Classification: TRHA

Rating: PG

Summary: Good friends and bad times. And a couple stray Fibbies.

Spoilers: None here.
 

"If you from spoyle of th'old worlds farthest end
To the new world your kindled valors bend
What brave examples then do prove it trew
That one things end doth still beginne a new."

"Cales and Guyana," by John Donne, Epigrams. Used without permission.
 

Auribus Teneo Lupum
 

August 9, 1999

"Lone Gunmen."

"John, it's me. Turn the tape off."

"Ally. How are you doing?"

"Not so great. John, huge favor to ask."

"Go ahead."

"This is going to sound really wimpy and paranoid-"

"Remember who you're talking to, Ally." I could feel him smile gently on the other end.

"Right. Listen, Langly's sound asleep, and the Fibbies are coming back to talk to the kids-"

"Would you like for me to come over?"

"If either you or Frohike would, I would really appreciate it. Both of you are welcome, of course."

"Frohike is trying to...get information right now. But I can take a break. I have papers I need to grade, anyway. You sound as if you need some sleep."

"I do. But for some reason, right now, I'd feel better if someone was always awake in the house...I must be losing it..."

"Allison, no need to explain. Give me an hour. I'll be there."

"Do you want some dinner?"

"I don't seriously expect you to cook at a time like this. I'll be happy to stop for some El Pollo Loco on the way, though."

"That'd be so great. I really appreciate this, John. This whole experience has really...unnerved me."

"I would wonder about you if it didn't."
 

I hung up the phone, and the doorbell rang. I peered through the peephole. Agents Lowry and Carnesale were darkening my doorstep again.

"Come in."

"Thank you. How are you, Mrs. Gerstein?" Agent Carnesale asked in his soft, slightly melodious voice.

"Been better. I suppose you want to talk to the kids."

"We do, thank you."

"Would you like some coffee?"

"No thanks," called out Agent Lowry. "I think we're coffee'd out."

"I'd offer you something to eat, but it's been a...long day. A friend of ours is bringing dinner, but not for about another hour."

"Don't worry about it." Agent Carnesale turned to the sleeping figure curled up in the recliner. "He's gonna have a hell of a backache when he wakes up."

"I tried to get him upstairs, but he fell asleep before I could keep him from lapsing into a coma."

"Cat sure looks comfortable, though," Agent Lowry observed. "I envy my cat sometimes."

"I'll get the girls. You can talk here in the living room; I doubt he's going to wake up for anything short of a bomb blast at this point. Please try not to upset the girls unnecessarily. They've been through a lot."

"We're aware of that, Mrs. Gerstein, and we just want some information from them. And while you probably don't want to be far away, we'd like a few minutes alone with them. We'll talk to each one alone, and then together."

"All right. But don't drag it out long. They spent the day with my mother and it seemed to be therapeutic for them. This isn't really what they need right now."

"We understand," Agent Lowry was now on his knees, trying to coax the cat off Langly. Lots of luck, Agent. NY Times had pretty much adopted Langly as her own. She was solidly purring right now, and was not likely to be persuaded.

Shelby came down first, and the agents spent a few minutes asking her a few questions. I went outside on the porch and took Tiny with me, who sat at my feet and gazed at me with her big, inquiring puppy eyes. I just sat there, petting the dog quietly. She licked my hand. Animals are the best therapy on the planet. I felt better just stroking her.

I heard Miranda's voice sometime later, and she seemed to be answering in a normal voice, not crying, not hysterical...I couldn't make out the words...

"Allison?"

"Huh? Oh shit! I must have nodded off! C'mon in, John." Byers followed the dog and me into the house, carrying a large parcel from El Pollo Loco. The smell emanating from the package drove Tiny wild. "Thanks for coming by and picking up dinner and all. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome. It's no bother."

Like hell it wasn't, but I'd have done the same for him.

"We're finished here, Mrs. Gerstein. Thank you, Miranda. You've been most helpful."

"Just find my aunt, okay?"

"We will. We'll certainly try," Agent Carnesale told her gently.

"Nice kids," Agent Lowry commented to me. "We'll touch base with you tomorrow. We gave you our cards. If you hear anything, page us immediately."

"Thank you. Goodnight."

"I'm shocked. Sleeping Beauty didn't wake up. And I came in with El Pollo," Byers looked at the lump in the chair. His mouth was slightly parted and he was making his usual small sounds that I found very soothing.

