Wow. This was a snippet packed full with feeling, like you managed to condense a whole fic down to its pure liquid form and then freeze it to make a, uh, fic-popsicle.
...It's the heat, I blame the heat, it's making me talk crazy-talk. But yes! This was so good, and sad, and refreshing, and managed to wash away the taste of the horrible romance novel I forced myself to read last night.