Oh, no, Mom-- [ he reaches up to pull his sleeve over his hand, dabbing carefully at her eyes with it. no tears here, he can't handle them from people he loves. ] We'll figure out how to get you back to them, okay?

[ them. his dad and twins. in another dimension, he has a twin brother, and that's one of the crazier things he's heard today. for one thing: ] How did you handle raising twins? Mom and Dad had a hard enough time just with me. [ until he'd sort of been kidnapped and held hostage for a couple of years, but that's not really relevant here.

he huffs a laugh, tucking her hair back behind her ear, then jerking a thumb back toward the door. ] You want to get a coffee or something? You just got here, too, right?