@waveswallowed | continued from here
she had not understood, when she had been a child herself, how her own mother could always read her as if she were an open book, no matter the efforts she made to disguise the truth. it didn't matter what it was she tried to conceal, whether she had been upset by some matter or another or if she were trying to hide something she had done that she knew she shouldn't, aemma had always recognised it and never ignored it. she'd only come to understand it with her own children. she knew their mannerisms as well as she knew her own, she could read more into their tone of voice than they seemed to realise they let on. even their silences could tell her if one of them had some upset they were keeping to themselves or if the three eldest boys had somehow gotten themselves into some sort of trouble, getting carried away with their fighting and accidentally injuring one another. luke could never have hidden his tears from her. it was in his voice before he stopped speaking and in the tension she could see in his shoulders, the diverted gaze.
she did not ever want any of them to feel that anything should have to be hidden from her. perhaps she couldn't fix every problem that came their way, certainly not now their problems had grown so far past her reach, but comfort was something she could give them. her eyes searched for his as his head finally yields to her guiding hand, the pad of her thumb wiping at the tears that stain his cheeks despite his valiant efforts to keep them contained. when he finally caved to the pressure that must have been building within for some time, she found herself almost relieved by it. it would do him no good to force himself to remain stoic in the face of everything that had come to pass.
she released the gentle grasp on his chin only for her hand to fall to his shoulder and draw him in closer, the other hand resting against the back of his head, digits carding slowly through soft, dark locks and a kiss pressed to the top of his head. "my sweet boy." the words whispered into his hair, and she wished she could set the world to rights as easily as she did when he was brought to tears by some small wound as a young boy. "you do not have to hold all of this inside you."