Ben tensed, just slightly, but holding her close as he was she was sure to have noticed. There wasn't supposed to be a choice, because nothing had happened to Nora... nothing Diana Abbott felt worth including in her letter, anyway. Yes, he was changing things — trying to change things — but it was supposed to make things better, not worse. Nothing was supposed to hurt Nora. When he'd told Melody to consider leaving her behind he had never thought bringing Nora with them could potentially put her into danger, he'd only been thinking of the emotional duress of her being here if something happened to Melody. He hadn't considered what he would do in that eventuality, but as Melody entreated him to choose their daughter over her, a small voice somewhere deep inside him answered: No.

It was the grief talking, he assumed. Obviously he couldn't, not really. Melody would never forgive him, for one thing. She'd never speak to him again if she knew he'd had a chance and hadn't taken it. And he would have done anything for Nora, honestly. He already had chosen Nora over Melody in the past before, hadn't he? He'd gone to November after last New Year's and asked if he ought to divorce her, for Nora's sake —

(but maybe he'd gone to November first because he'd expected her to talk him out of it? And she had, in the end, so he hadn't actually had to go through with it —)

"It's not going to come to that," he said, pulling her tighter against him. "I'm sorry I scared you. You're safe. I promise," (a promise he had no power to keep, in the end —) "You're safe. We're all safe."

---