"Girls, John brought dinner. Let's eat."

The girls pulled up to the table, and they were very subdued. None of the usual wacky banter that normally characterized our dinners was present. On a normal night, Langly, Miranda, Shelby and I would have a raucous meal, complete with teasing, banter, a noisy discussion of some current event, arguments, laughing, taunting, and every once in a while, a food fight. I did try to discourage those. I attempted to explain to Langly one time that this was not a behavior that I considered particularly acceptable. He responded by flicking croutons at me.

"How are you feeling, Miranda?" Byers asked softly. It was a gentle question, full of understated but genuine concern.

Miranda stared moodily at her chicken. When she lifted her face, she turned not to Byers but to me.

"How do I feel? How do you think I feel? I feel like shit! My whole life is shit!" Uncharacteristic angry tears leached from her beautiful eyes. "Ever since Daddy died, it's just total crap! But no, I'm supposed to be super cool Miranda, I'm just supposed to put up with everything! Well, Mom, I'm not you, and I can't walk around in a coma and pretend that everything
is just great, because it's not! Every time I think things are getting better, then they suck again! And I can't take it anymore!" She angrily threw down her napkin and stomped up the stairs.

"Miranda, wait." Shelby went after her, but Miranda didn't respond positively to the gesture.

"Just get out of my face, okay? Just everybody leave me alone!"

I looked at Byers. My nerves were pulled so taut that they threatened to break at any moment. "I'd better go check on her." I looked at Shelby, who seemed more puzzled than upset. "Don't worry about her, dear. She's had a hard go of it."

"Yeah, I know. Hey Allison, can I stay here tonight anyway?"

I was totally surprised that she would even want to. "Does your mother know you're doing this?"

"I'll call her."

"It's fine by me, honey, but make sure it's okay by her." I didn't need Shelby's semipsychotic mother screaming at me that I was utterly irresponsible at this point; I had enough guilt, rational and irrational, to carry me into my next lifetime.

I walked up the stairs and knocked softly on Miranda's door. "Sweetheart?"

"Just go away, Mommy. You don't care about what happens to me."

"Miranda, that's not fair."

"Well, nothing is fair to me, either."

"I'm not going to say it's not." I was almost in tears myself. "Miranda, please, don't do this."

She came to the door and snapped it open. I tried to put my arms around her. She pushed me away, which, if she had done it before, I didn't remember.

"Just go, Mom. I don't want you here right now."

"All right." I quietly closed her door. I was shaking and the tears were coming out of my eyes at full speed now. I collapsed at the top of the stairs and sat there with my arms folded over my face, crying from guilt and anger and sadness and exhaustion and fear.

I don't know how long I'd been there, but Shelby came up the steps eventually and sat down, flinging an arm over me. "Hey, you know Allison, you're more like my mom to me than my mom."

I looked up at her through my blurred eyes. "That's really sweet, Shelby. I just wish Miranda felt like I was a good mom to her."

"Oh, she does. It's just...she's lost her dad, and now her aunt-"

"And her grandparents."

"Yeah, that's a lot. She's just real scared and she's mad at the world. She doesn't know why all this stuff happens to her."

"I wish I knew."

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm gonna try and talk to her. She'll chill. Don't sweat it."

Shelby knocked on the door. I could still hear Miranda crying, but she let Shelby in without protest. The door closed behind them. I couldn't even help my own daughter, and she was in so much pain...

Byers came up the stairs. "Why don't you come down and I'll make you some tea." He took my arm and led me down. "You look like you could use a friend right about now."

I sat down on the sofa corner near where Langly continued to sleep soundly. The cat was still curled in his lap, Agent Lowry failing to have coaxed her to abandon her post. Byers walked in with two steaming mugs.

"Chamomile. Good for the nerves."

"Thank you." It was steeped well and the perfect temperature. Was there anything this guy didn't do right? I was so lucky to have him for a friend.

"John, don't you ever get sick of seeing me when I'm a total mess?"

He smiled gently. "You're not usually like that, Ally. You're usually pretty salt of the earth. I'm very glad you entered our lives. When I think about that we balked when Mulder pleaded with us to let you and Miranda stay with us when you came out here..."

"I've always wondered about why Mulder put us up with you guys. We could have stayed at a hotel. I mean, I'm glad now we did get to stay with you. But it did seem...odd."

