"Listen dude, Rebecca's not here," Heather told Nathaniel, her arms crossed in front of her, annoyed. "I see you checking your phone, looking over your shoulder. I literally just saw her at home with Valencia. You're not going to run into her here."

"That's not what I'm doing," he replied, raising his chin defensively. That was exactly what he was doing at Home Base at lunch time on a Wednesday.

There had been little contact from Rebecca since her promised appointment with Dr. Shin last week. When he tried to plan a weekend date, she responded with a short text: Can't. Busy helping Valencia an engagement party. The last time he saw her she was drowning in anxiety over an unreturned text. Now, she was putting distance between them in a way that felt very intentional. The whiplash was real.

Heather rolled her eyes. "Whatever, are you going to order something or just mope here on the off-chance Rebecca shows up?"

"Fine, I'll take some fries." He slumped his shoulders in defeat.

Heather raised her eyebrows, surprised. "Looks like you two have something in common." She pointed at White Josh who was sitting at the other end of the counter, head propped up in one of his hands, elbow on the counter, peering down at the untouched greasy fries like they were in a fierce staring contest.

After Heather disappeared into the back room, Nathaniel approached White Josh like he was wild animal that would spook if he moved too quickly.

"Uh, hey man."

White Josh flinched, breaking his gaze. "Oh, hey."

Nathaniel perched on the seat next to him. "I haven't seen you around the office since you and Darryl..." he purposefully trailed off, hoping White Josh would help him out with the end of the sentence. White Josh just nodded in acknowledgement and pursed his lips. After a beat of silence, Nathaniel offered, "Well, I'm sorry about that."

"It's ok. We just want different things. It was totally mutual." While he said the words with conviction, it was obvious he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else.

White Josh then pivoted the attention away from he and Darryl. "So Hector told me you're dating Rebecca. Good luck with that. I swear I will never understand why everyone is so in love with her. And someone like you...you could have anyone you wanted. Why settle?"

Nathaniel scoffed. "What? I'm not settling."

"Listen, dude, all she's gonna do is fuck up your life, just like she does with everyone else." White Josh's tone was unapologetically bitter.

Nathaniel winced. "Wow, that's harsh." He wondered how much the break up was factoring into his severe assessment of Rebecca. Still, the words hurt and, while he knew some of what happened between she and Josh, he so badly wanted to believe that they were different.

White Josh continued, "Look at Josh. She basically broke up his relationship with Valencia, rushed him into a wedding, and then stalked him after they broke up. And Greg - "

"Hold on, who's Greg?" Nathaniel interrupted, a pit forming in his stomach.

"Yet another friend of ours caught up in her web. She jerked him around for months and then dropped him as soon as Josh showed her a hint of interest. And it broke him. He got a DUI the night she left him for Josh. I mean, he literally had to move away to get away from her." White Josh let out a rueful, staccato laugh.

"Wait, what?"

"To be fair, he also moved away to go to business school. But still." White Josh shrugged.

Nathaniel sat in stunned silence. He tried to take the words with a grain of salt. After all, this was obviously someone who was not Rebecca's biggest fan and clearly struggling with his separation with Darryl. But he knew Rebecca was a tornado. Would he be another mess left in her destructive path?

White Josh released a tired sigh after regarding Nathaniel's disheartened expression. "Listen, I'm not trying to be judgy here. I'm just trying to warn you. I mean, what game is she playing with you now? Why are you here ordering fries in the middle of a work day? You don't look like a guy who eats fries...or takes lunches." Nathaniel hadn't even noticed that Heather dropped off the fries, but now they were sitting accusingly in front of him.

Nathaniel peeked down at his phone again. His instinct was to deny there was any problem, but he had nothing to lose by being honest with White Josh. "She's, um, she's been pulling away lately. Texting me less...I didn't even see her this weekend. She blew me off, saying she was helping Valencia plan some party." His eyes met White Josh's and he gave Nathaniel a decidedly smug look. In response, Nathaniel shook his head and blew a raspberry with his lips. He abruptly changed his tone to mask his apprehension."Hey, it's fine. She's just busy. She has her own life, right?"

White Josh arched an eyebrow at him and the pit in Nathaniel's stomach morphed into a tightly wound ball. "Wow, yea, classic Rebecca. She's pulling some kind of stunt and you won't realize what it is unless it's too late."

