Funny enough, him stumbling and fumbling with his words actually did cheer him up. It showed her that he was being sincere, not putting up a front. She wound up chuckling, and leaned back, resting on her hands.

"Ease up there, big guy. I know you didn't mean any harm. Being sad's just a part of life, and it comes and goes. Yeah, I'm bummed now, and I'll be bummed again. But it's not something you have to apologize over." An off-hand shrug.

"I'll make a long story short... I was away from my kids for about ten years. And I'm not gunna win any Mother Of The Century awards. So when I say I'm gunna be a sad duck again, that's a promise. But I don't think that's something to be ashamed of. We're allowed to be sad. We should be sad. It just means... that's how deeply we care about families. If we weren't sad about being away from them, we'd be kinda evil, huh?"