"Yes, I am." She sighs and looks thoughtful. "I hope you're right. Something like this can be pretty rough to go through alone." She smiles. "But she has others besides me to help her out," she says with a pointed look at him. Ah, the power of friendship.

Her smile grows just a little impish at his comment. "Well...you might want to change your name and your appearance for that to really work," she says with a chuckle. "But seriously," she continues, gesturing for him to have a seat, "despite that, you're still you. And you should be treated and reacted to as the the person you are now--not as the person who you might become." She sighs.

"Does that make sense?"