The moment doesn't do anything so dramatic as break or shatter, but something fades gently, and Dan knows as much as he knows anything that it's not gone. While the timing seems unfair, he's got the last twenty-four-plus hours to prove that Marcus will stay a fixture in his life here-- perhaps even as long as Dan wishes.

And for the first time outside of the discovery of blood relations in the heat of danger, he doesn't try to put any distance between himself and those warm, comfortable moments. He just lets the corner of his mouth pull up, and then he sits up too. "Hurts," he says honestly. "How's your kneel feel?"