"After his last mission," she shook her head as she spoke. She felt a little ill. That could've been the vodka, though. "And I know it's nothing like life or death or existing beyond here -- nothing like what you deal with on what I'm guessing is a daily basis, but..."

She slumped against the counter. "But we've got things that could be taken away in any moment, too. You! You could get taken away from me -- I could blink," she closed her eyes for a moment and in that moment she looked expressly sad, "and you could be gone."

Green eyes fixed on him again. "And I can't survive that knowledge without fighting it. Wh-whether it's keeping Jack or you or never going back to a world where Giles is going to die. And I just wanna take massive jumps forward in this fight and..."

And Jack taking away his tattoo was a little like watching the man she loved take a massive leap backward.