Dan blinked once in the light of the sun streaming in via the window. He should have been talking to their visitor, but instead he found himself transfixed by the tiny specks of dust that showed up in the air as the light shone through the glass.

He always found the sight of these dust spores very relaxing and would happily watch them for hours if left to his own devices with nothing better to do.

It was an odd feeling when he zoned out like this. Everything around him seemed to fade away: voices dulled, noises faded into non-existence and, to some extent, there was no feeling – pain would fade away and suddenly Dan would feel like he was floating in a void with only the smell of linen and the company of the dust around him.

His eyes couldn't divert from the light, he couldn't make out words that people were saying around him and instead interpreted it all as a low hum that occasionally changed pitch.

It might have been because he was tired, but he definitely felt a bit like he was hovering.

The only thing that kept him tethered to reality was the intermittent, erratic laughter seeming to echo from beside him, and then Dan would smile because laughter is contagious and he would inevitably hear a concerned, distant query of 'are you alright?' if he didn't smile now and again.

Smiling wasn't that hard, really.

Blinking again, his eyes stinging from all the staring he'd been doing, Dan brought his mug up to his mouth, holding it with his left hand, and breathed in the smell of warm tea.

He took a sip before putting the cup back down on his leg again and shuffling about slightly.

He was sat leaning his right elbow on the arm of the settee, his chin resting in his palm, and his legs up on the cushions.

The sofa wasn't very long, though, so the ends of his legs and his feet ended up on his friend's knee and every so often he'd feel an arm come to rest over his ankles.

He let his eyelids partially close and tried to tune in to the conversation taking place beside him.

The one thing that piqued his interest was Eliza saying something in a very jolly manner.

"Dab will have to come over to ours sometime to play with Evan!" She suggested.

"Yeah, I was thinking of that…" Phil mused, thoughtfully, "I thought that a sleepover would be fun for them both, too. It'd give me and Dan a chance to relax, too…"

"That'd be really fun!" Came Dab's excited voice, emanating from the other side of the room. He was still sat at the table and had been for a good 30 minutes.

Dan still didn't make eye contact but instead smiled and nodded, humming 'I agree' in response to both what Phil had said and what Dab had ecstatically chirruped, too.

"Maybe later on in the week, though," Phil decided, and for once, Dan turned to the left to look at him.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Well, we have the responsibility of child-sitting, don't we? We should at least spend some time actually doing our jobs instead of throwing our load on anyone else," Phil replied. Then the left corner of his mouth turned up into a slight smirk, "Besides, I had plans…" he said.

Dan was slightly concerned by this repeated mention of 'plans' but he knew he shouldn't worry. Besides, it was usually himself who came up with the plans – it was good to let Phil handle things for once. Just as long as he didn't over-work himself.

"What kind of plans were you thinking?" Dan asked, nonchalantly.

"Ah, not much," Phil shrugged, "Just some peaceful, quality 'family time', as they say, you know? Nothing much. I'm making it sound ominous, aren't I?" And he laughed.

Dan nodded, a sleepy smile on his face.

"Sorry," Phil sniggered, "I just find it funny when you don't know what I'm planning. It's nothing exciting."

"Is it something to do with me?" Came Dab's little voice again.

"Partially?" Phil murmured, as if he didn't quite know how to word it.

Dan brushed his awkwardness off and instead looked back to the window, in the hopes of finding the dust pores floating about again, but the sun had moved around a bit and the dust was starting to fade.

Feeling the cold all of a sudden, Dan hunched his shoulders and twisted round so that his back was resting on the arm of the sofa.

"And of course, you need to come and meet Bob some time!" Eliza suggested, enthusiastically.

Bob was the most un-interesting Sim in the world. The only thing Dan could remember of him was that he wouldn't let anyone else play horseshoes when the Howlters went camping with him and Eliza.

"Though, I'm sure you'll already know, he's not very exciting…" Eliza muttered.

So evidently she realised that her husband was more than a little monotonous.

Before either Phil or Dan could say anything in response, her face fell and she seemed to scan around the room with her eyes, as if she was searching for something.

"Something wrong?" Dan asked, sitting up straight and swinging his legs around so that his feet were on the floor.

"Oh, I was just… looking for a clock," Eliza responded, "What time is it?"

"I think it's almost ten…" Phil told her, though he didn't seem quite sure, "I'll double check…" and he bent over to reach over to the table and unlock his phone.

The time was, indeed, 10AM.

"I've just remembered I have to get back home to start making dinner!" Eliza exclaimed, "Sorry I couldn't stay longer; I would've loved to start organising something for later in the week, like a get-together, but maybe another time, right?"

"Right!" Phil grinned.

Dan didn't really mind Eliza leaving. She still had a bit of an odd vibe and he didn't know whether he could fully trust her with the child that was under his and his friend's care, but if Phil thought it was a good idea, he just supposed he'd have to support that decision.

"Well, it's been nice seeing you two," Eliza concluded, putting her cup down on the table and standing up.

"Yeah, it has," Phil replied, standing up with her to escort her to the door. It was only polite.

"See you around, yeah?"

"Of course!" He nodded, opening the door to let her out.

Just before she was about to say goodbye and gaily trot off, back across the road to her house, she made a little noise like an 'ooh' and span back around again.

"One last thing before I go," she started, "I heard Summer Holiday is planning a masquerade party at her house on Sunday; it'd be great if you and Dan could come and I'm sure Summer would appreciate it! I'll be there!"

And without another word, she went merrily on her way.

Phil stood and stared out onto the road for a while after her leaving, his gaze fixated in the middle-distance.

"Are you OK?" Dan asked, sounding very concerned, feeling the mildly warm outside air drift in through the open doorway.

It took his friend a strangely long time to reply, but eventually he did, sharply turning to the right with a distant expression on his face.

His look softened and he swallowed before giving a slight smile to Dan.

"This is fine," he assured him.

He didn't sound convinced.