[He readily moves his fingers with hers to secure that grip and that's where his eyes go, too, as if to confirm that it's a bridge between them.]
[To yourself ... it seems doubly appropriate now, doesn't it? It's a weird feeling he can't place, something at the back of his neck like being watched, that maybe he's lost already. But he'd like to believe that isn't the truth. And her determination, which might be rattled now but no less true to her character, the certainty she wills into those words: it's not exactly soothing, no. But it touches him.]
[Maybe that's enough, for the moment. To know that she's there.]
[He breathes in and tugs their joined hands gently towards him to press a light kiss to her knuckles in silent gratitude for that.]
[It means something.]
[The quote does, too, and there's a surprised - if weak - momentary smile when he looks up at her. He doesn't look much better, but maybe no quite so lost.]
action;
[To yourself ... it seems doubly appropriate now, doesn't it? It's a weird feeling he can't place, something at the back of his neck like being watched, that maybe he's lost already. But he'd like to believe that isn't the truth. And her determination, which might be rattled now but no less true to her character, the certainty she wills into those words: it's not exactly soothing, no. But it touches him.]
[Maybe that's enough, for the moment. To know that she's there.]
[He breathes in and tugs their joined hands gently towards him to press a light kiss to her knuckles in silent gratitude for that.]
[It means something.]
[The quote does, too, and there's a surprised - if weak - momentary smile when he looks up at her. He doesn't look much better, but maybe no quite so lost.]
I can't ask you to take those steps with me.