[ She barely even gives him a chance to speak. The words have barely left his mouth before she kisses him again, her arms tight around his neck and her body pressing in as close as she can get, every space between closed and filled with touch. She feels dizzy. She feels disbelieving. She's scared. This is so much, too much, surely more than someone like her deserves to have been saved and then to hear this words from the one who saved her.

The one person she's wanted to hear them from all along. ]

I love you. [ She doesn't have to think about it. She doesn't even give herself the chance. She just lets the words come pouring out the way she's always wished she could say them. The truth, pried and twisted out of her the way she's always wanted to give it. ] Oberon, I love you- all this time, even when I could never say it, I...

[ A hitching breath on the verge of being a sob. ]

I won't go. I'll stay here all night, s-so... So please love me.