[ He turns towards her fingers, presses a light kiss to one of them as considers her words. Then he nods. ]

I take care of you because I care about you, Jess. Same reason you're taking care of me right now.

[ He lets out a little huff of air, almost amused at the two of them, before looking up at her again. ]

I'm pretty sure you taking care of me and me taking care of you is how things are actually supposed to work. I mean... do you think of me as an 'obligation'?

[ He tilts his head a little and gives her a lopsided smile. ]

And you can talk to me about hardy when you've taken a nuke to the face and lived to tell about it.

[ ...he'd lived through that part, after all. Barely, and the sun had definitely been the deciding factor there, but he'd still lived through it. ]