"Sash, breathe," he told her gently, his hand sliding over to rest on her knee. He could, as she thought, hear it in her voice, even before he cast a brief sideways glance at her. "Of course you wouldn't. You don't have to prove anything to me. You know that."
He gave her knee a gentle squeeze of reassurance. "People are scared of what they don't understand. It's nothing new, babe." People always had to be shooting down someone. It seemed like society couldn't function unless they were.