"It wasn't her fault," he hastened to clarify. "She just couldn't bear the thought of me constantly and willingly putting myself in danger. It hurt her when I was hurt. And..." He turned away, his shoulders slumping slightly. "...I can't exactly blame her for feeling that way. It's not as if I'm Angel and can come out of a fight with barely a scratch or survive being impaled, for example. I shouldn't have hid it from you, I know, but I think that I thought if I didn't talk about it, I could pretend it hadn't happened yet."

It was an embarrassing thing to confess just how deep his insecurities went. But it wasn't as if Cordelia hadn't already seen him at his most embarrassing.