Page 80 of Pallas & Kawehi

"You can cry to me."

He was almost to the bed, but she turned her head to face the far wall, completely hiding her face from him.

"You could yell at me, too. If that would help."

"You're not the problem."

He could hear the ache of pain in her voice.

"I still want to be here to help." He was close enough to the side of the bed to feel her cotton sheet dangling off the side of it. "I've got strong shoulders."

She nodded, turning back toward him, but keeping her face obscured by her hair. "I know, but I can't imagine you'd want to hear even more about my piece of... junk husband."

"You're soon to be ex-husband." He put a knee on the edge of the bed and the other one joined it a moment later. "I think I might need to hold you, so I won't worry about you."

Her head jerked toward him and he almost froze in place. He could see one eye beyond the moving wall of her hair. "I feel like I'm so... so brittle right now that if you touch me I might shatter into a... a thousand pieces."

He moved around behind her, slowly moving one leg around her back to the other side of her body.

Pallas leaned in near her shoulder and spoke softly to her. "If you fall apart, Kawehi, I'll hold you together."

"I... I don't know if it would be worth the effort."

Her voice shook so much that he knew she was dangerously close to breaking apart.

"You're more than worth the effort, Kawehi. You're worth the world."

He wrapped his arms around her and as soon as his skin touched hers, she sagged back against his chest and curled up against him. She cried, her whole body shaking like an earthquake.

"I s...saw him in the video."

He held her against him, not trying to do more than that. He just wanted to keep her safe and give her what support he could.

"He... he's married."

The words confused him at first, but then it hit him square in the chest.

"He's married. Again?"

She didn't answer him with words.

Kawehi curled in tighter against his chest and he used his arms to bring her as close as he could against his chest before he started to rub his hand slowly against her back.

"I'm sorry."

She drew in a deep breath and he stilled his hands on her back.

"I don't know what I expected," her next in drawn breath was more of a gasp for air, "but it wasn't that. I didn't know..."

He held her as close as he could without cutting off her air and rocked her slightly back and forth.

As he held her, and touched her, she shifted against him, wrapping one arm around him, and then the other.

Somehow, they ended up cuddled around each other, barely awake.

And it seemed like moments or hours later when she whispered against his neck. "Thank you."

His own words were murmured against her temple. "You don't have to thank me, baby. Whenever I can be here to hold you... comfort you... love you... that's where I want to be."

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