Luke couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

There she was, sleeping soundly next to him- Snoring up a storm and warming his heart. When did he become so fucking sentimental?

He had a lot of different thoughts after listening to Nadia's story. The first one was that he regretted not taking care of Guzman himself, the second was that he would kill Grace. He was furious, so god damned furious when he stepped back into the SUV that he didn't immediately realize that Echo had started to sob. She was sobbing uncontrollably, full blown ugly cry. The moment he saw her, his heart absolutely melted and he pulled her into his arms, trying his best to console her.

He didn't know what it was about Echo's puffy red face but he just fell apart at the sight of it. Nothing else mattered except that he make her feel safe again.  He completely forgot about what Nadia told him and focused all his energy on holding Echo. She clung to him, desperately needing to feel him closer and he spent the entire drive kissing her head tenderly and telling her he would never let something like that happen again.

He looked over to his phone. Nadia had gone on back to North Town while he and Echo had stayed in New York. She was exhausted and by the time they pulled into a hotel parking garage, she had already fallen asleep in his arm, still sniffling. He hated having to wake her for check in but he also knew that she would appreciate getting a bath and having something to eat.

Dinner had been brought up by the time she'd made it out of the shower, looking so small and frail in the bathrobe and he held his breath, wondering if now that the danger had passed she would push him away. It might sound selfish after what she'd been through but all he wanted was to keep holding her close.

"Hungry? I had something brought up." He said nervously.

"This late?" She asked, wondering what he was able to get.

"Yeah, well the great thing about New York is that you can get almost anything at any hour." He said with a smile, lifting the lid off the plate. It smelled great and if she was honest, she was starving.

"Thank you." She said, taking a seat and poking around at the food. "I've never been to New York before."

"Really?" He asked, genuinely surprised. He knew Echo's family was very well off and they'd done quite a bit of travelling.

"Yeah, all my sisters have but I just never got to it." Echo said softly.

"Then I'll bring you." He said, making her look up. Her lips melded into a gentle smile.

"I'd like that." She said with a deep sigh. Echo forked the food around for a moment, obviously something on her mind. He wanted to reach out and tell her everything but he also didn't want to distraught her at this moment. Right now wasn't about him, it was about making sure she okay after what she'd been through.

"You know, Luke." She said, taking a baby carrot off the plate before dipping it in hummus. "I've been going over everything in my head- too many times to count now. Everything- everything that has happened since I met you. Being with you... it's been so hard."

Luke felt his heart drop. She was going to leave.

"I understand. You're free to go, Echo. I won't try to stop you." He said, making her snap her head up. "I really don't deserve you. You deserve everything in the world."

"Is that what you want?" She asked, feeling the tears begin to prick her eyes.

"It's not about what I want." He said, absolutely shocking her into silence. Since when were things not about what Luke wanted? That was how this whole thing started- because he wanted something and wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Do you mean that?" She said. Say no. The voice in Luke's head kept repeating to him to say no.

"Yes." He said.

"Oh Luke." Echo said, jumping out of the seat and running towards him. She flung her arms around his neck, pulling him towards her. He was so surprised by the movement... "Oh Luke, thank you."

Before he could even form a coherent thought, she had grabbed his face in her hands and began to kiss him all over.

"Wait..." He said, cupping her face now in his hands and searching her eyes. "What... what does this mean?"

"Luke... I want to stay with you." She said. "Everything else... it will fall into place, we'll figure it out but I want to stay with you. I love you."

The rest was, as they say, history. Echo suddenly sat up in the bed, her hair crumpled every where and looking like she'd been asleep for days. He watched her with an amused eye, thankful he hadn't had to wake her as they had a flight to catch that afternoon.

"Luke." She said, turning to him without bothering to straighten her hair out. All she did was tuck a lock of it behind her ear so she could see.

"Good Morning." He said, taking her hand and placing a kiss on it.

"Good Morning." She said, looking around the room. "I guess all that really happened, huh?"

"It did." He said, frowning suddenly. "Echo, Where did you learn to do that?"

"Do what?" She asked.

"You know the three, seven thing when you threw those punches." He said, picturing it all again. Echo smiled.

"Oh, that." She said with a nod. "My father made us all take self defense courses when we were younger. I was the WORST but I guess it worked out."

Luke smiled widely.

"Really?" He said kneeling on the bed and holding up his hands. "Show me."

Echo raised her brow.

"No." She said, shaking her head.

"Oh, come on." he said playfully, taking her hands and pulling her up to her knees. "Just one punch, I want to see."

