"Not my [children], you B*tch!"

Keiran took a moment, but finally nodded with some semblance of confidence. "There was..." he hesitated, trying to figure out how to phrase it without giving too much away. Particularly about his part in the matter. "Uh, she'd stolen something when she was young, and people finally tracked her down to try and get the object back. I have no idea what else she's done, or where the addictions might lead."

He ran a hand down his face, unsure if he was exhausted or confused or guilty. All of them, really. And somehow it was Kenna here. Not Avery, not Jack. Although, really, he supposed that neither of them would really have been appropriate choices for allies in this matter.

"It would be... unwise to dig into what happened with them. I am not proud of what happened that night, as I acted instinctively to protect my family. But I will not have the children living with her if others from her past might come and try to use them or get to them. I can't. So, yes. Addictions. Crimes. I've no desire to ruin her reputation. If she wants to improve her life, she needs the opportunity to form a career without that hinderance. As quiet as this can be, the better. I trust Kip would understand that."

Kenna tried not to look up at him while he spoke. Part of her just wanted to ensure she wrote down as much of what he was saying as accurately as possible, and another part of her wanted him to have the privacy he needed to grieve for this horrific situation. Their friendship was comparatively new, but she knew him well enough to know that he was not accustomed to being so out of control.

But there was another part of her that found it hard to look at him while he spoke about his ex wife. The longer she knew him, the stranger to her it was that he allowed such a toxic person to take hold of him. From what she heard, the marriage had gone so badly so quickly, and there had been little compatibility to start with. He didn't seem like the sort of person to blindly follow a law and so it just struck her as inordinately sad that a person as strong and intelligent as Keiran Hayes could love someone who didn't see him as amazing person that he was.

Finally, she lifted her head, nodding at his words as she pulled out an enchanted eraser to remove the last line and rewrite it in a way that was a bit more vague. "Kip? Quiet? Doesn't sound like him."

And Merlin she hoped her bad attempt at a joke would lighten the mood. Even a little.

Keiran peered at the words, nodding along as she rewrote part of it to make it more fitting and safer for both himself and Millie. He was still eyeing the letter when Kenna spoke, confusing him. A little line formed between his eyebrows as he pushed them together and looked over at her. But it hit him belatedly and he cracked a smile, looking down at the floor in mild embarrassment at how long it took him to catch on. "Well, we'll just have to hope for a change of heart, then."

Although his shoulders relaxed, he still passed his fingers through his hair, unable to make the whole situation 'okay' in his mind. It wouldn't be until Millie got her life together, and he wasn't even sure that she really ever would. All he could think to do was focus on his children and his work, and hope that Kip could do his thing to keep them safe. If the kids didn't have to know about this, then he certainly wasn't going to bring it up.

He lifted his gaze back to Kenna, sighing. "You'd think I'd be more patient after taking care of three kids... I just want this dealt with."

Right, probably not the time for half-jokes. She couldn't blame him for not being quick on the uptake. She knew how lost she felt after a bad day, one of those really bad oh-no-is-this-my-life days. She could hardly imagine how it felt to be looking into a future that threatened to rip your children from your arms, into a life that had the guarantee of discomfort and struggle.

If she wasn't all heart and no sleeve, she might have hated Millie. It would have felt good to, just out of vindication for Keiran. At the least, she was certain she wouldn't be able to hide the sourness if she ever saw her, the distrust, the disappointment... the fear. Because a woman that could trick Keiran Hayes and could without remorse ruin his life and break his heart... That was scary.

Not that she would back down, Gryffindor she was.

"It's exactly because of them that I don't expect you to be patient," she said. "Patient with them, but not with matters that threaten them." She nodded, a firm curt nod that felt stupid even as she did it, but she hoped gave him some sense of solidarity. She finished the letter off and looked it over once, before sliding it to him.

Keiran looked down at the letter she passed over to him, wondering yet again at the circumstances and his response to it. Merlin, he wished he could just go drink like he once did so often with Robin. That didn't seem like a great idea, though, when Millie had plenty of excuses she could use if she wanted to claim he wasn't fit. He'd experienced his own version of addiction for a couple of months, had legitimately forgotten his family for quite some time (though that one obviously wasn't his fault), and there was the whole... murder thing. Not to mention his job and busy schedule. But many of his negatives had a lot to do with her as well, so if they weren't even on those fronts, he doubted he would be cast as the villain.

And that wasn't at all what he wanted for her. Keiran doubted very much that it had even been her idea at all, considering how serious she'd been about making a new start for herself so she could properly be involved in the children's lives.

