[The way she looks at him, it's like he's asked her a question she's already answered a hundred times. That's the thing. To her perspective, she has. To Ben's, she hasn't said word one. Her face goes blank and she drops her chin back to the already-worn space between the bear's ears.]

The fact that you gave it to me is the big part. It feels like a part of you, so it's safe, because you're safe.

That and - teddy bears are for little kids. The kind of little kids who get protected by their parents, I mean. Not the kind that are all alone, or the kind whose parents are crazy murderers. So it's . . . a nice little lie.

[A lie she doesn't mind. A lie that makes it easier to breathe.]