The next morning Shamus was up early, he didn't get that much sleep last night after having a hard time trying to find a decent spot to sleep, but he couldn't find one on the worn out and very lumpy couch. He was planning to leave before anyone else woke up from their good night of sleeping. He got up, but only bend down a bit, his back wasn't feeling so good after his night on the couch. He groaned but stopped when he heard footsteps coming down the steps. He hid behind the couch and saw that it was Alphonce's step-mother, Kim coming down and then quickly turns to the direction where the kitchen was.
Shamus tries to crawl on the floor to make his way to the down without being caught, last thing anyone would need is some random stranger coming from behind and if it's a woman that finds him on the ground, she might think he was thief of some kind and scream alerting the others. He was close to the final set of stairs and continued to make his way down, but he stopped when he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him, "What are doing Mr. Shamus?"
Shamus froze as he looks over to see Alphonce was standing next to him. He slips and falls down the stairs all the way to the kitchen. He landed on his back. Shamus groaned with pain. He looks up to see Kim staring back at him with a bowl full of pancake mix in her hand.
"Um, Alphonce who is this?" She asked him first.
"Mr. Shamus," Alphonce honestly answers to his step-mother.
"It's just Shamus." Shamus groans, he tries to get up from the hard floor, but he couldn't move and had to turn on his stomach to grab the chair next to him.
Kim couldn't stand to watch and helps Shamus up. He groans and moans trying to straighten himself up, he sighs with relief when he cracked his back into place. Kim smiled and giggled. Shamus looks at her and gave his own awkward laugh. She invites Shamus to stay for breakfast.
Shamus gave a small grin and respond, "Sure. I'd like that."
Shamus sat at the kitchen's table with Alphonce next to him. He watches and listen to Alphonce telling his step-mother what happened yesterday. He was very sorry for running away, Kim was only happy to know that someone like Shamus came and helped bring her son, Alphonce back to the other. She hugged her special boy lovingly and gives him a big kiss on the cheek.
"I'm just happy you're still here, but sweetie I want you to remember something, if there's anything you're upset about, I want you to talk to someone. I know things are busy right now, but we'll listen to anything you or Stewart want to say." She told Alphonce.
"I know mommy, you were right when that bully Francis was picking on me and Danny, but it's still my fault for what happened after school ended." Alphonce answers back.
"What bully? What happened at school?" Shamus jumps in with some questions about them.
Kim answered, "It's personal. It's all in the past and when we get home, everything will be sort out, but for now we can't let bad news ruin a good vacation, right Alphonce?"
Alphonce looks at Kim. She smiles back and gave her son another kiss on the cheek, "Everything is going to be okay? Trust me, it's not your fault. Now sit down and eat your breakfast."
Alphonce sits next to Shamus. Kim gave them each a stack of fresh pancakes. Shamus smiles bashfully at her and she smiles back at him but when she turned her back, he kept staring and smiling at her. He reaches for the syrup bottle, but misses and ends up spilling the sticky syrup all over himself.
"Aw, damn it!" Shamus shouts aloud, he covers his mouth, but it was too late. They stared at him in shock.
Shamus looks back at them and quickly apologizes, "Sorry for the sailor talk. I didn't mean to let that spill out. Been out on a ship for too long. I used to work as a fisherman earning my pays to get a ticket to get here. They were used to swearing all the time and I got used to doing that all the time."
"Well, it's okay. It was just an accident, but please Mr. Shamus I would like it if you don't say it again, especially in front of my son." She warns him.
"Son? Oh, right, Alphonce! He told me he had a step-mom and it makes sense since you're here making him breakfast." Shamus starts to babble, "It's just I know it's tough being a single parent, I mean it doesn't mean I'm a single parent just that I know from what I've heard and seen that it takes a lot of work to raising a kid alone and the last thing you would want is a mess to clean up and now I made a mess and…"
Kim calms Shamus down, he lets out another painful groan but this time it was from embarrassment, "It's all right. It'll come out, but I'll need you to strip."
Realizing at what she just said aloud, Kim blushes pink as she rephrases, "I mean your clothes. I need you to take your clothes off for me to get it into the wash quickly before the syrup sets in."
It was Shamus' turn to smile as he lets out a boastful laugh. Kim soon starts to laugh too. Alphonce was the only one that wasn't laughing, he didn't understand what they were laughing about, but he ignored them and finish eating his breakfast. He was used to hearing his step-mother laugh all the time, but this one sounded different to him. The way Shamus was laughing, however, sounded familiar to him. The way Shamus was laughing Alphonce quickly remembers hearing how his dad would often laugh like that. Alphonce was only a baby when he was left on Plastic Beach by his mother, Paula Cracker, but growing up he recognizes his father's laughter. Murdoc usually laugh when it was after 2D has done something embarrassing, like when he often trips over his clumsy feet and falls face down on the ground. His father would start laughing at the fallen singer. It was mocking, but heartful even though 2D didn't like being laughed at for tripping usually Murdoc would be the one responsible for his fall. Alphonce's thoughts broke when he hears Shamus and Kim's laughter slowing down.
Shamus looks at his clothes and felt the sticky clothes clinging to his body, "Oh, I better get going."
"Oh, I think we might have some spare clothes for you to wear until I get yours clean again. We have some leftover Gorillaz merchandise that hasn't been selling so well and some stores have been returning them to us." Kim explained.
