It barely lasts. It's there and gone. But it was there, her eyes wide and startled, her expression softened, because he offers something that seems like it belongs in a dream. Help, help and acceptance and without a price (but there must be a price), inherent understanding without all the nuances, all the little snags that had come from the others. How can it come from him? Him? The man who'd been so stubborn as to refuse her his last name, who looks constantly on the verge of snapping, who postures and huffs and always, always acts like he's so much tougher than anything, how can--
1/2
--one split second, one fraction of a second--
--Rosalind looks vulnerable.
It barely lasts. It's there and gone. But it was there, her eyes wide and startled, her expression softened, because he offers something that seems like it belongs in a dream. Help, help and acceptance and without a price (but there must be a price), inherent understanding without all the nuances, all the little snags that had come from the others. How can it come from him? Him? The man who'd been so stubborn as to refuse her his last name, who looks constantly on the verge of snapping, who postures and huffs and always, always acts like he's so much tougher than anything, how can--
But he means it.]
I--