She's surprised by the speed and intensity of his reaction. She hadn't even known he was there when she sat down for dinner but the second Mr. Drunk joined her at her table, Will is instantly by her side. Although his appearance is sudden, he sinks into the chair next to hers with a nonchalant air and fixes his gaze on the man across from him.

"Are you lost?" Will's smile is wide but certainly not friendly which the other man doesn't seem to notice. Despite his calm outward appearance, Kate can see Wills hands are clenched tightly in his lap even while he casually leans back in his chair.

The man hiccups and manages to slur a response, "I don't like to see such a beautiful woman eating all alone. Thought we could keep each other company" He leers at her and gestures with his mug, beer sloshing over the sides. "She looked like she could use a man's company."

Will's smile is gone and Kate can tell his response is through gritted teeth, "She's got one. There's a seat over there for you." He jerks his head towards the bar and leans forward, cracking his knuckles threateningly.

The man holds his hands up in surrender, eyes wide, and stumbles to his feet, "'M sorry. Didn't know the lady was already spoken for."

He wobbles off to the bar without another word and Kate can feel the tension leave Wills body almost instantly.

The smile he gives her is slightly teasing when relaxes back in his chair, "You're welcome."

She doesn't immediately respond. Instead, she puts down her fork, mimics his posture and just looks at him. She can tell that he's confused by her silence, shifting uneasily in his chair, before he starts to defend himself, "Look, I know you can handle yourself and you don't need my help but I figured you wanted to eat your dinner in peace without having to fend off some drunks advances." He shrugs his shoulders like it doesn't matter but he avoids looking in her direction.

But it does matter and she knows it does because he's more than aware of how capable she is when it comes to taking care of herself. And normally she would be beyond annoyed but she's tired and he's been acting peculiar lately and she doesn't really understand why (she knows what she hopes is the reason but that's different) so she just decides to let it go.

"You're right. I didn't really feel up to telling him off. Thank you" She gives him a small smile and turns her attention back to her food without another word.

She knows he's surprised by her response by the way the smile momentarily slides off his face. He recovers quickly but she knows him too well by now not to notice the change. She knows she should say something, ask him why he reacted the way he did, tell him that she knows how repel unwanted advances without his help (thank you very much) but she doesn't. What she really wants to ask him is why he can't seem to meet her eyes lately but she can feel his gaze on her whenever she isn't looking. She can't seem to make the words come out of her mouth. She's doesn't have any idea what his answer would be and she's terrified to start that conversation because she can't lose him, not her partner, not her best friend, and no matter what his answer is, it would change everything. She's not ready for that.

She takes another forkful and surreptitiously watches Will watch her. He hasn't said anything else, with the exception of ordering himself a drink, but she can feel his eyes on her. She takes a chance and looks at him directly, hoping to catch him out but he's too quick, too used to averting his gaze elsewhere that it looks like he's simply been looking out the window into the darkness of the street instead.

She sighs and pretends not to notice.