"I'm getting there," he smiled gently. "You're helping a lot with that. I just hope she has a chance to be happy, too."

"There's my Stephen," beamed Grace. "Always thinking of everyone else before himself."

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"You can tell that trait kind of flows from my mother's side of the family," Stephen chuckled. "Which inadvertently brings us back to my grandpa! So whenever my dad took off, grandpa really stepped up in a big way. I started to spend more time over there, and he was always the one to be teaching me about things. He was the one who taught me how to shave, and came to my baseball games. Basically became the father that I lost."

"It sounds like he had a big hand in molding the type of man you are today," she whispered.

"A lot of that was due to him. He would always push me hard, too. Like if my grades started to come down, or if I was having trouble in baseball, which I did, especially with hitting towards the end. His solution was always to work harder. To him, there was no easy fixes. Sound familiar?"

"Vaguely," Grace laughed.

"He would also say it's important to always be getting better. Whether at school, or with baseball, or just about anything in life, he was always looking for improvement. One of the things I remember vividly him telling me was that we have obligations to ourselves to be the best person we can be. And that hard work and dedication would bring about good fortune, no matter how hard the task."

"He sounds incredibly wise," said Grace.

"Very wise," agreed Stephen. "I guess I always took that to heart. So does it make a little more sense now? I mean, why I'm not going all gung-ho with your powers? The majority of that is grandpa's teachings and moral compa.s.s s.h.i.+ning through."