[There's a smile in his voice, but he shakes his head all the same.] Mei...sweetheart, you didn't do anythin'. I did it all on my own time. Sure, I wasn't tryin', I'll give you that. But in the end? All comes back to me. 'S my responsibility, not anyone else's.


...The tough rubber there is I dunno what t'do, really. She ain't much for jewelry, and we've done all the little stuff before. Chocolates, flowers, restaurants...even gave 'er a treat like that fer Valentine's this year - all three in a day. I mean this one, not th' horsefuckery from the year before.

[Hey, that reminds him of something else - but we can get to that in.]

An' wouldja believe that all she wanted at th' end of it all was t'sit an' watch the stars with me? No kiddin', I ask 'er wants or where she wants t'go, she says that. An' before that, she says 'It doesn't matter, really. I just want to be with you.'

So with that, we go to the park. Find ourselves a nice bench an' just talk about things. Anything. We watch the sun set...an' when it goes down, we look at th' night sky. Th' clock said eleven thirty-five when we finally got home.

She fell asleep on me before then. Laid 'er sweet little head on my shoulder, then closed 'er eyes after a while...no sound, but she's warm. She's holdin' my hand th' whole while too.