Chet hadn't shown up for Christmas dinner, so they went ahead and ate as soon as Shawn and Jack got back from ice skating. The dinner started out mildly awkward, with Mr. McGuire using it as an opportunity to interrogate Jack about his financial prospects, and Rachel attempting to run interference on his behalf.

"So this website you're running…"

"Actually, I just sold it." Jack explained.

"Jack made 40 million dollars before taxes," Rachel explained.

"Well, that is impressive," Mr. McGuire admitted.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Rachel opened it to find Chet standing in the hallway, reeking of booze.

Rachel feigned enthusiasm. "You made it!" She steered Chet to the seat next to Shawn, as far away from her parents as possible.

"I thought you joined AA," Shawn hissed as Chet sat down.

"Huh, those sons of bitches," Chet grumbled loudly enough for the whole room to hear him. "No, I gave up on that, Slim Jim." He saw that the table had been set with water and pulled a flask from his pocket.

"This here's my boy Shawnie," he continued, "he's got himself a big fancy job in advertising. Helped Jack out with the commercials for his website. I took one look at that thing and said 'Boy, if you want people to pay money for that shit, you're going to need a Hunter to sell it to 'em.' And sure enough, he did."

"Indeed," Mr. McGuire said.

"You see, we Hunters…" Chet continued until Rachel interrupted him. "Um, Shawn, Jack, can you guys help me in the kitchen with something?"

When they got out of earshot Rachel whispered "I thought you said he was in AA."

"He was," Jack objected, "when I talked to him yesterday he was stone cold sober."

"It must be something I did," Shawn sighed.

Jack tried to reassure him. "No, it wasn't you…"

"Look," Rachael said, "for now we just need to get him away from my parents."

"I can take him to Cory's house," Shawn volunteered.