There was a law that dictated a loved one was not allowed to let a statement like that pass without abject denial and support. Tony, in the lesser position of 'inexplicably well liked one', only had to say something like, "You could always get a nanny." He tilted his head up like she might be able to see his innocent smile, then turned it against her collar and left a kiss over her shirt. She was warm, but she smelled cold, like the job seeped into her skin as metal and gunpowder. He couldn't get any closer to her, but that didn't stop a determined wiggle.
A nanny wasn't a bad thing. Tony had a nanny. Okay, surely other people with nannies turned out all right. Point was, he didn't love his mom any less. "Okay," move on, "what about marriage?" Another thing he didn't really see Raven doing, not with the whole marshmallow dress and white picket fence American dream thing. Everyone didn't have the same idea of marriage, though-- some people just stayed together forever and were happy to not have the ceremony, but were as good as Mr. and Mrs. Smith even if they skipped the golden retriever. "Like, what's your version of that?" Not everybody needed labels. 'Boyfriend' was a terrible label. 'Playboy' was a misleading one.