Will... [Chilton shifted -- more accurately, he squirmed -- in his chair when Will Graham cut his own questions. Chilton didn't detect malice. This, he determined (reluctantly) was only another fair line of logic poised before Chilton. Offered to him. And given the source... It was almost sacred, this invitation.
He couldn't deny it. Chilton couldn't negate that sensation of obligation to Will. Oh, that emotional affinity wouldn't eradicate his habit of poking and prodding the other man; Will Graham would always remain a fascinating psychological study. Always. But Chilton had since evolved from that first face-to-face meeting, with Jack Crawford as their chaperone. Will Graham had been so useful, so crucial, in his survival in Baltimore, in Heropa. He was consistently Chilton's friend, when the psychiatrist so often lacked that empathetic foundation.]
no subject
He couldn't deny it. Chilton couldn't negate that sensation of obligation to Will. Oh, that emotional affinity wouldn't eradicate his habit of poking and prodding the other man; Will Graham would always remain a fascinating psychological study. Always. But Chilton had since evolved from that first face-to-face meeting, with Jack Crawford as their chaperone. Will Graham had been so useful, so crucial, in his survival in Baltimore, in Heropa. He was consistently Chilton's friend, when the psychiatrist so often lacked that empathetic foundation.]
No, I don't.
[It was a surrender whispered.]
But I was never as close to him as you were.