That just made Natalie lean forward and patiently wipe away the tears. Maybe in a second she'd get a tissue to do that with, but it hadn't seemed necessary yet.

Really, she wanted him to stop crying because it was making her want to cry too for no good reason. But she didn't think she could make him stop. The things she felt she could do were limited. Comfort was hard.

There was only one thing that seemed to come naturally, and even that was... Well, she had no idea if there was any part of his brain listening to her. So maybe it was just to comfort herself, but she did it anyway. "The question," she hummed, softly and quietly, because this was private, "is 'Wouldn't mama be proud?'"