Peace fusses and whines and cries softly, though she's too tired to scream her head off at the moment. Stanley glances up when he hears her distress and gives her a slightly shaky hand to hold, which seems to calm her down for Stephanie.
He's relieved, actually. He's been carrying that child around for a month now, and there hasn't been time for anything. He just needs a moment to explode all over the floor, or something. He closes his eyes and leans against the wall, weakly, though he's loathe to do it in front of Steph. She hasn't made as good a secret as she probably meant to about how irritating his weakness is. To her, he must seem pathetic. There's no way to explain to her that he's been holding it together by threads for so long that having a moment to stand idly is dangerous. It'd be so easy to let the waves rush over him instead of fighting to keep his head above water.
He doesn't want to be someone's stand in mother right now, he wants his own mom. She'd find him a bed and yell at him for how dirty he is and for stealing a kid, then she'd make them all grilled cheese while his father wasn't around to see. And she wouldn't ground him when she saw his teeth were missing and his back was scarred and life was out of control. She'd probably even hug him, and do that thing where she pushes back his hair.
But he needs to stop thinking like that. It's making a lump in his throat. He can't even say anything in response to what Stephanie just said, he can only nod. Okay, yeah. It's fine. Sort of. It's as fine as it can be. They're mostly probably safe for a moment. That's what she said. Safe...
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He's relieved, actually. He's been carrying that child around for a month now, and there hasn't been time for anything. He just needs a moment to explode all over the floor, or something. He closes his eyes and leans against the wall, weakly, though he's loathe to do it in front of Steph. She hasn't made as good a secret as she probably meant to about how irritating his weakness is. To her, he must seem pathetic. There's no way to explain to her that he's been holding it together by threads for so long that having a moment to stand idly is dangerous. It'd be so easy to let the waves rush over him instead of fighting to keep his head above water.
He doesn't want to be someone's stand in mother right now, he wants his own mom. She'd find him a bed and yell at him for how dirty he is and for stealing a kid, then she'd make them all grilled cheese while his father wasn't around to see. And she wouldn't ground him when she saw his teeth were missing and his back was scarred and life was out of control. She'd probably even hug him, and do that thing where she pushes back his hair.
But he needs to stop thinking like that. It's making a lump in his throat. He can't even say anything in response to what Stephanie just said, he can only nod. Okay, yeah. It's fine. Sort of. It's as fine as it can be. They're mostly probably safe for a moment. That's what she said. Safe...