Disclaimer: I own a can of Rotel sauce, some Veleeta cheese, and the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy. Nothing related to Being Human though. Funnily enough, after I petitioned for the right to buy Josh, and the court trial stating that it'd be illegal, he actually filed a restraining order against me. Weird, huh?

Reservations for Three
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Last Edit: Saturday, February 19, 2011; 2:10AM

Series: North America's Being Human

Spoilers: Reference to episode five.

Rating: T; for language and mentions of sexual relations.

Pairings: Aidan/Josh, mentions of Aidan/Josh/Sally

Warnings: Not so mild language, references to Sally voyeuristically making a threesome with Aidan/Josh (you know she would), and my inability to wield commas and speech properly.

Inspiration: That cute-as-sin dinner at the end of episode three! It screamed for more mention.

Everyone has their own idea of what coping is. Sometimes, it can be releasing everything on any poor soul who bothers to ask how you were that day. You're supposed to say 'fine' to that question by the way. No one really wants to know how your day is. That would defeat the purpose of it being just a quick question you happen to throw at people while you keep on walking. If everyone stopped to spill there life story, no one would ever bother to ask.

On the other hand, many people seemed to have a tendency to bottle everything inside. Letting their worries, their fear, their anxiety bubble up until everything boils over into a trip to the asylum.

At first, when Josh had proposed the impromptu 'family' dinner idea, Sally had pitied the poor guy. He seemed so giddy. Like a small child who wanted to have a tea party with his parents, using imaginary tea and crumpets. It was only after dinner, that she began to feel irritable about it. There he was, easily the most normal of them all, and he was acting as if his world was slowly crumbling to pieces. What right did he have to shoot everyone those rounded black eyes that practically begged for affection? He could touch things without fear of his hands slipping through. He could talk to people instead of at them, because they could actually hear him. Hell, his heart could even beat!

There was no reason that he should act as if his situation was even remotely similar to theirs.

Sally was dead! Murdered even, and couldn't figure out how to move on. Aidan was the undead, he was the thing that children told stories about around campfires. From what little Aidan had let slip to them both, it seemed as if nearly the whole coven was biting at his ass for 'straying'. Josh though, still seemed to have more issues than an emo kid, which was just so….Josh.

It had been Aidan who had picked up on her animosity. Or rather, Sally had learned later, it was Josh who figured out that her anger was aimed at him, so he told Aidan to figure out what was up.

When she had told Aidan, she had expected him to be on the dead-people team, not the mythical-being team. Even though he, technically, could fit into both categories, she was sure he would understand her view. She was abashed to realize her folly.

Aidan had laid it out in simple to understand terms, his eyes drilling into hers, and willing her to understand in just a few words: "He needs us."

And maybe it was a testament to how close they all were that she didn't believe for a second that Aidan meant that in a negative way. Josh did need them. Not in a way that made him feel better about himself, or let him know that at least someone besides him had it worse. And certainly not in a way where he stayed with them out of obligation.

Josh stayed with them because they were together in this. And while Sally loved a good romance novel, she wasn't naïve enough to believe that Josh stayed with them for Aidan's bedding skills and her voyeuristic tendencies.

Josh was like them; on a level. Maybe his heart pumped some blood and he had a weird growly animal inside of him, whom she would now refer to as Tramp, which apparently went berserk whenever Josh happened to catch a glance of Animal Planet, but he was them.

He should be able to leave them; to go on and rejoin his family and conveniently go out every full moon. He could go back to college and not take night classes. He might even be able to go out and find another fiancé, if Aidan let him. Then again, Aidan would probably be into a foursome. Because, even if she couldn't really touch, she was there and that counted as a threesome already, dammit!

Anyway, the point was when she thought about it, it was a no-brainer. Josh was absolutely moronic to stay with them. But he did. As Aidan had put it, Josh couldn't leave. They managed to make him feel secure and whole in a way his family never had, and the friends he hadn't had never could. And thinking about it, Sally probably wouldn't let Josh go even if he wanted to.

Which was currently what he was trying to do.

"I am not, Sally! It's not 'weaseling my way out of dinner' when you guys don't eat! Carla at the hospital is about to go into surgery and really would appreciate-"

Sally cocked her hip and turned to Aidan, ignoring the flailing man in front of them.

