Only love can build us a Bridge of Light

[Claudius Aston]

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[/html]For a few seconds, Claudius thought he'd lost her. She looked so terribly sad, alone, and afraid that he thought she might take off or do something completely drastic. Her ear was twitching something terrible, and Claudius knew that he didn't have the know-how to help with that. He could only hope that it was a tic similar to the tics he had as a child and not indicative of some greater medical malady.

There was a sudden jerk of movement and before Claudius knew it, Gemma had flung herself (quite literally) at him. At first, he froze--his customary response--but then pushed himself to relax and let her sink into his arms. If she was willing to touch someone after what had happened to her, that was a huge step forward and he couldn't let his own anxieties get in the way of that. Gemma was more important than his own petty concerns.

In an odd way, her shaking hid his own, so he didn't notice for a few seconds that his hand was shaking when he reached around to put a comforting arm over her shoulder.

"Shh, i-i-it... I-I'm huh-here," he said, realizing halfway through that he couldn't say, it's okay, because it wasn't.

"Ju--" he began, and realized that he shouldn't be shushing her. "Just... cuh-come... here," he said. "Yuh-you're suh-safe with muh-me." [html]

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