They spent the next hour unloading the boxes, suitcases and bags from the back of the massive vehicle and carrying them up to his room. At one point, after countless trips up and down the stairs, he realized that it was just the three of them; Charlie was nowhere around. "Where in the hell is Chuck?" he asked. "He's never around when the grunt work needs to get done."

His father turned away from the box he was about to grab and leaned against the side of the SUV. "He's at school – teaching."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. It's Saturday."

Alan wiped his brow with his sleeve. "Once a month they have a seminar with the graduate teaching assistants in the department. They meet on Saturdays to avoid conflicts with other classes."

"And it just happens to be this Saturday," he said skeptically.

"They've moved it a couple of times already for Charlie. They couldn't move it again."

"Lucky him," Julie muttered. She leaned against the car door near her father. "How much stuff do you have in here anyway?"

"Just my life," he thought. "Only what would fit," he actually said.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing for you that you drive something this big, then. But I think Dad and I would have been better off if you still drove that old VW bug," she replied.

He smiled. "You actually remember my VW?

"I remember when you took me for rides in it when I was little." She paused. "What ever happened to it?

"The clutch finally completely went and it just wasn't worth fixing anymore," he sighed. "I really liked that car."

"Well, it would probably fit inside this beast," she said, peering back into the interior of the SUV, checking to see how much there was still to unpack.

"We're almost done," Alan responded, noticing her examination. "Probably just a few more trips each."

"Good. I don't know how many more times I can go up and down those stairs." She pushed a few loose strands of her dark hair out of her face.

He grabbed another box from the back. "You're young. You'll be fine."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "It's a good thing I like you."

He smiled back at her. A real, honest smile. "I like you, too." He went back inside.

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She pulled her sweater tight around her and leaned against the doorframe, watching him. He was stretched out on his bed, face buried in his pillow, boxes and bags strewn around him. She felt a hand on her shoulder, massaging the tight muscles. "You know," he said quietly, "I don't think he'd appreciate us watching him sleep."

"Then he should have shut the door," she whispered, never taking her eyes off him. "He looks so tired."

"It's been a long couple of days for him." He tucked one of her curls back behind her ear. "Are you okay?" he asked softly. "We tried to keep it quiet, to not wake you up."

She nodded. "I'm fine." She could feel his expression change to doubt without even looking at him. "All things considered," she added. "And you didn't wake me up. I can't sleep all the time." She shifted so that she was leaning against him instead of the doorframe. "Has he eaten yet?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. I ordered Chinese. It'll be here soon."

"His first night home and you got take-out? Really?"

He shrugged. "He said he was fine with it." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Are you going to eat with us?"

"I think so. What did you order?"

"Egg drop soup…"

"It's slimy," she interrupted. "I don't know why anyone would eat that."

"It's for Julie and I. I got wonton for you and Don. And by the way, neither of you knows what you're missing."

"We're missing slimy soup. Soup should never be slimy"

He chuckled softly. She was sounding a little feisty; more like herself than she had in a while. "You don't have to eat it. It's why I got you the wonton. I also ordered some egg rolls, moo shoo pork, beef and broccoli, sesame chicken and shrimp with lobster sauce. Oh and fried rice."

"So all the food groups are covered."

"Only the best," he said softly.

Her focus turned back to the darkened room as he shifted in his sleep. "You know, if he gets up half asleep he's going to kill himself on all those boxes. Why didn't at least some of them get put in the closet? I mean I know it isn't that big, but still…"

He didn't really want to answer her. "Well, he didn't want us to. He wanted to take care of it himself…"

She could hear the stall tactic in his voice. "Why doesn't he want the boxes to go in the closet? I mean I know he's more obsessive about these things than he was as a kid, but come on now."

He kept silent, wishing she would drop it, but knowing full well that she wouldn't.

"Alan?"

He sighed. He didn't want to bring this up with her, but he was going to have to. "I talked to him, when he first decided that he was coming home." He paused. "About his gun…"

"Oh, Alan. You didn't start with him about that again, did you?"

"I didn't start anything," he said calmly. "I just wanted to make sure that the safety issue was handled. I mean with Julie and her friends…I just wanted to make sure that there was never going to be a problem." He sighed again. "He told me that he would take care of it, that he knew what to do. Well, he did take care of it." He looked at his son. "He didn't want us to put the boxes in the closet ourselves because he put a gun locker in there and he needs to arrange everything so that he can get to it easily." He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He hated the fact that the locker was attached to the house, bolted to the closet wall, a permanent fixture. He'd wanted to say something, make some comment, when Don told him it was there, but he'd bitten his tongue. He'd expressed his concern to Don; Don told him he'd take care of it, and he did. He then had no right to say anything, to be upset. But still…In his house…

"When did he do it?" she whispered.

"The last time he was here," he responded.

"I didn't realize…"

"I didn't know either until today. I know it's a special locker, bolted to the wall with a combination lock. And no, I don't know the combination and I don't want to know," he said softly but firmly.

"Well, then," she whispered. This was real, permanent. She looked away.

He gently rubbed her arm. He then took a step forward, reached for the door handle and pulled the door shut. "I'll wake him up when the food gets here," he said softly.

She nodded, kissed his cheek and then headed back to her room, closing the door behind her.