Thanks to everyone who read MelsieR for reviewing. I'm still here, just have that pesky real life thing to deal with on occasion :).

"Yes, Mayor, I understand. I'll certainly be prepared." Which wasn't what Alex wanted to say, but he was a professional, and she was his boss.

There was the click of a line disconnecting, and he set the phone down a little harder than he probably should have. It wasn't that he objected to the idea of conference attendance, but he preferred actual medical conferences. Or those targeted towards research and advances in emergency service programs. The sorts of things that he could derive value from. This kind of conference was little more than a dog-and-pony show for politicians looking to display their 'good works.' He didn't have to wonder about the mayor's motivation, not with elections on the horizon, but that didn't make him like it.

Especially since she was very specific about what she wanted him to present. If this conference was anything like the last one that he'd spoken at, also at her request, the crowd would consist mostly of bored politicians waiting for their turn to show off. People more interested in checking their phones than paying attention. With the exception of the occasional idiot—or political rival, he frequently had a hard time telling the difference—determined to focus on some ridiculous triviality or drag his presentation off on one asinine tangent or another, of course. It wasn't that the medical and scientific communities didn't have more than their fair share of rivalries, but city politics were in a class of their own.

He was more than half tempted to suggest that Jennifer present instead, but she'd already been brought in as his assistant with the stated intent of bringing 'new blood' into the program. He wasn't particularly interested in giving them more excuses to replace him.

With a sigh, he pushed himself up from his desk. The fact that the mayor's call had come in at 9am on a Saturday didn't precisely improve the message, either. Not that he didn't appreciate the heads-up, especially since he now had Jamie to think about, but it was two weeks out. It could have waited until Monday. Then again, with the holiday next week, she'd probably thought that she was being courteous.

He'd had a shower when he'd woken up and had just been considering making breakfast when she'd called, but now his stomach was starting to grumble, and he headed for the kitchen.

When he looked over the back of the couch, he found Jamie still fast asleep. Not a surprise, he still wasn't a morning person and the two of them had ended up watching not only his comedy DVD—with the caveat that if he ever heard Jamie using that kind of language he was grounded for a month no questions asked—but also the majority of two ridiculous shark movies that had been showing on television afterwards. Jamie had seemed to enjoy them, but he'd been fast asleep before the end of the second.

Alex had nodded off for a few minutes too, but he'd learned shortly after injuring his back of the painful consequences of sleeping anywhere other than a firm mattress, and eventually he'd made himself get up and go to his room. He'd given Jamie's shoulder a quick shake on the way and suggested that he head for his bed as well, but it had been met with a sleepy complaint and no movement, and since he seemed reasonably comfortable and there was no way that Alex could move him without cooperation, Alex had tossed a blanket over him and left him where he was.

Jamie had put the remains of the pizza in the refrigerator after he'd collected his second helping, and Alex checked quickly to find two pieces left. Enough for lunch for one of them, but not something that he wanted for breakfast, and he put on a pot of coffee and then started eggs and sausage on the stove.

"Alex?" Jamie asked, wandering in rubbing his eyes a few minutes later as the smell of coffee started to spread.

"Good morning," Alex greeted.

"Mm." He stared at the coffeemaker for a minute and then blinked again and turned to get two mugs.

"Plates too, please."

It took Jamie a minute to process the request, but a few sips of coffee left him looking a little more alert, and plates appeared beside Alex and he went to set the table with napkins and silverware.

"Do you want a ride to wherever this storage place is that you're keeping your bikes?" Alex asked. "I can drop you off on my way to to the grocery store."

"It's kind of out of the way."

That wasn't a no, and Alex shrugged as he split the eggs and sausage between the two plates. "It's not a big deal. Depending on where it is, there are a few other errands I need to run anyway." Most of the storage places that he knew of were out on the west edge of the city, not a direction that he normally went, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to stop at once of the warehouse stores in the area and grab a big bag of rice and few other staples that he was going through faster than usual with Jamie here.

"Do you want me to help with grocery shopping first and then you could drop me off after?" Jamie asked.

Alex hesitated for a moment. If he'd been thinking about it he'd have gone shopping as soon as he'd woken up, but the idea hadn't even occurred to him. "If you don't think it'll delay you too much, I'd appreciate it. With two of us we should be able to get in and out before the crowds get too bad." And get bad they absolutely would since it was the last Saturday before Christmas.

"It won't. The nurses don't like visitors coming in until they've had time to clean up after breakfast and morning medications anyway. At least when it's me. I think they're less picky about adults."

"Different rules for minors wouldn't surprise me." He'd be more concerned if they didn't have them, although Jamie was probably considered old enough to skirt the line. "All right, then, we'll do it that way. Thank you."

