"Exactly. And each step is harder, but each step builds on the last." At her question, he facepalmed, then grinned. "Okay, well, let me tell you about them..." And he began to describe the twelve steps, and how they were structured for those involved in AA and NA, and how he had adapted them to his own use. His own version mostly omitted God and referred to the Powers That Be, a phrase he had sometimes used around the warehouse.
"The big parts, the important parts, are admitting you are powerless over the original cause. You can't stop it, you can't change it. And believing that you can become better, you can recover, only if you are willing to open yourself and admit to that wrong, and then try to make right, make restitution, on the things you have done wrong. To keep out minds and hearts open to the universe, to wonder, and to learning, always, and to always look to ourselves and be ready to admit wrong when we see it, and acknowledge it and try to change it. Everyone does it a little differently, and everyone has different traditions, but those are the core items." For Pete anyway. His traditions were a little different than the standard AA system.
Pete smiled to her. "Seems like, somehow, we are all best when we work together, man and woman and don't try to deny one or the other." He nodded.
At her words, he nodded, and then chuckled. "But don't you see... no one would ever believe your name was your name. You could use it, as a pseudonym because few would ever believe it was true. As long as you used your name, Helena Wells, well, who would question?" He gripped her hands again at that hardness.