[ Hear me, X-Men! No longer am I the woman you knew!

Looking back, she wonders how the hell she missed it. Not that the experience had changed him - of course it had - but how deep it went, how lost he was.

Quietly, a bit teasingly - ]

Please. You've never made an excuse in your life.

[ Her hand fingers trace upwards again, lingering next to his glasses. To the reason he's spent the vast majority of his life so terrified of losing control. ]

You should have tried harder to tell me, and I should have tried harder to listen.