He stared at me, and I stared back thinking whether to say it or not. But hell, my words were true. "I do not need permission to love your daughter, Khan, but I do respect her.. You too, to inform you of what I have with her.. What I feel for her." "My family means everything to me." He then said. "She is the reason why I'm alive again. She is a warrior and she had proved herself that more than once. I trust she can protect herself but I do feel the need to thank you as well." He was rounding his desk, with a stiff expression on his face that showed that exact fear he had for her. "War had been on the verge many times, between yours and ours, and this—" He looked back at me, waving his hands like it had no meaning. "This love you claim, it means truce.. It means an end to that." "I know." It was that. It was truce. It was— "I cannot stand in her way." Just as he said that, the door slowly screeched open, taking both out attention. I turned around just to see my Lana, holding herself pretty stubbornly straight on her feet and walking in.. Her expression was of shock and fear, paling her face as if she had seen a ghost.. One that we all thought we had when we saw Khan. I suppose she didn't think what she saw before passing out was true. I rushed towards her, knowing she might as well collapse like she did just a few hours ago. Still, she was in my arms then. Now she simply reached for me the very second I got to her, holding onto my arm as I pulled her closer.. Yet her eyes were fixed on her father and her voice was weak with emotion. I had rarely seen such weakness on her face, and when I did, I simply wished to take her in my arms and hold her until she was calmed and soothed. "Dad?" Her voice even cracked so I looked back at Khan. They both kept their distance; with him probably careful not to scare her and her— well, I could only imagine how freaked out she was. "Lana," He said carefully, aware of the protection she found in my arms because she no longer seemed to hide it, or care to mask it at that matter. And when those glossy eyes looked up at me, I no longer cared either.. "How— Christian, what is this? What's going on?" "Why did you stand up? You weren't supposed to—" I rubbed her shoulder to perhaps give her some ease, kissed the top of her head, aware that she couldn't take her eyes off her father. "Lana, it's real, my love, it's alright," And I slowly loosened my grip, trying to assure her that it was alright, and with all the carefulness in her steps, she walked a bit closer to him, still keeping a fair distance. "How is it possible?" I could only imagine the relief Khan felt because I saw the stiffness fall from his face. "Dad?" And with another step of hers, she knew it was all real too. "Oh God," It was one of those tight hugs of hers she gave him, those that I was well familiar with because I couldn't count how many times she feared for my safety and did exactly that. "You're real, how— How are you here?" She pulled away to look at him. "The witches, Lanny, you killed them," And he did try smiling but I could see why he failed. "The explosion they created was an illusion, and so were the deaths," Without a word, she pressed her head against his chest almost as if she feared the moment would disappear. "It's okay, I'm here," And I watched how he looked at me over her, how he nodded his head in some way of an approval, a thankful matter for perhaps making sure Lana was okay. And I nodded back. But no, there was no taking credit for what Lana did. Even if only one of the witches made it out of that house alive, he wouldn't had been there.. Hell, none of us would've. Lana was the reason why that agony ended. Adam went after her and she ended him, before I could do something, before any of us could do something. Because she was a step before us, she was always one step before all of us. She had braveness not many did, and I loved her for it. I loved her for what she was, what she became.. The leader of thousands, the ruler of Moondale.. And the queen of my very soul. It would mean damnation if I ever lost that.. If I ever lost her. I wasn't intending to. Not ever. ~ Lana's POV It seemed impossible that it all could simply get fixed in one night.. All the broken pieces found their place, and I wasn't even sure how. My mother said the gods were with us, but in truth, I was just lucky that Jack appeared in the house on time.. Before Adam ruined all of us.. There was of course one question that had a very poor answer.. And it was my father, waking up from the dead. All of those that lost their lives that night, that got hurt and wounded.. They were up on their feet, that night. Was it possible, I kept asking myself. How was it real? But it was. It was there in front of me. My father's embrace was real, my brother's wounds healed and his smile honest when the pain disappeared.. There wasn't much I could ask for.