<em>- Bo reacting to Nicci, Mari having just finished answer the questions-</em><br/><br/>Bo's gaze went quickly from Mari to Nicci as she stood suddenly, turning her back to everyone.  His smile faded into an expression of concern.  Something wasn't quite right in the way she held herself while looking into the fire.  The firelight cast an aura around her body, bathing her back in flickering shadows that the soft lights of the room couldn't quite overcome.  The slight rise and fall of her chest was the only sign of her soft sigh before taking a sip of her coffee, but to Bo's intense gaze it was as if she had inhaled deeply before expelling all the air back into the room.  She was obviously upset.  Something that Mari said must have triggered a memory, or a deep seeded doubt.  Bo racked his brain, quickly going over Mari's answers in his head, but nothing jumped immediately to mind as the cause.  He had so much yet to learn about Nicci.<br/><br/>When she turned toward him, the questioning look on her face, the doubt even, rolled over him like a crashing wave.  The cause of her doubt eluded him.  She seemed for an instant to be a ship, adrift on the open sea all alone, with no guidance.  The tug in his chest told him loud and clear that this beautiful angel needed him in that moment, that she needed some reassurance.  He didn't need to know why, nor what had set her adrift.  He only needed to act.<br/><br/>Smiling warmly, looking into her eyes, his own open and honest, hiding nothing of himself, he simply patted the armrest with the palm of his hand.  It was a subtle gesture, meant only for her.