"Not for Mulder. He didn't want you being vulnerable."

"To what?"

Byers sipped his tea. "You may or may not have noticed, but people close to Mulder and Scully have the unfortunate habit of dying."

"No, I hadn't." How much didn't I know? And was what I didn't know going to hurt me?

"John, I'm a deaf support services person. I'm no threat domestically, internationally, or otherwise. Dana chose me based on my experience."

"Dana didn't choose you at all."

"What? I was under the impression that she selected me from a variety of candidates."

"It was nothing like that."

"If Dana didn't select me, then who did?"

"We don't know. But...someone did. And they made quite certain that you would be here, and within their control."

I sipped my hot tea, but shuddered anyway. I lit my 9000th cigarette of the day.

"Do you think this has anything to do with...are you acquainted with things Langly claims about my family?"

"Yes." He nodded in the affirmative. "Frohike, he and I all did some background work on it."

"How did you find out all this information, which, by the way, I am still having trouble swallowing?"

"There are documents."

"Classified?"

"Yes."

"Do you think all this is connected to Lydia's disappearance somehow?"

"We don't have a good connection there. We may not have any connection. But the reason we agreed to take you in was because of your...history."

"So you've known all along about my grandpa and my daddy."

"Yes."

"And Mulder knew."

"Mulder knew. He was concerned about the choice that had been made for Dana, but also for your safety. He felt there was a strong possibility that you were oblivious to these past...incidents. And that they could put you at risk without your even being aware of it."

"Does Dana know?"

"I don't think so."

"Amazing, the things our husbands don't tell us."

"Why do you say that?"

"Langly was telling me that he had received something from one of Eric's friends last year. Something Eric had written to this friend and this friend passed along."

"Oh, the Godzilla letter."

"I haven't seen it. Langly's going to make a copy for me."

"So you didn't know about this."

"Eric never told me anything. And that's really weird. We talked about our jobs all the time. Probably too much. Of course, since I haven't seen the letter, I don't know for sure. Maybe he did tell me and I didn't listen."

"I doubt that. I don't remember the specific wording of the letter...I think it best to let you read it and you can draw your own conclusions."

I emptied my cup. Byers took the cup and refilled it for me. "Thanks. John, you have no idea how much I appreciate all this."

"Well, I'm happy to help you in any way I can. And you help us, too."

"I don't see how."

"Allison. You've made that boy a happy man." He pointed to the sleeping figure in the chair.

"I hope so."

"I think he fell in love with you somewhere in the first half hour you were there."

"That's funny. I've heard that observation from Frohike, too."

"Well, I'm not sure he realized it at first, but he's a quick study. He managed to figure it out."

"I really love him, John."

"I know you do. You take very good care of him."

"He does the same for me."

"He's a good man. He's a total pain sometimes, as I'm sure you've noticed, but he is at heart very caring and kind."

"He's got one of the best hearts I've ever met. How many other guys would put up with my situation? I'm not young, and I'm not exceptionally good looking, although save for right now, I don't think I scare people too often, I've got a teenage daughter, my life situation is constantly being disrupted-"

"And you are available for people you care about any time day or night. You'll put a meal on the table whenever anyone is hungry. You'll run TMB to whatever zip code we ask and drop it. You've always made us welcome in your home. You'll drop whatever you're doing if someone needs attention. We aren't exactly the most...normal people around. But you treat us as if we are the most special."

"That's because you are."

"And when I think that we told Mulder we really didn't want to be responsible for you and your daughter, I'm glad he pushed on in his typical fashion. We would all be poorer if he hadn't."

"I know I would be."

"And we'd never have a reliable fourth for bridge."

That made me laugh.

"Mommy?" I heard a childlike voice from the top of the stairs. "Can you come up here?"

"Go see your daughter. I have papers to grade."
 

Miranda and Shelby and I went into my bedroom and we all parked on the bed and talked for a long time. I hugged my baby for dear life.

I still felt horrible. What had I done to my poor daughter?

The girls eventually decided that late night TV was about what they could handle, and they set up their makeshift bed in the living room. I told Byers that he didn't have to stay, but he waved me off, saying he could be comfortable right where he was. The girls kept the volume low, and drifted off to sleep sometime between Leno's monologue and the Monday night
headlines.

