"I know," Karen says, and in spite of everything, she smiles a little. He's always been willing to protect her without acting like she needs protection, and that, to her, is a distinction that makes all the difference in the world. It's nice knowing that he has her back — that he'd shoot anyone who came at her the way Patrick Brady did tonight — but that he won't try to hold her back. They've always worked well together for that reason, she thinks, even before they were anything more than friends and colleagues. Tonight seems like it's been a perfect example of that.

It's probably a little strange, to consider this as having been a good night, but she doesn't really care.

"For the record," she adds, just a little too gentle to be teasing, "I would, too. Or, you know, help cover this up."