The car door opens, and a doctor he’s familiar with gets out, leering at him. “Hello, Daniel. It’s been too long,” he says, and Daniel almost runs, just bolts into the forest. Let them shoot him, let them capture him and take him back to his father kicking and screaming.

He doesn’t. Because he knows Liam will fight if Daniel runs. And then Liam will get hurt.

And how does that help anyone?

Daniel gets into the jeep, closes his eyes, and pretends to sleep.

Dr. Chang takes his vitals as they head back to the base. “Your improvement is remarkable. Did he take care of you?”

“Yes,” he replies. It’s a massive understatement but what else is there to say?

Forty minutes later he hears Doctor Chang gasp. “Oh god,” he says, looking up from his phone and at Daniel, an expression of horror on his face before he flinches and looks out the window, rattled.

“Let me guess. My father has decided I need a long, cold nap?”

He doesn’t answer right away. “I’ll talk to him. We’ll appeal it.”

“Do I see him first or just go straight there?”

“I’m not sure if he’ll meet you there.”

“Disposing of his son in person might be too unpalatable. Even for him,” Daniel says, and laughs. He isn’t sure why. But it feels like cowardice for his father to not even look him in the eye and be there when he’s put to sleep. He might never wake up again. He might wake up fifty years in the future. Any amount of time will be odd. Will he wake up again?

What will Liam do? Will he even know?

“Tell Liam what happened. Please?”

The doctor shakes his head, apparently too horrified to speak. Which is strange. It happens all the time, doesn’t it?

“My father is a coward. He’s a pathetic villain, and this is the most unpatriotic thing he could do. If you see him, would you tell him that for me? Even if you won’t, lie to me and say you will.”

“I will make sure he knows how wrong I believe this is,” he finally says.

“Can you tell me,” he asks, swallowing hard. “Are there bonding markers in my blood? Was Liam meant to be mine?”

Dr. Chang takes a deep breath in and lets it out. “I don’t have his scores, but for you, yes. You would have been happy with him. Evened out and satisfied.”

He nods. It’s good to know that he could have had contentment. That it was real, after all this time when he never fit, didn’t think he’d ever belong.

“Does that mean it was likely real to him, too?”

“Yes. There’s a very high chance it was.”