He'd prided himself on his rational mind for centuries. He knew what to do in any situation. Well, almost any. He held her, looking down at her small form, defeated and broken, and he literally had no idea what to do. And it tore at him, seeing her like this, vampire or no, not only because he could hear the pain in her mind.

Because of this greater telepathic sensitivity, he'd come to a few rather startling realisations with this regeneration, the first being that emotion was not a thing to be walked away from or overlooked. It can't always be distracted from. Not even for himself.

The second, of course, was the realisation that people, including himself, needed to know they were not alone.

And the third was that affection did a lot for the mind.

He leaned closer, then, and gently kissed her.