Elijah rose his brow as confusion seeped in. So much was coming out that night, it felt like their conversation would have been more proper in the privacy at his home and yet perhaps it was safer here.

"Were you.. the one he was going to York to live with?" He knew it was someone, and a man. He was learning there were definitely more men like him in Whitby than he could have imagined, but still the numbers had to be quite limited. And the way he spoke of Simon...

But then he kept speaking of Ben and the Wards. His eyes went down. He always wondered if he'd failed by not taking Ben in. He'd hurt Simon, and his other children. He'd hurt Noah. Who knows who else suffered at his hands? But Noah hadn't said his name in worry at retaliation. The children begged him because they didn't want to lose their father. Should he have ignored all that and still done it? The fact this man was the one who helped raise him when his grandparents struggled to. He knew he had a good heart but his temper and his actions.. He gripped his napkin and frowned.

"It's a complicated world. And I wish I knew easy answers. I.. always wish to fix things. And make things better. Believe me."