Tell all the truth but tell it slant--
Success in circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm delight
The truth's superb surprise
As lightening to the children eased
With explanation kind
The truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind.
--Emily Dickinson
Notes: Set somewhere around the sixth season; peels off before Biogenesis, because I wrote Deny Nothing so long ago. Most of this story is ten years old. I wouldn’t have written Deny Nothing today, nor this, but Deny Nothing is out there—like the truth, I guess—and azephirin asked for “a month after Deny Nothing.” I found this on my computer, so it seemed like a reasonable thing to do to finish it up. Thanks to flourish for lightning-fast comments.