A little while later

After a few minutes Shana stopped crying enough to talk clearly enough to be understood as more than just sobs and gasps.

"Why?! Why did you do that?!"

"what?" AAAAHHH!! Talking made my chest hurt.

"You could have just left, or let that first punch go! Even that second one from behind!"

"no i couldn't. he threatened you, then pushed you. i can't let that go. and that's just the bouncer. those people could've done any number of things with you if you'd been K.O.'d. i'll be goddamned if i'm gonna let those people touch you."

"Dammit!! This isn't some samurai movie where you have to defend my honor! You could've been seriously injured, even killed!! I'm not worth that!"

"yes you are. besides, i wasn't defending your honor, i was defending you. i bet he would have hit you if i hadn't taken him down that first time. and he wouldn't have killed me in front of all those witnesses. it would've at least cost him his job, if not jail time. i think i got it about as bad as i could've."

"He still could have accidentally killed you!!"

"....i hadn't thought of that."

"sniff Idiot. I swear, if you get killed because of me, i'll hate you forever!"

"oh, come on. you know you can't hate me. you love me too much." I smirked, hoping the joke would lighten her up. Shana hating me. God, don't even joke about that. It didn't work. She just put her head back on me and whimpered.

"...Yeah. You're right."