Up until that point, Dan had thought he'd known pain. He'd been in countless bar fights, suffered through even more hangovers, shared the pain of dozens of people as they lay there dying and he had felt his gut burn with cancer. But the feeling that tore through him just then was beyond anything he'd ever felt before. He managed not to scream, but only just. Probably because before he could even draw breath, the feeling was gone, leaving behind an all-body ache from his muscles tensing up so tightly and so quickly.
He blinked tears from his eyes and then Higgs was grabbing him by the shoulders. His own hands shot up and caught the other man by the wrists, but he didn't pull away. Not yet.
Dan flicked a glance at the Watcher again, then looked back at Higgs. Was he still interacting with a memory, or was Higgs now aware of him wandering around on the beach in his mind?
"I figured your mom and dad picked the name out of a book," he replied. "So what does it mean? Did you pick it yourself?"