"I... I'm sorry," he stammered. "I was on a mission, and... and things went sideways. I had to hide, to avoid... unwanted attention."

"I'm home," he whispered, a sense of peace finally settling over him.

Mark and Emma tried to reassure themselves that Hawk was fine, that he was just delayed or dealing with some classified situation. But as night began to fall, and the house grew quiet, their thoughts turned to the worst.