She returned his smile, a little easier this time than the last, and this time she didn’t flinch from his touch. Clint had always tried so hard to prove himself, even before she had ever known him, but how often had anyone truly encouraged him? Not just that, but how many people had ever told him that it didn’t matter what he did that they would always care for him and believe in him?

“It is,” she agreed, because it was nice. More than nice. It was his belief in her that had made her the woman she was today. In the beginning she had thought that it was all for show, that she had to succeed for him to save face for bringing her in, but soon she realised that Clint was really that genuine, that he had really seen something in her worth saving, and he truly believed she could be better than she was, that she could do great things. That belief had made all the difference in the world, and it had made her want to not only do well, but to be the best.

When he tried to stand and stumbled instead, she reached out to catch him as best she could. “I guess I should have went to bed instead of the shower,” she said, the closest she could come to a joke after all the emotional turmoil they had just been through. When she continued, though, she was more serious. “Do you need help?” He had helped her wash her hair, and she would gladly do the same for him. “Completely innocent, just a shower.”

She was pretty sure neither of them were up for anything more right now.