Marcus looked relieved.
"Mom says it's okay."
"It is."
"What if I like you?"
Daniel's throat tightened.
"What do you mean?"
Marcus shrugged again.
"My real dad saved you."
"Yeah."
"And you're married to Mom."
"Yeah."
"And you fix stuff."
Daniel smiled.
"That's a pretty low standard."
Marcus did not understand the joke.
Daniel set the airplane down.
"You can like whoever you want."
Marcus nodded.
Then he asked, "Are you going away again?"
Daniel looked at him.
"I don't know."
"Soldiers leave."
The sentence was simple.
The fear behind it was not.
Daniel thought of Elijah.
Tiana.
Every adult Marcus had loved had disappeared.
He slowly said, "Sometimes soldiers leave."
Marcus stared at the table.
"But when they can come back, they should."
Marcus looked at him.
Daniel did not realize how important those words would become.
A week later, Daniel received new orders.
Not deployment.
A stateside assignment.
But it required relocation to Fort Campbell.
Emily found the paperwork on the table during one of Daniel's visits.
She read it silently.
"When do you have to decide?"
"End of January."
"You'd move?"
"If I accept."
Emily nodded slowly.
"What happens to us?"
Daniel looked at her.
"We still need to decide that."
"What happens to Marcus?"
Daniel did not answer.
Emily folded the paper.
"He asks about you every day."
"Don't do that."
"I'm not trying to guilt you."
"It sounds like it."
"I'm telling you because you should know."
Daniel walked to the window.
Outside, Marcus was building a snow fort by himself.
Emily stood behind Daniel.
"He trusts you."
Daniel stared through the glass.
"He shouldn't."
"Why?"
"Because I leave."
Emily's voice softened.
"You came back."
Daniel turned.
"That doesn't erase what happened."
"No."
"But maybe coming back matters too."
The sentence stayed with him.
Three days later, Marcus disappeared.
Only for forty-seven minutes.
But forty-seven minutes was enough to destroy everyone.