When they had first met she had disarmed him with her purity and innocence. It drew him to her, (it didn't hurt that she was gorgeous too). The faith and compassion she had for her fellow man were like a foreign language to him, but one he was eager to learn if only she would teach him. The more time he spent with her the more he needed. She was intoxicating, a breath of fresh air. So he begged her to leave her job and the stability that came with it and set up a business with him. It was a huge risk but she took it in her stride assuring him that his science was valid. When they struggled to be taken seriously her positivity and good grace saw him through some tough times. It was her who urged him to never give up even when he had no other choice. As their business gained momentum he tried to shield her from some of the darker aspects of dealing with liars for a living. He wanted to keep her pure, untainted. He wanted to protect her softness so she wouldn't have to become hard like him. She had gotten him through some pretty rough times, like the breakdown of his marriage and his ever looming guilt for his mother and all of those times he had been struck by her selflessness. He had this image of her in his head that up until today was vulnerable and delicate. Now however he'd seen her in a totally different light. She'd fought with the strength of a lion for the man she loved. A man who had brought danger and deceit. A man who did not fit into a cosy little ideal, but who she had stood by regardless. She had summoned up this amazing inner courage and resilience even when all she had fought for had come to nought. She was strong. Stronger than he ever imagined. Thinking back over the last seven years he realised his vision of her was tempered with his fear. The fear he wasn't good enough for her. The fear that he would drag her down and cause her pain. That if he allowed himself to love her, his darkness would envelope her. He had put her on this pedestal and wouldn't permit himself to see the toll life had taken on her. She had an alcoholic father, a drug addicted husband, she'd lost her baby, been threatened, beaten, almost abducted, she dealt with death and abuse on a regular basis and was still one of the most together people he knew. All of the time he'd kept her at arms length snapping at her if she got too close because he was afraid she couldn't handle him. Now he could see he had been wrong. She was as tough and capable as he was, she just hadn't lost the qualities that drew him to her in the first place. Maybe she had darkness in her too. Maybe he should set aside his fear of the dark and move towards her light.