Hey, buddy

Seeing how excited Alfred was to get out of the den after hearing that he was no longer grounded made him chuckle. He wished he had half of his children's energy sometimes. He turned to face his son again as he darted out into the open, settling on his haunches. He was surprised to see the sudden change in Alfie's expression as he looked at the ground, but when he spoke it nearly broke his heart. He felt his shoulders fall a little and he gave a little shake of his head. "No, don't be sorry, Alife. It's not your job to find her, okay?" No, that was his job. A job he was failing at over and over again. He wasn't even sure if he wanted her home for himself at this point. He just wanted her to come back for their children's sake. They needed her much more than he did. "I'm sorry I can't find her either..." he added softly, his expression growing more sad as he did so. "But it'll be okay. We still have your sisters and brother and Aunt Ama and Athena and your cousins and Grandma Pip to look after, right? We should focus on our family that is here right now." He wasn't sure if he was saying it for Alfred's sake or his own. He pulled a smile onto his lips and leaned his head down to place a lick between Alfie's ears. He noticed as he did so that he didn't have to reach nearly as far to do so as he used to. When did his son get so big? How was he growing so fast?

"DOTHETALK"