"Love is hard work and a process... it was no different for Greg and I. By the time we realized what we were, the bond was already cast. But that never meant I didn't care about you or stopped caring. I just, I--- I was selfish. I admit that. I wanted to experience what it was like to be a normal "woman", and I wanted to everything Greg had to offer ---and please don't take that to mean Steven; that's a separate decision entirely."

However, Rose stops herself, and instead starts to listen carefully, watching her own hands tremble as they rest in her lap. Her first instinct is to yell back, to keep fighting what Pearl has been saying. However, arguing over feelings won't get them anywhere.

Instead, she forces herself to swallow her pride yet again, giving her best attempt to offer the listening skills and understanding Greg had given her. It's admittedly hard to distance herself enough to decipher Pearl's upset, and Rose is too overwhelmed to do it effectively, but at the very least, one realization is made.

"All of that... is what you're scared of, isn't it, Pearl?"

Propping her hands on her legs, she uses them to support her as she stands up, her form looming once again. She forces herself to take a deep breath, not for the benefit of oxygen, but to help calm her, to give her a count of quiet and thoughtfulness to lengthen the thought within herself.

"Because, Pearl... you might be saying such awful things about yourself, but I haven't. Not once. Not ever."

And frankly, the insinuation that Rose would think so little of Pearl after everything they've been through, after the ins and outs of love their shared... it's insulted. It's debasing. It makes Rose feel like her throat is clenched, and despite physically not needing air, it gives her a vague feeling of choking.