"I never thought I'd see the day that I couldn't write my own letters," he chuckled without real humor, shaking his head. Keiran got up, tying the letter to his owl's leg and letting it out the window before shutting it closed again. When he turned back around to look at Kenna, he had one of those weird moments again. The kind where he wasn't sure why, but he hated the idea of her leaving. But then again, he didn't know what else to ask for besides help with the letter. He'd written her out of instinct, not because he had some list of things he needed done. "I'm sorry I asked you to come here for something so..." he glanced away, searching for the word, then flicked his eyes back to her, "... simple. I wasn't really sure what I needed."

But somehow, she had. How strange.

She laughed with him, and then shook her head. He was very obviously starting to feel embarrassed now that the smoke had cleared and they were on the other side of his initial panic. She knew the feeling. It was how she felt after her rows with Rory, where she showed up at Kip or Yuri's place to lament the whole business, just to deflate once she had finished airing out all of her complaints. Once all the anger and hurt was out, she was left feeling small and stupid for needing someone to be there to hear her scream. But neither man had ever made her feel foolish for it. They, wisely, knew that everyone needed an empathetic ear. And it was wisdom they had passed along to her.

"Don't apologize. What else was I going to do tonight?" she added, giving a small smile. "Sometimes... we don't need something, we just need someone. No matter how useless that person might be," she said, giving him a wry grin. The grin softened. "Which is good. And okay. And something I can always help with."

He let her finish and all, but his brow furrowed a little as she spoke. He took a second after she made her offer, but finally replied. "Kenna." His eyebrows pulled closer together. Keiran's chin inclined towards his chest before he stepped back towards the desk, sitting atop it so he could face her in her seat. He was probably looking at her a bit too hard, but he was trying to figure out how to say what he meant without messing it up or making it... weird.

Finally, he settled on something: "You are the furthest thing from useless." He searched her gaze for a moment. "Especially to me." And it wasn't even that he didn't have many people left. It was just... her. "Thank you. I mean it. For-- everything."



[ooc: I found this gif when I was looking for something else, so enjoy.]

His voice was suddenly serious and she lifted her chin with slight concern, not sure why he looked so suddenly struck with a new worry. Because there was definitely a shift, something new he was bothered with, and she wasn't sure if she had said something annoying or if he had realized something they had not yet covered in the "case against Millie".

His words struck her, and she drew her chin back in a similar look of surprise to his own. She blinked in confusion, struggling with what to say. "Oh, um, thanks, I know, it was just..."

What was it? How often did she say that so flippantly, and it was never checked, never corrected. Not even from Kip or Yuri. She felt that they surely didn't think she was, had to believe that, but they never said it. Maybe because they thought she knew better. Maybe because they didn't see the insecurity flare up in her when they talked about subjects well beyond her understanding...

She laughed a nervous laugh. "Sorry, I just... I guess I get used to saying it. I'm not sure I mean it, but, I, um, I dunno." She shook her head. "Thanks."

Her response was disappointing, but he wouldn't classify it as strictly surprising. Even Keiran himself had all but demanded her help out of nowhere, when he wasn't sure he'd ever done anything to deserve it. Apart, perhaps, from that whole battle at the Zabini home thing. But that was a pretty even exchange as far as he was concerned. So that didn't really count.

All he really determined was that he needed to do better for the people in his life. It just seemed harder, now, when he had a million things to worry about. He always had a ton to focus on, considering who he was, though. So that wasn't entirely fair, either.

Keiran frowned, just slightly, before reaching up to rub at the spot just behind his ear. He needed to do better, period. Not with qualifications and exceptions.

"The more you hear that from yourself, the truer it feels, even when it's not. Trust me; I used to do that very thing, convincing myself that I didn't have it in me to be truly good. But after a while, people convinced me otherwise. Not definitively, but rather, ..they showed me that I had the option to be. And if nobody else will do that for you, then I'll have to pass the favor on, myself. I don't mean to overstep, Kenna, but I think you deserve it."

Kenna was into deep waters and she wasn't sure she had the buoyancy to swim through, if she insisted on keeping to the metaphor going. It sounded so much like a pep talk she would have given to any of her friends, to Keiran himself, and she felt guilty for having warranted it for herself. Her worry since she had been fourteen years old was that she was a burden to someone else, and she had been working so hard to make that not the case. Keiran didn't need another thing to worry about. She tilted her head with humility and nodded. "Thank you." Because fighting it would only draw out the stubbornness in the professor across from her.

An idea struck her and dawned on her expressive face, lightening as she straightened up. "Say... When I was here, I always wanted to drink by the lake at night. Are Headmaster's allowed to keep a bottle of brandy, or is that against the rules?" She smirked, hoping he would take the bait and let her lighten the mood. They both needed it.