James really didn't mind that she hadn't sent him word about what was going on or that she had even had such an experimentation done in the first place. He suspected he would have shaken his head if he had had to read it anyway, so he preferred the way that he had found out about her induction into the army and history. If anyone deserved that sort of nomination, it was Stephanie. She was the most stubborn but the best of them as well, and the military had been a fool to keep her out before this. He had always known it.

"You already know you don't have to apologize about anything," he replied with a soft chuckle. "I know how big government operations work by now, Stevie." He could never hold anything like that against her, and really, he was just pleased that she was here with him. She had saved his life; there was nothing to forgive.

He knew what she was going to say before she even said it because he knew better than most her low opinion of herself when it came to romance or courting those kinds of warm feelings. "You do know our parents have been gunning for us to get together for years, right?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "I could never say it before the war; we had so many other things to focus on and being friends was so important to me. You were always important to me."