Will pulled up the other chair and sat, conscious of the strange tightness in his shoulders, as though tensed for a physical confrontation, though all they were doing was talking. But it was the unspoken words that pressed on him, the stuff he'd never told Robin, the stuff he still couldn't bring himself to say.
Might it be time to tell them? Clio had asked in her gentle way. They should know the stakes. It wasn't like he could argue with that. When he'd thought it was just him, he could pretend it was just his problem, no need to bother anybody else with it. If it could happen to any of them, though... if Much might be in danger of it, or Alan... if the others they'd been missing for so long were trapped in the grips of it like he'd been...
He couldn't argue with it, so he didn't. But saying the words was another matter.
As it was, he'd have to skirt pretty close to them to explain how they'd got to their plan, and that was daunting enough in itself.
Will selected a bagel for himself, but only fiddled with the paper wrapping, eyes trained on his hands. "I wasn't okay, Rob. The years I was gone. I couldn't find my way back on my own." The admission came haltingly, painful as pulling teeth. "Thing is, though. The thing I dint realise. I'm not the only one. We've been missing stuff. We've not looked after each other like we ought. And I wanna change that."