For all he was trying, and the effort would have been appreciated if known, the intensity of Peggy's reaction would have overridden it. There were too many of her own emotions racing through her and wrecking havoc around her. Shock, elation, fear, anger at least with herself and Howard and all the men who made the decision to quit looking. The environment reacted in kind, though it shifted with the speed of her own feelings.

"He's safe." That brought the flashes to an end and Peggy's ramrod posture melted. She fell heavily back into her seat and exhaled a shaky breath. "He's safe." She failed him but he had made it somewhere alive. Perhaps long after she herself was gone. A lifetime later, maybe literally. He had a life, one that existed without her. "As good as he can be and nearly dying are not exactly the same thing."