“What’s wrong Justin?” asked Chris concerned. The young Lamb had seemed find that morning, but now Chris knew something was wrong.
“Nothing sir,” mumbled Justin. “I miss Geek, that’s all. I’m sorry if I have offended you in any way.”
“What happened to Geek?” asked Chris confused.
“Gone,” sighed Justin sadly as he walked out of the dinning room and back towards the kitchen.
“Kate!” called Chris, knowing that she would know what was going on.
“Sir?” asked Kate walking into the room.
“What happened to Geek?” demanded Chris.
“My apologizes, sir,” began Kate, bowing low. “You were hungry so I was going to wait until after you ate but Master Joshua arrived this afternoon and picked up Geek.”
“JC and Lance are back?” asked Chris and Kate nodded her head.
“He regretted that he was not able to stay but he had business to take care of and a meeting with Master Bass. He did saw however he would stop by and see you tomorrow and that you are welcomed at his place anytime.”
“Thank you Kate,” replied Chris before dismissing her. He would miss the little robot but part of him was glad so that he no longer had Geek volunteering to help Wendy to cook. Even under Wendy’s expert supervision anything that Geek cooked still turned out badly.
*~*~*
“Is Stacy still sleeping?”
“Yeah,” nodded Lance as he flopped down on the couch next to his husband. After having a quick meal upon their return, Stacy retreated to the guest room she would be staying in and had stayed there ever since.
“She’ll be fine,” reassured Josh as he rubbed Lance’s back.
“I’ll feel better once the two weeks are up,” admitted Lance.
“Me too,” sighed Josh.
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“Then we’ll try something else,” sighed Josh, wrapping his arms around Lance and pulled him close to his body.
“You’re looking after Stacy in the morning right?” asked Lance. They had decided that they would take turns watching Stacy during the morning and afternoon while they were suppose to be at work since they had just returned from a vacation. Fortunately both could work from home for the most part.
“Yeah,” nodded Josh. “Then I have to go and see how things are running at the stores for awhile in the afternoon and I thought that I would stop in to see Chris for a few minutes. I think he’s been lonely since Joey got married and spends most of his time with Kelly.”
“Alright,” replied Lance with a smile. “You’re a good friend, Josh.”
“I know,” smiled Josh as he cuddled closer to Lance. There they stayed that way until it was time for them to go to bed.
“I’m glad we decided to do this,” murmured Josh sleepily while crawling into the large bed.
“Me too,” agreed Lance, snuggling down next to Josh.
*~*~*
The next morning they both woke up early wanting to spend some time alone together since they both knew that alone time would come in short periods while Stacy was living with them.
Eventually however, Josh had to reluctantly kiss Lance good-bye while Lance headed off to his office to get some work done while Josh stayed and kept an eye on Stacy.
“Feeling better?” asked Josh when Stacy finally made an appearance much later.
“Yeah,” she replied. “But I’m kinda hungry right now.”
“I’ll get Geek to make you something.”
“I’m not that hungry!” teased Stacy.
“Poor Geek,” laughed Josh. “I think Lance is bringing some food back for you, anyways. He should be back in about an hour and a half.”
“I can take care of myself you know,” sighed Stacy. “I don’t want to be a bother.”
“Both of us can get work done from home,” replied Josh shaking his head. “You’re not a bother to us.”
*~*~*
“Mr. Kirkpatrick, there’s someone here to see you,” announced a young assistant.
“In a minute!” replied Chris not looking up from the handheld video game that he was playing. Chris had been avoiding working all morning by playing video games and he had planned on spending the afternoon doing the same thing.
“Do you ever get any work done?” playfully asked a new voice.
“JC!” cried Chris forgetting his game and hugging his friend tightly. “I heard you were back!”
“Yep,” smiled JC. “And I had a fun two hours last night deleting a program entitled ‘Clean Chris’s Place.’”.
“I had forgotten about that,” admitted Chris weakly. “I didn’t expect you two to be back so soon. I figured you’d take at least another week off.”
“Something came up,” replied Josh with a smile.
“What?”
“Nothing bad, but I don’t really want to say right now in case I jinx it,” reassured Josh. “I’ll be able to tell you in a few weeks, but not until then!”
“Sure,” nodded Chris understanding. “Hey I have an idea! How ‘bout we blow this place and go get something to eat? We’ll invite Joey and Lance along as well!”
“Lance is busy,” replied Josh with a smile. “But I’m free and you know Joey is always up for food and to find an excuse not to do work.”
“What are we waiting for then?!” cried Chris leading Josh towards the door. “I know a great new place!”
“Okay,” laughed Josh as he happily followed.