Marcus smiles briefly, the expression more pained than he'd like. All he'd done since Mouse was bury himself in his work, pour himself into being a better exorcist and he knows he's helped people in that way, but he doesn't think any of that makes him a better person. It doesn't earn him forgiveness of any kind; his own, Mouse's, or God's. And maybe that's not what he ought to be doing it for anyway.

All he knows is that he's a man in his fifties who's only now beginning to make connections that really matter. For the first time in his life since the woman he'd nearly brought to her death.

"Not as if we've really got a choice here, do we?" he asks, forcing his smile to be a little brighter. "Can't very well apologize to the people who aren't even here."