"Hey, now. I'm not the one who has trouble with words," Jamie shot back with a grin before chuckling. "As long as she's not breaking out the middle names, I suppose we can survive."
Nodding, he ate another bite of cake. "And in a year your biggest foe would have been soiled nappies, if time weirdness hadn't happened. At least until the endorsement and modelling offers started coming in. I think you hated those more than anything when I was a kid." He rolled his eyes. "Big time cursebreaker is Uncle Bill. I'm just trailing around in both your shadows. I catch on a little faster at twenty-five than I did at five, though."
Jamie bit his lip, taking a moment to find a way to say what he needed to without making his dad feel worse. He wasn't sure it was completely possible, but he also didn't have an interest in saying things to hurt the man in front of him any longer. "Before coming here, I think all three of us would have said the man who raised us would only come for us after he'd saved the rest of the world first. Now..." Blue eyes locked on green, as though he could say with a look everything he hadn't processed yet about his relationship with his dad. "Now, I think you would be."
Raising his hands, he wrapped them around his dad's wrists, not to pull away, but for stability as he tried to nod. He couldn't remember the last time his father had been this empathetic and compassionate about anything. Suck it up. You don't know what real problems are. You'd never survive my childhood. He was used to those sort of responses. Not an attempt at actual comfort and assistance. "Do you really believe that? That they'll find a cure?"