He stiffened at the change in her. Because he didn't want her to lose this moment of joy because of her past and what she might be thinking right now.
"Before this mess." He said. He meant what the City had been going through. Before the City had been confined to the body they had just seen.
Jesse wrapped an arm around Zoe's waist and found a bench for them to sit on while she gathered herself. He let her sit silently for a little bit, to think. But he needed to say what he was going to say, so he didn't let it go on forever.
"If he tried to make me leave, Zoe, I'd come back. I'd find a way."