[ and this is where emma feels...at a bit of a loss. how does she articulate that faraday hadn't rightly done a single thing? that she'd been far more spooked by her own reactions and the potential implications of how she'd responded to being so close to him? obnoxious and trying as faraday could so often be, this time, emma couldn't fairly say that he'd been the sole cause of her sudden separation — or, even if he was at the heart of the matter, it wasn't that he'd somehow wronged her.

with a small sigh, emma turns away from the counter and her nearly-finished meal, looking towards faraday with a touch of that usual determination in her expression. ]

Over my mistreatment of you this last while. I have been shuttin' you out over— [ over what? ]— something out of your own control, and that was wrong of me.

[ her lips press in a thin line, and she looks...uneasy — and at least this time, it's thanks to an ache in that pride of hers. admitting she'd been hurtful (even just through neglect rather than intentional unkindness) is still difficult for her, but she's actually trying now. ]