Despite the circumstances, despite what his doing so must have involved, Karen can't help the ghost of a smile that flits across her face. Of course he would have gone out of his way to rescue those girls regardless of what else might have been happening. Something like that — well, it's enough to remind her why she's pretty sure she's at least half in love with him, though she knows better than to say anything to that effect at a time like this. That's not the point, not right now. It's enough to know, a quiet sort of certainty, nothing requiring any major revelation but rather something that simply makes sense.

Maybe they were always going to wind up here. Maybe she should have seen it coming from the moment she lied to protect a stranger and said she was his wife. At least they're here — at least they've figured things out — now.

"The same old shit even in the middle of nowhere," she says with a sigh, still tucked close against his side. "I'm glad you were able to help them, at least."