( it's not something he's showed her — not yet, in the kinship they've built and the fledgling partnership they've started back in a world that seems like an entire lifetime apart. it doesn't surprise her to hear it, though, even if it hurts in a familiar way. )

It's easier said than done, to close off your heart. I've learned that lesson more than once in my lifetime. ( it had taken her how many decades to become mostly detached from connection and humanity?

and it hadn't been the same as not caring at all. )

I know it doesn't feel like it, in moments like this one, where letting someone into your heart only brings you pain. But to love is a strength, Bruce. Don't let yourself ever forget that. ( her smile is heavy, stained with the bitterness of loving and losing more times than she could count. she'd forgotten that light (or ignored, looked away, thinking it was easier to avoid it) for so long, and Bruce may not know it, but he was part of what brought it back to her. )