Suddenly Nathaniel wasn't hungry anymore.

Later, back at the office, Nathaniel couldn't focus. White Josh's words reverberated in his mind. Just last week Rebecca had a meltdown when he didn't text her for a day. And now she was the one being distant. He brooded over the thought that she would deliberately toy with his emotions. He squeezed his eyes shut and willed the rational part of his brain to take over. It was silly for him to sit and stew over something that could easily be resolved through one conversation, he reasoned. Yes, he just needed to see her and clear the air. Though there was no one in his office to observe him, he made a show of picking up the phone as casually as possible and typing the message.

Hi, I know you've been busy, but I would like to see you Friday after work if you're free. Your place. I'll bring wine.

Bubbles immediately popped up in the text window, indicating that she was typing a response. Then they vanished. After several moments of waiting, he accepted with resignation that he was not going to get a prompt answer.

Through the glass of his office door, he observed a focused Paula typing away at her computer. He tried to suppress the urge to be undeniably unprofessional by bringing up his relationship with Rebecca to her. But he regarded his phone again, mockingly textless, and his anxiety won out, propelling him from his desk chair into the bullpen.

He strode up to her desk and attempted to be nonchalant by leaning awkwardly against the ledge. "Um, hey Paula."

"Hey, I'll get you the edits on that brief by the end of the day," she said, without looking up from her monitor.

"Right, great." He scanned the area to make sure no one was eavesdropping and then cleared his throat. "So, I assume Rebecca mentioned that she and I..." He let the end of the sentence hang in the air.

Paula stopped typing. Her eyes darted around the bullpen, on alert for any potential listeners. Tim, Jim, and Maya were nearby but didn't appear to be interested in overhearing their conversation. "Yes," she replied carefully.

Nathaniel kept his voice low. "I really, really hate to do this, but I know you're her best friend. She's been pulling away and - "

Paula waved her hand at him. "Bup bup bup. I should not get involved in this," she started, but then she regarded his despondent expression and seemed to take pity on him. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ok, how do I explain this?"

Nathaniel subtly tilted his head in the direction of Tim, Jim, and Maya, who were inching closer, and Paula nodded with understanding.

"So you know how Rebecca loves...donuts?" She gestured to the box of donuts sitting on the ledge of her desk.

"Sure…"

"And you know how Rebecca has a tendency to eat a lot of donuts all at once?"

Nathaniel furrowed his brow.

Paula plowed on, "It makes her feel good and she gets all hyped up on sugar, right? She gets a kind of high from it. But then, if someone suddenly takes away the donuts or threatens not to bring the donuts anymore, she has a big sugar crash." She emphasized the last three words. "She recently had a pretty big one. You get what I'm saying?"

Memories came flooding back to him, unbidden. Rebecca's wedding. The utter devastation written on her face when she said, "It's my fault they don't love me." The morning after the masquerade party. "He left me at my wedding. He just left me," she had said, barely stifling the hurt. Rebecca sitting on his doorstep last week, hopeless and lost, mascara smeared under her eyes.

"I get it," he said softly. "But I'm...I'm not Josh. I'm not going to -"

Paula cut him off. "No no no, it's not about you. It's about her. She needs to learn to limit herself to a healthy amount of donuts. So, say hypothetically, if you do take away the donuts one day, she won't, you know…"

Despite how depressed he felt at the thought that Rebecca needed to stop seeing him to be healthy, he attempted to keep his face neutral and unaffected. "Wow, got it. You're really good with metaphor, huh?"

"Why thank you, kind sir," Paula said and did the best mock-courtesy she could from a sitting position. She regarded his clenched jaw and unfocused eyes, and her maternal instinct kicked into gear. "Listen, Nathaniel, just go over there tonight and talk to her. It will be ok, I promise."

He checked his phone. Still no text. "I have something tonight but I'm trying to get her to see me Friday. So, um, thank you. I'm glad Rebecca has a friend like you."

Paula looked taken aback by the sentiment at first but smiled back warmly. The elevator doors dinged and her smile faded as quickly as it appeared. Nathaniel followed her gaze until he spotted a gruff-looking Nathaniel Plimpton II marching into the office. A surprise visit. How aggravatingly typical.

