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She spends her days painstakingly piecing together fragments of the ship, and her nights staring into the darkness of her tent, thinking of him. Reaching out to him across the ocean. Hoping he is still there, still holding on.
She loves him. She's known that for years now, though for almost as many years she's refused to admit it to herself. But during those long nights in Africa, something changes in her. The feelings that she's held in check for so long bubble all the way up to the surface, and she realizes that she's tired of resisting them.
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He hears her words, hears her pleading with him to hold on. But he hears them with only part of his mind. Her thoughts are far more interesting than her words.
What's happened to her?
Whatever it is, the experience has changed her profoundly. He can see it in her. Her entire world has been deeply shaken. She's been confronted with something that's challenged her beliefs, her worldview, everything she previously thought to be true.
He sees something else, too, flowing in a constant current just beneath everything she says to him. Something that takes his breath away.
She loves him. Really loves him. A deep, intense love that easily matches his own love for her.
Well, how about that.