Even without it being what she might have offered were they not very much in public, he's still grateful for what she does offer. It's a small thing, yes. But even with it being something so small, she can tell that she means it. That she would have been more open about both her affection and comfort besides. Not to mention that after having had to relieve some of the worst moments of his life, even the small touch she offers is more than enough.

"I'm not sure I could have," he answers after a moment of silence. "Not that I wouldn't have wanted to? But it was if speaking of it too much would make it too real. More difficult to bear than it already was."

He'd spoken to Deanna, of course. But even that had been hard to face for too long, and if it hadn't been for the fact that it had so deeply affected him - to say nothing of the fact that it had been her job to ask him about it - he's not entirely sure he would have managed that much. Still, if there's one good thing, it's that he's gotten through once before. He can do it again, if he has to, and for all that he would have preferred to not have those moments shown to even a small group of people, there's nothing that can be done about that. All that's left is to make do as best he can.

"And I'm not sure I would have entirely enjoyed it if they had offered a trip to Risa."

It would, hopefully, have involved significantly less torture, but even so it would have felt oddly disingenuous, especially given the trouble they'd gone to to infiltrate the Cardassian base in the first place.