She had taken a stance in the doorway.  Her wifely instincts told her to help him too a chair, but nooo, he didn't want her help, remember?  But it wasn't long until he'd worked up the breath to apologize to her.  Her expression softened.  She was so frustrated with his pride, yes, but she was more frustrated with what this sickness had done to him, and in agony over watching him suffer and having nothing to help him, at least nothing he would allow, of course.  He knew his anger at her earlier wasn't like him, and she knew it.  They didn't have the time to be angry at each other now.  She just wanted to take in all there was left of him, as much of the old him still remained.

Elizabeth was so taken with him, she didn't notice him knocking over the glass in time, even though she should have.  He'd been in the middle of thanking her for something, she didn't know what, and she just didn't pay enough attention.  She noticed it just barely too late.  She had rushed forward five steps toward the glass in the fraction of a second it took to fall, but her fingertips only managed to graze it.  It shattered to the floor anyway.

While she frowned, disappointed in herself that she didn't manage to catch it, she knelt to the floor right away, plucking a rag off the counter and pressing it to the water all over the dirt floor, trying to absorb it before it got muddy.  Jaspin's movement attracted her attention yet again.  She sat up, beginning to reach out a hand to him, to help him, but stopped herself.  He wanted to continue to do as much as possible himself.  But watching him struggle and hobble just to collapse in a chair made her feel like someone had put her unbeating heart in a vise.  She bit her lip and returned to collecting the broken glass.  She swept the pieces into her hand without a second thought.  There was no chance of them cutting her skin.  

[i]Not leaving?[/i]

She sat right up again, depositing the glass on the counter and wiping her hands off on her skirt.  He thought it deserved merit that she hadn't left him by now?  Over this?  Her eyes went wide and sad, dismayed that he'd even think such a thing.  "Jaspin... how could I leave you now?  How could I ever abandon you to suffer this alone?"  She crawled over beside his chair and brushed his face with her hand tenderly.  "I will be by your side, and I will never stop being by your side," she murmured, gently pulling him into her arms and burying her head in his chest.