She blinks, at once taken by the words, so much more than she expected. Parting in a suck in of breath that takes her as suddenly as he says it. "You... " He, what, Lakshmi? She so desperately doesn't want him to stop touching her. For him to stop looking at her like that. She didn't think she could imagine him any other way, than how he looked now. Wants to take it in both her hands and put it to a painting that even when she must lose him, she could keep this.

"... You have had me, since the day we met." You will always have me. But it wasn't because of a misunderstood ceremony, the exchange he didn't know about. He had never turned away from her. Not shying from what she had asked. He brave, more profoundly brave than any man she had ever commanded. "My Admiral, my hope." Her hand rises to exchange her touch with his. To sweep down his face. Her strange little admiral, sharp, quick and clever. "I could never let anyone touch you. You are the first thought I might have a life beyond all this death. I never thought to have that again. Even if you must leave, after all is done. I would protect you with my life, until then." She let her hand hover, where it slips from his cheek.