This is not how this is supposed to work. Grif can't hide his surprise, eyebrows up. An apology? To him? Why? It has to filter down through three layers of who-gives-a-shit before it hits the bottom, and once the shock has worn off? It's actually really good to hear. He's wanted some kind of acknowledgment like this for years, but it had seemed so remote and stupid he'd almost forgotten the want.

"...It's fine, you didn't know," is what he manages to say, but it's not smooth. He paused too long. Shit, that's even more feelings he's let out here. There's even this weird impulse where he wants to thank her. For noticing, or something. What the fuck, a year on a space station with superheroes and he's already gone soft.

'I don't actually want you to get hurt' is probably one of the nicest things anyone has said to him about home crap in a while, and only the weak have emotions about that kind of thing.