-flashforward-

"Why? Why not?"

"They all died! Every single one of them, they all died. I can't let that happen to you because I can't do that to myself."

"That makes no fucking sense"

"Don't you remember when your parents died? Did that make any fucking sense?"

James balked, and Chris kept going

"Of course not, none of this makes sense and I will not ever, never watch you die!"

Chris was breathing heavily, in between sentences and James saw the weak spot and pounced, desperate for a way in.

"I love you!"
Chris froze, eyes gone wide and looking terrified.

"What?"

"I love you. I'm in love with you. I am in love with you and you are being an idiot."

"Encke, I -"

For what was not the first, and probably not the last time in his life James spoke before he thought.

"No, shut up for a second. I'm in love with you, and one day, I know, the stars will turn their backs on us and it sucks, sucks, sucks that we have to love something that's inevitably going to shake hands with death, especially on this, this fucking mission, but I am in love with you."

Chris looked at James sadly, shaking his head.

"Chris, please."

"I'm sorry. I can't."

"Chris, this isn't you."

Keeler hesitated, then closed the gap between them, leaning up to kiss the bottom of James's jaw.

"It's Keeler."

With that he walked away, and everything in Encke's inside was suddenly making a pretty good argument for trying to get on the outside.

A/N – dundundunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn, guess a little snippet of further on in the story (it's still alive!)