Video

[trenchknives]

All right. I said I was gonna do it, so I did it.

[Jimmy bends down to pick something up out of view of the camera, and the something makes a yipping noise as he does so.]

C'mere.

[He holds up a Boston Terrier with a particularly grumpy expression to the camera, turning it this way and that.]

Nucky, meet the City. City, meet Nucky. 

[A pause as he sets the dog back down.]

Okay. So. Anyone know how to take care of a dog? Beyond the obvious shit, like walkin' 'em and makin' sure they don't chew up your stuff.

Comments

[trenchknives]

That's 'cause you're good at takin' care of people. 'n dogs, too, I guess.

[anunluckypenny]

Anyone can be if they work at it. I know you can be.

[trenchknives]

I ain't. Not even with my own damn kid.

[He's... not sure where that came from, and now he really wishes he hadn't said it, but it's kind of hard to take back.]

[anunluckypenny]

[Oh, sweetie. Penny thinks Jimmy is way too young and broken to have a kid (but she also thinks he's too young to be crippled, so what does she know).]

I didn't know you're a dad. Jimmy... it's hard, you know? Being responsible for other people, especially kids. A lot of young parents have problems. You're not alone, I promise.

[trenchknives]

[And Penny would be 100% spot on about that assessment.]

Yeah, I'm a dad. My son's four. He, uh, he was born after I joined the military, so I never really got to know him, y'know? We were kinda... gettin' to know each other back home. Guess I never got that time when he was real little, so it was kinda hard to know what to do when he was older.

[He has no idea why he's spilling his guts right now, except maybe that Penny's sympathy doesn't seem fake, nor designed to get anything from him.]

[anunluckypenny]

[Nope, all of this sympathy is as sincere and real as it comes.]

I'm so sorry. Those first few years are pretty important, aren't they? [Not that she'll tell, but her parents died when she was five. She still remembers them from those first five years. Missing out on that part of your child's life...] I think that, if you just give it time, he'll come around. Even if you don't know what to do. Kids pick up on a ton of things; yours will see how much you love him and respond to that.

[trenchknives]

Yeah, they're important. I know he cares about me, 'n I know his mom did a good job tellin' him about me so that when I came home, he'd kinda... wanna get to know me, but he's still kinda shy.

[And then there's the whole business with his fiancee, but he's not getting into that unless asked.]

[anunluckypenny]

It sounds like it'll work out. [If she only knew.] I'm sure it will.