[Okay, that idea shocks him enough to make him look sharply at the communicator. He sees her deliberately looking away and knows she's trying not to cry. It hurts to see her like that and it hurts that this can't just be easy, that death has to follow them and break them here too, if not hers then someone else's.]

No. [His reply is urgent, reflexive. Don't leave me.] Allison, no. I don't-- I need to spend time with her, yeah, but... I don't want to step back. I don't want to do that, okay?