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Nicole nodded and motioned to the robots to go to work. I rose, intending to follow along behind as they guided Rosi from the room. Thrusting out a hand, Nicole stopped me in my tracks.

“I want you to talk to someone after this, Austin,” she said softly, so softly I did a double take.

As exhausted as I was, I found it impossible to ignore the vulnerability in her face. And it was the idea that she could be letting her impenetrable shields down for a moment that convinced me to let them take Rosi and hear her out.

“To who?” I asked.

“My therapist.”

The laugh escaped before I could stop it. I wasn’t sure if it was funnier that she wanted me to see one or that she did. To her credit, she waited until I quieted without reacting.

“When everything went down on Paradise Atlantis, I thought I was impenetrable. I handled it all quite well, dealing with each crisis as it arose and keeping those around me focused. But afterwards…” She looked away, and I believed she was seeing something from a year earlier. “The dreams came.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, placing a hand on her arm.

She looked back at me and smiled. “None of us are invincible. I suspect you think, like I did, that you are the professional here and that this was something you were prepared for. But take it from someone who knows. No one was prepared for this.”

I nodded, swallowing back my objections. She was right, and maybe, just maybe a therapist could help me deal with having lost Sara as well. But first I had to make sure Rosi was going to make it through. Because if she didn’t, there was nothing in the world that could help me handle that nightmare.

I started to leave but turned around at the last second. “This may not be the time, but may I offer you a business proposition, Nicole?”