"Well, in that case..." Bart grinned. "You gotta pinky-swear." He held out his hand, his littlest finger crooked, and waited expectantly for Cissie to link fingers with him. "A pinky swear is binding. Even Tim can't manage to see past the shield of a pinky swear." The words came almost automatically to him now, after spending so many frustrating hours trying to get his sons to talk to him. Conner would always refuse to say anything because Tim could 'read' secrets. Bart finally remembered something about pinky swears from a book he had read once, and that had managed to end that strange habit.