"Sort of girlfriend. Trying. Trying to have something again."

He focused on his breathing.

"She was my first girlfriend. I was a relative fifteen but only one year old chronologically, she was twenty-four, and it was so damn complicated the first time around. Age difference was way too big. Got worse when I got stuck at age fifteen a while with no idea if I'd be stuck that way forever. We broke up. But I ran into her again later. I loved her and she loved me, and there was still...something. And then she died. The ship--ship saved her right at that moment."

He closed his eyes.

"We're trying again. Seeing if we can make it work. Maybe. If she decides she wants to. I want--ever since she died, I wanted to know what could have been. She's...she's just..."

Boy he was dizzy.

"Ballsy. Brave, always snooping around in the middle of everything--she's a reporter. Sweet, so sweet just like the kindest damn person you could meet under all the brass tacks. Also looks amaaazing in a bikini."

That part was important.

"One of the benefits to living in Hawaii was how she dressed. Shazam."

Almost there. The bleeding was slowing.