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-Every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.-
Kate settles in, and it's almost like everything is normal again. Magnus has a tightness to her voice and new lines around her eyes, but she's careful not to let them see the cracks.
It's Will's job to see them. Tiny fissures. The way open files pile up across her desk, (distracted); the way she rests her head against her hand as she works, (not sleeping). He can count on one hand the number of meals he's seen her eat.
Weeks pass. The Big Guy gets better, Magnus leaves her office more.
Henry fixes the EM shield, the old fault lines rendered invisible. The Sanctuary is whole and safe again.
And it's great, it's fine. It's just that when Kate walks into a room, Will still looks up and expects to see a different face.
*
-Force is equal to the change in momentum per change in time.-
The only honest advice he can give is that it doesn't get better. It just gets further away.
He grieved for his mother in a blur of white beds and whiter rooms. Child psychologists wrote down phrases like 'false memories' and 'delusional' while telling him it would be okay. He cried so much he thought his body was going to cave in on itself. He cried so much he thought she might come back.
Time passes, everything fades. Magnus knows this more than anyone.
(There are still nights Will wakes up suddenly with the sheets twisted around him, tears heavy in the back of his throat. Itsgoingtobeokay.)
It doesn't get better. It does get quieter. Like you're underwater and somebody's screaming.
*
-For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.-
Something happens on her trip to South America that she doesn’t talk about, but the second Will walks into her office he can tell something in her has shifted right way up again.
Magnus never tells him the real story, but she touches him now more than she used to. A hand on his back, a squeeze of his shoulder. She practically throws herself into his arms after the Big Guy's non-murder, although in retrospect that one might have been bug-induced. The rest is real; her fingers grazing against his wrist to get his attention, the way she lets her shoulder press against him as she leans over to see something.
Will doesn't bring it to her attention in case she stops. Her hand around his feels the same as his hand around hers. The body tries to compensate for loss.