He had to tell her something. The numbers told him that much. That fact calmed the twisting in his stomach and dissolved the lump in the back of his throat. He had something that he needed to do, and it calmed him down. All he had to do was focus on this one, last task.

If he didn't say anything now he could make her go away. Eventually she would just get up and leave. But it was impossible that she would leave him forever. The hunt would not be over until she found an answer that would satisfy her. And that was what he needed to find. An answer that would satisfy her. She was done with this hunt; as done with it at this moment as she could ever be. But if he left her with nothing that fire would kindle within her again, and they would be right back to where they had begun.

He had saved her life. She knew it, and he knew it. That act had changed something between them. If he could just find the right words now he could end this. The numbers answered his subconscious plea, and he longed to close his eyes, to devote his complete attention to them. He had to find a solution, one that could get him out of this situation for good. That was all that concerned him.

"It..." he began, stumbling over the words. How could he say something? But his mind latched on to something she had said, only moments ago, something that he had dismissed without even recognizing it. "You said it yourself. Probability. It was probability." That wasn't enough. It wouldn't be enough to satisfy her. But this was where he had to be careful. He had to pay the strictest attention to what he said, and what implications were, or, more importantly, were not, in his words.

"I've always been good at making predictions about the world. Looking at something, and... quantifying what is going to happen. Water is a very predictable substance. It doesn't do things randomly. It is always affected by gravity and is always influenced by the path and the landscape surrounding it. I just made sure we were in the correct spots at the correct time."

Not once in his short speech did he imply that he could actually alter the probability of something happening. That was far too dangerous. Things happen all the time, and if there was something odd or exceptional, well, that was life. And that was ok. Other people were ok with that. It was ok for him to win thousands of dollars at a casino, because sometimes people just got lucky. So long as he lost more than he ultimately took away, he was safe. If he just happened to walk out of a police station, so be it. But as soon as he implied that he was responsible for it, then things always got out of hand. It was alright if the exceptional happened around him. It was not if he made the exceptional happen through the power of his own will.