I could see it as ... Shaun and Zach aren't going to badmouth her in front of him. As you said, she made her bed. And he'd be smart, able to figure things out and make up his mind all by himself. With Shaun and Zach there showing him how family SHOULD be, it wouldn't take much.

On a lighter note, the image of Zach with red paint on his cheekbone is really, really yummy!

Liked that, did you? I couldn't resist and had to add SOMEthing like that after the earlier part of the fic. ;-)