Niles couldn't help but smile. It was small and sheepish, as if he were exactly what Gabe said he wasn't. That kiss and that smile was enough to reduce him to the insecure boy he'd once been. Glass in hand, he poured out a hearty measure of the port, twice as much as he'd intended. He pressed the bottle into Gabe's hand.

"I don't wanna talk about Yewll," he said. The alcohol was starting to really have an effect on him, now. His words were far less clipped and formal than they usually were. "Drink with me," he insisted. "And talk to me about..." he wanted to say 'why you hate Amanda.' But for the first time since Gabe showed up this evening, she wasn't at the forefront of his mind. In his thoughts, she seemed to be swapping places with someone he couldn't even see anymore. "...about Connor," he finished, his tone softening further.