I decided to take another crack at Langly. I crept down the stairs and shook him gently. Nothing doing. Then I crawled into his lap, pushing the cat off, and just snuggled up to him.

"Hey." He mumbled. "Wha' time'sit?"

"After midnight. You've been asleep in this chair for over five hours."

"Mmm. You wanna go to bed?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"You hafta move."

I got up and took his arm. I whispered goodnight to Byers, now engrossed in a professional journal, and Langly and I leaned on each other up the stairs. We never even got the bed covers pulled off; we both fell asleep, in the clothes we were wearing, right on top of the bed, wrapped around each other inside the blanket Langly had dragged up the stairs. A small, safe place in a world that was big and scary.

Maybe that is the only place people can truly be safe.
 

August 10, 1999

I managed a few hours' sleep, but woke abruptly when I couldn't feel Langly next to me. I tried to open my eyes...

Shit. I had fallen asleep with my contact lenses in. Wonderful.

"Langly?" I called out.

"Yeah?" He was seated at the computer. I couldn't open my eyes well enough to see him.

"I think I fell asleep with my lenses in."

He seemed to find that mildly amusing. "Can you get 'em out?"

"Yeah, I can. It's just going to be a challenge, that's all. Are my glasses on the nighttable?"

"You're asking me? I can barely see the screen, and it's a foot away from my nose!"

"Oh, yeah. You're going to have to get some new glasses today."

"Either that or go totally blind. In which case I'll legitimately qualify for handicapped parking and I won't have to hack into the DMV to change my endorsements." I moved slowly off the bed. My eyes stung, my head ached, my limbs were made of lead. I felt every moment of my 44-times at minimum a factor of 3. The first thing I managed to do was trip over a foreign object near the bed and ended up falling on my ass. My irritation increased logarithmically as I realized Langly was laughing at me. But he did come over and help me up.

"I'm glad someone found it amusing," I snarled. "God, could we possibly get any more crap in this room?"

"Probably could. Want me to try?"

"Aargh! Have you ever heard, less is more?"

"I have, and it's a lie." He gave me an affectionate squeeze. "You okay?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. What the hell time is it?"

"Can't read the clock."

I moved towards it and squinted. "I think it says 5:20."

"We should go house hunting today."

"Langly, are you out of your mind-wait, don't answer that. We can't go house hunting!"

"Why not? Eleanor's itching to write a check. Give the girl a thrill."

"Babe, in case you've forgotten, my sister-in-law went missing and she's still missing!"

"Ally," he said mildly, but the teasing left his tone, "we have to get out of here."

"What if she calls and we're not here?"

"Ally. Get your lenses out. Go make some coffee-I'd do it but you claim it'll poison you, so you do the honors. Take a shower. Then we'll come up with a plan." All of his irritable moodiness from yesterday had dissipated. He seemed almost as calm as Byers.

"I'm serious, babe. I think we need to be around in case she turns up."

He pulled me on to him. I could feel that his hair was still damp, and he smelled like a freshly-scrubbed kid. I could still be this distraught and think about pulling him into bed...

"Mmm. You smell delicious."

"And you will if you get in the shower."

I punched him affectionately on the arm and raised myself off of him. He grabbed me around the neck as I got up and kissed me on the cheek. "C'mon, girl. Get moving."

I padded gingerly down the stairs-my back hurt from the fall, and I didn't bounce as well as I once did. The girls were sound asleep with the dog on one end of their makeshift bed and Motley on Shelby's pillow. Byers had actually succumbed to exhaustion and was curled up on the sofa in a fetal position. At least he'd gotten rid of the tie. I tried not to wake him as I started the coffeemaker, but he apparently slept lightly.

"Morning," he greeted me with a yawn.

"Hey. Glad you got some sleep."

"I think it was boredom. Late night TV is just so terrible these days."

"Miranda tells me it's all infomercials and bad talk shows."

"I remember when I was growing up watching movies all night. I always had trouble sleeping, and I'd wait until my parents were asleep and then I'd head downstairs and watch old movies until I got tired. I miss doing that."

"You never got caught?"

"It was a big house. My little sister would sometimes catch me, but I'd let her sit up with me, so she never revealed my secret life after dark." He smiled slightly.

"Now you don't have your life after dark anymore."

"I feel like my whole life is after dark these days. Your husband was an amateur astronomer. Do you know what umbra is?"

"It's the deepest shadows."

