Derek looked down again, giving a small nod of acknowledgement to her gratitude. Not something he thought he'd ever hear her say, that was for sure, not even now when it was merited. After all, he hadn't thanked her when she'd pulled him out of his nightmare, but he supposed this was vastly different. "You're welcome."

Derek lowered her back down onto the bed and slid his arm out from under her before getting to his feet. He took a step to leave her there and move back across the loft to wind down the rest of his night as if she wasn't actually there at all, but he paused and looked back at her.

"You gonna be okay, Veronica? You're not gonna die on me or anything, are you? Honestly, two false murder accusations in my life were two too many for me. I don't think three's a charm in that."