Shh.

[What never fails to startle her, somehow, is how easy it is to just...forget everything else, when it comes to soothing Alucard. The car is abandoned outside; whatever it was she'd thought of showing him or bringing back from her errands is irrelevant. It can all wait, all of it, because in moments like this it's not that he's her highest priority; it's that he's her only priority, and everything else can go by the wayside.

From what she understands of his relationship with his father, that's essentially the exact opposite of how things are between the two of them. She still doesn't even know what the letter said, but it doesn't matter. She's certain it was selfish, because his father is always selfish. How could he not be, to ignore his son's grief in favor of merely nursing his own?

And yet, she thinks fiercely, it's not because of Dracula that she puts Alucard first. She does that all on her own, of her own volition, because her choices are defined by no one but herself, however they might be used as a lens to illuminate the flaws in others.]

We will work it out. You, and me, and Trevor. You were alone before, when having to deal with him, but you are not anymore.