"I can't believe Danny is still awake," Julian said.
"He doesn't want the day to end," Rob said and he knew just how the little guy felt. Every day spent with Julian and Danny was like that for him.
Now Rob was noticing what Mitch and Rico were doing. Music played softly and the two of them were slow dancing together, adoring each other. Rob was so jealous he could burst. Blindly he reached out for Julian, took his hand and led him to the center of the room.
"Are we...?" Julian started to ask then the answer became obvious.
Face to face with Julian, Rob inhaled then stepped close and took him in his arms. "We can't let them have all the fun," he said to Julian.
"I don't know how to dance," Julian whispered to him.
With Julian right up against him and his breath heating his skin, Rob didn't grasp what he was saying at first. He then laughed and told him, "You just hang on to me and move to the music. There's nothing to it."
"OK," Julian said. He had natural grace so he had no trouble with it.
"How come you don't know how to dance?" Rob asked though Julian was dancing just fine as far as he was concerned.
"They taught it at my boarding school, but I skipped out," Julian said.
Rob remembered that he went to an all boys school. "You skipped out on boys dancing together?"
"Hardly," Julian said with an ironic look. "They brought over girls from an all girls school."
"No wonder you skipped out," Rob said and they smiled at each other. There were some missteps as they danced, but Rob enjoyed those too. When Julian's steps faltered, it gave Rob an excuse to hold him tighter and bring them closer.
Rob even wondered if he should kiss him. If this job wasn't going to last much longer, why shouldn't he? It wasn't like he needed to safeguard their working relationship. He would be gone any day now.
Just as Rob was making up his mind, Julian looked away from him, and he saw why. Danny had his head down and he looked very unhappy. They went over to him where he was sitting with DJ and Sammy.
"What's the matter?" Julian asked as he crouched in front of him.
"I'm sad," Danny told him simply.
"Why are you sad?" Julian asked and pulled Danny over to lean against him.
"I can't be super strong little bee all the time," Danny said with a pout.
Hearing that it wasn't anything more serious, Julian looked relieved. He kissed the little bee's face. Sammy ran over to Mitch and Rico to be consoled as well. They picked up their fluffy, pink girl and held her between them.
Then DJ spoke up to set them straight. "Halloween is special. It's not like every day."
"My God, DJ is so sensible he puts to shame most of the adults in this room," Noreen said and singled out Lara, Wyatt and Rico in particular.
"DJ is right. Halloween is a special day, but tomorrow is going to be fun too," Rob said to Danny. "Tomorrow, you get to be Danny, and that's pretty cool." Rob held his little hand, and Danny nodded but stayed snuggled up against Julian.
"Who's a sleepy eyed, little bee?" Julian asked. "Let's take you to bed."
"You too, Lenny," Rob said and picked him up.
"It was a fun day, huh?" Julian said as they took them up.
The others were ready to take their kids home and to bed too. Rob helped Danny get ready, and Julian went down to say goodbye to everyone. When Julian got back, Danny was getting into bed and Rob had theSuper Strong Little Beein his hand.
"I guess that's what we're reading," Julian said as he went into Danny's room.
"Julian and Rob read it together," Danny said.
They sat down next to Danny's bed and passed the book back and forth. Sometimes their hands touched, sometimes Rob leaned over Julian's shoulder to read.