Nathaniel abruptly straightened his posture. He mentally cursed his involuntarily sweaty palms, wiping them discreetly on his pants, and then strode purposefully to greet his father. The look on his face indicated this was not a friendly visit - not that it ever was.

They shook hands formally. "Hey, Pops," Nathaniel said with forced enthusiasm. Nathaniel II frowned. "I mean, welcome sir. Step into my office."

After seated in Nathaniel's office, his father launched into business with no preamble. "Nathaniel, I'm here to check in on the class action suit. I have some concerns."

Nathaniel provided a succinct update on their proceedings, highlighting the great progress he and Darryl made so far. Displeasure radiated off of his father and Nathaniel held his breath, expecting the worst.

"What I really want to know is why is Darryl on this case instead of Rebecca Bunch. The whole reason we were interested in this firm was her performance in the water case. This is her wheelhouse. And you have confirmed she is the best attorney here."

Nathaniel swallowed hard. He neglected to tell his father about Rebecca's absence or about her resignation just prior to her suicide attempt. When he had tried to replace Rebecca with Cornelia, it failed so spectacularly that he hid that fact as well. His father was notoriously unsympathetic to sick leave and he certainly was not well-versed in the nuance of mental illness.

Nathaniel II continued in his characterically authoritative timbre, "Furthermore, she has been noticeably absent on several cases that would have been a slam dunk for her. And I don't see her here today either. Is something going on that you're not telling me? Did she get poached by another firm? Did she go back to New York?"

Nathaniel fidgeted nervously and shifted in his chair. He noticed several faces in the bullpen watching him through the glass. The door was shut but clearly they could still hear some of the conversation. Paula's face was apologetic. "Um, Rebecca is currently on short-term medical leave, which I approved." He tried to say it as confidently as he could muster.

Nathaniel II's mouth upturned slightly into a hint of a smile. "Interesting, because I heard a rumor that she resigned," he said smugly. Nathaniel felt sick.

"No, sir. She is on medical leave and will be returning."

"Medical leave? I hope you're joking. We don't believe in sick, remember? If it's not cancer, you come to work. In fact, most cancers…"

"...are a half-day. I know, sir. But everything is under control here and we are covering for her until she can come back to work."

"We can replace her. Let's get someone from our LA office in here."

"No, no, no. I can assure you she will be back soon." Between his father's lack of trust in him to run the firm and his barely hidden derision for a person he cared deeply for, Nathaniel was losing patience fast.

"Don't be stubborn. It sounds like she's a weak link. I thought she had potential, but maybe we were wrong." Nathaniel II twisted the knife further.

Nathaniel's raised his voice. "No!" He immediately self-corrected, taking a beat to rebuild his composure. "Sorry, sir. She's not replaceable, actually. She IS our best attorney. Regardless, you must know that legally we are required to allow medical leave." Nathaniel was furious at himself for taking the bait, letting his father get to him yet again.

"Why are you defending her? I've never seen you go to bat for an employee like this." Nathaniel went silent and pursed his lips. His father, with a subtle smile still lingering, cocked his head to the side and gave him a knowing look. "If she's not on this case by the end of the month, I'm pulling you out of this office and replacing you with someone competent who doesn't let their office chickadees take extended vacations."

With that, Nathaniel II abruptly rose from his chair and the employees lingering outside the office scattered like a flock of frightened birds.

"Dad, come on," Nathaniel called after him but didn't follow.

When his father was safely on the elevator, Nathaniel put his head in his hands, crumbling. "Shit, shit, shit," he muttered to himself. There was absolutely no way he would force Rebecca to come back to work before she was ready. That was a non-starter. If his father followed through on his threat, how would he and Rebecca cope with literal distance between them when they were already struggling? After a few minutes, there was a soft knock at his office door and Paula tentatively approached his desk.

"Hey...buddy. Thanks for standing up for my Cookie back there. I know you have this whole weird thing with your dad so that must have be hard." He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. "And for what it's worth, I'm glad Rebecca has a boyfriend like you."

Nathaniel smiled weakly, "Thanks, Paula."

Suddenly his phone vibrated.

Ok, come over Friday at 7. Dress down. This date will be unfancy.

