So far, Saturday had been a success.
Drawing had taken up most of their afternoon – Dan and Dab's, at least: Phil had stopped and decided to do his own thing after a while. Dan didn't know what he was doing, exactly, but it was safe to assume he was cleaning.
It was only that night that the tranquillity ended for a time.
"You never told me why you and Uncle Phil don't like that woman who was in Chez Llama."
They were the words that Dan heard come from Dab's mouth, causing his smile to fall at last and a frown appear on his face.
"It's complicated, really," Dan coughed.
He'd just finished tucking the child into bed and was about to leave the room. In fact, he had his hand on the light switch already, but he had to turn back around again to answer Dab's question.
He could hear the sounds of Phil clearing away numerous sheets of paper suddenly stop in the other room as he awaited some sort of elaboration on 'It's complicated'.
"Back a few years ago…" Dan started again, "Your dad tried to make friends with Erica Pendleton, but she was… a bit mean to him-"
"Stop sugarcoating it!" Phil snapped from the other room.
Dan cleared his throat,
"She's just generally an awful person – inherently evil," he corrected himself, "And to add to that, back in February when you were younger, she tried to sneak into your room and kidnap you. We tried not to tell you about it, but I suppose the truth had to come out some day."
Dab stared up at him with a mix of terror and surprise on his face.
"Why did she want to take me?" He asked, quietly.
"I don't know, kid. I wasn't there, but Uncle Phil managed to stop her doing anything to you. Don't worry – we're going to keep you very safe," Dan assured him.
"Thank you, Uncle Dan," Dab whispered and closed his eyes as he started to drift off to sleep, "Goodnight."
"Night," Dan smiled before flicking off the light and leaving the room, shutting the door behind him.
Phil gazed up at him, tiredly, as he shuffled a stack of papers in his hands before looking back down, tapping them on the table to neaten them and setting them on the surface.
"You didn't have to tell him that last bit," Phil breathed. He sounded a tad irritated, too.
"How long were you planning to keep it hush-hush?" Dan retorted, yet still quietly and not too seriously, and he stood still parallel to the table, "He has a right to know."
Phil looked back up to him and stood up straight, rubbing the back of his neck with his long fingers.
"Fine," he sighed.
"Something wrong?" Dan asked, softly, moving over to stand beside him.
"I'm fine," Phil coughed, but still refused a hug of comfort.
"You'll be telling him all about the fight next thing you know," he continued, under his breath, as he gently pushed his friend away, and Dan's arms dropped, limply, to his sides.
"I… I thought we'd forgotten about that," Dan swallowed and watched Phil pore over his mind to think of some way to justify his prior statement.
"I didn't mean it like what you think I meant it like," he muttered, eventually, "I'm sorry. It's OK. You can tell him what he needs to know if he asks," and he gave a wan smile for a few seconds.
"Are you tired?" Dan asked.
"Can you tell?" Phil replied with a scoff, and he slowly blinked once.
Dan noted the circles under his eyes and the even more ashen than usual tone to his skin and decided that his friend definitely needed some sleep.
"It's Summer's masquerade party tomorrow."
"I forgot," Phil rasped, "I don't think I'll be going."
"Why not?" Dan asked, kindly, "I mean, it's OK if you don't want to go, but… Is it something against Summer?"
Phil averted his line of sight, "You know how I am about social things…" he said as he took his glasses off to rub his eyes.
"If you're not going, then I won't, either," Dan smiled, and reached to place a hand on Phil's back, but his friend moved away, sharply, before he could.
"Hey, don't let me spoil your fun," Phil frowned, "If you want to go, you go without me. I'm perfectly fine here alone."
Dan shook his head. He didn't much want to leave him again.
Maybe it was because he wanted to spend time together, but Dan felt that the primary reason he wanted to stay home was that he didn't trust Phil with Dab and the housework alone.
Maybe he just didn't trust him alone at all.
"I don't really want to go, either," Dan smiled, "Don't you worry about it."
Phil shrugged and put his hands in his pockets, giving a yawn and staring down at the floorboards as he wandered over to the other side of the room, his shoulder blades showing up outside his shirt.
"Get some sleep, Philly," Dan whispered to him.
"What did you think I was doing?"