"Basically. And that's where I live. However, I keep a marginal pretense at a normal life, and I have a class at 10. May I take some coffee with me?"

"Of course. We have a wide selection of commuter mugs available. Do you want penguins, fish, Joe Bruin, or the one with my astrological sign on it?"

"I don't think we share the same astrological sign, so I'll go for the fish." I plucked the commuter mug down from the shelf. He laughed.

"I think that one is yours."

"God, I really am blind. I fell asleep with my lenses in, and I can't see for shit." I pushed the mug up close to my face. "Ah, it's my Leo mug. Sorry about that."

"It doesn't matter," he laughed. He took it from me and filled it.

"Milk's in the fridge."

"I'm afraid not. I checked last night. You're out." He sounded almost apologetic, as if he was responsible for our lack of dairy products. "Really, I don't mind it black."

"Here you go. And John? Thanks so much for being here. I really appreciate it more than I can say."

"Anytime, Ally."
 

I filled a mug up for Langly and managed to only spill a small amount. I brought it back upstairs for him.

"Sorry, no milk."

"Don't you have any of that petroleum-based white powdery stuff?"

"'Fraid not. Even I have to draw the line somewhere."

"I can't drink it without milk. I can run to 7-11."

"No. Please don't leave."

He turned around and faced me. As blurred as my vision was, I could see he was not smiling.

"Ally. I am going 2 blocks for milk. You can't start freaking out every time I have to leave the house. I'm not gonna do anything that puts you in any sort of bad way, so get over it already!" He shook his head. "This isn't like you, girl."

"Well, it's not like life is exactly normal right now," I retorted.

"No, it's not. But what if Lydia doesn't come back for weeks? Months? What if she doesn't make it back, Ally? What're you gonna do? You gonna hole up here and turn into a mole?"

"Langly, I don't think I deserved that." Then the import of his words struck at me like an icicle snapping. "You don't really think..."

He shook his drying hair. "Ally, you've got a kid. WE'VE got a kid. Two of them, considering Shelby seems to consider this home and she just sorta checks in now and then with her mom. She's a wreck. If you're gonna be a wreck, she's not gonna get her bearings. You want that?"

"No." I hate being pushed, and I hate being logically proven wrong. "All right, babe. Go and get the milk. And pick me up a pack of cigarettes, okay? Please?"

"Ally, I don't know how you smoke those things all day long! I had three of 'em last night, and I feel like somebody sandpapered my throat!"

"Langly. This is not the time to get on my case about my smoking."

"Okay, okay. Right now I'll leave you alone about it."

"Thank you."

"I said I wouldn't hassle you right now. I didn't say I'd never do it again."

"Langly!"

He laughed and gave me a hug. "Ally. I'm just trying to get you to take it easy. Okay?"

Fat fucking chance of that.
 

I opted for the shower first. I thought that moistening my eyes would give me some additional leverage for removing my recalcitrant lenses. I ached all over, so I kicked the water temperature up to where it steamed up the mirrors before I even got in.

I could not believe that things had come to this. I couldn't believe that I had come to this. I was a basket case, just because Langly decided that he needed a trip to the 7-11.

I tried to relax in the steam and pulled out my favorite apple-scented shower gel. All of a sudden I heard the bathroom door open. I screamed.

"Ally, relax! Jesus fuck, it's just me!"

"Don't you ever knock?" I shrieked testily.

"Didn't know I had to. If I recall correctly, we've shared this shower more than a few times." He was getting a bit snippy now...time to back down, Allison.

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm just really stressed out right now."

"That's an understatement. Look, you got any money, 'cause I don't have any cash on me."

"I think I've got about five bucks left on me. Don't you have an ATM card?"

"Yeah, and I've got $67.41 in my checking account. Whereas, you have $1,891.15 in yours." I stuck my head out and blinked at him. "I checked your balance this morning."

"Langly, if you're going to be nosing around in my bank account, I suggest we get one together."

"Oh, yeah. We could do that, couldn't we?"

I was now finished. I flipped off the shower and grabbed for my towel. "Langly, you were the one who said we ought to go house hunting, am I right?"

"Yeah, we should."

"Okay. We're buying this house together, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"Well, we don't have to have our money together. But it seems...I don't know. I'm not into the separate funds thing and all that. Where I come from, you put your money together. That way, it's not yours and it's not mine, it's ours. It doesn't matter where it comes from."