"Who is Carla?" She questioned in a half serious tone, which vaguely reminded everyone of a jealous house wife.

"She's a patient," Aidan responded immediately, trained already not to mess with an angry Sally.

"Does Josh actually know her or is this another charity case?"

"Charity case."

"Oh come on! Would you guys quit calling it that! That's not what it is, it's being nice and- "

"Is she expecting Josh, or does he just think it would 'be a nice surprise'?" Sally asked in a mocking tone, using air quotes.

Aidan glanced at the furious Josh, who had by now pushed both lips out to resemble a fish, with a face red as a beat, and chuckled.

"Probably his idea of a surprise."

"Then really there's no need-"

"Really guys, you're just gonna ignore me?" Came the whine from in front of them.

"-for him to go. Oh, shut it Josh," Sally hollered, finally caving to his pleas, "I took being ignored for months! I turned out fine." She huffed at him for ruining her fun.

Josh barely had time to mumble a low 'you mean crazy', before Sally managed to send a stray coffee mug in his direction. He caught it, barely, but it managed to get her point across.

Aidan snatched it from Josh and shot Sally a glare.

"Hey, can we watch the personal items? I need that for my food."

"Food is exactly what I'm trying to get Josh to eat!"

Josh threw his hands up in exasperation and began the walk to the door. He was not prepared for the screen to practically glue itself to the doorway. The squirrely male managed to make himself look even more adorable when he put his hands on his hips in a futile attempt to look intimidating.

"Sally, come on. You guys always complain about it. How it's a waste of everything, because you don't eat and Aidan has to retch whatever he does eat later. This way you can avoid the whole pretending bit. I'll just," he faltered a bit, suddenly looking lost but determined not to look like anything was amiss, "I'll just s-stop by somewhere and grab something to go."

That was the thing about Josh. He didn't like to tell anyone his problems. He knew that people wanted to hear the word 'nothing' whenever he was asked what happened to him. He did so much for them, Sally had come to realize, and yet it was as if he expected nothing in return.

He cooked, he cleaned, he listened to their problems, he flipped her pages on whatever book or newspaper she felt up to reading, he acted as a distraction for anyone who wanted to go into the blood holding room when Aidan needed to restock, the man did it all!

When they had first met, Josh had had a meltdown at the idea of another entity in their 'normal' home. But his heart was too big, his conscious to demanding, and his personality too sweet for his front to last long. Soon he was bringing Sally flowers, and asking if there was anything she'd like to decorate the house.

It was sweet.

Like him.

But as she had discovered, thanks in part to Aidan's statement, Josh did almost nothing for himself. The few things he did do, never seemed to pan out for him. Ray had been a blinding example of that. In fact, Sally though back, it was right after Ray that Josh had started up these dinners. It was the only thing he did solely for himself.

Sure they normally managed to discuss their day, their issues, and whatever else that had happened, but Aidan and she could do without it. It wasn't something that could be considered a staple of their necessities.

They already had their own coping mechanisms.

Aidan's was easily in the bedroom. Not in a sexual way, like everyone had first come to suspect. It wasn't like he always wanted to get down and dirty. Many nights he just held Josh close while Sally got as close as she could. They didn't really talk much on those nights, save for low murmurs and mumbled reassurances that everything was going to be okay. But it helped, just to know that they were all there, together. As a unit, and that he had the support of his own little coven.

Sally would readily admit that she considered her special time to be when just she and the boys lazed around the house. Preferably in the living room, while they talked about whatever was on the TV at the time. It made her feel normal. Accepted.

Sally and Aidan were avoiders. They ignored their issues in the sad hope that maybe it would go away or magically resolve itself. All they needed was just to know that they weren't completely shut off from everyone. Josh wasn't like that. He couldn't ignore what he was. He knew it wouldn't go away and he didn't expect it to resolve itself. He believed in the long forgotten method of talking.

He asked about how their day went, as if each day wasn't nearly the exact same as the day before. He was always bringing home odd sorts of paraphernalia, unique lamps for Sally or little coffee mugs for Aidan. He brought so many home, it probably had the shops thinking that he was a hoarder, but they always managed to break more than they actually managed to keep.

And maybe that was why Sally wasn't crazy yet, and the stress lines on Aidan's face had diminished since they'd lived together. Josh made the difference. He managed to make their little menage et trois a home. A family.

She had an epiphany.

