He nodded to himself throughout her explanation, his attention turning devoutly to the floor as he noticed the closest soldier eying them a little too long. It was good he was a well-balanced vampire, considering it wasn't the easiest task to lean over the floor with his arm wrapped against him, scrubbing one-handed. A particularly stubborn stain of ketchup reminded him of the previous breakfast, hiding under a table with a starving vampire and nearly starving himself.

She was so selfless. It didn't make sense to him, how she could be human and fragile and still go out into a darkness she knew held monsters, monsters that were more than capable of consuming her than he was right now, just to get him something to drink, something so he wouldn't starve. He never asked for it, never hinted that he wanted her to make such a sacrifice, but she did it anyway. She had thought of him during a night when he had only been thinking of himself.

His eyes itched, trying to meet some unreachable expectation. He leaned back so he could drop the brush and lift his arm to his eyes and rub them without falling over. He wasn't actually sure how he would get off the floor, funny enough.

"I'm not going to punish you," he said, his voice not nearly as strong as it had been before. "I'm not your father, and I never want to be. I can't... I can't even be mad. It's so hard, Bella. I should be but I can't be, knowing you did all of that to help me. That you sit here and you seem so proud of it, that you are completely unapologetic about all of it... I understand why you lied. I wish I could thank you in a way that did not involve words."