Lydia felt the shift, and let him go, emotions battening back down tight. She couldn't feel his breakdown, couldn't go through it with him, not when she'd had her own, and still...if she thought, if she went there, if she dwelt...if she thought about Sylar...it all came reeling up out of the darkness and she'd fall back under and to pieces.

She couldn't do that. Not for Sylar, not for John. They needed her to be strong.

"Throw up. Scream. Hit something. Get it out. Get it over, then get up," she said, softly, straightforward, but not cruelly, not really. "I know it hurts, but...there's not time. We can all...fall apart later, after it's done. I need you. I can't fix this alone, okay?" He was human, of course. He didn't have the same ability to switch off she was using, but he'd been through Hell before. He had to have some coping mechanism he could call on to get through the night, right?