[ there's a pause on his end as he figures out how to answer that. now, with her here, he at least owes her honesty of some kind, given the depth of deception she's now seen through. ] I don't know.
[ it's not the answer she wants, he knows, but it's the actual truth. there was no stipulation on how long the silence would last, beyond the implication that they should 'never' know. it had never actually felt like that to him - never. he hadn't ever allowed himself to fully believe it. ] Other things had to take priority. [ he isn't offering it as an excuse, because he knows that as excuses go, that one is paper thin and insufficient. but he wants her to understand that he's had his own battles to fight. ones she can no doubt speculate about, given her role in what had happened to SHIELD in the first place. ]
no subject
[ it's not the answer she wants, he knows, but it's the actual truth. there was no stipulation on how long the silence would last, beyond the implication that they should 'never' know. it had never actually felt like that to him - never. he hadn't ever allowed himself to fully believe it. ] Other things had to take priority. [ he isn't offering it as an excuse, because he knows that as excuses go, that one is paper thin and insufficient. but he wants her to understand that he's had his own battles to fight. ones she can no doubt speculate about, given her role in what had happened to SHIELD in the first place. ]
For what it's worth, I'm sorry.