Dude was inside practicing guitar when Bill came back from buying stair railings for Kelly and Derek's second-floor landing.
Dude put his guitar in its stand. "Hey, I want to talk to you about something," he said to Bill.
"Sure, shoot," Bill said.
"Alice and I have been thinking about buying that 'Glass Box' house next door," Dude told him.
"With the $40,000 that Rafael gave Alice for her belongings, and all the money she and I have saved from our jobs--because you and Regina never let us pay for anything except groceries--we have enough to buy the place, and maybe even remodel a bit to make a bedroom for Daedelus."
"So, are you going to make an honest woman of Alice?" Bill teased.
"Believe me," Dude said, "I WILL--the second she'll have me.
"But for now, AT LEAST she's willing to set up a household with Daedelus and me."
_______________
"Well, that's a pretty big commitment," Regina observed, when Bill related the conversation after Dude had left for work.
"Has Alice said anything about this to you?" Bill asked.
"She told me she was considering it," Regina said.
"Dude's the one who really wants it, and I think Alice just thinks it's the right thing for Daedelus--to have a cohesive family unit, with a father who is obviously devoted to his child.
"But I DO think that Alice is more in love with Dude than she even realizes."
That afternoon, Bill and Peter again got the keys to the Glass Box house from the Willow Creek town office.
"You know, I love this house," Peter said, wistfully (remembering when Lou refused to live there, though she knew HE wanted to live there).
"Well, it's not my style, but I can see its appeal," Bill agreed.
"What do you think we can do with it?" Bill asked. "Because I can build anything, but I have NO idea about design stuff."
"This is a tough one," Peter admitted. "And there's not much land here, so building UP may be the only option."
________________
Derek returned home from the 2-day training program for his Astronaut job late afternoon and, since Declan was just about due home from school, Derek decided to wait for the kid at the bus stop.
'There's strength in numbers,' he figured. (He was dreading finding out what kind of mood his pregnant wife was in.)
"Hi, guy," Derek said, when the boy got off the bus. (He had given up trying to call Declan "buddy", which seemed only to annoy the kid.)
"Hey, Derek," Declan answered.
"Has everything been okay at the house while I've been away?" Derek asked him, really just trying to make conversation.
"Yeah, sure," Declan responded, suddenly suspecting that he knew something Derek didn't know. (It had not been lost on the kid that Kelly wasn't speaking to her husband.)
"Who knows how many people are going to be in the house, though," he added casually, and started to walk away from Derek.
"What do you mean?" Derek asked, turning and catching up with him.
"Well, when I woke up this morning, that guy Peter was asleep on the living room couch. So I just got some yogurt out of the fridge and went back to my room.
"Then that lady Lou came in with Kelly. Then Regina came in, and Lou left."
Derek was starting to get worried that Kelly had been taken ill.
"What the heck is going on?" he demanded.
"I suppose it's because of Kelsey," Declan replied slyly.
"WHO is 'Kelsey'?" Derek asked.
"The baby, of course," Declan replied smugly.
Declan's just a little bit of a brat still, isn't he! LOL
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