[ Her head lays on his shoulder, her eyelids low. For the first time in almost a week, she can feel her back loosen, her jaw unclench. He mentions getting rest and she moves to lie down. The bunny hops to the quilt and then flops down next to her pillow, still chewing the green top of the strawberry. She rolls onto her side, facing him.

Her stomach twists when he brings up the idea of them separated, and she can feel pangs of the same despair she’s been mired in for days. Like he gets his own special version of that fear, and it makes her whole body ache in a way she doesn’t understand. ]

No. Not even the Singularity could keep me away from you. I’ll claw my way outta hell on my own if I have to. [ Her voice is soft. She has nowhere else to go if the Singularity tries to rid itself of her. But she doesn’t intend to go without a fight, somehow. ] I don’t know if destiny or fate or any of that shit is really real, but I know we’re supposed to be here together.

[ It’s been too much for her to hold it in right now. Later, she might regret opening her fat mouth, but now, she needs him to know what’s burrowing so deep her chest that she can barely breathe. ]

I didn’t go through everything I did just to get screwed this time.