The Sentinels come on, make it easy, say i never mattered.

She didn’t hit him. Instead, she leaned into his embrace, tucking her head against him in a way that was oddly …sweet. And endearing. And thus, a little alarming. He wondered at this, but he was in no position to complain. For as much as she needed this moment, Penn needed it the same.

He nuzzled his face into her fur and just breathed for a minute. Memories flooded his mind, so strong that even his senses remembered. His nose remembered her scent, his ears remembered the cry of seagulls they had chased together on the beach, his paws remembered the warm, rough rocks of the red canyons they had played tag in. Before everything got so complicated. Before they had fought, before he’d made such terrible choices, before he’d walked away from his kids. Before he’d lost so very, very many things.

His heart ached as he breathed in, the only scent he caught being the memory of it. Knowing that was all he would ever get again.

Penn didn’t want to break the spell, but when he found his mind wandering to those dark places, he simply had to. He didn’t want to visit those places, not now. ”Not that I’m complaining…” he said quietly through a small smirk, ”But shouldn’t you have punched me a couple of times by now?”