"Hey!" She gave him a stern look. "Don't say that! Please don't. We know you are tryin' to help. And father cares deeply about you. Even if he gets angry at times. I think it makes him sad more than angry when you two argue."

Elijah looked up at her. "I am sorry." How many times would he say that in one day? "I don't want to hurt him or make your lives more difficult. I'm worried I'll mess up again. "

Rose squeezed his hand again. How had this become so depressing. She didn't know what to say. "Just... don't shout at him. He's trying..."

Elijah nodded. " I will. I need to stop thinking of things as just him being stubborn and realize I don't know better most of the time."

"He actually cares about your opinion... and your approval. It's just a matter of how to present it to him..."

Crawling.

Elijah smiled weakly.  "Maybe next time I'll have you come as well to help keep me from getting too heated  in the argument. I could use all the help I could get."

That idea sounded absolutely terrifying, but Rose forced a smile. "Yeah...." Then she looked at the clock. "I should probably head back to Mr. Meijer's so I don't oversleep tomorrow morning." And get into even more trouble.

Elijah nodded. "Sorry, I don't mean to keep you." He stood and walked her to the door, "Thank you, Rose. For .. everything ."

Rose gave him a quick hug. "We'll talk soon, okay?" And she left, full of thoughts, feelings and impressions she had to disentangle and analyze in the privacy of her room.