Damon kept lightly dragging fingers over Ric's skin, around to the back of his neck, stroking lightly. "I know," he said quietly. "And you don't have anything to apologize for, really. This is...new and not what anyone's expected, including us and it'll take some time for us to figure it out. But we will." He gave Ric a crooked smile. "We've gotten through a lot worse."