After dropping the girls off at school Gru stopped off at the coffeeshop, then headed on home. For the time being his plans were simply to grab the newspaper, plop down on the gator-couch and have a little rare time to himself. That is. . .until he pulled up and saw Dr. Nephario peeking out at him through the window. Immediately his eyes rolled with frustration. For the only time Nephario ever came up, was when something went wrong. Within seconds the door quickly opened, and he was standing out on the doorstep. At the same time Gru stepped out of the his transport vehicle and sighed heavily. "Al'right. . .What blew up dis time?"
He asked, as Nephario followed him back inside the house.
"Oh, nothin to speak of . . .But, I still need a word with you."
"Well make it quick." Gru mimed, shaking the newspaper at him. "Because I got some catching up to do while de gurls are in school."

Putting his hands behind his back, Nephario replied, "Hmm. . .Well. Maybe you should be doing that with your minions."
"What do you mean?"
"Well. . .They've been askin bout you. And some of them are starting to get a might agitated." This unexpected information actually intrigued Gru to setting the newspaper down.
"Agitated? For what?"
"Gru. . .When was the last time you've been down to their turf?"

Thrown off by that question, Gru thought about it, then nodded. "Oook. I know it's been awhile. . ."
"A while? Try a month!" Nephario lectured, as he sighed and looked away. "You used to go down there at least once a week to give them a little moral support. But now it's been so long, that they're starting to think you've abandoned them."

Taking that rather lightly Gru chuckled and replied, "Awww come on, now. I'm dere boss! Dey know how busy I am!"

"True. . .But. . you and me are all they know, Gru. They look at us more like parents, cause their genetic makeup has them like children. You know that. And after awhile of being forgotten and neglected, children will grow resentful. . ."

Still in denial, Gru chuckled and replied,
"Aww come on, now. It can't be dat bad. . ."

Not at all amused, Nephario replied, "You don't think so? Then I'll prove it."
With that he grabbed the remote and pointed it at the big flat panel. There Gru found himself staring at Mark and Dave and Kevin, who were all down below in the control room, sitting in front of the surveillance monitors.

Unaware that they were being watched, Mark let out a frustrated scoff and said, "Beeg boss non scende mai più qui! (Big boss never comes down here anymore!)
Sighing heavily Dave muttered, "Lo so. Ma lui ha le girls ora." (I know. . .But he has the girls now. . .)

Rather huffily, Mark folded his arms and angrily protested,
"So?! Siamo stati qui prima! (So?! We were here first!)

Rather sadly Kevin only shrugged and nodded, "Forse. Ma credo che si è dimenticato di noi." (Maybe. . .But I guess he forgot about us.)

Jumping off the stool, Mark irritably muttered under his breath, "Hah! Beh, forse dovremmo dimenticare di lui!" (Hah! Well maybe we should forget about him!) As he angrily walked away, the other two looked from him to themselves with shocked expressions on their faces. But that was nothing compared to the one on Gru's.

Gaping at the screen, Gru sighed, beginning to feel guilty. "Point received. . ." he muttered in a low voice. Thinking it over momentarily, he glanced sideways at Nephario and said, "I'll be back in a little while."

An hour later. . .

Steering a huge pallet with about ten wooden crates, Gru come off the transport pod and began heading toward the main sublevel where the majority of the minions hung out, and slept. As he headed toward their direction, he could hear the music echoing from ahead. Apparently they had the Jumbotron blaring from the auditorium, playing videos downloaded from the main computer uplink.
As he approached the entrance, Gru could only stop and stare at the little world that they made for themselves. Their world, to which they made their home. Over the years they turned the sublevel dwelling it into a playful environment, with different games including a chess board, a ping pong table, a dart board, a miniature snack bar, and even a coffee machine! Gathered in groups, they chattered and socialized among themselves, just like a little community.
Slowly shaking his head, Gru cleared his throat loud enough to get their attention. Throwing a hand on his hip, he loudly replied, "Hmmm. . .Sounds to me like you boys are managing just fine."

Eyes widening with surprise, a handful of them shouted, "Boss!" Thereafter they all ran up to him, some even hugging his legs with appreciation. Sighing with regret, Gru, nodded "Yeah, I know. . .I know. It's been awhile." he admitted, patting the top of their heads. "I've meesed you too. . ." Gradually, a few of them began to notice the crates on the pallet. Walking up to them rather cautiously, Larry the minion slowly looked up at Gru with excited suspicion. "Banana?"

