"I need to focus," Ezra said in rebuttal, with a soft shake of his head. He didn't expect her to understand — in fact he knew her understanding would be impossible — but a hospital was the last thing that would help him at the moment. They wouldn't be able to find anything the matter with him — at least not anything that they could fix. The best case scenario was that they delayed him from getting what he actually needed while they poked and prodded him and tried to figure out what was the matter. The worst case scenario was that they deemed him mad and filed some paperwork that would make its way back to the Ministry and see him lose his job. Urquart was understanding, as bosses went, but he was certainly under no obligation to keep someone employed if he had reason to doubt their sanity.

He thought he could feel her pulse between his fingers. A sign that he was holding far too tight, or an indication that her heart was racing with nerves? Probably both. He'd put her in quite a situation, and now (from her perspective) he was refusing help, which likely didn't put her any more at ease.

"I'm so glad you're here," he said, still not looking past her collar. "I'm so glad you're real."

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