"Yeah...that would make sense."

"So we should do that soon."

"Okay. Whatever."

"No, Langly, it's not 'whatever.' Do you want to do this or not?"

"Yeah, I do."

"All right. Then we'll do it."

"Ally, cut me a little slack, okay? I'm new at this!" He started to exit the room. "So it's okay if I take your ATM card for now?"

"I need to give you my PIN number."

"Got it already."

I should have guessed.
 

He came back with the milk and some cigarettes for me. I was still tired, aching, and stressed to the max, but having relieved my eyes of my lenses improved my disposition.

"You know, you look sorta cute in your glasses. You should wear 'em more often."

"I don't know. I've gotten kind of used to having peripheral vision." I wouldn't be enjoying that luxury for at least a day, though. My eyes were the color of flames and were just about as comfortable. "And I do wear them sometimes."

"Only when you get up until you hit the shower."

"I've worn lenses since I was eighteen. It's sort of hard to imagine giving them up. I've gotten so used to them."

"I dunno. The idea of sticking something in my eye sorta bothers me."

"They're a lot better than they used to be. My first pair was a real bitch. Took me almost three weeks to get up to wearing them all day, and they hurt like hell."

"So what made you keep at it?"

"Vanity. I think." That made us both giggle.

"Yeah, I've gotta do something about this today. I can't see for shit."

"Got an optometrist?"

"Haven't been to one since Club Fed."

"You're kidding."

"I kid you not."

"And I thought I was bad about updating prescriptions. You're telling me that you've had the same pair of glasses since, was it 1989?"

"'88, actually."

"Jesus!"

"Hey, I haven't exactly been rolling in it since then."

"Ah, but you always seem to have enough for new equipment."

"Hey, that's a business expense."

"I am aware of that. And while I'm not one to lecture on taking care of oneself-God knows I don't-I think after all this time you're entitled to some decent eyewear."

"I'm a little busted this week."

"No, you're not. $67.41 plus $1,891.15 comes out to $1,958.56. As of this day, we have $1,958.56, which means we are not destitute, which means you can have some decent eyewear."

He eyed me quizzically. "You're serious about this money stuff."

"About as serious as a heart attack. From here on out, it's ours. It's not yours and it's not mine."

"Cool."

"Want a refill?" I got up to give myself some more coffee. We were at the dining room table, which was not a place we generally hung out when it wasn't dinnertime.

"Yeah, that'd be good-no, can't do it."

"Why not?"

"I used up the last of the sugar."

"God, I'd better see what else we're out of." I quickly inventoried the fridge and the pantry. If some action wasn't taken quickly, even the animals were going to starve. "Langly, what are we gonna do? What if Lydia tries to contact us, and we're
out?"

He stared into the empty mug in front of him. It was a gift from Miranda-a large china mug with the symbol for Cancer, his astrological sign, on it. From anyone else, he might have wondered what the hell was going on, but he accepted Miranda's birthday gift with good humor and grace, and he used the damn thing besides.

"Ally. Your phone conversations are tapped. And Frohike and me, we're gonna reroute them so that if you're not here, they go to the office. And somebody's almost always there."

"Okay. What if she shows up and we're not here?"

"Ally. We're gonna try and do everything we can to get Lydia back. But we've also got shit we gotta get done. We've got the Fibbies in the act, and while I certainly don't have a lot of faith in the descendants of J. Edgar, we do have some personal contacts there. I mean, I'm trying to pull together a start date at the Pentagon, and I think it's gonna be next week. Few things I need to check out, though, but I think it's gonna happen then. And you have to start at CU when?"

"23rd."

"That's what, about two weeks away?"

"Less than that now."

"When do the kiddies start back?"

"I think around the fifth of September."

"So we gotta figure out what we're gonna do with them between when we start work and they start school. They can't stay here alone."

"I know. There's no way I'd let them at this point."

"And we gotta find a new place to live. We're about to fall out the windows
here."

"No shit."

"And we gotta get some new bank accounts, and get some food in the house, and I've gotta get back to seeing again. My eyes are gonna fall out if I keep this up. And I've gotta do some work on TMB. I'm like falling way behind, and I really don't want Frohike all over my case again about it."

"God, we sound so...normal."

Then we looked at each other, and at the same moment, we grinned and opened our mouths. "Nah."

END OF PART 25