Some of what Owen told her was new information. It was the first Cecilia had ever heard of him losing his job, which physically pained her, or other women - knowledge that made her a little twitchy and irrationally jealous, but could be ignored. She listened to him and just wanted to reach out to him and comfort him, because she couldn't stand the association of Owen and pain. He'd been through too much. If she could have taken any piece of it away, she would have.
It was a lot to take in, but what he said resonated in her. She tried to imagine going home and not seeing Owen every day. She hated that idea. It didn't mean she wanted to stay in Zenith, but she didn't want any life that didn't have him in it. She hadn't had a life before this, she'd just gone through the motions.
Her eyes stayed fixed on him, and she didn't know what to say or do, and tried to shut down or at least fight through her panic responses and find what she felt beneath it all. She looked briefly around the room, before frowning and getting up. She pulled her chair around the table to sit nearer to him. "I don't want a life without you in it," she said, softly. "Whether it's home or here. I couldn't lose you." Tentatively she put her hand over his, almost as though she was touching him for the first time. She wasn't sure of herself at all right then, and was nervous about stepping wrong. She sighed and looked down. "...You know, typically when you ask a girl on a date you... you know, ask a girl on a date. At least given me a heads up to pop a xanax or something first." There was a hint of humor in her voice, meaning she probably wasn't serious about that last part.