Melting into his arms was like coming home.  She'd missed him so much, had feared so much for him, after all that had happened to her.  To feel him now, embracing her with the same intensity she remembered, feeling his lips press to hers, his heart so close to her own chest, it was a kind of ecstasy she thought she had lost.<br/><br/>The question, though, did not leave her mind, and before she allowed herself to drift in the oceans of her passion, she had to bring him with her, had to explain what had taken her from him.  Eventually, as he pulled back, she did as well.  Her hand still grasping his, though lightly.<br/><br/>"Alfred, I know that you've gone through a lot since the last time I saw you, but the first thing I want you to know is that I've<em>never</em>stopped thinking about you, missing you, wanting you by my side.  All the questions, the grief, the hurt, they will still be there.  I can't erase them.  What I can do, though, is try to make up for them."  Her eyes searched his, wondering if he hated her, wondering how much answer was enough, wondering whether he still felt the same as she did.  Her thumb trailed up and down the skin between his hand and his wrist, ever feeling that life pulse throbbing just under the surface.