Alice was the one who was in the way here."

"I'm not. I made a very conscious decision, when I came back from the dead, to try to make this world better. And to find a place for myself in it. I mean, maybe it was all self-centered of me to do that, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that. In the end, that's what I think most people want." She laughed quietly. "The irony that it might cost me my life...I suppose that's what we get for being so damn heroic, right?"

"But, like I said...this whole thing was about us. Not about you. At least not in the way it should have been. It should have been about me, and you, and us, and not just me."

"So, what, then? You're telling me that you want to be with me?" Alice was clearly surprised by the turn of the conversation.

"Yes," he replied with a firm nod. "I want to be with you." With a quick glance out the window he added, "And I want to be alive again."

"You mean it?" Alice wanted to know. "This is not something you're saying to get me to turn around?"

"Yes. No. Yes