Of course he hadn't - he doesn't do direct orders, not unless he has to, he doesn't want to order Laura around, even if sometimes he wishes he could just take her and say things and find a magic way for her to believe. (Love yourself, go easy on the world, stop hurting yourself-)

As happy as he is to see her, he's so sad, too, that she's trapped now.

He laughs a little, because it's so her, even though he can see the alien emotions on her face. Oh, petite. His hands up are submissive, now, a habit; it's a good thing he's used to navigating people who can kill him. (She can definitely gut him from where she is. He wouldn't stop her, even if technically he could - he could charge her and sent her flying, but he never would, wouldn't even think about it. He'd let her do it and hold her wrists and try to talk her out of it until he couldn't.)

"The last time I saw you alone," he begins, and there's a sort of fragile hope in it, "Before everybody else showed, I was readin' to you. I think.. you fell asleep somewhere in chapter six. The Little Prince. Peter Pan wasn't long enough - you coulda been fakin' it, I nodded off. You left your blanket with me."