Joey’s laughter escaped him, unnerved and panicked as his dad drove up in his new blue sports car.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” He said, turning to Mikael, eyes a little wide in crazed despair. “My parents? You called my parents to pick us up?”

Mikael looked between Joey and the car, now parked in front of them, his face showed Joey just how clueless he was.

“I thought you’d be happy?” He said, brows furrowing at Joey for a moment before plastering on a big grin for Joey’s parents, now walking over to them.

Joey’s jaw tensed, then he turned to give his parents a big grin too.

Both his parents were clad in bright yellow and they were speedwalking to them with their elbows leading the way.

“Hey, Ma! Pa!” Joey said, giving them a hug.

He loved his parents. He really did. And after months of not seeing them, he was happy to get the chance to give them a tight hug.

But for the love of God, they had just gotten off a ten-hour flight and, despite the nice comfortable nap they had taken, Joey was tired and jetlagged beyond belief.

All he wanted to do was doze off some more in the cab before getting to their hotel and passing out on what Mikael had promised would be the most luxurious bed ever.

Now he would have to answer what he knew would be an unrelenting volley of questions from his parents and would be expected to answer everything and ask his own bundle of questions.

The drive actually wasn't as bad as Joey had expected.

Mikael willingly took the grunt of it, speaking before Joey could, answering and asking questions with so much energy that Joey had to stare at him because of it- partly in awe, and partly in annoyance.

Joey was surprised when they pulled up to the hotel. 

He had been expecting his parents to kidnap them for the day, take him back to the house where his siblings and all his relatives would have surely been waiting to assault them with even more conversation.

“We know you two must be tired.” His mom said, craning her head to look back at him. “Mikael told us you two are free until Friday afternoon. So you should take this day to relax and de-stress.”

“That won’t be possible for me with him around,” Joey said, elbowing Mikael.

“Ignore him.” Mikael told Joey’s parents. “He’s cranky and tired.”

“That’s why you two should spend the day at the hotel. Take advantage of it.” Joey’s dad said, turning as well. “It’s one of the best in the city. Did you know that? I looked it up on the internet. Lots of perks here.”

“Really?” Mikael said with polite surprise. He turned to Joey, who was resting his head on the window. “It’s a good thing we got here early then!”

Joey rolled his eyes.

This had been another argument they'd had a lot in the lead up to the trip.

“If it’s a weekend thing then why do we have to get there Wednesday?” Joey had argued.

“It’s like a vacation Jojo! And don’t you want to see your family? I want to explore New York. I’ve never been!” Mikael had argued back.

“You’re so selfish, you book the session without telling me, buy the flights without telling me. All because you want a little vacation? Aren’t you the one who’s always saying who needs a vacation when you live in Hawaii?” Joey had spat back.

“And aren’t you the one who said that you would rather vacation in the city? In New York?” Mikael retorted. "You were just telling me a few weeks ago that you felt bad for not visiting home more often!" 

They went back and forth, arguing about that and all sorts of things as they got ready for their trip.

Their team told them it was probably really good they were finally going to get some extensive therapy.