It was a brave thing of him, she suspected, to do such a thing. She understood well enough that she neither provided the opportunity, nor did she necessarily make herself seem available or willing to accept such things. It was always different if she did it. For whatever reason, it was always different if someone else did it. Or maybe she made it different. She could believe that.

The moment he made contact, she was willing to put aside their immediate shopping adventure. Devoting her attention to him, she listened to the way he spoke, carefully trying to take in what he wasn't giving voice to. Or how she thought he might have been skirting around what he truly meant.

Unless...?

Wordlessly, she urged him to continue with the raising of her eyebrows, though she was patient and did not push. On the contrary, listening to him go over all of possibilities right then and there. When he got going, he got going.

After a moment's consideration, she lifted a hand to settle over his and then with some care she removed it, though it wasn't to separate them. Instead, she took his hand between her own, careful of the way she held it. "You're really very cute when you fret," she praised him with her own form of reassurance. Perhaps she was trying to distract him. "I would hesitate to refer to them as family. It's true they took me in, but I wasn't one of their kind and sometimes that was very evident. It was a unique situation, but nothing you need to worry about. Haven't you enough burdens of your own? Brave that you think you should carry mine as well."