2005

"I've got a scanner, though I don't have any photo paper." Charlie told David, as the latter picked and choose photos, or whole album pages, as Charlie remembered a moment in his childhood.

"Mom, how come I don't look a lot like Don?" he had asked, at the age of eight, as they both sat in the park. It was summer, so Alan was at work, and Don had gone to a friend's house.

"What do you mean, sweetie?" She closed her book, and put it down.

"Willy and his brother look almost alike." he pointed out.

"You know a bit about genetics, don't you?" she asked.

"Yeah..."

"There are so many possible combinations and possibilities when two people have a baby." his mother had said. "The fact that Willie looks like his brother happened by chance. Okay?"

The boy nodded.

"Charlie!" David interupted the professor's thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking you'd like to see some pictures your younger brother and sister" David remarked.

"That would be great!" Charlie smiled.

"Let me go get them. I'll be right back." David quickly left the office.

2004

On the way home, Alan remembered an argument, he had with Margaret in that restaurant, during Charlie's first winter break from Princeton.

"He should go locally!" Alan told her, when they told the waitress their orders. "Like Cal Sci..."

"It's better for him, and it's what he wants!" she insisted. "Given what he has gone through it's only fair...that..."

"No! you're doing this out of guilt!"

"Guilt!"

"You still feel guilty about ..." Alan lowered his voice "the circumstances of his birth. You blame yourself for his emotional and social problems, thinking that if he had been my biological son, he wouldn't have them. You forget that He'd be a different boy if he were; hell he wouldn't have been a prodigy"

"You don't know that!"

"David Lev is a genius." Alan reminded her, as she choked on her water.

"I never told you who he was...you never asked" she whispered.

"Genetically, you made a good choice" Alan said without thinking and regretted it the moment he opened.

"Don't say that!" she glared at him, almost in tears.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that. I love Charlie, as much as I do, Don!" Alan said. "That's why I want him closer to home. Not to mention the fact that I miss the two of you."

"Charlie loves it at Princeton" she said flatly. Still angry at his comment on genetics.

"Maybe when he's a junior, you could come visit more often?" Alan sighed.

The food arrived, and they ate in silence. Then Alan added:

"You should try to visit, at least for Don's sake. I'm beginning to realize that we haven't given him enough attention"

"I know! But Charlie needs me there in Princeton!" she snapped. "Don knows that I love him!"

"You've got a hell of a way of showing it!" Alan started to get peeved. It bothered him that Margaret took him for granted. "You havn't gone to a single one of his games since he's started USC!"

"I can't just leave a thirteen year old alone in a college town,and he can't afford to miss class!" she argued with exasperation.

"Can't you at least pretend to love them both equally?"

"How could you?"

"Before Charlie was born, you were much more attentive towards Don! You gave him lots of attention, worried about his temper...Now...It's not his fault you feel guilty!" Alan slammed a fork.

"Know what?" She got up angrily. "Why don't I drive home,and you can take a cab. I'll tell the boys you went out with Art." With that, Margaret stormed out of the restaurant.

Shaking his head, and sighing, he asked for the check, payed the bill, and called Art.

Arriving home brought Alan back to the present. He spent the night in the couch, and was awoken by a noisy Charlie mucking about in the kitchen. Alan could hear the refrigerator slam twice, Charlie's loud footsteps, and the ding of the toaster. Gingerly, he got up himself.

"Morning!" Alan said.

"Why were you on the couch?"

"I feel asleep" he lied, not wanting talk about it.

"But you were in your pajamas" Charlie pointed out with a puzzled face, as he took a spoonful of his cereal.

"Well..uh...I'm going to go bruth my teeth." Alan excused himself. Yet again, this simple activity proved painful. He missed her telling him to hurry, or how she'd come in needing something or other. Quickly, he got out of the bathroom, and got into some regular clothes. Then, he returned to the kitchen just as Charlie was on his way out the door. With a sigh, he half heartedly served himself cereal. Retirement didn't make things easy. Not only did not no have anyone to complain about work to, now he didn't have work to do at all. It's never easy.

Thankfully, lunch was better as he had it with Art.

"You should start dating again!" he told Alan. Margaret had talked made him promise to encourage Alan and set him up if someone nice, and smart was found.

"Art! Yesterday was her birthday!" Alan scolded.

"You promised her."

"I know..." he sighed.

"Taking off your wedding ring might be a good start..." Art sipped some beer.

Alan snarled sharply "When I take off my wedding ring, that's my business!"

"Okay!Okay" Art backed off. "Let's order!"

TBC