"Fine! Go then, have it your way! Like you'd bother to listen anyway," Sally yelled suddenly, causing both men to jump, startled. The screen door flung itself open, slamming against the wall in a clatter.

Aidan shot her a bewildered look, that nearly managed to make her back down from her sudden epiphany. That cold feeling was increased tenfold when she made the mistake of looking at Josh's face. He looked absolutely horror struck at the idea that he'd actually upset her.

Aidan attempted to jump in with some damage control, but was cut off by Sally making the overhead light flicker dangerously.

"Oo-kay," the vampire said lowly, warily eyeballing the ceiling. Pausing for the moment to figure out what Sally was up to. The woman didn't normally have an outburst for no reason. Usually.

Josh hesitantly attempted to reach out to Sally's image, like a poor man for a life line. Both Sally and Aidan could see how his entire posture curled within itself like a kicked puppy. His lips were quivering and his knees looked like he could barely hold him up. When Sally sidestepped his shaky walk for her, he froze, looking terrified at the both of them.

"I don't….I'm sorry. I didn't mean-its not lik-What did I do?" he asked desperately.

Sally softened her fierce glare; perhaps she was being too harsh for this act. She wanted him to leave bewildered, not heart broken.

"Nothing Josh, just like always. And I intend on fixing that habit of yours. Go on now, see Kara."

"Carla." Josh correctly dazedly, slowly turning towards the door. Which had by now been open long enough to let the icy chill of the wind kick their heater into overdrive.

"Right. Bye now." She made a shooing gesture towards the door until he had finally walked down the tiny flight of steps and she slammed the door.

"What," Aidan asked, his face pulling into an angry scowl, "was that?"

"Oh my God, Aidan, we have to get to work!" Sally squealed, before dissolving into a mist and reappearing in the kitchen.

Aidan took slow measured steps, radiating the aura of a very pissed off predator.

"Work? You mean work at fixing the mess you just made? What the hell was that!" He demanded, in a barely restrained yell.

"Calm down already, I did it for his own good."

Aidan looked beyond confused and if he could have, he probably would have throttled Sally, which really wasn't all that funny to think about, considering her death. He took a deep breathe, his face looking pinched like he'd just smelled blood.

"I don't follow," he huffed out frustrated.

She turned to face him and the emotions warring on her face managed to make Aidan realize that this wasn't something done out of spite.

"Look Aidan, you were right. Josh does need us, and he does everything for us, and he doesn't expect anything in return and all he wanted was a dinner and it's like he realized that we didn't enjoy it, of course he did, he always pays attention to other people, and now he doesn't want to burden us anymore, so he's gone off and found a discrete way to not make us have to go through with it anymore, and when I realized that, I decided it'd be better if he left so thatwaywecouldsurprisehim!"

Her eyes were wide and shinning, clearly proud of whatever plan she'd concocted, but Aidan's head was still reeling.

"Okay, we've talked about this. Just because you're dead and don't have to breathe does not mean that we could understand you when you do…that." He waved in her direction as if to make her understand.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. But we have to hurry!" She clapped her hands in excitement, before twirling around in a frenzy. "Come ooooon, Aidan!"

He looked at her as if she'd gone mad.

"You want me," he began warily, "to cook? You realize it's literally been over a hundred years since I've even held a pan, right?"

She seemed to hesitate, before shrugging. "How hard could it be, you've got me! Watch this, I've been practicing." So saying she spread out her arms and closed her eyes in concentration.

Aidan was mildly surprised to see the cabinet doors open slowly and the pans inside begin to wobble. He noticed Sally's brow furrow and her lips purse in concentration as she lifted her hands up and waved them in the direction of the counter top, in an imitation of what she wanted the pans to do.

Obviously, pans were like cats, and you couldn't make them do shit if they didn't want to. The most they would do would be gracing you with a well pronounced hiss. The pans whipped out from under the cabinet, and literally flung themselves at the counter top; breaking a picture frame, three mugs, a bag of flour, and the cookie jar in one foul swoop.

Aidan faltered at the realization that all of his mugs had now successfully been demolished. Josh had damn well better bring him some new ones tonight, for Sally's sake, or Aidan would find a way to get back at the ghost.

"So, you've done this before?" He skeptically questioned.

She fidgeted guiltily.

