She kicked at some of the broken glass with her boot. "No."
"Now you'll let me do what I need to do, and not interfere. Which of those choices suits you best?"
"I'll take Louise," she agreed. "Even though she's going to be royally pissed at me for messing up her fancy charity do."
"Shows what you know about such matters. She couldn't have bought the kind of publicity and attention for her cause that this little adventure will reap. And if she doesn't think of that straight away, you've only to remind her."
"Good thinking." She reached out, brushed his hair back from his face. "I love you. I just sort of felt like saying that right now."
"I always feel like hearing it. Come on now, Lieutenant, let's get you on your feet."
She took his hand, started to lever herself up. He heard her gasp, hiss, and barely strangle a groan.
"Okay, ouch." She had to lower again, catch her breath. "Don't even think about carrying me." Anticipating him, she waved a hand. "Not with all these cops around. Stuff like that undermines your rep."
"I think your rep will stand it, particularly after tonight. Besides." He lifted her, as gently as he could manage. "You can just blame it on the overreaction of the worried civilian."
"Yeah, okay." Pain was stampeding through her now like a herd of buffalo. "I'll pin it on my husband."
"Now that—my husband—is a rare term coming out of your mouth."
"It doesn't stick on my tongue so much anymore. You know, this is a pretty interesting way for us to start year two of this marriage deal."
"It certainly seems to work for us."
He carried his wounded soldier off the battlefield. And considered how annoyed his wife would be when he saw to it she was given a strong enough blocker to knock her out until the morning.