RO carefully stacked his pristine white plates neatly on top of one another. Once satisfied with their position, he smiled to himself and closed the cupboard doors. Shore leave was almost over, and Robert had no intention of leaving his apartment untidy while he was at sea. It would only give his mind something to constantly remind him of until they were due to return to home port. He knew too well that he could not under any circumstances afford to be distracted at work.

RO left the kitchen and entered his bedroom, opening his wardrobe. Robert thought carefully about what was necessary for him to be wearing three days from now. He had to decide on what he was to wear to arrive back at Hammersley, until he was to change into his uniform that he had earlier prepared before he left the ship. Providing 2Dads hadn't touched it, he always seemed to be too inquisitive for his own good or at least RO seemed to think so. The unpredictability of 2Dads often troubled Robert, as it more often than not placed him in the most unpredictable of situations.

Robert disliked his environment to be left unstable and the struggles of dealing with those circumstances didn't come easily for RO. Having control over a situation was comforting to him and frankly he wouldn't have it any other way. Not after the environment his father had created for him as a child. Robert couldn't imagine anything worse than going through such an experience for a second time, the very thought of it caused him to shudder.

RO shook the thought aside; this was not the time be thinking about his childhood. Robert often wondered why the thoughts even crossed his mind. it confused him greatly as it was such a long time ago and logically it shouldn't be still an issue in his life, mainly due to it no longer physically affecting him in any way. Robert leaned down and opened the third draw to his right, the draw he always kept his blue jeans in. Robert mentally counted the amount of piles of clothing within the draw once and then again. Quickly realizing that one pair of jeans was missing, it didn't make sense that they were missing, he had spent an exact amount of 2 hours arranging his clothing 2 days earlier. Had he missed one? Did he misplace it...? That didn't make sense, considering he never misplaced things. Robert refused to even acknowledge the possibly that he had lost them, it wasn't in his nature to lose things after all. Well... aside from the small figurine of 'Papa Smurf' that he had previously lost when he was six years old. He still refused to forgive himself for that.

Robert opened another draw in a desperate hope that he had simply placed it there. Robert's eyes began to widen, he hadn't done what he had suspected. The jeans weren't there, Robert opened yet another draw and again there appeared to be no signs of the missing jeans. RO had a dramatic increase in heart rate as he frantically started digging through his wardrobe. Adrenaline kicked in as it became more probable that the jeans were nowhere to be seen. His neatly folded clothes were helpless thrown across his bedroom. The shaky mess that was Robert, turned around and yanked at his bed covers, leaving nothing but the bare mattress. He threw them to the side; he couldn't think straight nor could be fathom what he could have possibly done with these jeans...

Robert grasped the wooden bed frame and pulled the bed across the carpet. RO suddenly froze up; the only movement was the adrenaline rush through his body. A rush of relief hit him as he laid eyes upon the missing jeans, lying messily across the floor. He started to question how on earth they ended up under his bed. His mind simply couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. Confused and in shock, Robert shakily sat down against his wall, he grabbed the jeans and held them close to his chest. He was all too relieved that he had found them.

A misplacement such as that one couldn't happen again, he wouldn't let it, or at least he hoped that we wouldn't. If he didn't get on top of it, the next item lost could be worse, more valuable. Potentially even something essential for his survival in general. Robert rested his head against the wall, his eyes closing, and any concentration was now on his breathing. He retraced his steps from wherever he'd been around the house over the last 3 days. He recalled pulling a load of clothing from the washing machine, loading each and every piece into the basket, keeping track as he placed them in one at a time. Each of the corners of the basket represented a separate place for every item. He walked up the stairs, carrying the white basket with black handles, then placing the basket on dining room table. He then carefully inspected each piece of clothing as-

RO's deep train of thought was suddenly interrupted as his doorbell sounded. Robert's thoughts blurred up and his eyes opened instinctively. Robert's first reaction was annoyance, who could possibly be knocking on his door? Better yet what could they possibly want...? Robert was then confused considering he rarely had visitors, he didn't really socialise outside of work and no one on Hammersley knew of his apartment's location.

Robert proceeded to the front door with caution, there was that annoying unpredictability again, an uncontrollable scenario that he had no way of knowing the outcome. The safety and closure of his apartment slipped away as he turned the door handle. As he saw who was on the other side Robert immediately froze, a rush of mixed and confusing thoughts crisscrossing through his mind that he had no way of stopping. How did she find me, what is she doing here? He couldn't understand, after all this time. What would he say, how would he say it? Should she talk first, or should he? Robert didn't know, he wasn't sure of what to do or how to deal with it. Before he knew what was happening his frantic state was clearly showing through.

"Robert?" She finally spoke, her voice just as he had remembered. A tone that was calm and reassuring yet strong and independent, just the way he remembered her. It was clear to Robert that she hadn't changed, but had he changed in her eyes? Was he no longer what she remembered him as? Realizing a lump forming in his throat, he swallowed hard.

"Robert it's okay, I know this is a bit of a shock. I just want to talk." She tried to reassure him, although his thoughts were still a mess. Robert opened his mouth, unable to bring himself to speak. He brought himself to do the next best thing, forcing himself to shakily move out of the doorway, allowing her to come in. She somewhat understood but to make sure, she pointed inside the house. RO managed to bring himself to nod and that was all the approval she needed to step into his home.