"Yeah, uh, about that. I said I'd practiced. I didn't say I'd actually gotten good." She said, her gaze sweeping over the mayhem. Their kitchen was now a lovely shade of white from the flour, and the floor had an almost granite look to it from the broken cookies. "The mice will be happy at least." She added hesitantly.

Aidan looked at her affronted. "We have mice?"

"….Josh told me not to tell you. We think they're cute."

Aidan stared hard and said nothing, only slowly moving to pick up the pans from the table.

"Just….Oh God, I don't even care. What are we making?"

Sally, happy to move on from this discussion, looked around. "Um, what do we have?"

Aidan blinked. "I dunno. Josh cooks."

Sally, rapidly beginning to understand their situation, began to chew on her lip. "That's because he's the only one who eats."

"This surprise idea of yours sucks."

"Can you even taste food?"

"Not really."

"How are we supposed to know if it tastes good?"

"I suppose if he keels over, we'll know the food was poisoned."

"Aidan!" Sally yelled, shocked.

He smirked.

"What? You'll have a float-buddy," he joked, imitating the stereotypical ghost by lifting his hands up and letting a low 'oooh' sound emit. He was lucky that Sally was unable to take off her shoe and throw it had him. It was a good thing she'd always been good at verbal retorts.

"Yeah, well you won't have a bed buddy anymore, will you?" She said derisively.

Aidan froze at the implications because this suddenly wasn't funny anymore.

"We can't do this." He said panicked. Realizing that they could very well kill the other, and Josh wasn't likely to have any unfinished business to hang around for.

"We have to! Or he'll think I was just being a bitch when I kicked him out!" Sally screeched shrilly, appalled that he would back out of her impromptu plan.

"You were! You didn't think the situation through, and now we'll just have to expla-"

"The internet!" Sally interrupted victoriously.

"What?"

"Google it! There has to be something simple that doesn't take a lot of effort to make."

Aidan stared at her before retorting: "Oh, because that shows that we really care."

"Shut up. I'm trying, Aidan." She said, her voice faltering slightly. Aidan couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her; only a little though, because she was the reason he was in the mess in the first place.

"Hold on, let me open the fringe. You call out what we have, and I'll check online." He said, before opened the fringe and the pantry and all their compartments wide, and flipping open his laptop.

"I know that the only meat we have right now is rump roast and chicken."

Aidan nodded, logging on. "We'll use something with the chicken until Josh comes off his pseudo-werewolf first aid kit. Alright, lucky for us this is the internet where you can find literally anything, and they actually have a website called 'simple recipes'. Or simply, but whatever."

Sally perked up from hovering around the fridge.

"Really? Le'mme see, does it ha-"

"Oh no, you stay there. We only have so long, and I'm not going to scroll through the pages to make you happy. Do we have any chili?"

He ignored the grumbled 'Josh would have' as she began to eye the pantry.

"Uh, no."

"Alright then, that knocks off like, three."

"How many are there?" She called.

"Around a hundred."

"Really!"

"No," he replied wearily, "there's at least two."

"Oh….oh. What else?"

"Anything for soup?"

"Some cream of mushroom."

"How about anything syrup-y?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"I'll take that as a no, then." He interpreted flatly. "Spicy?"

She glared at him before scanning the pantry.

"A couple jars of Rotel sauce."

"Alright, any bourin?"

"What the hell is that?"

"Cheese."

"…Does our kitchen look like France to you? We have cheddar."

Aidan glared at her retort.

"Well, that may wor-"

"In the form of Cheeze-its." She finished as if he hadn't said anything.

"I hate you."

She laughed.

"Josh finished off the last hunk of cheese before work his jog this morning."

"Do we have any fruits? Lemons or whatever?"

She didn't even look. "We have an avocado."

He looked at her bewildered. "Why do we have an avocado but no cheese?"

"Because Josh buys everything?" She answered confoundedly.

"That actually makes sense," he laughed as he shut his laptop.

"Hey! What're you doing!"

He shrugged. "This will take us forever. We'll just wing it."

"What if we kill him?"

"Hey, our cooking couldn't possibly be that bad. Besides, I'm sure Josh's stomach can handle it. Marley eats his own shit." He said referring to their unfinished game of naming Josh's wolf.

