Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

Rula offered Junia a small encouraging smile when Grandpa Botros asked to see her picture, but otherwise decided to stay quiet for now. It seemed like a good plan to let the younger ones do the talk for now while she tried to rein in her emotions. That little bit of hope that maybe this would be the day he instantly recognized them and was his old self - that hope had been dashed again. She knew it would be, but she still couldn't stop it from hurting every single time.

Once he had seen Junia's drawing with the names, she felt a tiny bit better from hearing him finally use their names, but not by much.

She peered over at the drawing. "I think I look kind of like Mamá too." What she wouldn't give in that moment to look more like her dad though. Then maybe Jaddi would remember her.

Ab leaned in a little to see what the kid meant. "Hmm," he feigned thinking although to be honest he could not remember the shape of their mother's face for the life of his. "Yeah, definitely." The words were automatic now. When someone obviously gave him little details to help him remember, he would oblige even though it didn't always help. In fact, he could easily remember the short-term memories, and the very long-term ones but there are things that continued to be a fuss. Like what his sons' wives looked like, and whether they looked like their daughters or not.

"You're all very beautiful, anyway." It was a conclusion to him and them, an honest one and he gave them an adoring look. Oh to think of the age gap between him and those kids, it was ages. "Are you here by yourselves?" Where were the adults? Maybe one of his sons? He didn't need to remember those, those he could not forget. Although they looked way older than he remembered...