He gave her a small smile, before nodding. "All the time. I suspect it is like what you feel when the children leave, but it never stops for me. I hide it as best I can, but..."<br/><br/>He sighed, before kissing her forehead, unshed tears in his eyes, as he pulled her toward the bed. He sat down, and pulled her into his lap. "Amaterasu, Serena, and Garrus know about it, but they were born into the position, or have been there so long they might as well have been. But I never asked for it, never wanted it. I keep trying to tell Jashah, but either I am not telling her correctly, or it is something she doesn't want to understand, and is pushing it away. Might just be as well though, we never really clicked, truth be told. We get along, most of the time, but..."<br/><br/>He sighed, before snuggling against her. "Sorry, I didn't want to show you that yet, but... Keeping up the mask is getting harder each day. Especially in front of the children. Bad enough with adults, who at least tolerate me doing it, if not the reasons for it, but they just get this hurt look on their faces, and ask why. Very hard to deal with my conscious and them at the same time."