"Regardless of where you found me," she tells him with a smile of her own, "I'm not a weakling. I can do things for myself."

She has one bag over her shoulder and one in her hand and she watches him with a bit of amusement. "If you'd like, I can carry yours." A pause, just to tease. "If they're too much."

There's something about him that draws it out in her — this need to be sassy and smart and show him she's capable. Perhaps it's because he's been intimate with her in ways that no one has and she wants to put herself on even ground again. Perhaps it's because she wants him to do it again. She's unsure.