Can't handle a little needle in the name of cautio.n? Damn, you think you know a girl. Next it'll be bird flu, and how will you expect me to live with myself?

[Banter was easy. Familiar, even. It was almost enough to take his mind off the churning dread in his stomach, and the flashes of nightmares that kept replaying in his head. Rose's presence continued to bring one particular one to the surface.]