“Maybe you can’t be sure, but I am,” she said with complete resolution. If his fears came to pass then she would fight him again, but she had to believe that he would be fighting too, fighting to free himself and to keep from harming her. She couldn’t rely on that, of course, but things had changed between them and as silly as it was, as childish and fanciful, she wanted to believe that it would help. “You’ve always been so strong, Clint, but we’re even stronger together.”

She could live her life with the same fear that he did, that someone from her past would return and try to flip that switch again, but that wasn’t how she lived and somehow she would convince Clint not to live that way either. For now, though, she could only offer encouraging words and a shoulder to cry on. Running her hands soothingly through his hair while he cried, she didn’t protest when he pulled her back to lay on top of him again, just let him move her however he needed.

“And you make a pretty decent pillow,” she replied with a soft smile. It seemed the storm had passed, and while she knew this was far from over she felt like it would be easier to move forward now with everything out in the open. She was grateful to him for confiding in her, and a bit proud that it was her he had chosen, but in the end who else did either of them really have?