Louis and Tawny sat in silence at the breakfast table the next morning. Tawny looked as lifeless as Louis had ever seen her. Louis had hardly gotten any sleep himself, after all that Tawny had told him after getting out of the police station that night. She had told him about the choice that she had made so that they could remain together, at the price of the greatest compromise to her work that she had ever had to make. She had told him all this in a strangely resigned tone, instead of getting mad at him for what he had done. Louis felt a painful mixture of profound gratitude and acute shame, shame at what he had gotten her into and gratitude for how she had gotten him out of it. He recalled the countless times she had gotten him out of trouble in the past, how it was Tawny who had pried him away from the life of a troublemaker back in the day and made his life so much richer than ever before. She had given – and given up – so much by committing herself to him over all these years, trusting in his love, trusting that he would always give back. But what she had given and given up for him this time, there was no way he could ever give back.
"I'm sorry, Tawny," Louis just said, not knowing what else he could say.
Tawny just looked at him, dazed and disoriented, as if she was slowly waking back up into the reality of what had happened last night. She then buried her face in her arms and just cried. Louis had gotten so used to seeing the strong, unbreakable woman that Tawny was that seeing her break down like this made his heart sink. Above all, it pained him to know that it was because of what he had done to her, because the source of strength that she always relied on had utterly failed her, for once. He placed his arms around her, trying to do what he could to be the source of strength once more.
"What were you thinking, Louis…" Tawny managed to say in between her tears.
"I'm sorry," Louis just repeated, his voice now reduced to a whisper.
Tawny understood, in the midst of her tears. She understood what her own tears meant and what they meant to Louis. Last night, at the police station, her greatest strength had turned into her greatest weakness. In a way, Louis had always been her greatest weakness, someone that she would do anything and give anything for. She would have put herself through torture for Louis, fearing nothing because she knew that she could rely on the strength that he was to her, no matter what happened. And she needed to think no further to know that she still had her greatest strength, far greater than what she had to give up last night. She couldn't let herself lose her unconditional trust in him, her trust that he and his love would always give back. Otherwise, she would be letting them win, letting them come between her and her greatest strength, her greatest love, her greatest inspiration.