Cougar's words are physically painful to him. He wants to protest you're where my heart is, but he can't bring himself to say anything. Instead, he shifts, lifting his hand to cover Cougar's, holding it still against his chest. "You're my brother, man." A woefully inadequate sentiment, but I think I'm in love with you, is a little too close to home right now, and the last thing he wants to do is push Cougar away. Not when they're all they have, here. "I wasn't going to leave you."

He would have asked Cougar to come with him, to stay up North with his sister and his niece, but he couldn't find the words then either.