“I’ve experienced things…” Sally swallowed hard, “things no one should have to experience.  Not because they happened to me, but because they happened to her, and she’s a part of me now.  Her courage is mine, her hatred is mine… her fear is mine.”

“But she is not you,” Daniel interjected.  “She is only in you.”

“She influences who I am, the decisions I make… the feelings I have.”  She paused, turning toward the window and watching as the cold winter wind swayed the bare tree limbs outside.  “You once admitted to me that you had a crush on Abra ever since she began to appear in the papers.” She turned her stormy gaze back to him.  “Valkyrie has been a part of me since the beginning, Daniel, I just didn’t know she was there.”

“And she’s only stronger,” he said quietly, “because the man who almost killed me coaxed her out.  But you’re still you, Sally.  You’re still the woman I love.”

“Would you love me if I killed innocent people to save myself?  Would you love me if I had turned my back on those who trusted me?  Would you love me if I abandoned our only son?”  Tears were begging to form in her eyes as her voice almost cracked.

He stepped closer to her, shaking his head slightly and capturing her misted eyes in his loving gray pools.  “But you haven’t,” he enunciated clearly and softly as he approached. “You hadn’t, and you wouldn’t.”

“You’re wrong,” her words choked her.  “I have… I had… and I… I did.”  Tears streamed down her cheeks.

He reached her and wiped the tears away with his thumb as he cupped her cheek.  “That was not you.”

“I relive it every day.  I taste the blood… I feel their fear… I hear him cry…” She closed her eyes and he pulled her close, nuzzling and comforting her.