When she motioned for him to join the pair of them on the floor, it was like a spell broke. The near paralyzing nervousness that he'd felt on arriving, which had prevented him from doing anything in response to her greeting except offering a mute nod, dissipated. He moved in and sat on the floor, Elliott stretched on in the space between him and the woman.

"Hi, buddy," he said, to Elliott. "I'm Ben." He glanced at Elliott's mother, briefly, for confirmation that this was alright. They hadn't talked about it explicitly, but obviously he wasn't going to introduce himself by using their relationship — Elliott already had a father. And it seemed strange to just not say anything at all, especially when she'd just said that she wanted them to meet each other. So: Ben seemed safest, and most natural. It was what he would have said if this were any other child; a child with no connection to him whatsoever.

"Whatcha reading?" he asked, turning his attention to Elliott's book with interest. Elliott answered, and the first four words or so were unintelligible to Ben, who didn't have any practice with his particular brand of toddler talk. At the end, though, he pointed at a picture of a cow, which he declared was 'the dog!' and Ben's heart melted.

"That's neat," he said, grinning so wide his face hurt. "Can I read it with you?"