The sound of the door in from the garage opening distracted Alex from his computer, and he looked up. "Jamie?"

"Yeah."

"Hey. How was your visit?"

"Okay."

That sounded less than encouraging, and Jamie headed for his room rather than joining Alex in the living room. Alex set his computer aside and pushed himself to his feet. A quick glance confirmed that a motorcycle had joined his car in the garage, and he shut the exterior door and grabbed the spare opener off the tool shelf before heading back inside.

"Jamie?" He tapped lightly on the closed bedroom door.

"I'm tired."

"Okay, but do you want a garage door opener to keep in your bag? It might make it easier to get your bike in and out."

"Oh." There was the sound of movement, and then the door opened. "Yeah. Thanks."

Alex handed it over. "Are you all right? Those leftover pizza slices are still in the refrigerator if you're hungry, or the rest of the soup I had." It was nearly four, so unless Jamie had eaten at the nursing home he was probably starving.

"I'm okay. I'm just tired."

Jamie refusing food was still a good indication that he was anything but okay, but it didn't give Alex much of a clue as to what he was supposed to do next. Personal issues came up as often in the lives of EMTs as anyone else, Dave's divorce and Val's father's heart attack being only the most recent examples, and he'd learned in his early tenure that being supportive and making sure that they had the time off needed to deal with those troubles went a long way in keeping his squads intact and responsive. To directly involve himself in anyone's personal life would be well beyond overstepping, though, and given that he was no kind of therapist, he was just fine with that.

With Jamie, though, for better or worse, he'd already done the 'involve' part, even if he'd never expected or intended it to be more than a very temporary situation. Terrifyingly enough—and it was terrifying when he thought about it—he was the closest thing to a parent that Jamie had at the moment which meant that just walking away wasn't an option. What he was supposed to say, though, he had no idea. He didn't have personal experience with dementia beyond the occasional patient at the hospital, but he was well aware that it was an ugly disease and not one that offered much in the way of hope to the families of those affected. "Do you want to talk about it?" he finally offered.

The look Jamie gave him said that Jamie was about as confused by Alex asking the question as Alex had been about what to say in the first place, but after a minute he shook his head. "No."

Alex nodded and stepped back, letting Jamie shut the door again. That could have gone better. Of course, it probably could have gone worse too. Small victories? Alex shook his head. He was not in any way qualified for parenthood.

At least Jamie had his motorcycle here now, though. Not that Alex was entirely thrilled with the idea of Jamie on a motorcycle, he didn't just know the statistics he'd seen the aftermath of more than a few accidents, but he understood economics as well as anyone else. It was the same reason that some people back home still drove ancient trucks that didn't even have seat belts. As long as there wasn't snow and ice on the roads, it would be more reliable for Jamie than the city bus system.

For lack of anything else to do, he went back to his computer and the presentation that he was adapting. Pull out anything involving in-progress research, add a happy cartoon creature, delete more science, and so on. Not really how he'd planned to spend the afternoon, but so it went.

A quiet sound caught his attention before he'd gotten through more than a couple more slides, and he turned to find Jamie by the far end couch. "Hey. Did you decide that you were hungry?" Although if that was the case he'd probably have just headed for the kitchen; Alex had finally convinced him that he didn't have to ask about that kind of thing. Or he thought he had, anyway.

Jamie shook his head. "Can I watch another one of that guy's DVDs? The comedian?"

Some random program was playing on television, but Alex's focus had been on his computer to the point where he wasn't even sure what it was about. "Sure. Mind, same caveat about language."

That got a ghost of a smile out of Jamie, and he nodded and dug another DVD out of the cabinet, putting it in the player before stretching out on the couch and pulling the blanket back down over himself.

Alex returned his attention to his laptop as the credits began to play. He couldn't justify removing all of the numbers from the presentation, but he could simply them a little. And add more cartoons. "On the list of things that medical school did not qualify me for."

"Hm?"

He hadn't meant to say that out loud, and he waved off Jamie's questioning look. "As of this morning I have to present at a conference on the third. It's not the type of conference that I enjoy." He paused. "I'm afraid that it means that you'll be on your own for the third and the fourth, though. Will you be okay?"

Jamie's forehead wrinkled. "I can stay here?"

"You can stay here until your social worker finds you a new placement. We talked about this."

"That's not...I mean, most people don't like it when I'm in their house alone." He scowled. "Like I'm going to set it on fire or something."

"Considering that you make it home before I do most of the time, if I was worried about that I wouldn't have given you a key." To be fair, if he hadn't already known Jamie he probably wouldn't have done that, but as it was he hadn't given it a second thought. "You'll be in a world of trouble if you decide to hold any parties while I'm gone, but I imagine that you can manage to keep yourself fed and the house from being incinerated without too much trouble."