Thanks to everyone who read and Ghostwriter and Callisto's Moon for reviewing.

"No way," Jamie said immediately, still staring up at the patterns on the ceiling. "She's my friend." The whole boyfriend-girlfriend weirdness was Tyler and Val's problem and not something he wanted to have happen with his second-best friend. "I don't have a g—"

"Jamie?"

Someone was suddenly leaning over him, frowning, and Jamie started to curl instinctively as he let the phone fall away.

"Kiddo? Are you okay?"

Oh. Alex. Duh. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't hear you come in." He uncurled and pushed himself into a sitting position, lifting the phone again. "Sorry about that. Alex is home now if you want to talk to him."

"Wonderful, thank you," Mrs. Freeman—she said he could call her Margaret or Grandma Margaret if he wanted to, but that would be weird—said. "It was nice talking to you, and we'll talk again soon, okay? And you make sure you tell Alex that he needs to bring you out here this summer to meet everyone."

"It was nice talking to you too," Jamie agreed, although that was all he was going to agree to since visiting a foster parent's family was most definitely not how foster care worked. Most people didn't know that so he didn't bother correcting her, though, and just held the phone up for Alex to take. "It's your mom."

Alex's frown didn't fade, but he did take the phone and put it to his ear. "Mom?" A pause. "Yeah, I just got in. Give me a minute, would you?"

She must have agreed, because he put the phone to his chest and offered his other hand to Jamie. "Up, kiddo. Are you sure you're okay? Why were you lying on the kitchen floor?"

"I'm fine." He hopped to his feet. "And I don't know. When I answered the phone and said you weren't home yet she asked if I could talk for a little bit, and it was more comfortable than just standing around."

"And the chairs weren't...?" Alex looked back at the kitchen table for a moment and then shook his head. "Never mind. Would you do me a favor and go get my briefcase out of the car?"

Jamie nodded automatically, but it was a good thing that he hadn't pulled on Alex's arm if he didn't even want to be carrying his briefcase around. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little stiff. Spent longer sitting still reviewing reports than I meant to. Go on."

He put the phone back to his ear, and Jamie nodded and headed for the car. Alex's briefcase was in its usual spot on the passenger seat, and Jamie grabbed it and took it inside to Alex's room. And whatever Alex's mom had wanted to talk to him about must not have been very complicated because he seemed to be saying his goodbyes when Jamie rejoined him. Or at least agreeing a lot and telling her to say hello to everyone and all of that stuff, and eventually he managed a real goodbye and shook his head as he put the phone back on the wall.

"Is something wrong?" Jamie asked.

"What?" Alex shook his head and smiled. "Oh, no, it's my father's birthday on Saturday, and she called to remind me not to forget to call. And never mind that I have never once forgotten since I left home. Do I want to ask how long she kept you on the phone?"

"Not that long," Jamie said with a shrug. "It was okay. Mostly she was telling me all about their farm and then about the goats since I said I'd never seen one for real. They sound funny."

"That very much depends on the day, and I say that as someone who spent far too much of his childhood hunting down escapees. But for the record, you're allowed to make up an excuse and tell her to call back later if she ever gets you on the phone and you don't want your ear talked off, all right?"

Jamie nodded. He really hadn't minded, though. Grandma liked to talk too. Plus Mrs. Freeman had told him some stories about Alex and his brother and sister too, and even if it was kind of weird thinking of Alex as a kid that had been almost as funny as the goats. Although it had totally confirmed that he'd been a Hank kind of kid.

"Good. Are you getting hungry?"

"A little."

"What do you think about chicken macaroni and cheese? We can do this week's allergy shot afterwards unless you've got plans to go out."

"Not tonight. And macaroni sounds good." Not that Jamie argued with much of anything Alex made. He thought the ingredients were weird sometimes, like putting chicken and peppers and peas and sometimes other stuff too inside his macaroni and cheese, but it was usually good and there was always enough for seconds.

"Okay. Can you get some water started boiling for pasta while I chop up the chicken? I think I'm going to keep avoiding lifting this evening."

Jamie did like he asked and then chopped up some peppers and onions too at Alex's direction. Jamie tried watching him without being obvious about it—he could just have a sandwich or something else for dinner if Alex didn't feel good—but even if Alex was stiff, at least he didn't seem to be in actual pain. So that was good.

"What? Did I spill something on myself?" Alex asked, looking over at him.

Jamie flushed and looked away quickly. Alex had already said he was okay. "Uh-uh."

"Is something wrong?" A pause. "More detentions?"

"No." And Jamie still didn't see why Alex cared if he happened to get to class a couple minutes late sometimes anyway. "Your mom said you worry too much about school, too."

Alex sighed. "I have no idea how you got from school to goats, but I'm sure she did. And yet you're still going to get your homework done and behave for your teachers."

"That's so not fair." If he had to listen to Alex, why couldn't Alex have to listen to his mother? Adults were weird.

"I'm afraid that's life, kiddo." Alex seemed more amused than offended, moving on to shredding cheese, and Jamie remembered suddenly what he'd been trying to figure out how to ask when Mrs. Freeman had called.

Jamie hadn't been to very many parties since he'd started living with Alex, partly because Alex expected him home too early for most parties to have really gotten started and partly because it had been an unusually cold and gross winter and Jamie didn't like it when he couldn't go outside and take a break when things got too loud anyway. It was warming up, now, though, and Isaac was having his apartment-warming party this weekend, so... "Um, before I forget, can I stay over with Cory on Saturday? Saturday night, I mean?"

Alex didn't pause. "Cory is one of your friends from school, I take it?"

"Yeah. Well, he's a senior, but we still hang out sometimes when he's not working. Or I'm not working."

"And you're not working this weekend? I thought your squad had a shift."

"Just Saturday, and we're done at six."

"Well, if you promise you'll try to get some sleep it's fine with me. But I suggest you get started on your homework during your shift regardless of my mother's opinion on the subject because 'I'm too tired from having fun' is not a good excuse for not getting your work done."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Jamie."

Oops. Not that Jamie had a clue how Alex had seen his eye roll with his back turned. "I will."

"All right, then. Do you guys have any fun plans?"

Jamie shrugged automatically. Given what had happened before and what Alex had said about parties—or at least about Jamie attending parties—back at New Years he definitely wasn't going to bring up the apartment-warming thing, but it wasn't like there was a set schedule for party events anyway. "I don't know. Just hang out, probably. It's warm enough that we can go out on the roof, I think."

Alex sighed. "You and roofs."

Oops.

"I'm going to assume for the sake of my blood pressure that this is the kind of roof that doesn't require breaking and entering to reach and has an appropriate safety rail, but could you also refrain from landing any expired IV bags on anyone as long as you're up there?" Alex asked, looking back at him.

"Promise, no dropping IV bags this time," Jamie said quickly, crossing his fingers over his heart. "There aren't any more expired ones anyway." There would be at the end of next month, but that wasn't now.

"Small mercies."

"And yeah, there's a whole deck up there or whatever." Or at least that was what Cory had said, Jamie didn't think he'd ever been in Isaac's new building. Of course, Cory's building had a roof too, but it was the kind you had to go up a fire escape to get to and he wasn't sure where that fit in Alex's whole scheme of okay and not-okay things to do so he wasn't going to bring it up.

"It's fine with me," Alex repeated. "Although if you'd remind me before you go I'd appreciate it, especially if you're going to go straight from work. And be good for his parents."

Jamie was definitely not going to bring up the fact that neither of Cory and Isaac's parents were going to be anywhere around so he just nodded.

"Thank you. This is about ready so go set the table, please."