Cassian woke before sunrise.

Years of missions trained his body to surface from sleep the second the world shifted around him.

Usually he woke reaching for weapons.

Today he woke staring at a strand of Evie’s hair caught against the sleeve of his shirt.

The motel room stayed dim beneath weak gray morning light leaking through the curtains.

Rain had stopped sometime during the night.

The air conditioner still rattled unevenly near the window.

Dominic snored face-first into a pillow on the floor.

Kane somehow ended up half under the couch.

None of that registered immediately.

Evie slept curled against his side beneath the blanket with one hand loosely gripping the fabric near his ribs like she fell asleep meaning to move away and never finished.

Cassian stayed completely still.

Not tactical stillness.

Different.

Careful.

The kind people use around fragile things.

Evie’s forehead rested lightly against his shoulder.

Warm breath through his shirt.

Slow breathing.

Soft weight against him.

The room felt unnervingly peaceful.

Cassian hated how much he wanted it to last.

He looked toward the motel window instinctively.

Gray morning light drifted across the parking lot outside while trucks moved slowly along the distant highway.

Normal morning.

Normal silence.

His chest tightened harder than firefights usually managed.

Evie shifted slightly in her sleep.

Cassian froze automatically.

Her fingers tightened once against his shirt before relaxing again.

Then she settled closer without waking.

The movement landed somewhere beneath his ribs like physical damage.

Years of violence never prepared him for tenderness arriving quietly.

Gunfire made sense.

Fear made sense.

Pain made sense.

This didn’t.

Cassian looked down at her carefully.

Messy hair.

Half-hidden beneath his blanket.

Still asleep enough not to guard her expressions yet.

She trusted him unconscious.

That realization sat heavily in his chest.

Not pressure exactly.

Responsibility.

The motel neon sign outside finally shut off with a faint electrical click as daylight strengthened across the room.

Evie stirred slowly this time.

Small movement first.

Then a quiet sound against his shoulder before her eyes opened halfway.

For a second she looked confused.

Then she realized where she was.

Where she still was.

“Oh,” she murmured sleepily.

Cassian’s voice came quieter than intended.

“Morning.”

Evie blinked up at him beneath tangled hair.

“You’re still here.”

The sentence came out soft enough to hurt.

Cassian looked away toward the window briefly before answering.

“Yeah.”

Evie yawned once and shifted carefully beneath the blanket.

Not moving away though.

Interesting.

Very dangerous.

“You make a surprisingly good pillow,” she mumbled.

Cassian felt something unfamiliar try to happen near his mouth.

Almost a smile probably.

Terrible situation overall.

Evie noticed anyway.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Was that emotional growth?”

Cassian looked back toward her immediately.

“No.”

“Liar.”

Her voice still sounded rough from sleep.

Warm too.

Cassian became painfully aware of everything at once after that:

her knee against his thigh beneath the blanket,

her hand resting lightly against his chest now,

the quiet morning wrapped around them like something domestic enough to become dangerous.

He survived torture cleaner than this.

Evie stretched slightly before settling back against him again.

“You know,” she murmured with eyes still half closed, “this is probably the healthiest thing either of us has done in years.”

Cassian stared toward the motel ceiling.

“That’s concerning.”

“Deeply.”

Silence settled softly afterward.

Not empty.

Comfortable.

The kind that sneaks up on people before they realize they stopped bracing for impact around someone.

Cassian’s hand rested near her waist above the blanket.

Not holding her.

Not avoiding her either.

Just there.

Evie traced one absent circle against his shirt with her thumb.

Tiny movement.

Still enough to wreck his concentration immediately.

Outside, sunlight crept slowly across the wet pavement below the motel balcony.

Morning traffic hummed faintly beyond the highway trees.

Evie looked up at him again.

“You’re thinking too hard.”

Cassian didn’t deny it.

Her expression softened slightly at that.

“You know what’s funny?” she asked quietly.

“What.”

“You only look relaxed when you forget nobody’s attacking you.”

Cassian looked down at her.

Evie smiled faintly beneath the blanket.

“Like right now.”

The words landed harder than expected.

Cassian glanced toward the motel door automatically.

Exits.

Timing.

Distance.

The old instincts rose immediately.

Evie noticed that too.

“There he goes,” she murmured softly. “Back into his little emotionally fortified bunker.”

Cassian exhaled once through his nose.

Evie stayed close anyway.

No pressure.

No demands.

Just warmth beside him in weak morning light.

That somehow made it worse.

Or better.

Possibly both.

Dominic rolled over suddenly on the floor and smacked directly into the bedside table.

The lamp shook violently.

Nobody moved.

Dominic squinted upward half asleep.

“…Why are you two looking at each other like divorced astronauts.”

Evie immediately buried her face against Cassian’s shoulder laughing.

Cassian closed his eyes briefly.

The moment cracked apart around them after that.

Still, the warmth stayed.

Evie looked back up eventually, smiling faintly now.

Cassian watched her another second too long.

Then another.

Something dangerous settled quietly inside his chest after that.

Not fear.

The opposite.

Which honestly terrified him more.

His hand tightened slightly against the blanket near her waist before he caught himself.

Evie noticed immediately.

Of course she did.

“What.”

Cassian looked toward the window again.

Coward.

Evie smiled sleepily.

“You were gonna say something.”

“No.”

“You absolutely were.”

Cassian stayed quiet.

Evie waited him out anyway.

The morning light kept growing around them.

Finally Cassian looked back toward her.

His mouth opened slightly.

Stay.

The word nearly made it out.

Then Kane fell off the couch loud enough to shake the room awake completely.

Cassian stood immediately afterward like survival instinct physically dragged him upright.