The night before the heist, the team gathered one last time.
Each person prepared in their own way. Kalia prayed to gods she wasn't sure existed. Marcus wrote letters to his daughter, just in case. Reza checked her code obsessively.
Finn sat with Jax, sharing a bottle of whiskey.
"Whatever happens tomorrow," Finn said, "I want you to know—you gave me something to believe in. The Free Level. This fight. You."
"Finn—"
"Let me finish. I loved you for years. Watched you love her. And tomorrow I might die for a plan she designed. And the weird thing?" Finn smiled sadly. "I don't resent it. Because it's the right fight. And I'd rather die fighting for freedom with you than live safely without you."
Jax gripped their hand. "You're my family. Always have been."
"I know." Finn stood. "Now go talk to her. Really talk. Before tomorrow takes the chance away."
Jax found Elara in the vault, as he'd known he would.
They sat on the floor, surrounded by old money that had started everything.
"I've been thinking," Jax said, "about what was real. Between us."
Elara waited.
"The first time you kissed me. Was that real? Or part of the act?"
"Real. I'd already decided I couldn't turn you in. The kiss was me being selfish. Taking something I wanted."
"The nights you held me after nightmares?"
"Real. Every time."
"When you said you loved me?"
"Real. So goddamn real it terrified me because I knew I didn't deserve it."
Jax nodded slowly. "I believe you."
She stared. "What?"
"I believe you. I think—I think you did come here to investigate me. And I think you fell in love and it changed everything. And I think you were too afraid to tell me because you knew it would destroy us." He took her hand. "All of it's true. The investigation and the love. The betrayal and the sacrifice. You're complicated. And I hate that I can't just hate you. But I can't."
"Jax, I—"
"Tomorrow we might die. And I don't want to die with this unresolved. So I'm telling you: I forgive you. Not for everything. Not all at once. But I forgive you for being human. For being complicated. For choosing us even though you chose wrong at first."
Tears streamed down her face. "I don't deserve forgiveness."
"Probably not. But I'm giving it anyway. Because holding onto this anger is killing me. And because tomorrow we fight for freedom together, and I need you to know—I trust you. With the mission. With my life. With the future of every Gamma on this station."
She kissed him then. Desperate and grateful and terrified and hoping.
He kissed back.
Not like before. Not easy and comfortable. But real. Raw. Honest.
"If we survive this," he said, "we start over. Clean slate. No lies."
"No lies," she agreed.
They held each other in the vault until dawn, knowing that tomorrow everything would change.
For better or worse.
Freedom or death.
Together.
Finally, honestly together.
Tomorrow.