It had been a few days after the party. Seemed like Zac knew the impact of getting the old gang back together would be huge... so he left them alone, for now. Mikaela was back to his old schedule again, but Luke still had off school. Something or other was going on with the grading website, so the few days turned into a few more. That was all fine and dandy for Luke, but the little boy had some time to kill. After the first few days, Micah started to feel bad that Luke would have to stay at the cafe for so long... even if all the customers loved the tiny child. 

Mikaela had taken another long nap again. Luckily for everybody, he didn't have any dreams, too caught up in exhaustion. The restaurant he had been working at during the night was giving him long hours to pick up the slack for a recently fired employee. Hank had done all he could to persuade their boss... to no avail. The 29-year-old was sprawled over his bed on his stomach, blanket lazily pulled over his body with both his feet sticking out. Even though it was late fall, the days were still plenty warm, so there was no real need to bundle up. 

But it wasn't his little son Luke to wake him up from his slumber this time, but the sound of a doorbell. 

Micah finally got up from bed and wiped his eyes. The man was still in his uniform, although it was rather rumpled. He smoothed out the bangs coming over his eyes before toeing over to the front door. Standing there was Jocelyn, the nice old woman that lived next door. She had always been kind enough to take care of Luke during the nighttime when Mikaela was busy at work...

[color=mediumpurple]"What can I help you with Jocelyn?"[/color] He said, still only half awake. Luke came up from behind him wearing a tiny apron, he had been cleaning some of the house while his father slept.

[color=f6989d]"Granny!"[/color] Luke happily cheered seeing the woman who was practically family to them. He hopped out from behind Mikaela and hugged her leg.

[color=a2d39c]"Well hello dearie!"[/color] She patted Luke's head, her eyes looking a little sorrowful. 

It turned out... Jocelyn was going to be gone for almost a week, to go off to Hawaii or somewhere with her nephew. Mikaela himself hadn't ever met the man, but there was no way to change the dates since the plane tickets had already been bought. The older woman was truly very sorry for putting them out like this, but there was really nothing she could do. Mikaela said that it was no biggie... though of course it was.

Who would Micah be able to have watch over Luke? There only person he really had any real contact with was Hank, who was working the nights along with him. The father didn't feel too comfortable leaving his son with his coworkers from the cafe for so long and...

And... no, there was someone who could take care of Luke. Someone Mikaela knew would be perfect for the job. The "mother hen" of his old friend group. The one that had confessed... 

The one he had turned down and he had basically called gross.

B-But they were both past that now! Everything had gone well enough at the party... There was no way Alver would turn him done... right? 

Before Luke knew it, a bunch of his things had been packed up in an overnight bag. Something about him staying with an old friend... Then how come Luke had never met this person??? The boy had met Zac, who he was maybe having his first crush on... But how could his Papa just go and give him over to a complete stranger?!

Jocelyn had canceled on extremely short notice, there was no way Micah would have been able to tell Alver everything over the phone. Instead, he had left a message on Alver's voicemail that he was coming over... and he needed a [b]big[/b] favor.

[@Silver Fox]