"No," he says easily enough, but there's a troubled undercurrent beneath it. He licks his lips uncertainly and frowns, staring at that dark, dark red draped over her arm.
He has to be careful here, he thinks, even if he can't precisely articulate why, save that these are thoughts he hasn't even given voice to in his dreams. It's really not that he doesn't trust Caitlin; God knows he's grateful she hasn't brought up a single thing they'd done or seen together in the flood, however much she might have wanted to.
But that hadn't been in his control, and this is. Maybe that's what makes up the difference. He can control what he tells her here, and that means he has to consider its potential impact on her, on how she sees him. Is this something he wants her to know about him? That he has these doubts?
He stays quiet for a long, long moment, weighing all this up -- but then he says, softly: "Not as long as they'll have me." Because he is a criminal now. Will still be one when he returns to the world.
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He has to be careful here, he thinks, even if he can't precisely articulate why, save that these are thoughts he hasn't even given voice to in his dreams. It's really not that he doesn't trust Caitlin; God knows he's grateful she hasn't brought up a single thing they'd done or seen together in the flood, however much she might have wanted to.
But that hadn't been in his control, and this is. Maybe that's what makes up the difference. He can control what he tells her here, and that means he has to consider its potential impact on her, on how she sees him. Is this something he wants her to know about him? That he has these doubts?
He stays quiet for a long, long moment, weighing all this up -- but then he says, softly: "Not as long as they'll have me." Because he is a criminal now. Will still be one when he returns to the world.