Welcome to Gaia! ::

It wasn't the body melting bruising of lips that they usually shared and maybe if the nature of the conversation they were having wasn't so heavily weighted Porsha would have wondered more about that. But she could feel his hand trembling on her hip before he was drawing back from the kiss to blue eyes flicking up and away as if he were looking for something, anything to help him in this moment.

Her breath caught in her throat as he admitted his fear in telling her and there was a very large part of her that stung at the knowledge that he was that afraid of her. The rational part reminded her that she'd threatened his life before, if he didn't get his s**t together and be the soldier she'd recruited him to be, but needing help, seeking it, it wasn't the same as ******** off on the other side of the globe to avoid his quota.

Jaw clenched, she dropped her gaze from his face to collect her thoughts enough to respond to that. It was a sensitive thing, something she couldn't afford to be cavalier about, but damnit she didn't want him terrified of coming to her for support.

The warmth of his palm holding her hand against his cheek was a comfort, and again she stroked the stubble under her thumb before looking up again. "There's a difference, Layne. Between being a bad soldier and a liability, and being a good soldier that needs help." It was barely above a whisper, and silver eyes flicked around them as people approached, but they always returned to meet bright blues. "You're important to me." They all were, but especially him. "I don't want anything to take you away." From me... She'd almost said it. Hell, she probably didn't need to. The subtext was obvious.

"I'm here for you. As a friend, as a boss, in any way you need."

Porsha waited for that she'd said to sink in and was relieved when the hand on her hip tightened enough to fend off the trembling. The worry wasn't gone, but it seemed less likely for him to simply bolt. The kiss on her hand only reinforced that relief, and only then did the something close to a smile return to dark lips. The pad of her thumb stroked his cheek, following the line of his cheek bone, reassuring herself that he was there, and would remain there.

She couldn't lose anyone else. Something inside her wouldn't survive it.

"Good, you aren't allowed," she teased, leaning into the broadness of his chest and curling her arms back over his shoulders. "You're stuck with me." Grinning, she rose up on her toes again, head tipping back to invite him in for another kiss.

Admitting the issue didn't fix it, and even if he'd been in recovery for a while now addiction didn't just go away. It was an 9ngoimg struggle that'll have ups and downs and everything in between, but she would be there for him if he needed her. She was his general, and his friend, and his lover. Their lives were tangled together in complicated knots.