[The barmaid picks this particularly timely moment to return with their drinks, so that heavy little note hangs in the air between them for a while. He takes the glass from her with a restrained smile of thanks, leans silently forward onto the table until she leaves. Mouth pressed into a thin line, hands wrapped around his drink. But, he nods. Slow, at first, then again. His answer (hah) is a sober one.]

I hear that. I do. [And yet. There are some things that all the reason in the world won't shake easy. He is self aware enough to know that what Molly is saying is fair, and that the absolution offered in it is his to give, and that arguing against it is a pointless and self-serving exercise. All there is to do is to endeavor to be worthy of it.

So. He exhales, shoulders sinking as if shedding some of that weight. Allowing himself to stumble his way, then, into a shaky, breathless laugh. An emphatic crack in the reserved front he seems to favor. Honestly—] And I don't mean to understate how good it is to see you again.

[Loudly unspoken, of course, is the how, the why, the when had it happened. Made all the stranger that this isn’t even the first time Mollymauk had cheated a grave,. They'd hoped, perhaps, that it might happen again. But it felt dangerous, even presumptive, to do so too naively. Still, here they are.]

Not by any means. [Here, at last, he musters a stronger smile. Lifts his glass across the table as if to toast the sentiment.] You have been missed, most dearly.