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It's rare for John to regress, and it's certainly not often it's around Laswell.
He makes an effort for it not to be. The last thing he wants is for her to see that when he knows the role he's supposed to fill; a strong leader, who stopped craving all that softness years ago.
And yet, here he is, on Kate Laswell's couch with a sippy cup in his hands and a blanket around his shoulders. There's no need for him to tuck himself smaller and smaller, and he still does. He can't quite help that—All this gear was supposed to be for the boys when someone else dropped around here, not him. It makes his shoulders pull in and his eyes avoid glancing in anyone's direction. This isn't for him.
"You're alright, John… I promise." The couch shifts as weight is added to the other end. A light hand rests over his blanket-covered shoulder. She's gentle, waiting for him to warm up to her on his own like a scared pup.
The words don't come to him to even attempt to respond. It feels so silly. All of this is silly and he shouldn't even need to be small. There's more things to do, more work… What if the boys needed him? Does he have his phone? Would they call if they did need him?
"John," Kate softly squeezes his shoulder, though doing it more to the blanket than anything, "Everything is taken care of, nothing else to do… It's all done." She talks to him with the same voice she does when the other boys are small. No matter how little they regress to, she still talks to them (minus Simon) like they know and understand what's happening around them.
Price shudders, biting the sippy cup's straw and chewing gently on the silicone. He blinks down at the floor. Is it okay? They did everything already? He could've sworn he had more to do, that Laswell was supposed to be gathering up more work, but the coffee table is empty where their laptops had been not minutes ago. When did she clear the table off?
"I promise, it's all covered…" Kate murmurs, taking her hand off his shoulder slowly. She sits just in John's vision as he's seen her do with each of the members of the team when they regress—staying in their vision and moving slowly, or at least in a predictable manner. Keeping them aware of what she's doing.
Hesitantly, he nods. Though, he quickly sends a look her way when the steady weight of her hand is removed, his eyebrows furrowed with delicate confusion in his eyes. She's not leaving right now to go work, right? She's not leaving him like this? Alone, without any of the things he's so used to having?
"You're alright… Still here, see?" She assures him, settling back into the couch a bit more. Always keeping an eye on John as she lets herself get comfortable there; this way, hopefully, he'll be able to tell that she's not even planning to get up. Not until he asks, or wanders off on his own. There's a guest bedroom for a reason.
With the blanket around his shoulders, the cup barely in one of his hands, he shuffles just a tad closer to her. In return, Kate offers a hand for him to hold and finally stop picking at the seams of his clothes like she's seen all damn night. Though it's timid, eyes glancing between her hand and face, John takes the offer.
"How about a show? A few episodes then bedtime sounds good to me…"
Price nods softly, his attention directed away from the tension in his shoulders and the heaps of work they definitely still had to do tomorrow. Like him with the boys, she finds a way to lead his mind elsewhere. There's always time later to do what they need to do, isn't there? This one wasn't urgent, they had all the time in the world. For now, he can rest.