Trying to remain cool about the situation, Gru raised an eyebrow and cracked a smile.
"Wellll. . .Delivery isn't for a couple of weeks. But I thought I'd treat you boys ahead of time."
This had Larry ecstatic, spinning around to the other excited minions. "Banana! Whoo-hoo!" he shouted, jumping up and down in a frenzy. This caused the others to become excited as well. "Banana? Banana? Ooh! Oooh!" Chuckling Gru shouted over them,

"Ooook. . .oook. We don't need a mob. You know de rules. Get in a line and we'll start handing dem out." As they ran off Gru shouted, "And no pushing!" Looking down at a handful of the minions he replied, "Tim, would you do me a favor?"
"Certo boss. . ."
"Would you and a few boys mind dispersing dese. Take a bunch for yourselves furst."
"K-K. . ." Tim hollered, thereafter he took off hollering at the minions to get in a formation.

While they were distributing, Gru was walking around the turf with some of the minions, when he noticed that Tim began calling out Marks name. He was next on the list to receive his bunch, but was nowhere in the line. That's when Dave, who was helping Tim disperse, spotted him sitting at the snack bar. Giving Dave a nod, Tim handed him a clutch of bananas and he headed in Marks direction. "Hey-hey. . ." he called out, lightly tapping Mark on the arm enough to get his attention.

"Hmph?"
"Banana?" Dave chimed, sliding them across the counter in his direction. Looking from them to him, Mark shook his head and gradually pushed them away. "Nahh. . ."

From the sidelines Gru's eyes widened with surprise. From the time Mark showed up, he never refused any type of food, or reward. Especially bananas! As a matter of fact, Gru actually reprimanded him a couple of times for getting too pushy in the lines! So for him to actually stay behind and refuse, Gru knew without a doubt he had gone too far. Unable to take much more, he muttered,

"A'right. . .enoughs, enough." Stepping out into the middle of the room, he held a hand up to get their attention. " Boys. . .gather around. I have something I need to say." Now as the minions began to gather around him. One by one, Gru stared down at them with great concern. "It has come to my attention dat some of you are not too happy with me." He boldly announced, as they looked up at him with surprise. Rather awkwardly, he threw both hands behind his back and said, "I know. . I haven't been down as much as I used to. But it's because I've been so occupied since de gurls got here." He replied, noticing how Mark sighed heavily and looked away. Seeing this troubled Gru to the point of him asking, "You don't regret dem being here. . .do you?"
This unexpected question had Mark slowly looking up at him out the corner of his eye. As his head slowly shook, "No," Gru could read the guilty expression across his face. Feeling a little more at ease, Gru nodded then said, "Good. Because you have to understand dat they can't look after themselves de way you can. De're young. . .and taking care of dem is a full time job." Gradually Gru noticed the way Dave sadly looked up at him. Dave. . .his first, and most loyal minion. It caused him to smile and add, "But dat doesn't mean you've been replaced,understand?" He stressed, gently patting the top of his head. "And I- apologize to those of you who feel dis way. . ." By the reassured smile on Daves face, Gru knew he'd won him over. But Mark on the other hand, was a different story. He said nothing. But merely folded his arms and glared down at the floor. Recalling what he'd said to Dave, Gru devilishly peered down at him and added, "After all. . .you were here furst. . ."

Eyes widening, Mark gaped up at the smirk on his bosses face. By then he could no longer look at him, glaring down at the floor with humiliation. Smile disappearing, Gru sighed heavily and said, "I know you don't believe me. But one way or de other, I'm going to make up for de lost time. . ."

By the way Mark hurtfully looked up at him, Gru could tell he was not at all convinced. "Hmph!" He scoffed under his breath, thereafter he jumped off his stool and attempted to leave the room.
The sight of this suddenly panged at Gru's heart.
Seeing the troubled expression on his face, Nephario desperately wanted to patch things up between them. Noticing the chessboard set up on the floor, he immediately got an idea. Looking at Gru, he quickly replied,

"And you can start right now, if you want. Oh Maark . . ." he deliberately called out. "How bout a little game of chess with your boss, hmmm?"
Strangely enough, Mark froze in his tracks. Then slowly he turned around. At the same time, Gru, knowing that he was a master at chess, leered at Nephario and mumbled,
"Uhh. . .what are you trying to do? Make him feel wourse?"
"Ooohh, of course not. It's just a little harmless game. Right Mark?" Nephario mimed with a grin. Now for the first time, a clever smirk crept over Marks face.
Giving Gru a playful jeer, he cooed, "Certo. . .Boss." (Sure Boss. . .) With that he quickly walked up to the table, and hopped up on the stool. Thinking this was going to another painful blow, Gru sighed and muttered, "A'right. Eeef you insist. . ."
Deciding to be charitable, Mark pointed to the white pieces and eagerly nodded,
"Ruch. . ." (You're move. . .)
"Why thank you. . ." Gru playfully replied. . .having no idea what he was truly in for!