Henry went to work for the next few weeks and really lost himself there. Fall was always a busy time at the agency, with all of the spring and summer scheduling to do, and all of the shooting that went along with it; now, with everything that had happened with Leo, Henry welcomed the distractions of photography and paperwork even more than before. He didn't even feel free to enjoy Mouse's pregnancy like he wanted to, because any thoughts of impending parenthood inevitably brought him back to unwanted reminders of the shattering news about Leo.

He still couldn't believe he'd shouted at him as he had. The look on poor Leo's face when he heard the volume of Henry's voice, and then realized that yes, those awful words were intended for him. He'd had his small hand on the doorknob, fingers spread to turn it, as he joyously called his father to dinner. Then, as if in slow motion, lifting his eyes to his father's face, his cheerful expression falling away from his features as if he'd been slapped.

And he knew that he'd dropped in his wife's estimation, as well. The knowledge that Mouse saw him as less than before really hurt. He could tell from the look in her eyes that it would take some time before he could earn back her trust. He hated knowing that he'd disappointed her, that he was less of a father, less of a man than before in her eyes. The fact that he'd let down the two most important people in his life so egregiously ate away at him, but he didn't know what he could do about it.

So he worked. All the time.

Away from the apartment, everything was the same, he was still Henry Gardener, gifted photographer, popular owner and manager who was fun to talk to and easy to get along with. He could joke around and put the models at ease, smooth over the ruffled feathers of the magazine publisher who was visiting from Sweden and sweet talk an editor into extending a deadline, all without breaking a sweat.

At home, though, things were brittle and friable, and everything was very minimalist and superficial. He knew that Mouse and Leo were spending a lot of time together, talking, and hopefully Mouse was making Leo feel better and meeting his emotional needs. They'd always spent more time together without Henry, of course, from the very beginning; it used to be, however, that when Henry came home from work to join them, or woke up on Saturday mornings to Leo jumping on their bed, he was welcomed into Mouse and Leo's circle of warmth and love. The mother and son would expand to make room for him, to include him. Now, however, though everyone was civil, Henry definitely felt like he was on the outside looking in.

Henry ran his hand through his hair and looked at the time. It was already past six. He knew he should head home, but the thought of facing Leo's wary, watchful face, and Mouse's kind, distant courtesy was more than he could deal with.

"Boss? You need anything else before I head out?"

Henry looked at the doorway, where his intern Flora had popped her head in. Flora was a lean redhead with huge eyes who had begun as a child model before realizing, as she put it, that modeling "bored her out of her tits" and begun to take an interest in things on the other side of the camera. She had an incredible eye, and had used her modeling money to put herself through college as a design and visual arts major.

He shook his head at her. "I've told you before, you can go home at five, Flo. You're unpaid, you don't have to do overtime."

"Nah, I'm one of five interns, got to curry favor whenever I can, right?" She winked at Henry and waved. "See you tomorrow."

Henry waved back and looked at his monitor, sighing. This could wait, he knew that. He shut it off and headed out the door.

*****************

"Hold on a sec, okay?" Mouse said to Leo as they entered the lobby of their apartment building. "I have to talk to Mr. Benevides about something real quick."

Leo took Happy and they wandered over to sit on one of the chairs to wait as Mouse went to talk to the rotund man behind the desk. He was the building manager and superintendent, and took care of anything and everything that happened there.

Leo climbed around on the chair, taking Oscar the Grouch off the keychain on his backpack so he could make him do jumps and flips off the chair and on to Happy's back. Happy obliged by sitting wherever Leo put her, looking at her boy, mouth open, tongue hanging out, seeming to smile.

Eventually, Oscar jumped too high, and flipped under the chair. Leo looked over and saw that his mommy was still talking to Mr. Benevides about whatever it was, so he crawled under the chair to retrieve Oscar without saying anything to her.

While he was down there, he saw something sticking out of the bottom of the chair, where the ticking had separated from the frame. He reached nimble fingers and pulled it all the way out, sitting back down with Oscar in his lap so he could examine his find.

It was black, and really heavy, a square thing that looked kind of like a calculator, or a really old cellphone. It had a thing sticking out of the top, kind of like a straw, only it wasn't hollow inside, so you definitely couldn't drink from it. It had writing on it, in silver, the way old things used to have sparkly writing on them to make them look cool and modern.

"Channel Master," he carefully sounded out. It kind of looked like the things Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock used to talk to each other on Star Trek, but Leo knew that obviously there would have to be another one for this big thing to be one of those.

His mommy turned around, finished at last. Leo quickly put the "Channel Master" in his back pack before she saw it, and reattached Oscar to the keychain.

"Ready to go up?" Mommy asked, smiling and holding out her hand.

"You look pretty today," Leo told her.

"Wow, thanks, Leo," his mommy said, smiling her pleasure. "But I think I kinda look the same as always."

