Ethan never would have said goodbye, but they were not given those choices. He was coming back, because he couldn't even-- He was coming back because he never would have been able to say goodbye to her. Damon kept throwing it back at him, and it hurt and it hit those buttons because it is something that Ethan hates so much. He hates he didn't just latch on to her from that very last moment he saw her. He hates that he didn't say the words, I am in love with you, and I have known that I am in love with you since the ball.

He didn't do those things, but he understands now Damon had his own anger at himself. Ethan's eyes burn with that regret too, the regret that tears at his chest even still. He hears that whisper, and he can tell that she knows. His fingertips dig into her back as he breathes her in. Ethan won't let it happen again, and it is a very deep promise that he will keep to her. He'll remember her expression, and it won't be hard to keep that promise.

Ethan leans into her touch as he closes his eyes, holding on to those words. His hand slides over her face as his eyes burn as he nods, needing those words without knowing how much he needed them even if he already knew. "I love you too," he says quietly but intensely, quietly but very, very real. "I love you so much." He doesn't know how it fits in his chest sometimes, the strength of how much he loves her, but it does and it always grows.

Impossibly more and more every day.