No. He wouldn't. Not then, not now. Never alone. Protected, if not from danger, then from the perpetual solitude he'd endured endlessly in prison, what threatened him daily even on the Indefatigable. Horatio had kept his word, even a decade into the future. We don't leave unless you do.

He didn't know what to do with that. To feel worth something to someone, however undeservedly. He found himself shutting the drawer and sitting on the bed, not sure what he was doing with it open anymore anyway. This was all a dream. A beautiful dream, and he was going to wake up and everything would be horrible again.