Bree's head whirled over her shoulder as the knock came at the door, her brow furrowing with a sudden worry as she shrugged into her black leather jacket. No one had called to tell her they were coming to her room, for either a pick up or a briefing, and cold suspicion lanced through her chest. Working in the Organized Crime unit had already imbued her with a healthy overabundance of caution, and the horror that was this case now colored everything with a toxic layer of genuine paranoia. She pulled the Glock from the shoulder holster beneath the jacket, holding the pistol to her side as she opened the door, grey eyes narrowed suspiciously.

[i]"Please don't run, Bree."[/i]

He needn't have worried, even if his words were simply the form of a weak, half-hearted jest. No, Bree couldn't have run, even if she wanted. 

"Ethan?" she breathed softly, shaking her head incredulously as she holstered the Glock again beneath her jacket. He was here. Thank God, he was [i]really here![/i] 

She didn't know how, or why, or what in the world or in Ethan had changed inside these past four days. It simply didn't matter. In an instant Bree wrapped her arms around Ethan's shoulders tightly, throwing herself into the embrace as she pulled him close in the motel room doorway. In that moment, she wasn't thinking about what she was doing, who might be watching or what they would think or how anything might appear in that moment, what she was supposed to be doing, or much less what she [i]should[/i] be doing. Tears welled up in her grey eyes, and suddenly she wasn't simply Special Agent Brigid Walsh, nor even former Army Military Policeman SGT Walsh - not even a tiny bit. Right now, she was just Bree, [i]only[/i] Bree, a woman who could not even begin to hide the relief that nearly brought her to her knees. 

"Thank you Ethan. Thank you so much. I'm sorry - God I'm [i]so[/i] sorry, for every last thing I said," she whispered, eyes shut tight against even more tears as she buried her face in his shoulder. 

[i]"Thank you,"[/i] Bree whispered one more time, as an enormous black cat padded behind her, rubbing his wide, soft head against her calf, and then winding himself about Ethan's calves with a purr deep and loud enough to rumble all the way to the bones.