<div style="text-align: justify;">Oh, she wanted nothing more than to just take him in her arms and tell him that everything was okay, and that she wasn't leaving anytime soon. Still, it felt wrong to be so intimate so shortly after so many harsh words had been exchanged. Alright, she had said more than she had been told, but still. She settled for rubbing her thumb soothingly over his arm. It was obvious how much he struggled to look at her. A pitying half-smile crept across Alannah's face. Maybe some ancient part of her had surfaced tonight. The part that had made sailors throw themselves to the mercy of the sea without any hesitation or conscious thought at all. <br/><br/><span style="color: #4080FF">"Ya not gonna be alone,"</span> she told him. <span style="color: #4080FF">"And I may have overreacted a little. Okay, a lot. It's just..."</span> She paused, shifting her eyes to a clump of seaweed that wafted gently back and forth in the water. <span style="color: #4080FF">"I was just so ovahwhelmed. I barely know ya, and all of a sudden you're asking me to drop everything and run. That's not - that's just not how the world works, Dimitri, no mattah how much I'd want it to,"</span> she said, shaking her head, sending her hair that had been spiraling peacefully upwards into a crazed dance around her head. <span style="color: #4080FF">"But,"</span> she continued, grasping both his hands properly, <span style="color: #4080FF">"I do know that I want to be with ya. I mean, around ya. Ya know. P-point is, you're not gonna be alone as long as I'm here." </span><br/><br/>Why was she struggling so much? Why couldn't she just tell him that his touch sent electric currents running through her? How was this man affecting her so much after such a short time? She had never had trouble walking away before. Cut her losses and never look back, that was her strategy. But this, this was impossible. She lifted his chin with a finger and attempted another smile. <span style="color: #4080FF">"And ya know, I'm gonna be here for a long time. I can't imagine ya'd wanna stay undah the watah with me until tomorrow night. But if ya go up, I'll find ya again. Promise."</span></div>