Redhawk Caldera Stray away from the forces that make you

She lost even herself for a moment there.  She didn't hear any of his struggle, but she did dimly notice when he came in.  She thought vaguely that it was strange.  She'd been going to him, not the other way.  That thought fled with the rest, though, as for a moment she just lay there with her cheek pressed to the cold ground.  It helped to ground her, and while the pain remained, incessant and damnable as ever, she slowly tunneled back into reality.

The first thing she noticed was breathing, quicker and harsher than her own even.  Bronco was in here and she could smell his fear and desperation so strongly she could almost feel it herself.  At first she couldn't pinpoint where he was, but her ears twisted while her head remained down, and she quickly honed in.  

Bron, get - outta here.  She didn't ask for this.  She didn't need him to come in here for her, scared half to death, when it was doing favors for her that put him here in the first place.  Didn't he see that she was never going to be able to return it all?  She didn't have anything to give but lies and tough love.  She wasn't knocking herself, but she knew that neither of those would do.  With Penn, maybe, but not with Bronco.  Bronco was different; he wasn't like them.

You don hav - jus go.  It's fine.  It wasn't.  Nothing about any of this was fine, and for once she didn't have the energy to make the lie convincing.  But she still tried, an edge of pleading sliding in under the halting, awkward cadence of the words.