A smug smile crossed Rae's face. "Meh. Facts will not deter me. Rae Alghren is a determined lady. You know this as well as I do," she pointed out, winking at him. There were so many examples of her determination; as a matter of fact, the fact that they were standing on that island right then was one of them. "But all right. The gauntlet has been thrown, Zimmerman. Challenging me never ends too well for the challenger, either."
She chuckled. "Besides that, it'd be freaking awesome to live in a bubble," she added, lightening the conversation again. It had taken a dark turn, especially with how easy it was for either of them to be hurt. Rae hadn't been joking in the slightest. She'd be lost without Elliot, it was as simple as that… except that it wasn't simple at all. "Rolling over zombies and being able to float over the water and everything? Like a human in a giant hamster ball…" she giggled.
"No, no you can't, because I will squeal like a little girl and everyone in this whole building will wake up and you will be to blame," she said seriously, though the grin on her face totally belied her words. "But I won't tickle you again tonight. I Rae promise." And he knew that a Rae promise was never broken.
Rae shook her head. "Entertainment isn't pointless. It's sanity keeping and sanity is almost on par with physical health as far as importance goes," she pointed out. "I'll be out anyway. And I promise, I won't be too reckless." Rae's idea of reckless was probably a little bit different from anyone else's, since she tended to err on the side of fearlessness, usually. But that was beside the point. She smirked, then laughed at the extra motion of zipping his lips and pulled her lower lip into her mouth. He was so adorable sometimes. "Mine too," she added, her voice a little softer than she wanted it to be.
His reassurance eased her mind a little, as did the nudge. She smiled a little bit and nodded. "I know," she told him. "Thanks to you, I'm not dead." It was no less terrifying, but that went unsaid.
He reassured her yet again and she looked at him, a little bit worried that his eyes would betray his words and tell her that he shared her sentiment that it was a moment of weakness. But they didn't. She kept her eyes on him for another long moment, his compassion bringing a slightly more genuine smile to her face. "Humanity sure picked a lousy time to show itself…" she snorted a derisive laugh.
His next words served their purpose, and the gratitude and comfort that they brought her couldn't properly be expressed through words. She looked up at him again, a soft, appreciative laugh escaping unbidden. "You know me so well," she said in acknowledgement, not knowing what to say to properly express her gratitude. "You're right. I'm not going to let this stop me. Thank you," she said.
For a moment, she considered punctuating that gratitude with a kiss… showing him exactly what he meant to her. But at the last possible second, she chickened out and pressed her lips softly against his cheek instead. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Eli…" she said, leaning her head against his shoulder and relaxing.