Cordelia rolled her eyes, making a 'pfft' sound as she waved her hand as though to wave away his offer to have the wall fixed. "Oh please. If it weren't for the dents and dings in this place, you'd never knew anyone lived here anyway." She smiled. "Besides, I just so happen to have an ex-boyfriend staying here who is pretty nifty with the fixing of things. He needs to earn his keep already. I'll put him on it."
One more glance to his hand, her brow furrowed, and she murmured, "You should probably put some ice on that or something. It might swell." Then she shook her head lightly and returned her attention to Nathan. Her expression softened a bit.
"You know," she murmured in a slightly somber tone, "I could probably waste the next five minutes talking about how sometimes our parents do things that we don't understand, or agree with, or even think is morally justifiable. I could also talk about forgiveness, and how they're the only parents we have so we should probably respect them for that much at least." Her tone abruptly went flat.
"But personally? I think the further you can keep yourself, and your brother, away from your mother, the better off you'll both be." She placed a gentle hand on his arm as she added, "You're both good men, Nathan. Don't let her make you forget that, not even for a minute. Okay?"