[That quiets him, sobers him. He doesn't want to fight with her. It's the whole reason he's stayed away from her, barring that incident on the lunch line. It's not entirely true, of course: she has whatever she has with Mal and whatever other friends she's made, and he has Dean and Barbara, but-- she's still the only one who was there. She's still the only one who will ever really understand.

He sighs, slouching very slightly, rubbing a hand over his mouth.]

Then I want you to believe me when I say that I did believe in what we were doing. I always have. I always will. I just... I don't know what I could have done differently, aside from Tom, but it should have been different.

[He's quiet for a second, then:] I was one of them, this last flood.