Ford glanced up at the comment about the limerick, surprised into a smile. He took half a step towards Tycho with the thought to curl into him and reply you could write me another one, but Ty's next question stopped him in his tracks. The smile fell; he was entirely caught off guard, and looked it. When Tycho had asked earlier if Noble hadn't reacted well, Ford had been ready to answer that of course he hadn't — but even in the worst moments of the actual conversation itself, it had never even crossed his mind that Noble could hurt him.

"No, no," he said quickly. "He wouldn't. He just wanted to talk. But he didn't understand," Ford continued. "He kept saying that; he didn't understand. And then I've been so paranoid since then because he doesn't know about you, and I kept thinking — I don't know what he would do if he did," he admitted. "Not — he couldn't hurt someone, never. Nothing like that. But I just don't know what he'd do. So I couldn't let him figure it out, so I couldn't see you, and — it's just been awful."

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