Althea didn't feel powerful and wonderful like Nolan thought of her as, and she certainly didn't feel that she deserved happiness, even though she did. It was hard to really feel anything since the day she killed her family, anything but self-loathing, self-pity, lonely, depressed. She was so absorbed in her won melancholy that she didn't realize what she had now, after everything she's been through, was a small form of happiness. Being able to walk into a room and sit on a couch next to someone without them trying to lock her away again or giving her a crazed and scared look was a start to happiness, a start to her power retreating and becoming more submissive to her whims. Thea just hadn't realized it yet.
Her touch is gently when she brings her hands to close around his wrists, almost like he were a piece of glass and would shatter into a million pieces once she touched him. Of course, he didn't because he was Nolan, and he was her rock. The one that would always be there for her time and time again, even when she pushed him away like a plate of finished dinner, he would still be their waiting for her. Her thumb barely touches his skin as she strokes lines over the bone in his wrist, trying to express how grateful she was for him without words, because she doesn't think she'll be able to voice anything except her complaints at the moment.
"What kind of slip is it going to take for me to learn that
I can live up to the expectations of everyone around me,
or for me to forgive myself for killing my parents? Am I
going to have to K I L L someone again to realize that it's
a way of life for someone like me, because I'm practically a
fucking fairytale character?"
Her words are harsh and self inflecting, but she doesn't expect any less from herself and she assumes that he doesn't either, that he's gotten used to her constantly hatting herself so he always knew what to say and do. Althea's just fortunate her grew used to it instead of sick of it, because then she wouldn't just T H I N K she was alone, she was actually be alone.
His lips are warm against her always cold skin and she takes comfort in the calming feeling that waves over her body in the following seconds as he pulls away from her. Looking up to see that sincere and reassuring smile brings another wave of ease crashing over her body. Her shoulders hunch even more so and she closes her eyes as her touch on his wrists becomes more prominent, her body realizing that he's not going to turn into a block of ice.
" You and me? What happens I F one day you lose your
control because you've been so focused on me getting mine?
We'll be right back here again and I'm not as S T R O N G as
you are, I'm not going to be any help because I'll just fall apart
with you."