Pursing her lips, Alex acknowledged what he said with a nod - after all, his vanishing act wasn't exactly the typical circumstances of awakening to an empty bed. But she hadn't wanted to believe that she had seen what she'd seen.

More importantly, she understood, it wasn't Jack that she was angry with at all. To be fair, it wasn't even anger. It was more a frustration, a need to understand what had happened to him and what was happening to her. He had to mean something in the scheme of things. He had to be significant.

With a deep breath she took another step forward, letting her eyes drift over him as she tried to puzzle him out. "Where did you go?" she asked him, her tone suddenly comforting, gentle.