El Paso, Texas [Monday evening]

[weldedtomyspine]

The mission had been a success. It had been long, and busy, and incredibly demanding. He'd barely had time to sleep, worked himself into exhaustion every day, and managed not to think about anything but fighting alien invaders for a whole week.

Oh, and they'd actually beat off said alien invaders. That had been good too.

But mostly the distraction had been what Jaime had been going for. And while he felt a little bit guilty for his priorities, he was still grateful. And as his feet touched the ground in his back yard, he knew that tomorrow that distraction was gone, but that all that exhaustion from fighting would thankfully keep that from happening for at least another night.

And he'd be glad to see his family again.

Even Milagro.

So Jaime de-armored, sighed in relief at the breeze blowing across his skin, and headed for the back door.

Comments

[weldedtomyspine]

"Oh?"

He hadn't expected Momoko to say that.

[heromaniac]

"Mmm." Momoko tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Dinah didn't understand the difference between wanting to stay and fight till the last minute and needing to."

[weldedtomyspine]

Huh. He would have expected Dinah to get it.

"Well... it's a pretty fine line, right?"

[heromaniac]

"I guess?" Momoko shrugged. "It doesn't help that things are so different in my world. We don't usually have to make that choice." So no one had ever really known Momoko to make it.

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime nodded.

"Yeah. That's the impression I'd gotten." That her world was... lighter, somehow. That those sorts of choices didn't get forced on people very often.

It was part of why Jaime had broken up with her. To let her keep as much of that world as she could.

[heromaniac]

Momoko frowned at that. "But we've done it! And we know... I know how to make the decision. I don't keep fighting just because I'm a hero."

She sighed, not knowing how to explain it. "I totally take my job seriously, Jaime. It may not always seem like it, but I do."

[weldedtomyspine]

"I know you do." Jaime smiled. A little pang of things lost hitting him for a moment.

"You don't fool me, remember?"

[heromaniac]

And that was one of the reasons she loved him. She gave a small chuckle and bumped against him. "I remember. Totally doesn't stop me from trying, though, does it."

[weldedtomyspine]

"No." Jaime smirked. "You never did know when to give up."

[heromaniac]

"That's one of my best features!"

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime chuckled. "True."

Whoops. That came out a bit more seriously than he'd meant!

[heromaniac]

Momoko pulled away a bit at that; was he trying to tell her something? She kept her cheerful tone, "I do know, you know. When it counts."

[weldedtomyspine]

"I know," Jaime agreed softly with a little smile.

He did.

[heromaniac]

"Of course you do." She relaxed and smiled fondly up at him, but decided not to fall back against him. It was too comfortable. "You know me."

[weldedtomyspine]

"And don't you forget it," Jaime said fondly, half-wishing that she had leaned back against him.

[heromaniac]

"You too!" She amped up her smile and reached for his hand to drag him back to his family and Dinah. "You can't forget it, too. Well, except for the embarrassing parts. You can totally forget those."

...

"And delete the pictures."