He could say so much to the rottweiler just then. How the knife was a tool-to-be, not a weapon. How associations shouldn't matter, if he'd never made a move to hurt the guy. How terrible it was that everyone was so eager to just follow orders barked at them by the Peacekeepers who had drove them in. He tries to play deaf at the story unfolding instead. He felt a chill. Joel had passed out, the girl had been fished out of a river-- he grins and takes the knife when Ellie presents it to him.

He had enough to worry about without the twerp. Let her be someone else's problem now. The man sure seemed to be up to the task. And when Ellie kicked, Hawkeye let himself laugh for a moment before holding up a hand. Kind of like signaling a stop, except he knew no one was watching him. "Don't break the fella," he calls. To his surprise, he's dead serious. Emotions be damned for this second- these emotions thrown around weren't for him- he was talking about work. "You'll put someone else on my waiting list and that's the last thing I need." And where the hell was his hug? Stupid, he knew, but he could wait.