Title: Surviving

Written for Round 4 Challenge 1 of "big_damn_quests" on LJ as Zoe

Word Count: 202

Challenge 1

How did you survive the toughest battle of your life?

It was Wash.

And it wasn't a gun fight, or any battle in the war, though some of those were damn tough.

Toughest battle I ever survived was learning to put it behind me, and to love again. Healin'. That's what he gave me, a chance to heal, to learn that there was still life worth livin', and that it could be damn fine too, despite all the horror that had come before - maybe even because of it.

Wash let me climb back out of the darkness into the light, let me see that love still existed and that I could still feel it, that I could still have it. Let me find me again.

Wasn't easy. Some are still caught in that place, still lost from themselves, living in the dark, doing penance. Wash gave me a chance at forgiveness, for myself and for the rest of the 'verse too.

Gave me the best damn years of my life.

Second toughest battle was leaving him in that chair. But he'd taught me what I needed to survive, and I have. And now, cause of him, there's someone new to love and learn with.

And I wouldn't trade that love for nothin'.