[Feels like he's walking on a tightrope. He's not used to this, neither of them are. He doesn't know which direction to go with it and the fact that all they had was her death and time was making it worse. When she stops him, forcibly, his chin drops and his face darkens.

Well, that was real.]

Better now than never. [You almost have to strain to hear him. He picks up his head and picks up the strength of his voice. He finds her eyes and locks in on them.] This is it, right? This is all we have to work with. I can't even touch you.

[They were physical, not verbal. Not in the ways that counted, as she'd pointed out. But he barrels forward into that unfamiliar territory and emotion works itself into his voice in rough and shoddy ways before he can clean it out.]

So what do you want from me, huh, Tess? You wanna hear about how rough it's been since you went away, or you wanna talk about us?