"Oh, no. Luke." She said, "Don't make fun of me."

"I'm not making fun, I actually am really impressed." He said, "I feel so much better knowing my wife has some knowledge of self defense."

She stared at him.

"Come on." He said, pointing to his chin. "Just one punch, I'll block it."

"I said no." She replied firmly, starting to get annoyed.

"Just one, you know you want to..." He began but Echo swung her fist, getting him right on his cheek and making him lose him balance. Luke tumbled to the floor with a thud, leaving Echo speechless.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." She said, crawling to the edge of the bed. "Are you okay?"

Luke sat up, placing a hand on his face and opening his jaw.

"OW." HE said, climbing back onto the bed. "That was good."

"Thank you." She said.

"I didn't think you'd actually hit me." He said.

"Well... you do kinda deserve it." She said, making him turn to her with a frown.

"I do." He agreed with a nod. "But we should talk."

"About?" She asked, frowning. "What happened now?"

"It's about what didn't happen." He said.

"Whaaaa?" She asked, clearly confused.

"Nadia told me some important things. She told me she was going to tell you yesterday but then... this mess happened." He said. Echo nodded.

"That's right, she was going to go see me." Echo said, looking to him. "So what did she say?"

"She told me..." He said, explaining slowly what Nadia had told her about Grace.

Echo sat listening quietly but with every word she grew more and more pale.

"This is true?" She asked when he was done. Luke nodded.

"That stupid BITCH." Echo said, hopping off the bed angrily and beginning to pace. "I'm going to kill her. I'm going to rip her eyes out... I'm going to kill her."

"Wow." He said, seeing how worked up she was. He'd NEVER seen Echo angry like this.

"Aren't you mad?" She said, noting how calm Luke was. He reached out his hand to her and she took it tentatively.

"I was." He said with a nod. "But I was also so relieved. I was so relieved because I couldn't handle the fact that I'd cheated on the woman I love."

Echo stared at him for a second, her brows pushed closer together. She squinted her eyes and took a step closer to him.

"Luke, you love me?" She asked, pointing her finger at him. It was Luke's turn to stare.

"Of course." He said, "obviously I do."

"No, not so obvious." She said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Really? You don't think? Aside from the complete ass I've been over the last few weeks, you don't think it's obvious I love you?" He said as if it was the dumbest thing she'd ever said.

Echo opened her mouth to respond but then she brought a hand to her chin as if she was thinking it over.

"Oh my god." She said, bursting into laughter. "Oh my god, You love me."

Luke sighed.

"I do. I'm very in love with you, Echo." He said, "That's why it just doesn't matter anymore. She's leaving town any way and all I want... is to make you happy."

Echo turned to face him, a huge grin on her face.

"Oh Luke, you love me!" She repeated, jumping on him and knocking him over on the bed. She laughed as he pulled her over him, before he tucked his arms behind his head and just watched her with a grin.

"So?" he asked.

"So?" She repeated.

"So, it's your turn to say it. That's how that works." He said.

"I said it last night, besides, you didn't say it back last night." She replied.

"I guess I was just so glad to finally hear it that it must have slipped my mind." He replied with a shrug.

"There. You admit it. I said it last night." She said but he shook his head.

"No. That's not the deal. I say "Echo, I love you" and then you say..." He said, pausing and waiting for her to reply.

"Your phone is ringing." She said, making him frown.

"No, that's not it." He said as she climbed off of him and moved towards the nightstand. Once again it was another number she didn't recognize.

"Here." She said, holding it to him.

"Hello?" Luke said, watching as Echo lay lazily on the bed. "Yeah. Good. No. NO. No reentry but other than that, let her go. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you."

"Everything okay?" She asked, watching as he tossed the phone aside and crawled over to her.

"That was just about Grace." He said.

"Her." Echo said with a sneer.

"She left." he replied, making her raise a brow.

"Good Riddance." Echo replied.

"Yeah, otherwise you would have beat the crap out of her with your secret moves." He said, making her laugh.

"They're not secret. You never asked me if I knew any self defense." She said as he hovered above her. She watched as he brought his hand to her arm, gently stroking it with the back of his fingers. Before long, he was massaging it gently, bring his hand all the way to shoulder before cupping her chin and tilting it towards him.

"Echo..." he whispered as he leaned in to deliver that killer kiss.

"hmmm..." She managed to murmur, waiting.

"I love you." He said softly, making her smile.

"I love you." She replied before he finally kissed her.

No need for any more words.