[ It's strange to see him so relieved to find her well. Ten years is a long time and she had assumed - wrongfully, she now realizes - that people would forget and move on. She realizes, belatedly, that the people she has interacted with the most have never known her to be missing, never had to mourn her loss. They simply knew and carried on the facade. She will need to apologize to him. Not now, perhaps, when he is adamant about refusing them...but another time, when she can be honest, when she can possibly speak of what has happened.

For now, she lets herself be selfish. To have contact with someone, with someone she knew once upon a time, is more of a gift than she should have, and yet she won't refuse it. It is good, she realizes, to see him healthy and alive, to see him helping the world.

Her smile finds a little more life in it and she almost manages a laugh, weak as it might be. ]

Not as well as you, I think. You look--

[ Finally, the potential for inappropriateness seems to hit her, because she doesn't quite know how to frame it in a way that won't be seen as potentially lewd. She means nothing by it, but Cullen has filled out his armor, in a sense; he is no longer so scruffy or young, and gone are the dark circles under his eyes and the pale skin. He looks different. ]

You look far better than the last time I saw you. [ As painful as it is for her to say it. She doesn't want to bring up such a dark time for either of them. ] I'm glad. And I'm...very glad to see a familiar face. It has been a long, long time since I've seen much of anyone.

[ She doesn't want this to end, this small port in the storm, her elation and relief. But, in reality, it has to. They needn't resort to talking about the past or painful things, but they have to move on. ]

How did you get here? Are you still-- How did they let you leave your post?