The moment her fingers touched his he jerked, but he didn't pull away. He just looked down at their hands, joined together now. She was holding on to him. Or permitting him to hold on to her, for she knew he wouldn't have the strength to reach out first? Maybe a little bit of both.

Maybe it was always a little bit of both with them.

Inbetween. He looked up, reaching for her mind for the answers just in time to hear the whisper of with me humming along their bond.

Suddenly that day in his house was alive around them again, kisses and touches and a need that had been fueled by Lucid - but not caused by it, just intensified too much to deny it any longer.

"I don't know if I... if we..." He licked his lips. He'd never been cowardly before. He knew what he wanted and took it, or at least sacrificed everything for the pursuit. Except with this... "Could we do that?" he asked. "Together? After everything...? Do you think you could try to trust me with this, if I try to trust you?" Middle ground. Or a them.

Maybe the answer for that was "both", too.