"The good reasons, the right reasons are rarely the smart reasons or the easy reasons," Claude said, smiling over at her. She really was a good kid even if he didn't have the foggiest idea who she was or what sort of circumstances had ended up bringing them together. He was more than used to taking care of the little ones given the chance, and this situation was hardly any different than that except maybe for the fact that he was a decade or so older, a little bit wiser, and a lot less naive.
"It's the least I could do, kiddo," Claude said. Even if that was a lie. The least he could have done was pretended like he wasn't there, ignored her, sent her on her merry little way like he had with Peter at first, but he'd learned his lesson after Peter. Reaching out a helping hand when someone needed it wasn't a surefire way to get himself in trouble, no more than avoiding everyone was a surefire way to keep himself out of it. So he might as well compromise somewhere on the middle ground. Help those who truly needed it while still doing his best to keep himself off of the radar.