Perhaps is wasn't looking as if he was scared of you but rather scared FOR you. I spent years hiding this from my husband. When he first found out he freaked. He thought he had lost me forever because it was the first time he had seen my pain written on my flesh. He was afraid of what I did and he was afraid to try to understand because to understand you have to touch a little of that pain. It took him time. For a long time he denied that I was sick, that I needed help. He couldn't understand how I could be so "with it" so much of the time, a seemingly fully functioning human being and still be able to carve pictograms onto my body. It didn't make sense to him. Time has passed, he has watched me struggle through therapy. He has learned more of my story, of the abuse and the rapes and the shear loneliness. He has begun to understand.

What I am trying to say is, it will take time for you sweety to fully comprehend what he has just learned. He needs time to process it and to be freaky about it. This is something even we don't totally understand so it must be darn near unfathomable to someone who has not experienced it himself. Give him a copy of the book. Talk to him about how it hurts. I still can't talk openly about my SI but I am learning to talk about the pain the lies under it. I think that has made a difference.
Carrie