Emily was a mess of emotions the following morning as she watched Ryan pull away from the curb in front of her hotel. It was still dark outside. His flight was early. He needed to be back at the bunker as soon as possible.

Another car pulled up as his left. This one would take her to a hotel outside of Des Moines. It was only about a two-hour drive. Her parents would be traveling the same distance from their home to meet her there. They would take some more time off work to spend with her.

She hated disrupting their lives like this, but returning to their home and risking getting caught by the media wasn’t an option. They would be staying at the hotel under a fake name. Hopefully, the arrangement would buy some time until the protesters lost interest.

Emily thanked the two air force cadets standing behind her and slid into the car. “Ma’am,” the driver greeted her as he pulled away from the base.

She had some time to think. Two hours. But her phone pinged in her purse, and she scrambled to extract it, a smile on her face.

Ryan: Stay safe. Be careful.

Emily: You just said that about one minute ago.

Ryan: I know.

Emily: Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Concentrate on your parents.

Ryan: Too late. Impossible not to worry.

She couldn’t stop grinning. It felt so good to care about someone like this. It also scared her to death. He’d been a complete gentleman for the last twenty-four hours. In fact, she wasn’t sure she even wanted him to be quite so polite. After finally having their first kiss, she found her body woke up and wanted more.

It probably wouldn’t have been a good idea, nor did he seem inclined to rush things, but she had been more than aware of her desire from the moment their lips touched. Their day and night together had been sweet and precious, but she had to bite her tongue several times to keep from proposing they take things further.

She had never been that kind of woman. Forward. She also didn’t know if Ryan held back because he thought it was the right thing to do as far as her feelings were concerned, or if he held back because he wasn’t ready to take the next step.

So she didn’t ask.

For one thing, they had hurdles between them that had to be faced. Sleeping with him would add unnecessary stress to what was already crazy.

She still had no idea in the world what she wanted to do next with her life. Her parents had made it clear she was more than welcome to move in with them until she got her feet under her. In fact, they’d practically insisted.

When they’d first arrived to pick her up from the bunker, they hadn’t stopped staring at her for over an hour. Even as the days passed, they still did a double take every time they entered a room she was in. It had been difficult for her mother to even leave her alone to sleep in their guest room. She expressed a fear that she would wake up the next day and find it had all been a dream.

Not crazy. Emily worried about the same thing every time she set her head on a pillow.

Even last night. She had changed into a T-shirt and shorts to sleep. Ryan had put on flannel pants and taken off his shirt. When she’d climbed into bed, he’d propped himself on top of the covers and pulled her against his chest without a word.

She didn’t argue, but half of her wished he hadn’t been so chivalrous. She would have at least liked to press her body against his in sleep. But maybe that would have been too much for him.

She flushed at the memory. She hadn’t slept much either. Every time her eyes grew heavy she would reach for him, clasp his wrist or hand or fingers or chest to make sure he was still real.

That she was still real.

And now they had gone their separate ways for a while. It was necessary. It was also painful.

Two hours later, she was checked into a suite at a nicer hotel on the outskirts of Des Moines. Her parents would arrive after lunch. The plan was to remain inside as much as possible and reacquaint themselves without drawing attention.

When enough time had passed that she figured Ryan would have landed, Emily pulled her phone from her pocket and called him.

He picked up on the first ring. “Hey. Did you make it okay?” His voice was low, sweet, sexy.

“Yes.” She sounded breathy even to herself. She missed him. She needed to snap out of it. “Did you?”

“I’m just pulling up to the bunker now. My flight was smooth.”

“So was my drive.”

“Are your parents there yet?”

“No. Any minute. I wanted to call you before they got here.”

“I’m glad you did. Is the hotel nice? You have a suite, right?”

“Yes. It’s perfect. Stop worrying about me. Concentrate on your parents. I can’t wait to see them again.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to spend more time with yours.”

“You will one day.”

“When the dust settles, I want you to meet my grandmother too. She’s been more like a mother to me for most of my life.”

“Can’t wait.” Emily knew about Patricia Wolbach, his maternal grandmother who lived with them in the town outside the government facility and cared for Ryan any time his parents weren’t available. She had been his only relative and he relied on her heavily after his parents were preserved.

It occurred to Emily that she and Ryan were having a normal conversation about the future as if they would be together. She felt like she had her feet in two different dimensions. In one world, everything worked out all sunny and perfect and she spent her life with this amazing man whose face was the first one she saw when she came out of her coma. In the other scenario, Ryan returned to his life with his family while she returned to hers.

Emily did know one thing for sure, however. Even though she didn’t know the woman who seemed to occupy her body with a brand-new personality now that she was reanimated, she thought she might like this new woman and perhaps even embrace her new self.

Voices in the hallway alerted her to her parents’ arrival. “Gotta go. They’re here.”

