Where his gaze had drifted out across the crowds, it now snaps back to Abigail. There's suspicion in his stare, of course, but also a rare kind of wonder, a genuine surprise. She's building alliances, of course. She has to say things like this. But still, hearing it, Derek is grateful, resolved in the choice he'd made to help her where he could.

"Yeah, well," he begins, sounding nonchalant in a way that makes it clear the sentiment is anything but; "you've got a lot of enemies in here tonight. But you've got some friends too. Remember that."

Really, it's an attempt at reassurance, even if Derek wouldn't admit as much.