Neal opens his mouth to redirect. To bring the conversation back around to Ellie, to ask her what her friends names are, what the name of the person she lost is, but he can't make himself do it.

She's a kid. No matter what she's been through or what she wants to do, no matter how old her world has made her already. She's still a kid, and she doesn't deserve to be manipulated.

"I don't, actually." He leans back in his chair until the front legs lift off the ground for a moment, then lets it thump back to the floor. "I'd like to, someday. But for now it's just me. My dad left when I was two and I haven't seen my mom since I was eighteen."