It's so much easier not to argue. So much easier to trust Jesse, to nod blearily and accept his offer of protection - not just from Galen, but from anything else that might happen across him here: vampires, dragons, or some new monster waiting for a turn.

Ned might protest, under other circumstances, but he remembers that Jesse can turn into a wolf, can look out for himself. He accepts the cardigan pillow, setting down his head with a soft, "Okay." He wants to say thank you, but now that he's laying down and his eyes are closed, it seems an impossible effort to open his mouth. He'll say it in a minute, he thinks. But then he's already slipped off to sleep. His face looks different while he sleeps: restful, blank, the habitual anxiety wiped away.