[He doesn't turn to look at her when he feels her hand on his, but he does return the gesture—it's nice, as difficult as it is for him to accept help or sympathy over it.]

Yeah.

[What else can he say, really? It's a horrible situation, and one he doesn't know how to deal with... or if he should try to set it aside as much as possible. She understands how hard it is for him, at least in terms of how intensely he feels about it, thanks to that dream. Going over any more of the details just feels like it would be too much. The reason he brought it up...]

So—just having the option... the chance to mitigate any damage I might do, and keep control of myself. It was more important than anything else to me, even if it meant connecting with a stranger.

[Even his own well being was unimportant in the face of that.]