Ned catches that nasty look and looks away quickly, down at the glasses, swallowing against the surge of adrenaline it brings on. Charlie isn't going to hurt him, he reassures himself. He just doesn't want to talk about it, and Ned should have respected that. At least, he's almost positive that Charlie isn't going to hurt him. That is just his mind playing tricks, seeing danger where there isn't any, and he's tired of it. Tired of being afraid. Tired of everything being such a struggle.

He'd thought that if he just knew, concretely, what had been happening, it would be easier to set it aside, to forget about it. Apparently, that's not true.

So he nods, even though he doesn't know, doesn't understand. Screw trying to sort it out, Ned decides. He's going to skip that step and move on to the trying to pretend it never happened portion of things. "None taken." He gets up, tells himself that he's only being hospitable, that his next question is by no means an excuse to put a little distance between himself and Charlie just for a few seconds. "Are you hungry? There's pie in the fridge..." After all, he'd offended Charlie by asking that last question, and what offense is there that pie can't fix. He'd given Meyer pie, when he'd come to apologize. It was only fair.