One month after the almost-Apotheosis, Lex wakes her sister up from her afternoon nap and tells her that today's the day.

"We've been trying to do this for over a week," Lex whispers. "Today we're gonna make sure Dad takes you. Peter said this week is the college's fall break, too, so today being the one month anniversary is perfect!"

"What are you gonna be doing?" Hannah asks, still a little sleepy.

"Ethan's coming over in an hour," Lex says. "We're gonna go on a double date with Alice and Deb to go see a scary movie." Hannah nods, and almost goes back to sleep, but Lex doesn't let her. "C'mon, Banana, don't you wanna go see Dr. Hidgens?"

That gets the girl's attention, and she reluctantly gets up. Lex carries her out to the living room, where their dad is watching the news.

"It's been a month since the event we've come to know as The Blackout, and we're finally getting some answers," the anchor is saying. "Investigators are saying that the meteor that crashed into the Starlight Theatre at the beginning of it may have ruptured a gas-line that caused the town's memory loss. There are some who believe it all to be a hoax, or a cover-up of some sort, but—"

Ted quickly turns the TV off when he sees the girls emerge from the hallway.

"Hey, girls," he says. "How was your nap, Pumpkin?" Hannah shrugs, and Lex sets her down on the couch next to their dad.

"She's asking to go see Dr. Hidgens again," Lex tells him. "Because it's been a month."

Ted sighs. "Hannah..."

"Please, Daddy?" Hannah uses her puppy dog eyes, sticking her lower lip out. "Wanna go see him..."

"Lex, can you—?"

Lex is already shaking her head. "Ethan's gonna be here in less than an hour. We're meeting Deb and Alice for a movie at 4:15."

Ted groans and rubs his hands over his face. Hannah lays dramatically across his lap, with her face tilted up at him.

"Please, Daddy? Pretty please?" She begs. Lex bites her tongue, and has her fingers crossed behind her back.

"Fine," Ted sighs. "But you're not going in your pajamas. You've been wearing those all day."

Hannah squeals and jumps up, hugging Ted and kissing his cheek. "Thank you, Daddy!"

"I'll get her dressed," Lex chuckles, and takes Hannah back to her room. Once the door is closed behind them, they high five. Lex quickly helps Hannah get dressed into some fuzzy leggings and a little dress with the Aristocats on it, then takes her back out to their dad, who hasn't moved.

"C'mon, Daddy!" Hannah whines.

He grumbles playfully, and starts putting his shoes on slowly to tease the five year old, who doesn't appreciate it. He finally gets them on, and Hannah drags him out the door to the car.

Lex watches them go, laughing to herself. She texts Peter first, then her other friends.

It's go time!

—

Peter's phone buzzes in his pocket, and he jumps up from his desk chair when he reads the text from Lex. He reorganizes the stuff on his desk, putting his notebooks away hurriedly, and texts Lex back.

Should I give Henry a heads up?

There's a few moments before she texts back and says,

Sure! Just don't let him chicken out and leave!

Oh of course not!

Peter puts on his binder before leaving his room. Since it was fall break, he hasn't been wearing it as much, unless he was going out to meet up with Lex and the others. Since Mr. Foster and Hannah were coming here, Peter decides to wear it. Henry's out in the living room, watching the news reports on what supposedly happened the month before.

"What bullshit," he mumbles to himself before apparently noticing Peter. "Pardon my language, Peter."

"It's fine," he says. "Trust me, I've heard much worse at school." Henry chuckles and nods. There's a few moments where the only sound is the news on the TV.

"Oh, um... Lex Foster just texted me," Peter says, as though he's just remembering. "She said Hannah's been itching to come see you, and their dad finally agreed to bring her over. The two of them are on their way now."

Henry jumps up. "What?!"

Peter tries not to laugh at the flustered way Henry's moving about, trying to tidy up what's already neat and clean.

"Should we invite them to stay for dinner?" Henry asks. "How long are they planning on staying? What time is it?"

"It's not even three o'clock yet," Peter says calmly. "I don't think we'll really need to worry about dinner..."

