In a Ministry safe house after the attack, the narrator processes the shock while Adela arranges off-the-books relocations for all bridge–expat pairs. Adela gives the narrator a Walther and insists on a future conversation about the Brigadier being “from the future,” then abruptly leaves after the narrator makes a misguided “Mum” joke.

After sleeping, the narrator finds Graham Gore gone and panics at his recklessness. When Graham returns from riding his motorbike to think, the narrator confronts him about his withdrawal after their kiss. Graham admits he has been trying to “court” the narrator but feels out of place in this era; the argument turns into explicit consent and they have sex, during which Graham reveals how long he has wanted the narrator and how conflicted he felt about it.

The next morning Graham brings tea and stays awkwardly distant. The narrator goes to the Ministry to confront Adela, who explains that the time-door only supports a limited number of “free travelers” and that a space can be made by taking one “out of time,” meaning killing them. Adela confirms there are other future agents besides the Brigadier and Salese, and that those two were not equipped for a long stay. The narrator realizes the Brigadier used the narrator’s fingerprints to disable Parry Yard CCTV; Adela orders a firearms refresher and tightens restrictions so all teams are confined to safe houses except for escorted Ministry business.

Back at the safe house, the narrator relays the confinement orders. Graham worries about “dating,” based on Margaret “Maggie”’s explanation that it is like trying people on for fit, and he asks what happens when the fit is right; he admits he wants to touch the narrator, and they resume their relationship. Adela expands the narrator’s training (unarmed combat, cipher, international relations), while Graham and Thomas Cardingham receive movement rights for field training; at the range, Cardingham needles Graham crudely, Graham snaps back, and Adela reacts oddly soft and unsettled on seeing Graham and Cardingham together.

Over late February and March, the lockdown intensifies the narrator and Graham’s bond as they spend nearly all their time together, navigating Victorian shame and modern expectations while their intimacy deepens. Graham eventually breaks rules to take the narrator cycling out of the city to a dark field where the stars are visible; he says he wants to know where he was when he met the narrator, and they hold each other as the narrator feels joy shadowed by the certainty it will be lost.