[ Seriously, the skittish animal metaphor holds. You can't be negative, but you can't demonstrate too much enthusiasm either because that will scare them. It's a delicate balance and one that she's determined to get right, now more than ever. Bit by bit.

And he did tell her about it. It gets him a look on her face that's closer to a smile than any other look that's been on her face so far tonight, warmth in her eyes and the corners of her mouth. She's rather happy with even that one step of progress. And now what next? ] Some of us used to try flooding. [ Sort of casual, watching him carefully. ] Deliberately exposing ourselves to the - thing that was a problem, preferably in a positive environment - trying to get used to it.

[ Pausing and evaluating for a moment. This is requiring digging back through memories, and some of them are hard to unearth after all this time. ] It wasn't perfect, but it helped.