What you said about Sage being more approachable after the bomb is exactly the same way I felt about my H.
Pre-bomb he was distancing. He was afraid of talking to me because of how he was feeling, and he was hoping the feelings would go away before he felt the need to tell me everything. He was also afraid that when he told me we would be finished. Everything that he did around the house, he felt might be the last time. Everything we did together (yes, including making love) he felt might be the last time. So he kept distancing, hoping he would never have to tell me. The guilt just wouldn't let him go. Personally, I think it was God that wouldn't let him go; made him face me and his demons.
After everything was out in the open and he wasn't distancing anymore, I told him it was nice to have my H back. H admitted to MC months ago that he thinks we're closer now than we've been in a long time. Not the way I would have chosen to have gotten closer, but that wasn't my call, obviously.
