Karen rose and going over to the chair got onto her knees and hugged him. Tears of relief filled her eyes when he hugged her back.

"Sorry." He said softly in her ear.

"So am I, honey, so am I. How about we all just get some sleep, okay?"

"I'm sorry, Jimmy." Jeff said, "That was out of line. I'm your brother, but I'm not dad."

"Seems like you're auditioning for the part." Jimmy said, then to Karen's surprised, grinned, "That was a joke, uh, sort of."

"Then it's like the rest of your jokes, only sort of funny." Jeff replied with a nervous smile. "But really, that was a...