[He lets her take his hand, even giving a brief squeeze of reassurance and appreciation; it doesn't really matter that she can't find words--he wouldn't be able to either, in her position--because what means something to him is that she cares.]
It's okay. I'm... I'm glad I don't have to wonder.
[And now he can try to start dealing with it, for real. He isn't giving up on the possibility of finding some way around it, whether through the Door or some other way, but that's a separate thing; without knowing for sure what happened at home, he couldn't truly start accepting it. Now he can start moving forward.
And so he takes a deep breath, and tries to steer the conversation to a little less depressing a place.]
no subject
It's okay. I'm... I'm glad I don't have to wonder.
[And now he can try to start dealing with it, for real. He isn't giving up on the possibility of finding some way around it, whether through the Door or some other way, but that's a separate thing; without knowing for sure what happened at home, he couldn't truly start accepting it. Now he can start moving forward.
And so he takes a deep breath, and tries to steer the conversation to a little less depressing a place.]
I hope your time at home went a little better?