"That I do," Mr. Pleasant agreed easily. "I'm good at solving puzzles, and I can go over a week without sleeping."
"Now that is impressive." Desmond cleared space on the table for the salad and the garlic bread with a sheepish grin at his wife. "I can barely go 48 hours without at least a nap. Stephanie, where is the cutlery?"
"I'm still putting the plates out!" his daughter, quite fairly, pointed out.
"So you are. Well, hurry up, then. This is a fancy affair, and I'll have no dawdling."
An unspecified amount of un-dawdling later, and the table was set, everyone seated, lasagna served, and garlic bread picked at. Desmond watched the proceedings from his place at the head of the table with pride, shooting Melissa a look every so often as if to say 'See? I told you I can do this by myself!'
Stephanie cleared her throat nervously before Des could more properly dig in. "Dad? Do you think important news should come before or after family meals?"
He knew it. He knew it. Well, okay, not in the sense of actually knowing what on earth Stephanie was talking about, but he'd suspected something was wrong. Stephanie had an expression when she was nervous over something. And bringing the two people whose presumed roles in her life were shaky at best? Something was up, and it had been slowly needling away at Desmond ever since the two men first showed up on his front doorstep.
"I think that depends," he finally answered after taking a bite of his delicious lasagna. "Is it good news, or is it bad news?"
no subject
"Now that is impressive." Desmond cleared space on the table for the salad and the garlic bread with a sheepish grin at his wife. "I can barely go 48 hours without at least a nap. Stephanie, where is the cutlery?"
"I'm still putting the plates out!" his daughter, quite fairly, pointed out.
"So you are. Well, hurry up, then. This is a fancy affair, and I'll have no dawdling."
An unspecified amount of un-dawdling later, and the table was set, everyone seated, lasagna served, and garlic bread picked at. Desmond watched the proceedings from his place at the head of the table with pride, shooting Melissa a look every so often as if to say 'See? I told you I can do this by myself!'
Stephanie cleared her throat nervously before Des could more properly dig in. "Dad? Do you think important news should come before or after family meals?"
He knew it. He knew it. Well, okay, not in the sense of actually knowing what on earth Stephanie was talking about, but he'd suspected something was wrong. Stephanie had an expression when she was nervous over something. And bringing the two people whose presumed roles in her life were shaky at best? Something was up, and it had been slowly needling away at Desmond ever since the two men first showed up on his front doorstep.
"I think that depends," he finally answered after taking a bite of his delicious lasagna. "Is it good news, or is it bad news?"
"It's... news. Hypothetically. Just news."