10:15 a.m.

As he rolled himself out of bed, Richie was amazed to see that he had been allowed to sleep in so long. Regardless of whether or not he was supposed to be working the store, Duncan always came in to torment him if he wasn't up by 8 or 9. He paused momentarily to wonder what had possessed the Immortal to allow him a miniature holiday.

It wasn't until he was halfway to the bathroom that he remembered the previous day. He had left. So what was he doing back at the loft? Racking his brain, he tried desperately to remember how he had managed to end up back in his own bed. Could he really have seen Duncan at the end of the bridge? He had a vague memory of seeing the man as he crossed but that couldn't have been real, could it? There was no way the Immortal would have known where he was heading.

Slipping quietly into the bathroom, hoping neither Tessa nor Duncan would realize he was awake until he was safely hidden in the running water, he came to the conclusion that Duncan had to have been at the bridge. There was no other explanation for his current location. As he slowly got around for the day, he wondered what all had transpired the night before.

11:10 a.m.

"What on earth is taking him so long?" Tessa was far from happy with the amount of time that had passed since she had heard the shower begin to run. Richie normally was stomping around the living room within 20 minutes of starting a shower. The teen was not exactly high maintenance. This morning, though, his shower itself had lasted longer than his entire morning routine normally would. She was more than ready for the boy to join them. There was a lot to discuss and she was tired of the anticipation that accompanied the wait.

Duncan, however, was surprisingly calm. "He had a long day yesterday, Tess. He's probably still stiff and tired. A long shower is good for the muscles."

"Tired." She rolled her eyes at the implication. "He isn't tired, he's stalling."

"Of course he is." Duncan admitted. "But who can really blame him? He has no idea of what to expect from us."

"What should he expect from us?" Tessa realized that they had not really discussed how they were going to approach the teen. Despite spending half the night talking about the boy, they had never really discussed confronting him.

Duncan sighed as she voiced the question he himself had been pondering for hours. "I have no idea, Tess. I guess we'll just have to play it by ear."

"You don't think we should have some sort of plan about how we're going to confront him?" She pressed.

Duncan looked over at her, truly at a loss. "About what? Leaving? His past? His relationship with us?"

"All of it." Tessa firmly stated. "We need to get things cleared up, Duncan. We need to get everything out in the open and make our intentions towards him clear."

"I know." He walked across the living room to wrap his arms around her. "I'm just not sure how we do that without scaring him."

"Scaring him." Tessa scoffed at the idea. "He lies about his age."

"He didn't exactly lie, Tessa. He just never corrected our assumptions." Duncan defended the action, remembering Richie's 'I already had my birthday this year' when Duncan asked him when he was turning 18. At the time, he took the evasive answer at face value.

"Please." The Frenchwoman was having nothing to do with that argument. "He lied about his age. Then he runs away from home to top it off."

"I doubt he sees it that way." Duncan defended.

But Tessa was not in the mood to see things from the teen's perspective. "I'm sure he doesn't."

"He sees us as his employers. He just decided it was time to move on." Duncan explained quietly, hating the realization of how Richie truly saw them.

Tessa, too, hated the idea that he would leave an impersonal note, as if resigning his position to casual acquaintances. "Well that is one misconception that needs cleared up. Immediately."

"Immediately." Duncan repeated, assuring her that they were on the same page.

As they quietly stood in the living room, holding onto one another and lost in their own thoughts, both jumped at the parroted response from down the hallway. "Immediately."

Both adults turned as Richie came down the hall, fully dressed and ready for the day. The joking tone he used fooled neither of them. The teen was nervous. As he looked hesitantly at them and joined the conversation, both could see the tension even in his walk. "What are you doing immediately?"