She appreciated his honesty, and she appreciated that he worried about her; she had never really had anyone care enough about her before to worry, but he was right in that it got on her nerves eventually. It was nice to have someone worry, but she hated being treated as fragile, especially when he knew how strong she was.

Turning in his arms again, she wrapped her own around his neck and kissed him softly. She had to give him a little leeway here, because while he worried, she also knew it was a feeling of helplessness that was making it worse. It was her body, she was the one who had to go through all these changes, all the pain and sickness and everything that went with it while he could do little more than watch. He couldn’t take any of it away, couldn’t really make it better, but he wanted to help, needed to be useful, and she had to allow him that.

“Thank you,” she murmured against his lips, slowly opening her eyes to peer up at him. “It helps just having you here, not having to do it alone.”