They wince a little, and hurry to say, to hopefully stave off anger that has literally nowhere to go, "It's not so bad anymore, I'm used to it now. It just-- isn't me. I think I grew into someone else, while I was working on getting better."

And it sounds horrible, they know it does. They look up, eyes on his face, moving from feature to feature; it turns into eye contact at last when they say, "You're still. You're still so important to me, Steve, but I spent a year and a half knowing I'd killed you."