I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but I can't do this.

He hears those words ringing in his head, the words his son had said after they'd told him about their wedding and the new baby. Jeb had gotten up and taken off and it took a few quick words from DG to make sure he didn't leave Finaqua, so he knows that his oldest child is somewhere in the palace in a guest room, probably fuming at them.

And he doesn't know why.

All he can think about is the look Jeb gave him, something mixed, like disgust and wonder and disappointment.

She's sitting beside him on the bed and is whispering soft words of comfort and he can't pretend that she's not helping him because, to be honest, her presence is more of a balm to him than anything he's ever felt.

Her sister is sitting in a chair by the window and he wonders how she's made it back in here, when he refused to let Glitch or Raw, but this woman who used to be his enemy is the one who's now offering – albeit, hesitantly – a theory as to why Jeb walked away.

She says, is it possible that, maybe, and here she pauses and gives DG an odd look before going on, that Jeb's in love with DG? He almost scoffs, but then he remembers things Jeb used to say and he's about to say that it could be a possibility when DG says, firmly, that no, he's not, because he's been sleeping with the daughter of the Foreign Minister. He stares at her now, surprised that she knows this and he doesn't, and she gives him an apologetic look and says that her Intelligence Minister likes to keep her abreast of her officials' goings-on.

This has him interested and he asks what the Intelligence Minister said about him and she laughs and says that all they could find out is that he puts too much salt on his potatoes and that other than that he's completely dedicated to the job. She says that apparently the agents that were watching him were completely bored by his life and requested to follow old Lord Derdin around, instead. He laughs at that.

He's relieved that his son isn't in love with her – that would be far more emotional baggage than he could ever handle, especially since he's pretty new at this emotional thing at all – but if he had, at least he'd've known what the hell was wrong with Jeb.

The next morning she's got State business to do so he tracks down Jeb's room and pounds on the door until his son opens it up and shoulders past him with a gruff, we've got to talk. His son closes the door and sits down on one of the – he's convinced – eighteen billion overly-plush pieces of furniture and says, what about.

He knows his son isn't this dense – after all, he's half Wyatt Cain – and fixes him with a look that must've pinged some long-dormant memory of Jeb's and he stops acting like a sullen five-year-old. Why are you doing this, he asks. Why are you letting her change you? She's just using you, even if she is pregnant.

He stares at Jeb and wonders if this is how Adora raised him, so disrespectful, and he makes a note to be sure to watch out for that with this new child. She's not changing me, he tells his son, and she's not using me. I love her. She loves me.

His son scoffs. A memory flashes to the front of his cortex, a similar conversation almost twenty years ago, with his parents. Them telling him about how they thought he was rushing it with Adora. He shakes it off, though. It's not something Jeb needs to know about – his grandparents were doting and very loving, their memory shouldn't be polluted.

Something brilliant catches his eye and he pulls an emerald brooch from where it's half-hidden and caught on sofa cushion. Something ripped off by accident in the heat of passion, he realizes, since he's known those emotions lately. Something not belonging to his son. He holds it up and Jeb's face becomes a stony clone of his. Is this hers, he asks. Is this the brooch of the daughter of Minister Kutchner?

He knows his son is absolutely shocked he knows, and he doesn't let his own stony look fall. Give it to me, Jeb says, reaching for the brooch. She'll be missing it – I should get it back to her.

But this discussion isn't over yet. He tucks the brooch into his coat's inner pocket and pushes his son firmly back onto the couch. No, he tells him, I'll get it back to her later. Now we have to talk. So is all this because of this girl, the Minister's daughter? What's her name, any way?

Evangeline, Jeb tells him, face bright red as he stares at the wall. Her name is Evangeline. Here, his face gets tighter and his voice grows hoarse and he gives his father a look like he's not used to having someone he can depend on, instead of being the person that's depended on. I think I've fallen in love with her, he goes on, but she doesn't care. She comes to me in the night or whenever she's free for… He turns red, because this sort of thing is taboo in the O.Z. and when his situation with DG gets out, the people are bound to be shocked: this is the thing that Does Not Happen to Nice Girls.

So this is it, he thinks. Two Cains, both in love with women so beyond them, one lucks out and the other is used. We have so much in common.

He repeats that last thought out loud for his son to hear, which makes the twenty-three-year-old laugh hysterically; later he would say it was either laugh or cry. I still don't know what to think, the young man admits later, after he's stopped laughing. I mean, Mother died only four years ago… but for you it's been fifteen years, more, really.

He chooses his next words carefully, so that later he might still have some pride and self-respect. Son, he says slowly, I will always love your mother for giving me you. Nothing will ever change that. It must have satisfied whatever childish remnant of reuniting his family lingered in Jeb, because he brightened and nodded.

How did you not get caught, Jeb asks suddenly, as they're walking down a hallway. With her Majesty, I mean.

He considers the question and a small grin curls the side of his mouth as he thinks of the nights that he reassigned guards and, on one occasion, convinced a maid that the Royal Family's quarters were haunted so he could remain unmolested in his – their – nighttime activities. But in the month that the new guard of Tin Men were practicing being on the Royal protection detail he had to climb over balconies and he has a scar on the back of his hand from the climbing roses to prove it.

He looks sideways at Jeb and says son, do you really want to know? His son hesitates and then shakes his head. No, no I don't. They laugh about that until they reach the sitting room where their friends and family are waiting. DG looks up as the door opens and smiles at them both.

"I'm so glad you decided to join us," she says, in her soft voice. The one he knows to be the placating ton she uses for difficult statesmen.

"It was either this or be dragged back, I'm sure," Jeb cracks and the princess royal snorts from her seat behind her sister. He suddenly remembers that Jeb's next posting will be Az and his only thought is, Please God, if you're there, please no. Of course, knowing his luck…

"Since I couldn't find any rope, it's a good thing you proved compliant," he tells his son, ruffling his hair and sliding into the seat next to DG. His son lets out a very teenager-like "Dad!" and runs his fingers through his messy blond mop before sinking into a plump brocaded chair. DG lets out a little giggle and he feels a spark when she grabs his hand, using it to cover her smirking mouth.

"Yeah, yeah, Mom," Jeb says, falling into time-tested sarcasm. "And since you are about to become my new mommy and you're Queen and all, what about an allowance?"

Raw and Glinda look confused and so does Glitch – though that's more his normal expression than any actual confusion – and Ahamo chuckles while Az covers her mouth with one green-sleeved arm. He thinks that Jeb has been hanging out way too much around DG when she's playing her Other Side movies that she dispatched her RoboParents to get.

DG's face is very solemn and he's about to tell Jeb to stop being an ass and just call her by her name when, once again, she's beat him to it.

"Well," she says, giving his son a serious look, "if you're really, really good, I'll get you a bike for Christmas."

And they all burst into laughter.