It was a matter of time before the moment was spoiled, but it still manages to feel like a slap in the face when she finally says what's on her mind. Five tenses at the first words that leave her mouth, and by the time she asks him how long she needs to inconvenience herself, he looks like can barely comprehend the sheer audacity of the question.

"As long as it takes, Allison." His voice raises with him, getting up before she can stand and whipping around to face her while she's not yet towering over him. The move twists open the same wound that she patched, but he's too furious to care. "I'm not asking for you for a favor. I'm telling you that I need you here. I need all of you here, or the whole world dies. Why is that so hard to understand?"

Why they all think they have time for this is lost on him. They've only been dealing with the knowledge that the world is ending for days and she already wants to give up. She still has no idea, no concept, of what it took for him to get back.

"Nothing else matters right now."