"Josh told us that in confidence." She chastised with a small smile, laughing softly at remembering Josh's face when he had blurted it out one night when Aidan. The vampire had made the mistake of trying to slap a wet one on the werewolf as he walked in the door from the woods, and Josh hadn't had time to brush his teeth.

"Yeah, but it's just you and me here now." He said as he waved around at the distinct lack of other people in their kitchen.

"It embarrasses him when you mention it." Sally reminded.

"Like I said, just you and me." He replied with a grin.

"You're an ass."

"You know what I would say if you were Josh, right?"

She smiled coyly. "Oh, it's alright. I like your ass to. I get the full panorama view when ya'll go at it."

Aidan's smile dropped, realizing he'd lost this battle.

"You are a sick and twisted little voyeuristic other-wordly entity, you know?"

"You know I love it when you call me those pet names." She winked causing them both to burst into laughter.

After a moment, both seemed to realize that an hour had passed and they had nothing done. Aidan took the initiative.

"So, uh…You said chicken right? Rotel and avocado?"

Sally nodded. "Yeah, and the chicken has already been skinned and cleaned. Just needs to boil."

Aidan seemed to think a moment. "I know that if you simmer meat in flavored things it lasts longer…Right?"

"Right. So we just…"

"…let it heat up in the Rotel sauce?" Aidan questioned warily.

Sally pondered a moment before agreeing. "Yeah, that'll work."

"Alright then, we have a plan!" He grinned back as they mock-high fived.

Aidan grabbed the flour covered cooking pot, not bothering to wipe it of considering it'd just get dirty again anyway, before setting it gingerly on the stove. Not knowing whether to put it on low medium or high, he settled on the highest because they were short on time.

He took the three slabs of chicken and laid them in the pot where they began to sizzle as the stove heated. Quickly, he cut into the Rotel cans with his thumb and dumped them into the pot as well before stirring them with a rubber spatula.

Proud of himself, Aidan stepped back to admire there handy work.

"How long should we let it cook?" Sally questioned after the pot began boiling softly.

Aidan sniffed lightly. "Maybe when it smells really good? That's how I know Josh's cookies are done."

Sally nodded slightly as she leaned over the pot.

"We should garnish it with something. It looks kind of ugly."

"Thanks. A lot." Aidan said vaguely offended.

"Oh my God, I'vegotit!" She yelled, as a gust of wind swung a large stack of plates from the cabinet and hurled them to the floor and the lonely avocado in the fruit basket flung itself at the wall.

There was a moment of pregnant silence.

"Really?" Aidan burst out flabbergasted. "What was the point of that?"

She seemed oblivious to the new mosaic floor she'd invented and the green splatter on the wall, slowly oozing its way down. "We should totally put avocado in it, and decorate it with little cheeze-its on the plate!"

Aidan rapidly blinked as he realized that the idea didn't sound half bad. Except for…

"One problem. All of our plates are smashed, the avocado is wall art, and the cheeze-its are….Why didn't those get flung?"

Sally tilted her head curiously. "Huh. I don't kn-"

When the box of cheeze-its flung itself at Aidan covered him in cheddar crumbs, Aidan managed to only shoot the uncomfortable Sally a dirty look, before he stiffly turned to the stove and began to stir the pot.

"Any other bright ideas?"

"The avocado is still good. It's just been like, pureed. And there are a few cheeze-its in the box." She answered sheepishly.

Aidan sighed as he walked over the scrap the, still sliding, avocado off the wall and into the pot. He stirred a little as the mixture began to sputter and pop. He stared at it uncomprehendingly.

"What do I do with it?"

"Uh, Josh puts salt in some stuff to make it stop bubbling."

Aidan grabbed the large bottle of salt and gently shook it over the boiling concoction on the stove. Both vampire and ghost glanced at each other confused as to why the mess wouldn't stop bubbling up. Aidan repeated the motion several times in a futile attempt to stop the mixture from boiling, unaware that it could only be stopped by turning down the stove.

Neither said a word as Aidan tilted nearly all the salt from the container into the pot to attempt to make it stop popping. Their only reward was a sharp splatter flinging itself on Aidan's face. He whirled around to stare accusingly at Sally who held her hands in surrender.

"Wasn't me! I swear."

Aidan huffed irritably as he wiped his face with a towel and flung it on the floor.

"Whatever, it's done."

