Julian had watched his father's condition deteriorate over the past few weeks, until he had relegated himself to the sofa completely, and refused to move. Julian couldn't understand it, but not because he wasn't trying. Simply because he had no frame of reference. He hadn't lost the person who had been his companion for over twenty years. He hadn't even been alive for twenty years. He knew how he would feel if he lost Jane, but even Jane he wasn't in love with. He would be inconsolable and this...what his father was going through, it was beyond inconsolable. Julian didn't honestly know if there was anything anyone could ever do to make it better. Joe had lost his wife and child. Children, though Julian had very little emotion left over for his unborn sibling. He hadn't even known until afterwards that there was an unborn sibling. And Joe had stayed away from depression until no one actively needed him anymore. Then he had let it claim him.

( Steps )