It wasn't the reunion he's sure he would have wanted to give her, no - but it was a reunion and he wanted to try to keep her from thinking about what ifs too much, because he knew just how they could spin out of control until you could barely think about anything else. And he wanted to make now special, for both of them, in whatever way he could, in whatever way this was going to be. Because now might not be what either of them had wished for, but they had now to make into whatever they wanted. And that seemed like it would definitely do.

"And besides... with motivation like that, I might get better really fast," he teased, leaving his hand where it was, though he didn't try to go any lower or touch any more of her, though she seemed all right with how he was touching her back now. "I admit, I didn't get anything like that in the hospital. I mean, the nurses were nice enough, but they sure weren't about to kiss me or cook me dinner."