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Peering down the seemingly never-ending staircase, Jack looks back at his friends—his family—and smiles, “So do we keep going?”
Dylan returns his smile with a grin that's wide and bright and so much freer than before, and squeezes Jack’s shoulder as he passes, “What’s life without a little adventure?”
The staircase winds down, white tiles turning into solid black and they’re so close when Dylan freezes and turns, palm slapping against an eager Danny’s chest, halting him and the group. “Wait.”
“What?”
“It’s different—look.” Gesturing to the wall, there’s a slight indent, a curvature in the seemingly solid marble walls. Tracing his fingers down, Dylan maps out an eye, coming to rest on the pupil and presses. The door opens with an audible click.
“This is totally sick,” Lula peers around Jack and giggles, poking Merritt who only rolls his eyes, though a slight smirk is teasing at the corners of his lips. “Come on, you have to admit, this is, like, way cool. Who even comes up with this stuff?”
The hallway reveled is brightly lit, colored in a soft gold, and the sound of voices can be heard. Looking back at his team, Dylan waits for their nods of affirmation before stepping forward. There’s pictures on the wall; blueprints and maps, sketches of buildings and monuments from around the world.
Tracing his fingers across a picture of the Great Wall, the sound of laughter has him walking forward. The room in front of them is filled with bright light, light pours in from the wall-to-wall windows, dancing along the metal of the computers centered around a circular table. A large TV sits off to the side, surrounded by monitors and a blueprint of the plane—their plane—sits on another table, next to a steaming cup of what Dylan assumes to be coffee.
"It looks like someone's office almost," Lula taps a pendulum which began to tick back and forth, revealing the symbol of the Eye behind each swinging ball.
“What, did you really believe you were able to do this all yourselves? As if.” Stepping out from behind yet another curtain, Henley appears with a soft smile on her face.
“Hen!” Pushing past both Danny and Dylan, Jack barrels forward and instantly latches onto Henley. “You’re here.”
Running her fingers gently through his hair, Henley hugs him back and hums as he presses his face into the curve of her neck. “Did you think I'd let ya’ll have all the fun?” She rubs soft, soothing circles against his back until he pulls away and presses a kiss to her temple. “I missed you too, Jack.”
There’s a soft blush on his cheeks when he turns to the rest of the group and, with a nervous chuckle, he steps off to the side, pretending to be interested in the pictures behind him.
“It’s good to see you.” Dylan steps in for a hug also, grasping at her shoulders, giving Henley a good shake, earning him a burst of laughter before he envelopes her into a hug that has her holding him just tightly back.
“I can’t believe I was able to pull one over on you.” Henley grins even wider and squeezes Merritt's hand when he wraps his arm around her shoulder, tucking her into his side. “I—” Blinking, she takes in Lula, who hasn’t moved, her eyes wide, mouth open. “Hi, I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself I’m—”
“I know who you are,” the words fall quickly from her lips and Lula turns a pretty shade of pink at the incredulous looks both Jack and Merritt send her. “I’m sorry it’s just—You’re Henley,” Taking in a large breath, Lula gestures widely, almost smacking Danny in the face. “Like Henley. I saw you get eaten by piranhas once. It blew my freaking mind, okay? Holy shit. Ho-oh-oh-ly shit, you’re Henley fucking Reeves.”
“Technically,” Danny shuffles Merritt out of the way, one hand coming to rest on Henley’s back, while the other rubs across the bump of Henley’s stomach, earning him a kick from the baby inside, “its Henley fucking Atlas now.”
Scowling up at Danny, Henley rolls her eyes and turns back to Lula, “You can just call me Henley.”
“Or Mom,” Jack chimes from where he’s fussing with one of the computers, “It annoys her.”
Exhaling loudly, Henley bats away at Danny’s hands and shuffles over to where her tea had been cooling off. “Maybe if you all acted like adults instead of children I wouldn’t have to nag—”
“Okay, okay, no fighting.” Stepping in as ref, Dylan picks up what seems to be a replica of the watch Thaddeus gave him and turns it over. Flicking the switch, the watch vibrates, but no tool pops out.
“Unfortunately we had a bit of an issue with the prototype,” Henley takes the watch from him and twists one of the knobs, the watch glows and the tool pops out, just as it had in the safe. “Thankfully it was figured out just in time. You're welcome,” she sing-songs the last part.
Putting the watch down, Dylan picks up a toy plane much like the one they used, “Guess the Wizard behind the curtain wasn't just Thaddeus after all.”
“This is crazy. They said you left, that you got tired of waiting.” Lula’s still staring but she’s relaxed a bit more, Jack’s arms sliding around her waist, his chin coming to rest on her shoulder as she inspects every bit of the room.
Taking a sip, Henley leans back into Danny, who had only moved closer when she had moved away, “It was better—safer—to not tell the truth. The pregnancy was a bit of a…surprise, for lack of a better word.” There’s a smile on Danny’s face and Lula’s not sure if it makes him look more human or not. “Unfortunately Danny’s anxiety over the Eye and the baby caused him to make some stupid decisions.” Her tone is clipped, unimpressed in a way that only Henley’s can be and Danny huffs, loudly, dramatically, but doesn’t back away when Henley jabs her finger into his ribcage.
“I said I was sorry.”
“To them maybe! Do you know what it was like to find out that your husband and your friends have been kidnapped to Macau, Daniel?” Placing her cup down with a loud clack, Henley takes in a few, steady breaths before shaking her head. “I was scared.”
“I’m sorry,” framing her face, Danny turns her around and presses their foreheads together, winces slightly at the tears in her eyes. “I was an asshole—am an asshole,” Merritt snorts from behind him and Danny flicks him off with a dramatic flourish, “I was being stupid and selfish.”
Henley continues to stare, unblinkingly, until Danny sighs again.
“You were right and I was wrong and I should have listened to Dylan.”
Henley’s answering smile radiates from the curve of her lips to the wrinkles creasing around her eyes; her fingers dance along Danny’s side before she pulls him as close as she can get him and kisses him, slowly and fully, until Jack coughs awkwardly. Tracing his bottom lip, she places a quick kiss there before nodding, “You’re not forgiven but I accept your apology.”
Groaning, Danny tilts his head back, “Awesome.”
Slapping his back soundly, Merritt shoots him a cheeky grin, “Small victories, my man, small victories.”
Picking up a detailed blueprint, Dylan turns to Henley with a raised brow, “What’s this?”
“That,” Henley says, one hand curving around her stomach while the other slides into Danny’s, their fingers linking together just as they had before they had taken their leap into the unknown, “is your next trick.” Taking it from Dylan, she lifts it to the sunlight and the room becomes instantly filled with shimmering images, “Want to take a closer look?”