“Okay. Talk to you tonight.”

“Bye.” She put the phone back in her pocket as her parents entered the room.

* * *

Ryan couldn’t stop pacing as the team brought his father’s body back out of the cryostat. He didn’t participate. In fact, he remained in the hallway. It would take four weeks to fully revive his father, but the first several days were crucial as the body was slowly brought back to a viable temperature. The next hurdle would be at four weeks when the preservation solution in the blood stream would be replaced with real warm blood.

As with Emily, Tushar would be kept in a coma for four weeks while his body recovered. He wasn’t as young as Emily, but there was no reason to believe he couldn’t make a full recovery just as she had.

Ryan watched through the glass window of the Hope Room, taking deep breaths and blowing them out slowly.

After several hours, Damon came out. “Everything looks good so far. You should get something to eat. You’ve been standing there for hours.”

Ryan nodded. His father’s body was in a chamber now that prevented Ryan from seeing him, but just knowing the man was no longer in the cryostat was earthshaking.

“Come on. I’m starving. I’ll eat with you.” Damon nodded over his shoulder.

Ryan followed him to the cafeteria. No one else was currently inside. It was late in the afternoon. They silently made sandwiches and then grabbed sodas and sat at one of the long tables.

Damon broke the silence. “How’s Emily?”

“She’s good. She went to a hotel in Des Moines to lie low for a while.”

“Good. But that’s not what I mean. I mean, how are you and her?”

Ryan met Damon’s gaze. They’d been friends for two years, thrust together on this project and lucky to have found they enjoyed each other’s company. “Fine.”

“That’s it? Fine?” Damon winked. “Come on. I’ve seen the two of you together. You spent every free moment with her for the last month. And then you ran out of here in the night to go be with her. She means something to you.”

Ryan sighed, setting his sandwich down and taking a drink before speaking again. “I’m trying not to make too much of it.”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t have any idea what the future holds. I have my work here and my parents to consider. She has her family to get reacquainted with who live two states away, and her next career move is up in the air.”

Damon rolled his eyes. “Details. If you want to be with her, you’ll make it work.”

Ryan looked at him again. “You think it’s that simple?” He glanced around. “Look at us, man. All of us. We don’t have real lives. No one in this bunker has a life. The only person who was married when he came in got divorced two months later. Our world isn’t conducive to relationships. We’re married to science.”

Damon nodded slowly. “This is true. But situations change.”

Ryan shook his head. “Not that much. If someone told you today you could never practice medicine again or pore over data to solve a medical mystery, could you walk away?”

Damon cringed, smirking. “Not a chance. But no one is suggesting you can’t have both worlds. Even though I came here two years ago to join Project DEEP with you, that doesn’t mean I’m stuck here for life. And neither are you. We’re both young. Thirty. It’s inevitable that eventually we would have met someone along the way and followed a different path.

“This isn’t the only place on earth to practice medicine and do what you love. There are other research facilities all over the country. Hell, I’d bet my last dollar there are other government facilities with the same level of secrecy. And I’m certain there are several private institutions working on cutting edge medical advances.”

Ryan circled the rim of his glass with one finger, thinking about Damon’s words. “That may be, but I’m going to be in this bunker for a very long time, devoted to my parents and everything I’ve worked my entire life for. I can’t expect Emily to hang out here with me. She’s no longer obligated to work for the government, and she isn’t in the army either. She needs to find herself and get on with her life.”

Damon leaned forward, getting in Ryan’s space. “You gonna decide that for her?”

A flush crept up Ryan’s cheeks. “No. I didn’t mean to imply I make her decisions, but I would be holding her back if I asked her to wait for me while I sort through everything happening here. I have an obligation to the team that extends far beyond the reanimation of my parents. There are nineteen other people still preserved here. Don’t act like you could walk away.” He met Damon’s gaze dead-on.

“Never said I would. And I know you wouldn’t either. I’m just suggesting you let Emily decide what she’s willing to sacrifice. Don’t martyr yourself. And don’t hide from her either. If you care about her, make sure she knows it, and then let her decide what she’s willing to accept.”

Damon didn’t say another word as he stood and left the cafeteria, leaving Ryan alone to consider his suggestion.

It was possible Damon was right. At the moment it would be callous to suggest Emily return to the bunker or even Falling Rock. He needed to take his cues from her and not try to influence her. She had a lot on her plate, so many things to figure out. She didn’t need the added pressure from a man.

There was always the possibility the government would hire her to join the team. She had been working on a few projects in the last weeks, trying to get back up to speed. But it was a longshot considering how far behind she was with current medical advancements. It would require serious commitment and dedication to get back up to speed and even be valuable to the team of Project DEEP. On top of that, Ryan wasn’t one hundred percent sure Temple would approve the reinstatement of members of the original team after this length of time.