[ wash reaching for her wrist nearly has carolina breaking contact entirely, instinctively wanting to shut herself off, to bury this as far down as she can again. but she doesn't, because he feels like she doesn't have to. he isn't trying to get away from her emotions, just soothe them a little, the same way she would for him, and she accepts that. ]

I should have known better. [ better than to fall for recordings of alpha as bait, better than to blindly trust sims that she had no reason to. better than to let her and wash get trapped in this damned room.

she drops her gaze to wash's chest to make some effort at pulling herself together, her breathing ragged. ]

And then I was so tired and you were beside me one minute and not the next and... [ her voice is too high, too close to breaking, and carolina closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath. ] I wasn't watching your back the way I was supposed to. The way you would have for me.