he insisted. “You can lean against me.”

Somewhat unintentionally, Briel smirked a seductive smirk. “Are you trying to lure me to the back of the bus?” she inquired.

As usual, his cerulean eyes twinkled with humor. “I already did,” he asserted and, leaning against the corner between the seat and the window, he pulled her back against his chest intertwining the fingers of his right hand with hers.

Briel's breathing sped slightly, but she tried not to disclose the effect of Nick's presence to anyone in the car, not even Nick. As usual, though, Nick saw through her bluff, and as Jase started the engine, Nick leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You know what happens in the back of the bus.” He began to nip along the nape of her neck.

With the car rumbling gently across the countryside, Nick wrapped his arms tightly around Briel, his warmth completely enveloping her body. She could not speak, and she could not think, but she didn't worry too much about it. Unlike any man she had ever kissed, she did not suspect Nick's motives. For once in her life, his agenda aligned with hers.

For several minutes they rode in silence, and Nick gingerly slipped his left arm beneath Briel's splinted arm to embrace her. His lips ran up and down her neck, sending chills all over her body. Though silence reigned between them, Briel felt no compunction to break it other than the occasional hushed gasp when Nick stirred some unanticipated sensation. She could blissfully form no rational thought.

As a result, her mind took several seconds to clear when he leaned back from her and spoke from behind her. “I'm sorry; what?” she wondered, slightly befuddled from her mindless enjoyment of his touch.

“I said,” his voice sounded more unhappy than she would have expected. How could he feel sad while he had his arms around her? “What are you planning to do when we get back to the States?”

Now she understood, and his melancholy infected her as well. “I'm not sure,” she admitted. “Are you taking that job in Brazil?”

“I don't know. I can't imagine not seeing my sister and her little munchkins. I'll probably redirect my job search somewhere near them. You won't be able to live in San Antonio anymore,” he asserted, and Briel heard an odd quality to his tone.

“No, and I don't really know where I should go.”

“I'm sure my sister would let you stay in her guest house. When I found the leak on my computer, they uprooted immediately, and they've already found a great place to live.”

Briel smiled wistfully. “Nick, I can't live with your sister for very long. That’s a lot to ask of anyone.”

“She doesn’t mind. I’ve half lived with her for years.”

“But I’m not family.” The hollow ache in her gut revisited her for the first time since she had seen Nick on the top of Mont-St. Michel. How could she return to being alone? How could she say goodbye to Nick?

Despondently, she turned her right shoulder into Nick's chest and leaned her face against him.

“I can't be a guest at Felicity's house forever, Nick.” Did he understand that Briel couldn't be near him all the time now that she would have to hide away?

“Maybe it won't be forever,” Nick offered, and again his tone took on that strange tenor she couldn't make out. “I mean, I know you need some time; you've been through a lot. Still, who knows what might happen in six months, a year? Maybe you'll find a more permanent solution. Maybe you don't need to be a guest.”

Briel stopped breathing. Could he mean what his words seemed to imply or had she filled his words with meaning he hadn't intended? Maybe he merely meant that Liam would give himself up or be caught? Maybe he wasn't asking her...She had to see Nick's expression, to gather from his eyes what she could not ascertain from his words.

Unfortunately, when she raised up and turned to look at him, his eyes perused his hand which toyed with the fingers on her unhurt hand.

Her stomach clutched as she voiced the thought that would reveal his intent. “Nick, we don't know if Liam will ever stop trying to catch me. And I don't think six months will change much about my situation.”

Finally, his eyes sought hers, and the intensity of his gaze took her breath away. “That's not what I meant. You may find another reason to leave my sister's when you've had time to recover from your ordeal. I just don't want you to relocate again, not unless I go with you.”

Briel bit her bottom lip and gulped. In reality, she had absolutely no doubt what she desired - she wanted to be with him. Still, she knew the wisdom of his intention to give her time; she had just allowed herself the possibility of a relationship at all, much less a serious one. He knew, too, that she had just suffered a strenuous ordeal. She wanted him to mean what she thought he meant, but she knew he was wiser to wait.

Still, when she met his gaze, she could not quite disguise her enthusiasm for his idea, and the look of joy he donned gave her more hope for her future than she had ever held. Even with all of her ambitions and rational thinking, she had somehow not realized that her greatest achievement would stem from the relationships she made on the journey.

Achievement in a relationship might just become a new passion for her. Nick's expression showed that he reciprocated her sentiment. Though she had known him only a few months, they had experienced more together than most couples would in a lifetime. The prospect of living without him after having lost him once – Briel wouldn't willingly face that possibility.

“So, will you beat me up if I try to carry you across the threshold?” he whispered wickedly once she had settled back into his arms. He accompanied the words with another nip to the back of her neck.

“Stop, Alexander!” she insisted coyly, her heart lurching at his blatant expression. “You’re getting way ahead of yourself.” Still, she could not desire to withdraw, instead seeing the prospects of a great adventure in his words. She leaned away for only a moment, jabbing him in the ribs as punishment for his teasing. Nick's mock throes of pain drew Jase's eyes to the backseat; Briel could see their glimmer in the rearview mirror. Without a doubt, his eyes wore a marked smirk as Briel tried unsuccessfully to restrain Nick's gyrations.

As soon as Briel saw Jase's eyes settle firmly back on the road before them, she felt a sudden and stimulating sensation as Nick gently ran his hand up her arm. The feeling of his skin on hers sent her into an unexpected but mild ecstasy, and she closed her eyes as he placed both hands onto her shoulders.

A tingling warmth spread across her cheeks from where his hands stretched from her shirt to her exposed collarbone. Pulling her even further back to him, he leaned down one more time, and he inhaled as if to speak. Just before he spoke, Briel sensed his breathing speed slightly. Then he kissed her once behind the ear and whispered tenderly, “I love you.”