"I was very firm," Little John said, curling his arm into its familiar shape around her, smiling as he leaned his head toward hers. "Put my foot down hard after the fifth. 'Course, she was asleep by then, but that's by-the-by." He pulled her tighter into his arms, thinking that this time tomorrow he was going to be going to sleep in a bed in a whole nother world, the sounds of the human world encroaching in through the windows, the low clouds of the city reflecting a million artificial lights in through the gaps in the curtains, and no Elaine in his arms. He'd just hold her all the tighter then, while he could.