Lorne isn't sure what it says about him that he's more comfortable talking about a girl who lost everything, including her sanity, than his own measly problems. It makes him slightly queasy.

He stirs the sugar in, shrouded in thoughtful silence. Packetful after packetful goes into the black depths, and he really can't find something to say to cheer Beth up.

"The world's an ugly place," he says at long last, not dismissively, but with the tone of someone commenting on the weather forecast. "But at least she's got people to care about her now. That helps."