maybe the articles were about the two of us , but she 'd slipped her way into my office , into my life . she woke up with these words on her own lips , shivering in the early not-quite-dawn light . i want to talk to you about something , he said , looking at me intently , watching my reaction . he pressed his back against the nook in the lab doorway and waited . `` ten years was before my time , '' he said , face deadly serious . 