Claire relaxed a little bit. Okay. This was progress. He hadn't fled out the door or gotten angry at her or anything like that. She watched as he sat down in front of the door and joined him, sitting against the wall and looking over at him. She hated whatever was making him feel like this. Hated it with every fiber of her being and wanted to make it wish it had never existed. She knew, though, that she couldn't. The most she could do right now was be there for him and make him see that he wasn't alone. Not as long as she was around.
She looked over at him, quiet for a long moment before she spoke. "You could start by looking at me," she said softly, waiting until he did and giving him a secure smile as she continued. "There are people here who care about you. Who want to see you happy. I can name three without even trying. And I know that we at least make you feel a little less empty, right? So you can stop trying to be a loner. Stop trying to push us all away. And let us care about you as much as you care about us. Because I, for one, am not gonna let you push me away. I think I've proven that, at least..." she said, smirking a little bit.
Pausing, she gauged his reaction again and bit her lip. "And there's one more thing you can do," she said, wondering if her eyes were showing him exactly what she was thinking. For quite some time she'd wanted to kiss him. Just to see what would happen. But she'd figured he didn't want to and she was glad that she hadn't yet. Now, though, with everything in the open and him knowing exactly where she stood (and her knowing partially where he stood) - she couldn't stop herself from thinking about it.