[ Peter just watches her for a moment, still very concerned about this method-'the emptiness' as she'd called it. Maybe he should tell Mr Stark about this? But what could he do? He's an engineer, not a therapist. ]

[ He sucks in a breath, trying decide exactly how to word this. ]

It's not that I don't appreciate you trying to help me-'cause I do. I really appreciate it-and you might be right-your thing does sound different than mine-but it also sounds dangerously close to dissociation. And the problem is, if I start doing it on purpose then I might start doing it by accident again-and I can't.

I can't tell you exactly what happened that made me start uh dissociating-but it was bad. Really bad and it-uh.. it's the reason I don't sleep very well and it happened when I was your age-well a year younger-but I've made progress since then. A lot of progress, I think. I mean I talk to people now-so that's something.

Anyways, I can't risk losing that progress. I'm-I'm trying to get better. I don't know that I ever will-but I'm trying.