"Oh come on. Cait looked adorable sleeping in the Chair," Carson told Rodney, remembering when the both of them had found her there. "And if you can get around the whole able to blow a bloody hole in the ground with a thought part, it's really not that uncomfortable."
He just knew that Rodney would have a retort for that, but the baby seemed to have other ideas, cutting off whatever he had been about to say with a kick. Rodney took it well, though, and Carson found himself smiling as he watched him caressing his fingers over the swell of her abdomen. He could feel how much Cait liked it, and he certainly didn't mind it either. He considered Rodney his closest friend besides Cait - always had, even when he was driving him absolutely bloody bonkers. Even when he...
At Rodney's halted apology, Carson looked over at his wife then back over to him, furrowing his brow. What in the world was he talking about?
"Rodney?" he asked.
Sighing, the other man looked down and shrugged. "It's not important. I was an ass, and that's all that matters. I'm sorry. I'm actually surprised sometimes that anyone liked me after some of the things I did that year."
"You daft stupid man," Carson told him, shaking his head. "Of course we liked you. In fact..."
He caught himself, knowing that particular admission wasn't exactly something he should be saying. Cait knew. It was hard to hide something like that, considering the bond they shared. But Rodney didn't, and he wasn't going to put that on him, especially not know when he was still grieving for his wife.
"We'll always like you, Rodney," he said. "You're a good man and a smart man. You mean a lot to us. That's why we've been worried about you over the last few months."
"I know." He sighed. "I just...I want to do right by Erin and by the city, and sometimes, I don't think I'm going to, no matter how much I know."