Nathaniel spent entirely too much time deciding on an outfit. He was a man. He shouldn't spend this much time thinking about what to wear. Yet, there he was, changing outfits like a makeover montage in a teen romantic comedy. She said to dress down, which was not something he did very often. He wanted to look relaxed, casual - like he hadn't just spent half an hour tearing apart his dresser drawers. Finally he settled on a simple navy t-shirt and gray jersey joggers.

On the way to her apartment, as promised, he picked up a bottle of red wine and a bar of extra dark chocolate for good measure. He felt unusually nervous. Paula's words still weighed heavily on his mind and he wasn't sure how to broach the topic of her sudden pull back from their relationship.

"Hi." Rebecca opened the door with a guarded smile. She was wearing very little makeup and a cotton pajama set that was black with white polka the sight of her made him feel tingly all over. And as usual, she was maddeningly, enchantingly adorable. As if she read his mind, her eyes raked over his body in-kind and he shifted nervously under her scrutiny.

"Ah, you did good," she said with approval and took his offering of wine and chocolate. Turning her back to him, she padded toward the kitchen and he followed obediently.

After she set two wine glasses down on the counter, he stepped into her personal space and gently lifted her chin to kiss her chastely. "Hey, it's good to see you." She returned the kiss, but he sensed hesitancy and she quickly broke eye contact with him to return to the task at hand. Not wanting to push any further, he backed off and watched her open and close drawers with swiftly escalating frustration.

She groaned, "Ugh, where is the corkscrew? Can you just check the nightstand in my bedroom? I think it might be there." He smirked. "Oh, shut up. Sometimes a girl needs her bed wine."

He dutifully went to her bedroom and, lo and behold, the corkscrew was on her nightstand just as she suspected. When he noticed the note he wrote her next to the bottle opener, warmth spread throughout his chest. He had agonized over and re-written the note so many times and now it was next to her bed, the paper worn with handling.

Dear Rebecca,

You are one of the kindest, smartest, and sweetest people I've ever met. I'm here for you.

Nathaniel

Surveying the rest of the room, he also spotted his Stanford t-shirt splayed across one of her pillows. The evidence of his presence in her life was right in front of him and it gave him a boost of confidence they could overcome whatever obstacle that was making her withdraw.

He returned to the kitchen and gave her the bottle opener.

"Ah, thank you." She busied herself with opening the bottle and pouring each of them a glass.

"So...you've been busy this week, huh?"

"Yea, I volunteered to help Valencia plan this engagement party. It's part of this whole 'helping others' thing I'm trying to do. Honestly I don't think the girl really loves the guy. She's kind of a dick to him. And she might be cheating on him. It's a whole thing. Valencia told me I need to keep my mouth shut about it because it could hurt her business. Anyway…"

She handed a glass to him and they both sat on the couch. They clinked glasses and sipped the wine. He put his arm around the back of the sofa behind her and scooted close.

When Rebecca said nothing for several moments and still wouldn't meet his eyes, he decided to forge forward with the conversation he had been wanting to have all week. "Rebecca, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Ok," she said warily and put her glass down on the coffee table. She vibrated with tension.

"I understand that you have needed some space. I respect that. But we went from seeing each other almost every day for a month to you basically disappearing for a week. I want to know what's going on -"

She scoffed, cutting him off, "Uh sorry that I have stuff going on in my life that doesn't revolve around you."

He paused for a moment, a bit stunned by how rapidly she became so defensive. "Oh no, that's not what I meant at all."

Rebecca leaned forward away from the back of the couch and crossed her arms in front of her. "No, I get it. I'm not at your beck-and-call for sex anymore and suddenly you have a problem?"

"Whoa, no. Rebecca, what's happening right now?" He tried to meet her eyes but she avoided them. This conversation had turned on a dime and he was at a loss for how to diffuse it.

She stood, arms still crossed in front of herself protectively. Her words were halted and came out in short bursts. "Why do you even want this? You're the one who said monogamy is terrible." He opened his mouth to respond but she resumed before he had a chance to counter. "Remember, how horrible it is to be shackled to one person? It's boring and the sex is lame," she paraphrased back to him mockingly.

While her tone of voice was harsh, her face showed only fear. In an instant, he flashed back to when Rebecca gave a verbal lashing to her friends when confronted with her past. Her whole demeanor was eerily similar and he realized that she must feel cornered. At least this time he knew not to tell her to calm down.

