She doesn't know why -- perhaps it was her own exhaustion or Jean-Claude voicing exactly what she herself had been thinking -- but her mind turns to other times when they'd been this tired, this frightened of the following night. But it hadn't been her. No, it had been long before her.

When it was Jean-Claude, Asher, and their beloved Julianna. How many times she'd whispered her fear to them, allowing them to feel their own and take comfort in simple embraces? So many nights when she would lay with them, warm flesh to warm flesh, and give them the ability to fear and be comforted. They had loved her, truly loved her, and her love for them had allowed them to be lovers for so long.

To become as close as they had.

Anita has seen the way Asher looks at Jean-Claude, the longing in his eyes, the tenseness around his eyes and mouth. She's seen the same in Jean-Claude when he looks upon Asher, even more so now that the scars were gone. She knows what they want, what they crave, but she was Julianna.

Anita could never been the sweet, kind, patient woman she had been.

But, she could offer them something. She could offer them sort of what they wanted while also protecting Asher. The question was, could she really do it?