“I know you do. You told me over and over that you can’t be trusted, that you’re dangerous - hell, that’s practically the first thing you said to me that first time I met you. I don’t care. I decided to trust you anyway, ‘cause y’know what? Nobody’s safe. Not entirely. And no place is safe, either. Not just here - everywhere.”

Every dimension she’s been dragged into over the past few years has been fraught with peril. She nearly died in Vancouver, and it triggered a fundamental change that she can’t undo. Even her childhood home town, a tiny settlement in rural Kansas, needed to be navigated like a live minefield. Nick’s only ever known safety as a matter of degrees, never an absolute.

“Bein’ scared of getting hurt or fucked over isn’t gonna stop me from livin’ my life anymore. Living is messy and painful and hard as hell, but I’m not gonna let anything that comes at me break me, no matter how much it hurts. I’m way too stubborn to give up.”

For Nick, it’s not about avoiding the blows thrown her way anymore. It’s about being strong enough to endure them, and she’s more confident now than ever before in her life that she can do exactly that.

“Look ... I don’t wanna fight. I just wanna be with you right now. Can we agree to that?”

Tentatively, she reaches a hand out, asking for Drifter’s - for reassurance, maybe, that he isn’t going to push her away tonight.