"Ed, I...You don't know me. And I've just...I just...I'm not the person you think I am."

The soft touch of her hand set his heart aflame.

[i]I'd like to explore you to find out who you are, then.[/i]
It was a dirty thought.
It was a rotten, dirty thought.
His mind's eye imagined kissing her hand, kissing up her arm, taking her lips-
Disgust with himself welled up in his throat.

[i]She's a lady. It would be wrong to treat her that way.[/i]
[i]Look deeper.[/i]
She was just a girl.
Weaker than he was.
It would be easy, too easy, to take advantage of her.
How horrid, how wretched would he have to be to play so forwardly with her heart?
Pity for this sweet, delicate creature began to take root.

[i]No! Love for pity won't last. Look deeper still![/i]

Then it struck him.

Sofie was trusting him.

[i]You don't know me. I'm not the person you think I am.[/i]

He was a fool not to have seen the vulnerability in her words, the raw, delicate core of her character opening up for him. He didn't deserve to know who she was. She didn't have to show him who she was. She was putting her whole future, her whole life at risk in opening up to him. To take that delicate core and smash it in the clutches of lust or pity would be a grave, unforgivable mistake. It took a great deal of strength for a woman to expose her vulnerability, to take a chance on a companionship that might someday destroy her.

It was strength, not weakness, that reached out to take his hand.

[i]Could we truly be equal partners? Is such a thing possible?[/i]

Lust and pity melted away for something purer. The seed of brighter desires bloomed in his heart. At length, Ed's fingers laced themselves in hers until their palms kissed together.

"Neither am I."

He looked up to capture her gaze, and the slightest hint of a smile peeked through his face.

"So what do you say we find out together?"