The figure walked up the driveway, away from the coach. It was carrying something under its arm, something not too handily shaped to have under one's arm.
From the window, Clarabelle frowned. It looked like someone she knew from somewhere. "Dr Nye?" she called back into the house. "There's someone coming! He looks like one of my old friends!"
Nye came lumbering down the stairs. "About time," it snarled, moving to the door. It grabbed the handle and wrenched the door open. "Where have you been!?" it shouted.
The Dullahan cowered on the doorstep as Nye took a step towards it.
"Don't be so mean to him, boss!" Clarabelle said gently, taking the two huge pizza boxes from under the Dullahan's arm.
The Dullahan stood with its front towards Nye, its body expression apologetic.
After twenty seconds, Nye scrunched its face up in anger. "YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULD BE HOME AT TWO O'CLOCK! IT'S ALREADY TEN! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?"
"Doctor, please be nice to the Dullahan," Clarabelle said, looking worried as the Dullahan seemed to slouch a bit. "Dullahan, can you tell me why you were late?"
"Eight hours late," Nye added.
"Doctor!"
"Sorry," Nye said, knowing when to stop when it was Clarabelle it was dealing with.
The Dullahan stood for a whole minute, Clarabelle and Nye both listening intently. Clarabelle wiped her eye and rushed forward. She threw her arms around the Dullahan's shoulders, sobbing. "Oh my god, I'm sorry!" she wept. "That must've been so horrible! And then coming home to your bed buddy shouting at you… Doctor, aren't you going to apologise?"
Nye shuffled its feet nervously. "I suppose…" It scratched its neck. "I guess I'm sorry."
"That was terrible," Clarabelle said. "Let's have some pizza!"
The Dullahan lit up and followed Clarabelle into the kitchen to set the table.
A few minutes later, Nye joined them at the table, sitting next to the Dullahan opposite Clarabelle. It looked at the Dullahan and blinked away a tear. "I love you, you know," it said, leaning down to kiss the Dullahan's chest.
Clarabelle beamed at them both. "No hard feelings? Yay!"
She leaned forward and cut the first giant pizza into lots of pieces. "I love you too, you know," she said, looking at the Dullahan. The Dullahan made an appreciative motion.
"I love both of you," Clarabelle continued. "You're my best friends, and you also happen to be great in bed."
Nye swooned. "Thank you, Clarabelle. You're a beautiful girl."
Clarabelle grinned and dug into her pizza, determined to make the most out of tonight; knowing full well everything would be back to normal in a couple of days when the drugs wore off.