It was now New Year's Eve. For the last couple of days Robyn had been making a steady improvement and was now helping Kit decorate the house in readiness for the upcoming party that evening. It had been Robyn's idea to hold the party at their house to give Bessie and the Mayor a break for once. They'd hosted more than their fair share of parties and it would make a nice change. Despite Robbie's earlier attempts to cancel the party due to Robyn's illness it was still going ahead.

After finishing off all of the decorating in the living room where everyone would be eating the two went over the plans for the party. Everyone was due to arrive at six with the inclusion of Doctor Cole who had the day off and before the meal started there was to be idle talk. After the meal, which Kit was cooking, there would be some easy party games. An indoor circus trick display was also going to take place courtesy of Kit who had promised to show off his knife throwing skills and some other things he could do. Everyone had also managed to persuade Kit to promise that he'd tell them a story from his massive repertoire.

"I think that's all the plans done," Robyn said when they'd covered everything, "Why don't we make a start on dinner?"

Kit smiled, "Give me a sec. There's something I need to do upstairs first."

Robyn nodded and watched as Kit ran up the stairs. She heard the front door open behind her and turned to see Sportacus and Robbie entering with the shopping. They'd both gone to the store to get extra supplies for the party. When the two men had unloaded their bags in the kitchen they came back out to the living room to take off their coats. Robyn hugged them both and was about to see what they'd got when Kit came down the stairs.

Everyone laughed when they saw what he was wearing. Kit was wearing a fat suit underneath a chef's outfit. He had a large moustache that curled at the ends and fake eyebrows which were extremely bushy. On his head he wore a large hat which moved with every movement he made. In his hand he held a meat cleaver.

"You mess with me I carve you up." He said in a fake Italian accent while holding up the meat cleaver.

This drew a little more laughter although Kit could tell by the look on Sportacus' face that he was just a little bit concerned about the meat cleaver.

"Don't worry Sportacus," Kit reassured, "this thing is as blunt as my shoe."

To demonstrate what he was saying Kit threw the meat cleaver at the Christmas tree. It was with great surprise to Kit that it sliced straight through the top of the tree and embedded itself in the wall. When his audience had stopped gawping at the tree they turned back to Kit who shrugged with a sheepish look on his face. Shrugging again and shaking off his surprise Kit walked down the rest of the stairs and retrieved his meat cleaver. Robyn joined Kit in the kitchen when he managed to squeeze himself through the door after getting stuck, much to everyone's amusement, and helped him get the food ready.

Robbie and Sportacus plonked themselves down on the sofa and put their feet up on the coffee table. It was lovely and warm inside the house and it was scented with the relaxing perfume of incense. Both men relaxed into the wonderful atmosphere and breathed in the incense deeply. It was Sandalwood, one of Robyn's favourite scents.

Sportacus sighed contentedly and turned to look at Robbie, "You know, out of all the things Robyn has gotten into I like incense the best. She always used to make the airship smell so nice with it."

"I bet it's weird you not having her living with you anymore, sharing your space with someone for fourteen years and then them moving out."

"It is weird. I thought it would take a lot longer to get used to having someone live with me but it takes longer to get used to them not living with you after a long time. It gets lonely sometimes."

Robbie nodded, "You know, if you wanted to stay here with us in the Mad House for while you're welcome to. It can't be too warm up in the airship these days with winter here and you won't be alone. We can squeeze you in somewhere; my bed is normally always free as I'm going back to the phase where I sleep in my chair. If you wanted you could move in right now."

"Thanks Robbie. I'd like that, I'd like that a lot but are sure Robyn and Kit won't mind?"

Robyn stuck her head out of the kitchen; she'd heard everything that the two men had been saying. "We don't mind at all. You're very welcome to stay as long as you can stand us."

Sportacus was about to thank Robyn but she got pulled back into the kitchen. Looking at Robbie he shrugged with a slight chuckle. As he'd been formerly accepted into the Rotten household or as it was known by the inhabitants, the Mad House, he went to get some things from his airship.

Being accepted into the house meant a lot to Sportacus, the whole family would be under one roof and he wouldn't get lonely anymore. Since Robyn had moved in with Kit he had missed her presence in the airship. He'd gotten used to sharing his space with someone else and was still getting used to being alone again after fourteen years. Seeing her during the day didn't change the fact that he woke up on his own and went to sleep the same way, sometimes he'd forget that Robyn had moved out and would look over to her bed but she wasn't there. He'd not been able to bring himself to have her bed removed; he wasn't altogether sure why he'd kept it so long. In the beginning it had been there in case there had been a falling out between Kit and Robyn and either one of them wanted their space but it never happened.

Moving some of his stuff out of the airship was strange for Sportacus. He'd never moved out of it before and didn't really know what to take. The essentials were an obvious thing and he packed them up in his rucksack. He also threw in his baseball glove and ball and some sports candy. Once he'd gotten all of things together that he wanted to take and could fit in his rucksack he left the airship.

When Sportacus got back to the house Robbie gave him an informal tour even though Sportacus knew where most of everything was. Robbie showed him his bedroom and Kit and Robyn were changing the bed for him, the food was cooking and there was nothing else they could do in the kitchen.

"You've got fitted wardrobes there that you can throw your clothes in; the chest of drawers is fairly obvious." Robbie explained opening the wardrobes.

Sportacus smiled, "Thanks guys. I can finish up with the bed and put my stuff away if you want to get changed for the party."

Robyn and Kit didn't refuse. Kit chased after Robyn when she threw the pillow she was holding at him and the two could be heard laughing through the wall. It was evident that they were having a playful fight and argument. When the laughter stopped Sportacus and Robbie guessed that the pair was sharing a kiss.

Half an hour later the guests began to arrive. Kit let them in with a melodramatic evil laugh after saying 'welcome to the Mad House', a little thing which made everyone laugh when they heard it.