for @gracefulheart // Continued from here
Aideen knows that sometimes the last thing someone wants while they're crying is to have the tears acknowledged. There's been enough times when she- ever blaming the hormones if questioned- had found a quiet corner to let the anxiety and fear overwhelm her in solitude. She likely wouldn't have appreciated an interloper in those moments.
Her random bursts of crying have slowed dramatically, whether from the birth of her child or that Aideen truly is finally settled into her life here at the Project and no longer worried about the past.
Still, she can't help but feel for Grace. Stress she replies, trying to mitigate the tears.
Aideen knows that well too. That the thing making one cry often isn't what the actual tears are for. But still, she doesn't badger or press. If Grace wants to tell her, then Aideen is happy to lend an ear. If not, then she's also happy to lean into the way the baby is used as a convenient shift in subject.
Ava, rather than strapped to her mother as she usually is, is perched on Aideen's hip. “She's doing good. Getting better at feeding herself, and chattier by the day.” Of course, at 10 months, “feeding herself” and “chatty” were loose concepts.
She's cautious for a moment, looking at Grace and the sheets. “Anything I can do to help?”
Paperwork isn't really in her wheelhouse, but Grace is obviously overwhelmed and if she can do something to help, she will.
