Cissie is spitting mad, but when he presses their hands to his chest, she loses some of her steam and stops her ranting long enough for Jason to respond. The problem is that when he does, her anger deflates quickly, and she wonders vaguely if it's possible to have emotional whiplash.

It breaks her heart, hearing him talk about himself this way. It's not exactly a surprise; she's heard him say things like this before. She knows he thinks no one cared when he died, and she knows that isn't true, based on things Tim has said. She also knows how much they all hurt when he died recently, and that she can't imagine reacting by hitting him. Even if he has been hit harder.

She reaches up with her free hand to cover Jason's, pressing his hands tightly between hers, swallowing past the lump in her throat before she figures out what she wants to say.

"Worrying is what I do," she says, managing a slight smile for him. "But it's not--it's not how hard he hit you. It's that he hit you at all. He wasn't the only one who lost you, or who was hurting. It's not okay. I don't want--You shouldn't--" Her voice cracks a bit, and she clears her throat before continuing, "I don't want you to think you deserve that. Because you don't."