He's still on edge, not content to trust that he's out of the woods yet, even when the other Wash relaxes. York will back him up, right? Won't he? And yet once that thought has come, it won't stop, cascading through his mind in splintering patterns outward. York has no reason to help him, and he'd been abandoned before. Why not now?

So he watches the other man warily, and extricates himself from the kitten. "I think I can hazard a guess." It's easy to slip back into an older mindset. After all, he's only been here for a few days. He's been someone colder and harder for a hell of a lot longer. It's like pulling on his armour.