Den didn't say anything about Rory's defiance, or what he thought about it. Rory had made it clear that him believing in the immense pride their parents must have had for him was important to her. Den didn't quite understand it, but he did respect that she felt that way. He didn't point out that she hadn't had much to be defiant against, at least not that way. Their parents didn't ever have who she was supposed to be lined out on diner napkins. They didn't ever sit her down and explain to her the chart of her life they had just made to go on the wall of her bedroom so she could keep on track. And Den was glad for that. He'd really pushed for that. A part of that was his fault.
Growing up, he'd thought he was freeing her, that Rory had it easier this way. But once he moved away, once he was no longer too close, it occurred to him how the opposite of what he had could be damaging too. But by then the damage had been done. On the plane back from her graduation two things had occurred to him. The first was that the damage he had done was too severe to be fixable and he was just going to have to live with that. The second was that she'd somehow done truly incredible things despite it. Den could understand exactly why their father had been proud of her. He understood, because he felt it too. “I didn't ask for that,” he insisted. He hadn't asked for much of anything. He didn't remember Rory asking for much either. She had just been more vocal about not asking.
And then his touch had somehow escalated into her hugging him in an awkward, but non pain inducing fashion. That shocked him more than when the zombie bit him, but it was a good kind of shock. The kind that might have made him cry if he felt like he had any tears left in him. He wrapped his arm around her better to make it proper, and turned his head to look at her. He didn't have a response. The last time they'd hugged she'd been seven. Her words said one thing, but the touch said another. It seemed like a pretty good closing statement. It wouldn't be until much later that it occurred to him that it also worked as a beginning one.