Chapter 264 Chapter 264 - This will be a short story only. Before epilogues for everyone.

Chapter 264 Chapter 264 - This will be a short story only. Before epilogues for everyone.
Emma woke to sunlight streaming through her bedroom window and the feeling that someone had used her head as a drum.
Everything hurt. Her eyes from crying through the night, her chest from, well, from everything.
She lay there for a moment. She could hear her mother's soft breathing beside her. Faith had stayed all night, lying on top of the covers, one hand resting on Emma's arm like she was afraid her daughter might disappear if she stopped touching her.
Her mother being here proved it was real. All of it was real. Not some nightmare.
Emma closed her eyes against the fresh wave of emotion that threatened to drown her. She couldn't do this. Couldn't lie here and think about it. Couldn't process the impossible or try to make sense of something that made no sense at all.
She needed to move. Needed to run.
Carefully, so as not to wake Faith, Emma slipped out of bed. Her mother stirred but didn't wake, just rolled onto her side with a soft sigh. Emma pulled a blanket up over her, then went quietly to the bathroom.
She caught sight of herself in the mirror and winced. Her eyes were swollen and red-rimmed, mascara she'd forgotten to remove smudged beneath them. Her hair was a mess, and she looked like shit and felt like it too.
Emma splashed cold water on her face, brushed her teeth, tried to make herself look somewhat human. It didn't really work, but at least she didn't look quite so much like a disaster anymore. Used the facilities.
Back in her room, she changed quickly into running gear, leggings, sports bra, a tank top, her running shoes. The routine of it was soothing and familiar. Something she'd done hundreds of times before.
She used to run four or five times a week. More when Daniel was home… was supposed to be home, because he'd go with her. They'd run together in the early mornings before the city woke up, racing each other, laughing, stealing kisses at stoplights.
After the notification, Emma had stopped for a while. Couldn't find the energy or the will to do anything, let alone run. But eventually, her therapist had encouraged her to start again. Said the routine would help. The endorphins would help.
It had. Sort of. Running gave her somewhere to put the grief, something to do with the restless energy that came with it. She'd gotten back up to three or four times a week. Never as much as before, but enough.
Today, she needed it more than she had in months.
Emma scribbled a quick note for her mother, 'Gone for a run. Need to clear my head. Back soon. Love you, Em' and left it on the kitchen counter where Faith would see it.
Her dad was probably in the spare room. Good. Let them sleep. She needed to be alone right now. Needed to think without everyone watching her like she might shatter.
Emma grabbed her keys and her phone, slipped out of the apartment, and took the stairs down instead of the elevator.
The morning air hit her face as she stepped outside, cool and crisp. It was early, barely past six, and the streets were mostly empty. Just the way she liked it.
Emma started slow, letting her body warm up, her breathing fall into the familiar rhythm. The steady slap of her shoes against pavement.
She turned down her usual route, the one that took her through the park and along the river. The path she'd run a thousand times. With Daniel. Without Daniel. Back when she'd thought he was coming home. After she'd thought he never would and now… now what?
Emma pushed harder, her pace increasing until she was running fast enough that thinking became difficult. That's what she needed. To outrun her thoughts. To outrun the confusion and the anger and the terrible, traitorous relief that kept trying to surface beneath it all.
He was alive.
She was maybe ten minutes into her run, just hitting her stride, when she heard it.
Footsteps behind her. Close. Right on her heel.
Emma's body reacted before her brain caught up. Three months of grief hadn't erased the self-defense training Daniel had insisted on. The instincts kicked in automatically.
She spun, hands coming up, ready to fight, only to find herself face-to-face with Daniel.
He stopped abruptly, hands raised, breathing hard. "Emma, wait—"
"What the hell are you doing?" The words came out as a snarl. "Are you following me?"
"I had to… talk to you. I thought if you went for a run..." He was in running gear too, shorts and a Marine Corps t-shirt she recognized. "I've been outside your building since last night. When I saw you leave, I—"
"You followed me." Emma's hands were shaking. From adrenaline of thinking she was about to be attacked or rage that he had followed her, she couldn't tell. "You've been watching my apartment? For how long? All night?"
"Yes." Daniel didn't look apologetic. "You think I'm going to leave you unprotected? Vance is in custody, but there are others. People who might… It's not safe, you running alone."
"I don't care." Emma backed up a step. Then another. "I don't care about Vance or his people or any of it. You don't get to do this. You don't get to play bodyguard after what you did."
"Emma, please—"
"No." She held up a hand. "No. I came out here to think. To clear my head. To have five minutes where I'm not… where I don't have to—" Her voice broke. "And you're here. You're following me. You won't even let me have this."
"I can't." Daniel's voice was raw. "I can't leave you alone when there might be a threat. I won't."
"There's always going to be a threat!" Emma shouted. "Life is a threat. I could walk across the road and get hit by a bus. Life doesn't come with a guaranteed lifespan. As the saying goes, shit happens."
"I just want you to be safe—" Daniel took a step toward her. Emma took another step back.
"Don't." Her voice shook. "Don't come near me. I can't—I'm not ready—"
"Then when?" Daniel's hands clenched at his sides. "When will you be ready? What do I have to do to make this right? I love you, Em."
"I don't know!" Emma pressed her hands to her face. "I don't know, okay? I don't know if there's anything you can do! You let me think you were dead for three months, Daniel! Three months! Do you have any idea what that—" Her breath hitched. "And you were alive the whole time."
"I know." Daniel's voice broke. "God, Emma, I know. And if I could take it back, if I could do it differently—"
"But you can't, and I'm not sure you would change it." Emma dropped her hands, met his eyes. "You can't take it back. It happened. You made that choice. And now I have to figure out how to live with it. How to trust you again. How to look at you without seeing—" She gestured helplessly. "Without seeing the casket. Without remembering what it felt like to think you were gone. Do you know what hurt the most when I was told there wasn't…" Emma sobbed thinking about it even now. "Wasn't enough left of you to bury."
"I never wanted to hurt you."
She shook her head. "I can't do this. Not here. Not now."
She turned to leave. To run. To get away from him and the impossible conversation and the pain etched into every line of his face.
"Em, wait…I love you." Daniel's voice stopped her. "I never stopped loving you. Not for a single second. Every day I wanted to call you. Wanted to tell you I was alive. Wanted to—" His voice cracked. "I died a little bit every day knowing what I was putting you through. But I couldn't risk it. If Vance had found out, he would have killed you. And I couldn't… I can't live in a world where you're not in it, Emma. I just can't."
Emma stood there, back still turned, tears streaming down her face.
"You don't get to say that," she whispered. "You don't get to tell me you can't live without me when you chose to let me live without you for three months. I'm not sure I can live my life as a military wife. Not after experiencing your death."
"I was trying to save your life."
"You put me through something I'm not sure I can get past." Emma's voice cracked.
"So that's it?" Daniel's face went white. "You're done? We're done?"
"I don't know." Emma wrapped her arms around herself. "I… I love you. I'm not going to lie and say I don't because I really do love you. But I need time to think and process what happened, and you turning up like this isn't giving me the space I need."
"I'll go." His voice was rough. "I'll stay away. But Emma—" He met her eyes. "I'm not giving up on us. I know you need time. I know I hurt you. But I'm not walking away. Not again. When you're ready to talk, really talk, I'll be there. However long it takes."
"I'm not sure…"
"I don't care; I'll wait. But please meet me sometime next week so we can at least talk. I should have an update on Vance and his crew. Make sure you get someone protecting you… Please. Em, I love you."
"I know you do, Daniel." Emma turned from him and started running again. Over her shoulder, she yelled, "Send me the details for next week."