It even hurt to frown.

Unconsciously, Adrien kept gripping her hand. He didn't think for a moment about pulling away -- his thoughts weren't in the order than a normal person might have. Once logic started to enter the equation, he'd remember to be more reserved, but everything right now was based on reflex and emotion.

Adrien needed the comfort. She was a source of it, though he wasn't sure why, and he would be unable to explain it.

Asking him to remember was like asking him to turn himself inside out. He not only couldn't, he had no reference to begin from. Remembering was a tangled, ugly web, nothing he could visualize. Before was an ever more vague concept. But her voice was so concerned, so soft, and he wanted so much to answer her that he couldn't help but try.

"... before-" he mumbled. Trying to think in concepts beyond this room was almost too much, but the need to please was ingrained in him, and he couldn't dismiss it offhand.

Anxiety gripped him. He wasn't sure what she wanted. It was hard to hold onto the question. Before-?

"I'm sorry, but I don't know."