"No," Leo said stoutly, shaking his head as they headed up in the elevator. "You don't look barfy anymore, and you haven't for the last few days, either." He looked up at her. "I could always tell before. You looked like you were smelling something bad, and you would swallow a lot, you know?"

"You don't miss a thing, do you, big guy?" she asked, smiling some more and shaking her head.

"Nope," Leo said, smiling back.

"So how big is the little bean now?" he asked as they entered the apartment. He left his back pack by the door and followed her to the kitchen, and they talked while she got him some yogurt, adding granola and a banana to it the way he liked.

"Let's see," his mother answered, sitting across from him. She considered, dipping into Leo's yogurt as she mulled it over. Then she rose and went to the refrigerator. She returned and placed an avocado on the table between them.

"About this big," she told him, grinning.

Leo stared at the avocado as it sat there, amazed. "Wow, really?" he asked, his voice high.

Mouse nodded, laughing at her son. "But I think we should keep calling him or her 'little bean,' though, okay? It sounds so much nicer than 'avocado,' don't you think?"

And Leo burst out laughing at the thought that they'd call his little brother or sister "avocado."

"I'm gonna tell--" he began, eyes alight with happiness. He stuttered to a stop, countenance clouding over. "I'm gonna tell my friends at school about maybe calling the bean 'avocado,'" he finished.

Mouse gave him a sympathetic look. She knew what he was going to say.

Leo saw her look at him, saw how warm and comforting her eyes were, how much she loved him, and it was right there in his mouth to tell her what he'd heard on that terrible night. He was almost choking with wanting to spill the words to her, but he couldn't, they were too big, too scary.

He, Leo, wasn't really his daddy's son.

Daddy wasn't really his daddy.

He, Leo, might not really belong to anyone.

He felt Happy's comforting warmth under his feet, and dug his toes into her fur.

Mouse saw him turn his head to look outside, on their terrace.

"Leo, you know your daddy loves you very, very much, right?" she asked gently, reaching out to stroke his head. "And me, too? You know how much I love you?" She rose and went to sit next to him. "I want you to know that I love you as much as I love this little bean, here."

Leo flicked his eyes from the Terrace to his mother, gauging her words.

"Really? You love me as much as you love your very own baby that's growing in your tummy right now?" And he put his spoon down so he could touch her belly, which was still flat.

Mouse nodded firmly. "Yes. I love you as much as I love the bean."

Leo sighed. "Wow," he breathed. "You love me and Beanie just the same," he repeated. He sounded awed. He leaned on Mouse, eyes closed.

She put her arms around him. "Always. You and Beanie, just the same, always, big guy, okay?"

Leo just nodded.

"Am I squishing you too much?" he asked without moving.

Mouse shook her head. "Never. You can do this to me whenever you like."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

They heard the front door, and Leo opened his eyes in time to see Henry shut it behind him. Leo wished for just a second that his daddy hadn't come home, that it could just be him and his mommy and the little bean.

Henry took in his son sitting on his wife's lap at the kitchen table in the evening light, and his heart softened. They were so beautiful together. But even from where he was he could see the look of watchfulness descend on his young son's small face.

Leo was quiet for the rest of the night, though he did laugh a few times with Mouse, calling the baby "Beanie," of all things. Once again, Henry felt like he stood just outside the glow of the light Mouse and Leo cast around them. He missed the warmth.

It was Friday, and Leo was allowed to stay up an extra half hour, so it was nearly nine o'clock by the time he got his teeth brushed, and read his story to his mother. He remembered the "Channel Master" after he was tucked in, and pulled it out of his back pack to examine it in more detail. He went under the covers as an extra precaution, holding up the edge of the blanket so he could see.

There was an on/off switch, so Leo flicked it to the "on" position. A tiny red light began to glow. There was a round button with numbers that said "volume" on it. Could it be a really old iPod? Leo remembered his daddy telling him about how they used to carry radios around back in the olden days, called "transistors." There was a red button on the side, and Leo was able to read the words "press to talk" in very small print.

Talk?

Maybe it was a communicator like in Star Trek.

Leo pressed the button, held it up to his mouth, and said, "Hello?" very softly into the front of the box.

It emitted some crackling sounds, then, miraculously, a voice came out of it. "Hello? Who's there?" the box asked.

And, even though it was obviously so old, the voice was amazingly clear, so clear that Leo could tell not only that was a child, a little kid like him, but that it was a girl.

"It's me, Leo," he answered obligingly, trying to project his voice and keep it low at the same time so his parents wouldn't hear. "Who are you?"

Incredibly, Leo heard laughter. There were two girls on the other side of this box, this "Channel Master," and they were laughing, happy.

"My name's Lottie," the first voice came back. Then Leo heard scuffling and more crackles, then another voice, a little higher pitched than the first.

"Hi, I'm Brina," the second voice said. "Nice to meet you, Leo."