Pepper pulls her hand back sharply, raising her other arm as she's been trained to block any possible strike from Shay, but he stops. She isn't surprised he reacted that way, so she doesn't jump away from him.

"Yeah, it's me. You're safe," she assures him. Her hands settle in her lap for now, even though she'd much rather be hugging him at the moment. "Deon and Arno are here, too," she adds cautiously, not wanting to overload Shay with too much information at the moment.