[[A/N: I realize, very belatedly, that this opening is almost the exact same way the previous story ended. I thought it a little too redundant, so I changed it a little bit. If you want to read this as it was (nearly) originally posted, you can look at Resta Con Me.]]

The wind picked up, kicking dust and sand against the sides of their structured tent. The thing was damn near indestructible. There was no fear of the whole rigging coming down and burying them alive, yet Russell couldn't sleep. He never did before a mission, and going before Earth's council was nearly as stressful as facing down any abominations the Reapers had thrown at him.

He turned on his side and watched as Thane's chest rose and fell. That scared him, too. The idea that, one day soon, Thane's breathing would stop altogether. He didn't know what was worse: him being there to see it happen, or him not finding out until weeks after the fact. He knew going in that Thane was…To hear him say it, operating on borrowed time. He knew this was his fate, but he couldn't accept it. He was Commander-goddam-Shepard. He'd beaten incredible odds before, stopping Saren and Sovereign and pushing the Reapers back, if only for a while. Why couldn't he change this?

He had to face the music on Earth, but he wouldn't let that take hope from him. You'd think with the life he'd had, orphaned, getting sucked into that gang life, Torfan, that he would have given up hope a long time ago. But sometimes hope was all he had, as fragile and sometimes futile as it might seem. He had to hope, even when other gave up. It wasn't in him to just lie down and accept the things he'd been told.

He got closer, wrapping his body around Thane's to imbue him with a little extra warm. This very well might be the last time they got to lie together like this. He couldn't imagine not having this. He knew he had to fight for the galaxy, but he had to fight for this, too. If there was one thing that made him glad he had this burden foisted on him, it was Thane and everything he had come to mean and represent. He'd never told him all that he meant to him. Thane had to live long enough to hear it, to understand how he felt completely. They both had to live. He would fight the galaxy's fight, win their war, but that didn't meant his own battle had to fall by the wayside.

If there was any way to save Thane, if only for another year, he would find it.