[Self-sacrificing? Ha. Piper knew she was nothing like that - not like her friends were. Piper wanted her happy ending. Yes, she'd put her life on the line for her friends, and yes, she'd do it again in a heartbeat, but her friends being alive was part of her happily ever after too. She didn't think that was self-sacrificing. She'd refused, utterly and completely, to give up a single thing she wanted, even refusing to allow someone else to die. Because she wanted him here, with her. That wasn't self-sacrificing. Betraying her friends so her father could live -- that wasn't self-sacrificing. (The fact that she'd told them, and that they'd saved him together anyway, was a never-ending source of wonder for her.)

It was odd that she felt the need to even point this out to him - she didn't owe Damon any explanation. Fortunately for her, he'd continued to talk and Piper refocused. As he did, he reinforced her initial assessment: either he was protesting too much, in which case, Issues; or he was exactly as he said, in which case... also Issues, but far less complicated ones. ]

And yet that insistence seems to have stuck with you, [ she speaks lightly enough, relieved that nothing weird had happened, not even a comment, while she was up on the chair. Piper moves to set the snack carton down on a different desk. ] And you're sharing them with a total stranger. I wonder why that is?