Henry nods, taking a deep breath. "Right... sorry," he says. "I don't usually get visitors, let alone warnings that they're coming over."

"Based on what I heard about how last month started for you, I get it," Peter snickers to himself. He sits down on the couch and relaxes. He wonders what it will take to actually get Henry and Mr. Foster to talk about their obvious infatuations with each other, and not just dance around the subject.

Peter's mind keeps drifting back to his notebook while he waits for Hannah and her father to show up. He knows he should be figuring out the next step of the plan— figuring out how to keep the five year old entertained while the adults are left to their own devices— but he can't stop thinking about his story.

He's finally able to focus when the gate buzzes. Henry goes to inquire— better safe than sorry about who exactly's at your door, even if you're expecting company— and the next thing Peter knows, there's a five year old running at him.

"Hi, Hannah," Peter says, hugging her. She says hi back, and climbs on the couch to sit next to him.

"What're we gonna do while they talk?" She asks quietly.

"Wanna watch a movie?" Peter suggests, grabbing one at random.

—

Hannah bounces on her feet as she waits for Dr. Hidgens to let her and her daddy in. As soon as the door opens, she hugs the professor and grins up at him.

"Hi!" She says excitedly. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well, Sweetheart," Dr. Hidgens chuckles, crouching to hug her back. Hannah pulls away and bolts into the house, leaving Ted and the professor standing on the porch.

She goes to the living room and sees Peter. He's wearing sweatpants and a teeshirt— way different than the last time she'd seen him, when he'd been wearing a button-up and a bowtie— and hugs her.

"What're we gonna do while they talk?" She whispers conspiratorially, and he chuckles.

"Wanna watch a movie?" He asks, getting up and grabbing one off the shelf. He's picked Snow White, and Hannah nods.

He puts the movie in, and settles back on the couch next to her. Hannah curls into his side.

"If this works," he whispers to her, "you could be my little sister. Would you want that?"

Hannah looks up at him, eyes wide. She hadn't really thought about that. "Will you still be like my brother even if it doesn't?"

Peter shrugs. "Not technically, but we could still hang out if you want." Hannah nods.

"Always wanted a brother," she mumbles, turning back to the TV. "I love Lexie, but a big sister isn't the same as a big brother. I'd love to have both."

"Well if your dad and m— and Henry get together, you'll have both one day," Peter assures her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders as they watch the movie.

Snow White runs away and gets lost in the woods, scared of every shadow and shape until she faints. The next morning she's surrounded by friendly animals and everything looks better in the morning light. Hannah hides her face during the night scene; all those eyes watching Snow White are scary. She also hides her face a little later, when the Evil Queen finds out that the princess isn't really dead. Peter laughs quietly and holds her close.

Hannah can hear her daddy talking in the other room. He and Dr. Hidgens are laughing about something or another. Hannah tilts her head up to smile excitedly at Peter, and he looks down and winks at her.

It's working, he mouths, and she nods.

Snow White ends soon enough, and Hannah hops up to go pick out another movie, but Peter stops her. "Do you wanna go color or something instead?" He asks. Hannah can tell he has another reason for asking, but doesn't want to pry.

Hannah shrugs. "Do have markers?"

Peter nods, and takes her to his bedroom. They pass the adults on the way— both of whom are sitting at the dining table, chatting and laughing still. Peter gives her an empty notebook and his school markers, letting her sit at his desk to color in it.

He grabs another notebook and starts writing.

—

Ted sighs when Hannah runs off into the house after such a brief 'hello' to Dr. Hidgens.

"I guess when she said she wanted to see you, she actually meant she wanted to see Peter," Ted chuckles, and the professor stands back up, dusting himself off.

"It would appear so," he says. "Please, um, come in. How are... things? How are you settling back into daily life after what happened?"

"My ex-wife has officially lost all visitation rights, and has been arrested on charges of child endangerment," Ted says quietly, as the pair go inside.

Dr. Hidgens perks up at the news. "That's wonderful— not that it's good that she hurt your children, I mean that it's going to stop. How are the girls taking it?"

