He should leave. He'd messed up everything again, but...she couldn't keep pushing people away. That was what had made her so tense and brittle in the first place. What would have happened if they'd gotten together and dragged her aside to talk with her? What would have happened if they'd tried to talk her down before she pushed them too far away for them to reach her? York shook his head. "No. I'm sorry, but...this is a talk we should have had a long time ago, and I need you to hear me out." And not toss him out.

"You were always amazing in ways no one could ever touch. It wasn't about fighting, it was about the fact that you cared about your team, that you cared about the people who made up Project Freelancer. We all wanted to save our home from the aliens; that's why we were there, but you were the highest person in the program who gave a shit about anyone else. I knew that you'd be fighting even when the Project fell apart because I knew you wouldn't stop until you'd gotten your goal. Even after everyone...everyone but me wrote you off." York paused. And now she'd kick him out.