A helpless exhale passed through Sookie's lips as soon as Nina asked a question she wasn't sure she knew how to answer. Were she to try and do so in the most honest of ways, she would have asked for redemption. For any excuse to forgive Mitchell his sins, for the shred of belief that burned stubborn in her chest, the one that wanted to believe that he'd only lashed out to get away from her. That all of the things that he'd hissed in her ear were lies, that the smile was only sculpted out of a need to build a wall, one which would keep all others out. Her eyes closed, hopeless, as a few more tears squeezed out and slid down her cheeks, a tiny gasp on the end to catch air, stop the burning of her lungs. She wanted to know that Mitchell was worth fighting for.

But she was twice as afraid to learn that he wasn't.

Although just the once already left her feeling raw, Sookie spoke up regardless, taking a soft breath. "Have you heard of the Box Tunnel 20? What do you know about it?"