[ There's no hesitation, just a gentle slowness in taking them. ]
Not sure about the apartment, but I remember Buffy.
[ There's a surge of frustrated protectiveness and desperate anxiety; link or not, she's in no state to shield her mind from him completely. (There are definite parallels, in those emotions, to failing Rachel.) ]
A little concerned by thinking about her making you... feel like Rachel.
[ He closes his hands gently and pulls her in toward him, while leaning back, himself. Come lean on him. Or snuggle with him. They're the same thing. ]
[ There's a brief resistance, entirely because it means admitting just how exhausted she feels and it's just - instinctive, at this point in her life, not to do that. Somehow, without her noticing, Scott stopped being the exception.
But then she does it anyway, resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. ]
She had to grow up too fast, and she keeps losing the people she loves, and one day she'll go back to her own world and there's nothing I can do about any of it.
[There's a present delivered the last day of the year, marked with a tag that holds the printed picture of a raven on it. A letter inside accompanies the present itself, sealed with silver wax that holds the signet press of two crossed feathers topped with a cluster of three six-pointed stars.]
May I share my bounty with you that you have plenty of your own for this new year. I love you. Not in a complicated way, just know that. Happy Candleglow -C.S.
[Scott will find a package of lavender honey cookies inside the package, as well as an assortment of what appear to be truffles labeled "For dreamless sleep."]
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