For reference, here is what The Dresden Files RPG has to say about a PC losing a social combat:

>Let’s consider an Intimidation conflict for a second. Your character came into this bar to rescue a friend who’s being held in the back room. Not wanting to just bust heads, your character goes in, gets a drink, and starts asking around. This leads to an Intimidation conflict with a thug there, which your character handily loses and gets taken out. You’ve taken a moderate consequence of Shaken Resolve during the conflict. The GM, controlling the thug, suggests that your character leaves the bar because he’s afraid of getting into a fight with the thug and his friends.

>This doesn’t have to mean that your character runs screaming from the bar or anything like that. People often play off their emotional responses as being less significant than they really are. It’s not out of scope to take the GM’s suggestion and reply with, “Okay, well… if I leave the bar, I’m not giving them the satisfaction of knowing that my character is that scared. I’ll keep eye contact with the thug and simply reply, ‘Don’t get comfortable and think that this is over. It’s not. Not by a long shot.’ I’ll throw some cash on the bar and back out slowly.”

>See? Your character didn’t turn into a screaming ninny, but still fulfilled the dictates of the conflict result. So, now what? Is your friend totally screwed?

>Absolutely not. It just means your character is worried about getting into a fight with all those people, so the frontal approach is out of the question. That doesn’t mean your character can’t suddenly change tactics and try to sneak in the back of the bar to do the rescuing. If your character tends to solve problems with his fists and has a low Stealth, it makes the scene a little tenser and potentially challenging.