"Um." Now she feels strange in where she was taking that line of thought. So close to asking him to marry her and now she's back to nothing. "That's such a violent way of thinking, but I'll accept it if it means being with you."

Isn't that what love is all about? Making sacrifices and learning to live alongside someone else? It might have taken her a few years to grow used to the comforting presence of another individual, but now that she has, the thought of being without frightens her more than it ever did before.