When the room finally cleared, Reeves looked at me differently.
“I should have stepped in sooner,” he admitted.
That caught me off guard.
Then he made me an offer: a prestigious instructor position. Safe. Respected. Stable.
A way out.
That night, I sat alone in my apartment, staring at my arm… and at a message I hadn’t answered yet.
It was from Lucas Kane.
Five words:
We’re getting ready again. Soon.
The next morning, I gave Reeves my answer.
“I want to return to operational duty.”
He studied me carefully. “You’re choosing to go back to where this happened.”
“Yes.”
After a long pause, he nodded.
By that afternoon, my clearance was reinstated.
Two weeks later, I saw Kane again—on the tarmac.
“You said yes,” he said.
“You sent five words.”
“That should’ve been enough.”
“It was.”
We didn’t say anything else that mattered more.
I redeployed three months later.
Not for glory.
Not for recognition.
But because out there, in the moments that matter most, someone needs to stay when it hurts.
And I know I will.
So what do you think?
Should Avery have taken the safe instructor role—or was going back exactly who she was meant to be?
