The arching set of parallels Nicholas has since parsed between them abruptly halts and shatters, spinning into a sick lurch of grief nestled in the pit of his chest. He swallows. Family is all in all a concept he must consider entirely abstract, let alone the notion of offspring, and he - and Gloria wouldn't -

He dislodges the thought with a fractional shake of his head. It is inconsequential. Very little depends on whatever personal ephemera may be disturbed by the general progression of events. As he's come to conclude.

"Naturally," he says, mostly failing in an attempt to keep his voice dry and devoid of inflection. "I would be amenable to that, assuming you have a physical description or a lead of some kind."