"Oh, Gorillaz, you say? But I've heard lots of things about Gorillaz, that they're the greatest band in the world." Shamus pointed out.
"Yes, they were, but now things haven't been working out over these last few years and most of the remaining Gorillaz group, don't even have much time to practice or to perform at gigs. Especially since…" Kim looks at Alphonce staring at his empty plate. "Well, right now, they're busy trying to pay off some bills," she told Shamus.
"But someday I'll be a great bass player just like my daddy!" Alphonce exclaims.
"Yes, you can but you need still practice." Kim pointed out.
Alphonce sighed, "It would be easier if I have someone to teach me."
"I'm sorry sweetie, but you know your uncles Russel and 2D gets exhausted after a long day of working overtime and Noodle starts work in another hour and comes home late. I've got to stay here and clean and cook around here while Jacob takes you and Stewart out for the day," Kim reminds him.
Shamus standing between them, scratched his beard for a minute and suggests, "Well I might know a thing or two about playing the bass. I could teach him."
"Really? You'll teach me, Mr. Shamus! Yay! I'll get El Diablo!" Alphonce exclaims and ran upstairs to his room.
"That is very nice of you to offer, but we aren't in the right condition to afford a teacher," Kim whisper to Shamus.
"Well then how about a deal? I teach Alphonce for a few hours, Monday through Friday and you and I could maybe go out for a drink or two on the weekends." Shamus suggests.
Kim blushes from that offer, "Sir, I must inform you that I am a recent widow. I'm not sure now if I should have a character like you anywhere near my son if you're looking for a date."
"Hey, okay, I get it." Shamus chuckled, "Then how about a place to stay, the apartment that I'm staying temporary rent is a bit out of my budget. You talk to the others and let me stay and I'll help out taking care of the kids."
Kim looks at Shamus carefully. She didn't know it, but she felt okay being near him. When Alphonce came down holding his father's bass he lets out a loud sneeze and coughed. Kim focus her attention on Alphonce and checked on him.
"Aw, sweetie. You're warm. You must have caught my cold," Kim checks Alphonce's forehead.
"What about you? You're not sick, big brother Jacob said you were last night," Alphonce sniffed.
"Well, I'm a grown up, we're not allow to get sick. We just get really exhausted from working too hard but it's okay." She picks up Alphonce and hands Shamus the El Diablo.
"No," Alphonce begs his step-mother to put him down.
"Listen, to your mother kid, she's only looking out for your health. How about I give you one quick lesson that way you don't feel too bad," Shamus suggested.
Alphonce liked the idea very much. Shamus followed them back upstairs to enter Alphonce's room. Kim tucks her sick son into bed while Shamus changed out of his sticky mess into some old clothes Kim gave to him from storage. Alphonce coughed and shivered.
"Oh, sweetheart I'm sorry for getting you sick," Kim apologizes.
"Mommy, do you really think with enough practice I'll be good as daddy someday?" Alphonce asked.
"Of course, honey. Your daddy always knew you were something special to him just like Jacob is talented for science and inventions." Kim answered.
While Kim was tending to Alphonce and their soon to be new roommate, Shamus. Jacob was asleep at his computer in the basement. Computer parts and other equipment pile high in boxes, each stacked up to a tower that nearly reach the ceiling. Pizza boxes and Chinese takeout on the floor or laying next to the trashcan. Rows of outdated computer models sat on a long table transforming the basement to something of collector's fantasy if their interest was in vintage computer monitors. Dirty clothes pile on top of his bed, not that Jacob would have noticed it since his eyes were often focus onto the computer screen. He was up all last night trying to finish his latest upgrade to Cyborg. He was close but still needed some time before he could start his greatest project.
For months he's been studying a new way to create the ultimate bond between humans and robotics. Cyborg was a half-finished model that was perfect for him to study. He must admit when his foster father Murdoc first made Cyborg, Jacob wasn't sure how well he made her to function, except to be Murdoc's personal armed bodyguard. Jacob researched thousands of books, magazines, and every website he could find. He spent all his time in the basement working on Cyborg. Now almost a year of hard work and endless hours without stops or more importantly sleep that Jacob was reaching the end. Before Jacob didn't have much time to work on his projects since he was trying to do his part to help the others and he must admit that having Kim back was nice too now that she was taking charge of the cooking and cleaning. No more day-old takeout leftovers, which still didn't rank as the number one grossest thing he had to eat since his stay at Plastic Beach.
The alarm that Jacob set an hour before he fell asleep starts going off, he stirred in his place and lifted his sleepy head from the keyboard. He groans trying to rub the sleep off his face, he was still tired, and shuts the alarm only to reset it to a new time another hour later, this time on his bed. Jacob arched his back and let out an exhausting yawn. He gets up from his seat and makes one pass at Cyborg, asleep in her own cot while her back was plugged into her charger. In another hour she would be awake ready to help around the house, Jacob place a blanket over her.
"Don't you worry, I'm almost finish and once I set everything ready down here, you're going to be a new person, maybe even better," Jacob whispers to her.
Jacob knew it then and he still does feel it whenever he was around Cyborg. She wasn't just a project he started with, she was alive and like anybody she was learning. It was only last night that she used the last bit of her energy to give Jacob one goodnight kiss before powering down. She loves him as much as he loves her back very much. Jacob soon passes out on his bed, he had no dreams, his mind was too exhausted to think, and that was fine, he was about to make his own dreams come true.