Sally watched as he tried to find the least chipped plate on the floor and set it on the table. The pot was lifted from its spot on the stove, and slowly spilled into the plate. The three slices of chicken landed squarely in the middle of the plate, with the Rotel dripping lazily around it, the bits of avocado blending in. Sally explained to him how to set five of the cheeze-its in a half-moon shape around the plate. The end result actually looked pretty-

"Savvy." Aidan pronounced, wiping his hands on another towel he'd pulled from the drawer, before dropping it on the floor as well.

Sally eyed him.

"Who says that anymore?"

"Says what?"

"Savvy."

"Huh?" Aidan said, completely not following.

"Are you a pirate?"

"What are you-"

She cocked her head, contemplating.

"Do pirates even use the word 'savvy'?"

Aidan's eye began to twitch.

"I don't underst-"

"They say things like 'ye' and 'matey' and 'yo ho' and-"

"Oh my-AUGH, what is this! What happened in here yo-"

"Actually," Sally interrupted, "I think its 'Arrrg', not 'augh'. You totally never watched Pirates of the Caribbean, did you Aid-JOSH!"

Sally turned to the gaping Josh who had apparently already stepped in a plume of flour that had managed to catapult itself halfway up his leg. The scrawny man and paled whiter than the flour on his pants and seemed to be having a hard time breathing. Aidan had taken it upon himself to calmly walk Josh through the kitchen to the table, zig zagging across the room to avoid stepping in anymore of the mayhem.

"Sit." Aidan said calmly, pulling out the younger man's chair for him.

Josh took a stuttering breath, gasping as he fought for air. When he had finally managed to regulate his breathing, his eyes watering from the effort, he glanced up to see the others already seated at the table.

Thinking he was delirious, his mouth opened but all that came out was a small: "Why?"

Sally shrugged shyly, seemingly willing him to be calm, and whispered self-consciously: "Surprise?"

Josh blinked repetitively, shifting his gaze across the table to Aidan, looking for further clarity.
"Wha?"

Aidan seemed just as sheepish as Sally and shrugged a single shoulder, before letting it drop loosely after a moment's deliberation.

"Surprise."

Josh looked around the room. The kitchen looked like a whirlwind of flour had struck the kitchen. Every single door was wide open, all the pots and pans, and even the toaster, laid around various areas in the room. The mug shelf was officially empty, the shattered remains lying haphazardly on the floor, mingling with what looked to be the whole set of kitchen plates. The cookies he had made the other day were scattered across the floor mocking the tender care he'd gone through to cut them. He starred uncomprehendingly at the broken remains of what used to be cute little bats, ghosts and half-moons.

"All this is for me?" He whispered dumbly. His eyes catching sight of the glowing red stove-top, half terrified to realize that the rubber spatula next to it had already melted into a puddle of goo.

Aidan followed Josh's line of site and winced. "Well, actually that bit on the plate was supposed to be the ah…" He trailed off. Finally seeing what Josh was. They hadn't so much given the man a surprise, as they did a giant mess.

Josh looked at the plate in front of him. He noticed the three slabs of meat that he had originally been preparing to make tonight. They were coated in what he was, pretty sure was, the can of Rotel he had been saving for dip whenever he managed to remember to buy some Velveeta. He couldn't be to certain however, as the frothy white from the still raw chicken was mixed in with some…green bits.

He looked at the wall to his left and matched the splatter of green on it to the bits in the plate. Avocado. Right.

He wanted to be angry. He really did. Their was flour everywhere, glass and bits of cookies, and he didn't know where to start. All of the dishtowels were strewn throughout the kitchen floor, so he didn't even know what he was going to clean with. The green from the avocado would never come out from the white of the kitchen wall, and he'd never be able to get up the melted rubber from the stove.

He had half a mind to ditch this place and find another home to stay, but he could only stare plate, cracked on the right side, letting the liquid leek from the plate and seep steadily across the table.

Dumbly, he was most intrigued at the five cheeze-its. Carefully placed on the side of his plate. They were soaked and soggy, half-covered in the disgusting froth from the chicken, but somehow they seemed so important. He couldn't stop the smile from stretching over his face.

Glancing up at the two, both looking wary and on edge, they seemed floored at his broad grin. They had totaled his kitchen, destroyed his stove, ruined his cookies, and let him think for the past few hours that he'd never get to sit here with them again.

"You guys are awesome."