His eyes widened as he suddenly realized why she was apologizing. He reached for her face and stopped her words with a kiss.

"My dream is not your fault," he said as they parted. "I just can't believe I almost…" hit you

He was circling. They'd already established: she could stop him. He just didn't want her to have to.

But he also knew neither of them wanted to give this up. He would if it was just him. But he'd seen the panic in her eyes and knew: him leaving, in any form, was definitely not the solution. Don't do it to her again. Definitely not 'for her sake'. He wouldn't join all the people who'd already done so. Not to mention, everything they were just talking about.

"I don't know if it would pierce a dream," he said, "but we could try to… program in a safe word, or phrase."