"Hey there grandpa!"

Proton looked up from his stack of papers to see his youngest child, Aashini, enter his office to greet him. The middle-aged squirrel set his work aside and stood up to greet her with short embrace. "What bring you here, darling?" The purple furred man kissed his purple furred daughters head while tussling her long blonde curls with one hand before laying it on her enlarged, obviously pregnant, belly. "I was under the impression you'd be helping in the canteen today."

"Well, I was..." The young woman let out a tired sigh before taking a seat in one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk from where her father had just been seated. "But then Robby dropped by and nearly had a melt down because I was carrying a box of canned peas. Honestly, I love the guy, but his over protective nature now that I'm pregnant is driving me crazy."

The grandfather-to-be nodded his head in understand while taking a seat next to his child. Proton hadn't been thrilled when he found out his daughter was seeing the young canine, as he came from a background that looked down on romantic relationships outside of one's own species. However, the Jack Russel Terrier had eventually grown on him. He was loyally dedicated to their community, and treated his daughter like a queen. Proton took comfort knowing that if something were to happen to him that Robert would step up and make sure the only known surviving member of the squirrel's family was cared for, and maybe even take over his role as head of their encampment.

The male in the room leaned back in his velvet covered chair as a smile slipped onto his face. The sun shot through one of the large windows and reflected off his glasses nearly blinding his daughter of only 20 years of age. "You know, back when your mother was pregnant with your brother, I use to bribe my mother to hang around and try to keep your mother off her feet."

"So, you're saying I should be thankful my husband-to-be isn't as misinformed about a woman's capabilities as my father?" She shot her dad a smirk as he squeezed her hand for a short-lived moment before standing up and heading back to his chair behind his desk.

"Precisely." Proton picked up his papers again and shuffled them until he seemed to find the one he was looking for. "Considering the current state of the world you should be thankful that he's only having a panic attack about you taking on an excessive workload." Proton looked at the paper in front of him with disappointment on his face. "Far too often I miss being preoccupied with such silly things."

"Dad..." Aashini looked at her father with worry. Proton however seemed to take note of his daughters now diminishing mood due to his own, and gave her a forced grin seemingly adding a little extra light to the mostly darkened office.

"Forgive me. Your well being isn't silly, but his attempts to have you bedridden are. We men are very guilty of thinking our assistance is needed in our lovers' daily affairs far more than is actually true."

"Speaking of..." Aashini cleared her throat getting a curious look from her father. "Before Robby ran me off from the canteen Ruby was telling me how she finally had everything she needed to pan fry up one of her fancy deserts. She was hoping you'd-"

"No." Proton interrupted his daughter sternly once her intentions where fully known to him.

"Come on dad! Mom's been gone almost two years now!" The young squirrel pleaded with her father. "We're all worried about you!" Her last words caused her father to give her a questioning glare. "It's just... You do nothing but work nonstop making sure we're all taken care of. You need to start trying to take care of yourself more. You're obviously lonely!"

"I'm fine. I interact with people all day!" He now let his voice raise slightly. "I don't need a warm body in my bed to give my life purpose! Seeing this community has everything it needs to survive the coming winter and beyond is all I need to continue on! But if I'm being completely honest, I'd almost kill for a stiff drink." Proton now sat back and closed his eyes a bit upset in himself that he'd raised his voice to his daughter. That was something he usually only had to do with his son, whom he hadn't heard from since a few months prior to modern civilization collapsing.

"Well, at least I know the Christmas gift I have for you will be a hit." Aashini gave her father the same smug smile he was known to wear when dealing with difficult clients in the past. It always amazed him when he looked at either of his two children and saw himself in them so profoundly. Pride didn't even begin to describe it. "How late are they?"

Proton's fondness for his youngest offspring was short lived as her words rattled through his head. He made it a point not to speak about time frames for their search parties to anyone, besides his three closest men. She knew him far too well, and likely used the proposition for a date as somewhat of an icebreaker to this more serious question. The two looked at each other blankly for some time as if trying to read the other's thoughts.

"Nearly a week." Proton finally spoke causing Aashini to close her eyes as her face crumpled with dread. "I still have complete faith that Repead will lead everyone back safely with plenty of supplies, and exaggerated stories of their time spent on the road."

Since Proton had become the official man in charge, they'd only lost one scavenging party, but that was back near the beginning when they were only sending a few people out at a time. The next group out after had found what little was left of the three men's bodies. The loss had caused a huge dust up and several of the deceased loved ones to call for Proton to step down. Ultimately, he'd managed to smooth things over, and keep the majority of the people's favor, but not before his own wife took her life due to the excessive stress of the new order of things. He wasn't about to cause any alarm until need be... which he knew he'd put off until the whispers of doubt became too much to silence.

"I'll do what I can to quell any worries that arise. Please just promise if they are gone much longer, you'll speak up before someone else does." The pregnant woman gave her father a soft look of worry before finding her feet and embracing him one last time before taking her leave.

Proton watched her go before then looking down at the inventory numbers on the top page of his desk again. Losing seven men might be a godsend if they didn't find a way to get more supplies soon.