Bitterroot Valley shaken not stirred

Smash truly expected Luke to seize this opportunity to not only see his son but leave the past behind and start anew somewhere else. So when he suddenly declared that he had unfinished business and turned to go, her mouth opened and shut a few times without any words making their way out. Smash was pretty sure this was the first time she'd ever been struck dumb in her life.

"Luke, wait!" she shouted as soon as she could find her words. "I'll probably be leaving in the next day or two." Smash paused to contemplate, then said, "It's an open invitation. Here, let me give you directions..." They would probably be pretty hard to follow without a guide, a map or, y'know, a GPS, yet at least she could give Luke some idea of where to find them when the time was right.

"You're going to be okay," Smash announced when it was all said and done. She had originally intended to frame it as a question but, in true Smash spirit, it came out as a statement. "And when you're ready, come and see us. If you don't turn up in the next couple of months, maybe I'll send him your way after all," she allowed, even though the idea of letting her son venture out into the world sort of made the young mother want to pee her nonexistent pants.

"Luke, you take care, all right?" were her final parting words, her orange eyes lingering on that remarkable blue nose for a few minutes before Smash swiveled, leaving Luke to trot off in one direction as she went in the other.