Pushing down his frustration and panic, he stood and reached out to touch her arm. "Please just look at me. Why are you pushing me away?"

She recoiled from him and it felt like a slap in the face. He reacted without thinking, the words spilling out of him before he could catch himself, "Rebecca stop it, you're splitting."

Her eyes went wide as saucers. "Excuse me?" Now she finally met his eyes, but with a startling intensity, full of indignation. "Where did you hear that term?"

"I, um…" he stammered.

"Oh so now you know me so well because you did some creative Googling about BPD? You don't know what you're talking about," she spat at him.

"You're right, I don't. I'm sorry."

"You know what - I think I need to stop and take a breath, ok?" In a practiced manner, she put her hand on her own chest, over her heart, and deeply inhaled and exhaled. She did this three times, while he waited patiently. Then, she regarded him again, visibly calmer. When their eyes met this time, she softened a bit.

"Rebecca, I'm sorry I said that. I'm truly sorry. All I wanted to say is that I missed you and I think we could find a middle ground between being inseparable and not seeing each other at all. I just want you to tell me honestly why you've been distant."

Still breathing deeply, she nodded and bit her lip. "Ok, I hear you. I'm listening to you." She was quiet for a few beats and he let the moment breathe while she gathered her thoughts. "I'm sorry too. I lashed out and that wasn't fair. Ok, here's the thing...I'm trying really hard not to obsess over you like I did with Josh. Dr. Shin told me I should come up with boundaries. I guess pushing you away completely felt easier than trying to navigate a compromise."

Tears pricked her eyes and she looked up at the ceiling, trying to keep them at bay. "Grey areas aren't my strong suit and what you said...it was right." She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "I'm sorry," her voice broke. "I'm so afraid of repeating my past mistakes. I wish I could just be normal."

"Come here," he said softly and she willingly went into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist. Resting his chin on top of her head, he stroked her hair with one hand and held her back steadily with the other. He whispered into her hair, "I know you're working really hard." Against his chest, she nodded and let out a shuddering breath. "I've got you, Rebecca, ok? I'm not going anywhere." Her arms tightened around him and he was content to hold her, swaying slowly, until her breathing slowed.

After several minutes, she pulled away and said with a hint of a smile, "I think I snotted on your shirt." Her eyes were a little red but the tension emanating from her earlier had all but dissipated.

"It's fine."

"Hey, why don't we watch a movie and get wine drunk and cuddle."

He tucked a loose curl behind her ear. "I would like that."

"Oh, actually I wanted to talk to you about something too," she said as she sat back down on the couch and picked up her wine glass. "I would like to come back to work soon...if the firm will take me back."

"What?"

"It was good at the beginning to have time to focus on my therapy but now I think all this spare time is doing more harm than good, honestly. Not having any structure or focus is really making me get too in my head...as you can probably tell."

Stunned by the timing of the admission, he searched her face for any inkling that Paula told her about the conversation with his father. But she seemed completely genuine.

"Wow, well, we would be happy to have you back whenever you're ready. But we should probably keep our relationship quiet around the office, at least at first. I don't want anyone to think I'm giving you preferential treatment."

"But you are going to give me preferential treatment, right?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

He smirked. "We'll see."

She poured more wine into her glass, a heavy pour at that, and shifted her attention to the TV screen. "What are you in the mood to watch?"

"Let's keep it light," he offered.

"Good idea." She clicked around for a while and then stopped suddenly and her face lit up with excitement. "Oh my gosh, can I show you something?"

"I have a feeling I don't have a choice, but yes." He was willing to sit through anything that would produce this kind of delight in her.

She clicked on an episode of a show called Unlikely Animal Friends. "Ok, so you need to see this. A horse and a kitten are best friends!" Her voice was animated and rapidly rising in pitch.

He laughed, "Are you serious right now?"

"Just watch! Just watch!"

As promised, a horse and a kitten frolicked around a stable together. The horse nuzzled the kitten and the kitten sometimes rode on the horse's back. But what really made Nathaniel warm was her unbridled joy over the pairing.

"Aww," she kept squealing every time the duo would embark on a new activity. When she saw his face, laughing at her in disbelief, she exclaimed, "How can you not love this? They're two cute animals that would never normally be together but they love each other!"

"What I love is how cute you are right now," he replied and kissed her temple.

