Alex couldn't help but smile when he brushed the hair from her face, because his touch comforted her more often than not, and she'd missed it in the days that he'd been gone. And of course had been worried that it wouldn't ever happen again, so she was just going to allow herself to luxuriate into it for a moment. But then her expression turned to a frown to match his own when he admitted that Jeff knew about her now. It was something else to feel guilty over, even if it hadn't been her who had directly done it. No, she hadn't spilled all of the details, but she'd done enough to lay the framework for it.

"I'm sorry, Richard." Her voice was soft, and it was a sigh, because she was sorry for it. Telling stories, no telling their story (because it wasn't just his anymore, and it hadn't been since he'd come to Seattle holding his peace offering of the Black Tape that lead them down the road to the Unsound and the Mysterium and everything that had come with it.) was something that had been second nature to her for years, and she hadn't been lying when she'd told him before that it had become her life. Now, she didn't quite know what to do with the fact that she really needed to keep so much of it off limits. It was harder than she wanted to admit that it was.

"I do promise that I'm going to try to do better with it. A lot better." There was a fierce little vow in those words, and she leaned over and made it official by just giving him the smallest of kisses on his forehead with it. "I honestly don't want you to be in that position again. I never did."