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Ultimately, he gently says her name and pushes the hair out of her face. "Colleen."
She sucks in a breath and sits up, squeezing her eyes shut as she pushes her hair out of her face. "Sorry."
"No sorry, Colleen," he says. "I just figured you should get some real sleep in a bed."
"Yep," she says with a sharp nod, looking around the room in a daze. She stands then and looks around the space for a second before crouching down to pick up a few of the toys that Simon had left scattered around and depositing them into the toy box on the other side of the couch.
Dustin wants to tell her to leave it but knows she won't, so he heads into the kitchen and pours them both glasses of water. It doesn't take her long to tidy up, so she joins him in the kitchen before long, and he hands her one of the glasses. She's pale and still seems to be having trouble looking at him, so he takes her hand and tugs on it a bit until she looks up at him. Her eyes are clear but wary.
"My head is very full right now and you're very tired so I think we should both go to bed, get some sleep, and then I might have follow up questions tomorrow. But I need to tell you one very important thing before you go to sleep, Colleen."
He watches as she swallows and then gives him a little nod, letting him know it's okay to continue.
"You are still you. Nothing you've done or had done to you, no choice you've made, no surgery, nothing, nothing, nothing, changes that." It doesn't feel like it's enough once he's said it, but something softens in her face when he looks back at her, a subtle unclenching of her jaw and the tightness around her eyes recedes.
She squeezes his hand and then stands on her tiptoes to press a kiss against his jaw, tells him, "Thank you," in the softest voice, and slips away and to her room.