She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder and cradling her wine glass against her chest. He pulled her close and hooked his free arm under her legs to hoist them across his lap. Curled into him, she rubbed her free hand over the softness of his shirt and then buried her nose in it and hummed. From all their overnights, he knew how much she was drawn to smell. He caught her numerous times smelling his pillow or articles of clothing. And every time, it tugged at his heart. He assumed it must be comforting, the way a child might be soothed by the touch or smell of a certain blanket.

He felt overwhelmed with the urge to completely engulf her protectively with his body, as if his physical form could shield her from every hurt she's endured. His stomach clenched at the feeling - there were so many things he wanted to say to her but couldn't. Not yet, anyway. It was too fast, too soon in their relationship. His feelings had been simmering at a slow boil from the moment they shared the kiss in the elevator. Meanwhile she had been fighting her own battles, Nathaniel probably just a distant murmur in the background of her frenzied mind. He accepted this disparity and buried his feelings deep down so he wouldn't rush her. He was an expert in hiding his feelings anyway - he spent most of his life putting on a brave face in front of his parents. So he tried to just embrace the moment, cuddling her close, while they watched - oh god, now it was a dog and a baby cheetah. Rebecca's body had melded to his, feeling heavy and relaxed.

"It's like I'm the cheetah and you're the dog," she said drowsily and with a hint of tipsiness.

"Uh huh," he agreed, though he had completely lost track of the story due to his wandering mind. "Hey, did you know cheetahs are the fastest land animal? They can get up to 70 miles per hour in 3 seconds. And if you watch their tails, you can see they use it for balance and it's kind of like a steering mechanism..." he trailed off when he noticed Rebecca's incredulous side eye staring up at him. "Never mind."

After the segment ended, Rebecca lifted her head and nuzzled his neck. "I want to live right here," she slurred, trailing kisses up his throat to his jaw. She discarded her wine glass and slid onto his lap so she was straddling him and rubbed her hands up and down his chest. "I like when you're soft," she said and he wasn't sure if she meant his clothes, his demeanor, or both. Her gaze was a little unfocused and he could smell the dark aroma of wine on her breath.

She kissed him then, her lips dragging over his slow, deep, and sweet. He let her take the lead, and when he circled her waist with his hands, she moved them to cup her breasts as she rolled her hips leisurely over him in exquisite torture. Her hands played at the back of his neck, threading the short hairs through her fingers. The pace was agonizingly slow but it wasn't long before he got aroused anyway, the evidence pressing into her insistently. The whimpering sounds she made didn't help the situation and he started to worry that he was getting too close too quickly.

"Hey, let's move to the bedroom," he suggested.

Her head lolled onto his shoulder, her eyes closing. "Carry me, I'm too tired to walk."

Oh no. This was not the kind of enthusiastic consent he strived for in a sexual encounter. He sighed as she continued to cling to him, "Rebecca, come on, I can't get up like this."

"Seems like you got it up just fine," she murmured into his neck. When he made no move to stand, she finally untangled herself from him and walked to the bedroom on uneasy legs.

"How much did you have to drink?" he asked as she laid down.

She ignored the question and grabbed his Stanford t-shirt, throwing it unceremoniously on to the floor next to the bed. "You weren't supposed to see that. I'm not obsessed with you."

He smiled. "I know."

"Nathaniel, stop standing there being weird and go get a condom." She snuggled deeper into her pillow.

Still unsure how to proceed, he left her and went to bathroom. She and Heather shared a communal box of condoms, a fact which she had previously tried to convince him was totally normal. There was a pill bottle on the vanity with Rebecca's name on it. The date of prescription was recent. She never mentioned that she started a new medication and he wondered if she should be drinking on it. Or if she even knew whether she should drinking on it. Maybe it was too early in the relationship to expect full disclosure about sensitive topics like this, but he couldn't help feeling a little discouraged by the omission. Still, tonight they worked through something difficult and they were slowly inching in the right direction. Baby steps.

After taking a moment to let his erection subside, he returned to the bedroom empty-handed and found her lightly snoring into her pillow. Thankful he wouldn't have to talk her out of having sex, he settled down next to her. He put an arm around her lower back and pulled her close to him, their noses almost touching. He watched her face, peaceful and serene, and matched his breath with hers until it lulled him to sleep.