Stavanger Bay Hope it isn't repetition, though that's the only thing that keeps and takes you

she spoke;
lestan's heart reverberated and rebounded. at some point he took her paw and watched her face; at some point he stopped glancing toward the sea and kept himself fully entrenched in all that reverie said.
of course he wished to argue! but not until the the end did he part his jaws to say, "you haven't failed."
there was a long silence as he filtered back her words through his mind, needing to hear them and yet feeling so guilty for all the blame and the pain she must have so often felt.
intimacy; now the blush crept his cheeks and he pressed her paw with his own, glancing downward. 
"i — it's n-not our love, it's y-your health. i — worked through the first part," he said in a hopeful little whisper. "i am afraid of — h-hurting you. physically. and i s-suppose at this point, i'm too frightened to try. there's just — it no longer happens," he stage-whispered as his ears splayed to his head.
but it was good to say it, good to speak this aloud.
to her, to no other.
"i stay for you. not just her. i w-want us to be a family. i j-just need — i need some time away. being without you makes me feel as if i might die, reverie, and i can't have that either. i — want to be strong. in all ways."
he kissed her golden cheek. "i don't know if you can help me. but i t-think what helps me most is when you are healthier. happier. when y-you go places of your own and see the world, and c-come back."
when you live.