He's shaken off the awkward, cringing, guilty feeling by the time he reaches the kitchen. Not like Cullen needing time to himself is a rare thing, especially when he's under stress. It's -- just the worry cropping up again. It makes Alistair fall back on old habits of hovering and fussing when it won't help.

And Gru completely forgets everything, including his manners, when he gets an up-close whiff of the bacon Mia's frying.

Half the children are already awake, swarming and pestering; to give Mia a little more space to work (and to get Gru away from the bacon), Alistair deftly distracts them by sending Gru over to play. For a war dog, the mabari has an instinctively gentle temperament around little ones. Perhaps his former owner had a child or two around the house.