•Lighter Than Air•

•Chapter 22•

After that encounter, the manori5 of the group decided it would be a good time to go home and rest. No one was feeling quite alright at that moment. Leon and Claire were doing their best to console their daughter after she read the note from her biological, deceased father. Billy was still in a fit of anxiety from the interview, nervous for what was to come after all of the matter, worrying about if their plan was really going to work in the slightest. Chris was trying to figure out what the situation with Sarah truly could have meant. It couldn't possibly have just been her passing a message, could it have been? Genevieve was behind him, trying to talk him through it.

Overall, the group went their separate ways. Billy and Rebecca went home while Leon, Claire, Chris, Genevieve, and Sherry all returned to their stationed headquarters as well. When Rebecca and Billy arrived, Billy immediately went to their room. He sat down on the edge of their bed with his head in his hands. He could hardly process a single thing that was happening at that point in time. Everything was such a blur to where his world felt out of focus. With a deep sigh, Rebecca went and sat beside him.

"Billy? Are you feeling alright?" She reached forward and tried to place the back of her hand on his forehead.

"I'm... just really worried." Billy exhaled, finally allowing himself to be vulnerable now that it was just him and Rebecca. "I haven't had anxiety like that since the situation itself occurred." He turned his head, looking at Rebecca.

"I had a feeling something was going on... You seemed so out of it when everything happened." She told him, combing her fingers through his hair in a soothing manner. "Are you going to be okay?" She asked.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Billy leaned against her, wrapping his arms around her waist while he seemed to sink into her touches. "I'm just hoping everything goes well. I don't know what's going to happen and that scares me the most. I don't like to admit it, but.. I really am afraid, Rebecca."

"I know... and that's okay. You're allowed to be scared. You're allowed to be emotional. This entire situation could have easily broken someone's mind. Hurt them immensely! It wouldn't be fair to just make you hold all of that in... Please, let it out. There's no judgment here. I love you, remember?"

The moment those words left her mouth, the waterworks broke. Like a dam after far too many years of hard work, tears spilled out of his eyes and he buried his face against her shoulder. His grip tightened, enough to make his arms shake from the amount of strain he put into the hug, sobbing heavily into her shoulder. For a moment, Rebecca was taken aback. She had never seen Billy cry like this. She had hardly ever seen him cry at all... but something about that was welcome.

"Everything's going to be okay... we're going to get through this together..." Rebecca whispered to him, swaying gently while he cried. Allowing him to let out all of that pent up emotion from the years prior. She knew very well that he needed it... She knew he would have done the same thing for her if it ever came to it. That was how it worked. They would always be there for each other. Relieving that pressure. Allowing one another to take that weight off their shoulders. Allowing them to feel lighter than they had prior. It was even uplifting in a sense.

Meanwhile, Claire and Leon were sitting with Sherry in her room. Sherry was sitting on her bed, still clutching the folded note from her father in her hands. Tears had sprung into her eyes by this point while she stared down at the note with a hint of hatred in her eyes. Claire and Leon had never seen her like this before. Never. Leon rested his hands in his lap. Leaning forward to keep an eye on Sherry. Meanwhile, Claire leaned closer to her, wrapping her arm around her and holding her close to her shoulder.

"Sherry, everything is going to be okay." Claire told her. "William is gone... There's nothing else he can do now. You don't even have to keep that note if you don't want to." She said, "Nothing else can be done now... He's in the past. He and Annette can't hurt you anymore. You're safe with us, Sherry. We'll protect you till the day we die."