They kissed for a good long while but took it no further than that -- Vlad cannot help but think, with a sobering sort of clarity, of the last time he had found himself in a situation like this; how he had been the one in need of assurance and how it had been Ilona who had held him until he had felt like the world wasn't splintering to pieces all around him -- content simply with staying in place.
"Everyone's afraid sometimes. It's going to work -- we're going to make it work."