[Lazarus didn't intend for it to be like this, but the fact is that it is a loaded question. It's actually kind of unfair for him to trap Nathan that way when the young man is unsuspecting and especially when he's just concerned and trying to help. But the last time that was the case, Lazarus was out of his mind, reduced to a shell incapable of taking care of himself or being left alone for any amount of time, and he wants distance between himself and that unfortunate situation. He doesn't want to be that person curled in the bathtub while Tony washed his hair and soothed him while the walls were closing in.

In short, he still wants to be the person in his echoes, even if he knows that he was far from a good man. It would at least be better than the helpless, damp infant cut-up with glass and shaking.]

I'm not in a state. You know what that's like, and this isn't it. I won't say you can't help, but the second things get dangerous or look like they will, you leave it to me, understand? I won't have you getting mixed up in something that can cost you your life.