Disclaimer: Do I own the characters? Nope.

A/N: Well, here it is. The moment you've all been waiting for…or so I assume. The bare minimum of what actually happened when Perry left! I hope it was worth the wait. It's making me suuuuuuper nervous, so I hope it's good. The nerves are what made the wait so long. I'm sorry. Enjoy!

Perry was deep in thought when Paul and Eve came back over to the table. Paul looked around. "Where's my son?"

"He went back upstairs," Perry told Paul.

"One down, one to go," thought Paul. Now, if he could just get Eve to leave he could really tear into Perry about leaving Della.

Perry had no desire to waste much time with small talk, so he dove right in. "What do you think happened between Della and me when I left?"

"I'll kill him," Paul muttered.

Perry rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but smile just a bit. It seemed Little Paul was right. "Don't kill Little Paul. Besides, I needed to know he's still angry at me. So, what do you think happened?"

"It doesn't really matter," Paul said.

"Oh but it does," Perry argued. "Tell me."

Paul sighed. "The same thing that happened with us. You told her you were leaving a day before you left, then left the next morning without a backwards glance, without a care."

Perry slowly nodded, though not necessarily in an accepting manner. "No wonder. Is that what she told you?"

"She didn't have to tell us," Paul said. "I just knew."

Perry shook his head. "You just assumed. What have I always told you about assuming? This is why I deal in facts."

Eve suddenly smiled. "You were wrong, Paul. I told you Perry wouldn't just drop Della like that."

Perry's eyes widened. "You thought I could do that to her? Just drop her? Not care that I was leaving her behind?"

Paul averted his eyes and softly cleared his throat. "What did happen?"

"I knew I got the judgeship a week before I told you I was leaving. I didn't accept it right away. I told Della as soon as it happened and asked her to come with me. I told her she could be my secretary, she could be my wife, she could be anything she wanted as long as she would come with me," Perry explained. "She said no."

"Oh, Perry," Eve whispered.

"What?" Paul exclaimed. "You asked her to come with you?"

Perry tried to hide his smirk at Paul's shock. "Yes."

"When she said no, why didn't you stay?" Paul asked.

"You know Della," Eve said, before Perry had a chance to answer. "She probably told him to go. She probably threatened him with something if he didn't go. She knew this was something he wanted."

Paul looked to Perry for conformation and Perry nodded. "It didn't matter though. I should've stayed. Leaving was…a horrible mistake. I thought maybe everything would be okay, but that wasn't the case. Everything has been so very wrong."

Paul shook his head in amazement. "Perry, I think I owe you a huge apology. I'm so sorry. I guess I was just angry that you left when things were going so well for you. I should've known you wouldn't have left Della without a fight. I'll make sure Paul apologizes too."

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell Little Paul," Perry said.

"Why?" Paul asked. He was asking a lot of questions tonight. It seemed that nothing was ever simple when it came to Perry.

"He's angry," Perry said. "I'm sure most of his anger is directed at me because he thinks I left Della. If you tell him what really happened, well, he might be angry at Della and she doesn't need that. It wasn't her fault."

Paul raised his eyebrows. He disagreed with Perry on a number of those points, but when he saw Eve's look he acquiesced. "Okay, we won't tell him."

Perry looked at his watch discreetly. "It's getting pretty late and since tomorrow is going to be a crazy day, I guess we should go our separate ways."

Paul looked at his watch while Eve stretched over to see the time as well. They both agreed and got up. Paul and Eve were walking Perry to the door of the hotel when Paul spoke. "Perry, I really am so sorry about the misunderstanding."

Perry smiled. "Maybe now you'll listen to my advice about not assuming things. It's okay though. I can understand why you thought what you did."

Eve reached up to hug Perry. "Goodbye, Perry."

Paul wrinkled his forehead. "Eve, you're going to see him tomorrow."

She backed away and rolled her eyes at her husband. "I know, but after tomorrow, who knows when I'll see him again. I have to get as many hugs in as I can."

Perry chuckled as Paul shook his head at Eve. "Women. They are crazy. You can't live with them and you can't live without them. You're lucky to have escaped this, Perry."

Eve glared at him and swatted him playfully in the arm. She slapped him harder when she saw the look on Perry's face.

Perry's face had turned sentimental and his eyes almost looked sad. "'Escaping' marriage is not exactly what I had in mind. I'll see you guys tomorrow." After that he saw the valet bring around his car so he gave them a wave and walked to his car.

Eve and Paul watched him drive away. Paul wondered how long he was going to get away with his words to Perry. He knew Eve was going to lecture him; he was just waiting for it. Walking to the elevator, he got his answer. "I can't believe you were so stupid, Paul! We had just finished talking about Della and you go and say something like that! Don't you have any tact?" When Paul said nothing, Eve continued. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

Paul shrugged. "I'm just waiting for the eye of the hurricane. Or even better, waiting for the end."

Eve groaned. "Men!"

Paul laughed as the elevator stopped on their floor. They got out and began to walk toward the room. Eve opened the door and held it open for Paul to walk through when he changed his mind midstream. "Go on in, Eve. I'll be there in a little while."

Eve knew her husband better than that. "Oh no, you don't. You're coming in. You are not talking to Della right now."

Paul looked at his watch again. "Oh, come on. It's not that late. I'd bet my life that she's in bed with a good book and a glass of wine, but not really concentrating on the book. She's waiting for me to knock on the door and tell her all about the dinner, because she knows I will. That's what I would be doing regardless, but after what Perry said, I can't not ask her about it!"

Eve sighed, knowing she was trapped. That was exactly like something Paul would do and he was probably right. "Fine. You can ask her about it. Do not, I repeat, do not yell at her. If she doesn't want to tell you anything, you come right back."

Paul couldn't help it, he had to roll his eyes. Sometimes he wondered if Eve was his wife or his mother. "Yes, Mother."

Eve glared at him, but walked into their room and shut the door. Paul chuckled then quickly sobered as he walked to Della's door. He couldn't have waited until tomorrow. He had to get some answers and he had to get them tonight!

-%

Della sighed when she heard the knock on her door. She knew it was Paul and though she wasn't exactly engrossed in her book, she had just managed to push Paul's dinner and Perry in general out of her mind. She considered not answering, but she was positive that if she didn't, the knocking would just continue. She quietly groaned as she put on her robe and went to the door.

Opening the door, she rolled her eyes. It was Paul. "Hello, Paul."

Paul didn't even bother with formalities or his cheeky greeting. "Why didn't you tell me!"

Della was confused. Those were not the first words she expected to hear. In fact, she didn't expect to hear those words at all and she honestly had no idea what he was talking about. "Tell you…what?"

"Perry asked you to come with him to San Francisco!" Paul practically shouted.

Della's eyes widened. How did he find out about that? More importantly, how much did he know and how much did she want to tell him. She sighed. She didn't want to, but she surrendered to the inevitable. "Oh, that. Maybe you'd better come inside."

Next time, you'll hear Della's side of the story and you'll get more details. But, how did you feel about this chapter? Was it everything you've been hoping for? Was it unexpected or expected? I hope I didn't disappoint. Please review and tell me how I did…even if it was a disappointment (if that's the case, I'm very sorry). I would appreciate it if you could take a second to review…thanks for reading!