As it inevitably did, Seth's voice swam through his memory once again while he listened to Abendroth's tearful, confused account of what had happened. If he had known what was going on in his mind was something that was supposed to happen, that it was actually a good thing, maybe he would have been working on gaining control of it rather than crying over it. And, if his idiotic adoptive parents hadn't been so blind, Abendroth might have been nurtured properly instead of haunted by distorted images of their memory.
Francis wanted to give the kid advice, tell him he could command whatever it was he created, that he only had to try, but it would seem too suspicious. Even if he did agree with Seth that it would be better for the young experiments to know about their potential power, that wasn't their reality and he couldn't just tell all about the Project. So, instead, he remained quiet at length, just allowing the teenager to lean on him for as long as he wanted. Francis didn't reciprocate or draw Dietre in closer, but he could at least find enough kindness in his heart not to shove the kid away.
"I didn't mind coming home." That, at least, he could readily admit. He'd been reaching his limit for the night, and despite how frightening it had been to walk in and see a weird creature towering over his housemate, it gave him more information for the scientists, and more information to satisfy his own curiosity.
"When I went out I didn't think you'd mind being alone, but…." He let the sentence trail off unfinished, unsure how to tie it up neatly. The implication that he should have known better than to leave Abendroth alone was there, as well as one that he actually felt guilty about it all. Francis wouldn't have been great company, but maybe any company would have been enough to stave off the darker areas of the kid's imagination, and that would have saved them both from some trauma.