Her hand meanders faceward.
Reach -
He loves her so much. It hurts to, right now, but he accepts that; he would rather it hurt right now than otherwise. It makes more sense this way.
She doesn't want to hurt him. She wants him to feel better. Pet pet hug.
He could probably guess that she doesn't want to hurt him, if he thought about it. He isn't thinking about it. He isn't thinking about much. Love, and snuggles, and love.
Then they will be here for a while, Isabella maintaining direct skin contact so she can peer gently into his mind and occasionally send little bursts of psychic affection.
That's painful/nice, too. He just wants to wrap himself up in it and feel things.
He is intensely relieved that she is having emotions now. It was very uncomfortable for him when she wasn't, and not in a nice way at all.
"I got very good at it very young in spite of spending little of my time among anyone who taught or enforced it. But it disturbed Renée, and Chalek made a point of telling me it was not necessary, and I decided I preferred not to outside of situations where emotional reactions would be particularly unhelpful."