"I knew what you meant," Ted laughs. "And they're both doing a lot better now that they don't have to worry about seeing Maddie again." He sits down at the dining table.

"Can I get you anything?" Dr. Hidgens offers, "Something to drink? Or a snack, if you're hungry?" Ted thinks he seems almost nervous.

"Uh, no thanks," he says awkwardly. "And I'm sorry for just dropping by unannounced. Hannah's been begging for almost two weeks, and I finally had a chance to actually bring her by. I probably should've called to see if you were okay with it first."

The professor waves off his apology. "Don't worry about it. I do enjoy company, I'm just not quite used to it. I've been having to remind myself every morning that Peter lives here now." They both laugh at that.

"And how's that going, professor?" Ted asks.

"Oh please, call me Henry," the professor says, and Ted thinks he sees the barest hint of a blush on the other man's face. "And I think it's going quite well. Peter seems to like it here. And I've found I like having him around. I never really realized how lonely I was before."

"Kids will do that to ya," Ted agrees. "No matter how long you've had 'em, you'll always remember the time you didn't and wonder how you ever managed it. Of course, you'll also be trying to figure out how the hell you're managing life with them, too, so..."

Ted laughs at his own words, and the prof— Henry— laughs, too. Ted tries to fight the blush as he realizes how much he likes the sound of it, and wonders what else he could do to elicit it in the future. He clears his throat.

"So how're classes?" He asks.

Henry calms down and says, "Well it's fall break at the moment. My students were about as attentive as ever before and during midterms. Except for Emma. She's been excelling— not that she wasn't doing well before, but now she's putting in extra effort."

"I overheard her tell Paul she wanted to start a pot farm," Ted says, chuckling again, and Henry nods.

"Yes, I believe those are her plans," he says, chuckling himself.

—

Henry can't believe how well things are going. He tries to ignore the way his heart is pounding every moment that Ted is here, but it's nearly the only sound he can hear. He's surprised that Ted hasn't noticed it yet.

Other than that, Henry realizes he hasn't felt this relaxed in... a very, very long time. Not since— he refuses to even think her name. She was long gone, and she didn't matter any more. He forces himself to focus back on the conversation with the very attractive single father— confirmed to be attracted in men!— before him.

"So how often do you get students asking for extra credit?" Ted asks, putting air quotes around the last two words.

Henry blushes slightly. "None in the last fifteen years or so. Before that? There was always one or two every semester. Usually young women, although there were a few men who've tried..."

"Did any of them succeed?" Ted teases, and Henry shakes his head decisively. "What would it have taken for someone to?"

"I don't sleep with my students," he says, trying to not put any emphasis on 'my'. He doesn't want to have to explain that.

"If only my Intro to Journalism professor felt the same way," Ted sighs. "I'd have gotten top marks if he hadn't slept with half the girls in the class... so were the attempts at least amusing?"

"Oh yes," Henry chuckles. "I had a young woman pull out all the stops— revealing clothes, dropped something in front of me, she even sat on my desk."

"What did you do?"

"Laughed in her face," Henry admits, mildly ashamed. "I felt bad about it afterward, but it was just too funny..."

"I can imagine," Ted says. "So were there any that even came close to getting your pants off?"

Henry blushes a little harder. "Well— the first year I started teaching, there was... there was one young man who was actually older than I was at the time. I was 29, and he was 31 and had just decided to go back to school. He got very close. But nothing really happened, not with him and not with any of my other students." In actuality, that student hadn't gotten nearly as close as Henry was letting on, but he wanted Ted to know that he was, indeed, attracted to men as well.

"What's the worst pickup line one of them gave you?" Ted asks, not seeming to be surprised by the idea of Henry liking men.

"Hm... that's difficult," he admits. "There have been many bad ones. There was one who read from a whole list of chemistry-based ones, and I had to interrupt him to remind him I was a biologist, not a chemist."

Ted howls with laughter, and Henry joins him a little more quietly. His heart is hammering again at the sound. Henry finally decides to just go for it.

"Would you want to go on a date with me this weekend?"