Tristan's celebration dinner was ultimately canceled. When Caleb returned to the apartment from his basement mission, his husband didn't want to leave the bedroom; telling the man that tried to coax him out that he only wanted to lie down in the darkness for a while.

Inside Tristan's suitcase, Caleb had found some curious items. Most of the clothes had been carelessly crumpled up and jammed into every nook and cranny; all but a couple of slightly more expensive items he could only assume Jed had prized above the others; things he'd bought for Tristan's birthdays and holidays, those public moments where eyes were on him. When he was supposed to give the appearance of a caring and generous boyfriend.

'Oh aren't you lucky, Tristan? Makes a change for you to have something really nice to wear...'

A ball cap in a dust bag and a brand new polo shirt were quickly cast aside. Caleb shook out a couple of flannel shirts, well-worn and evidently well-loved. He knew that Tristan must have brought them with him from Cabi, but a lot of the clothes he'd remembered him wearing had long since been thrown away. In his mind, those were the days when things had started between them. It's just that Tristan had no inkling of his feelings then.

The clothes that bore no mark of Jed were taken directly to the laundry room, with instructions to have them washed and delivered to the penthouse as quickly as possible. Everything else was bundled back up into the suitcase, Tristan's documents and computer long since under lock and key in Caleb's home office. With his husband refusing to leave the bedroom, and with no reinforcements to help lure him out, Caleb had been left with only risky tactics to try and improve Tristan's mood.

It was Fraser's simple line of questioning that had given him the idea in the first place. What would Tristan's family say when they found out what was happening..? He'd almost forgotten that Tristan lost his Dad before applying to Caffray. He probably missed him... if he was still residing amongst the tattered fragments of Tristan's memories. 

Despite Tristan's protestations that he wasn't hungry, Caleb cooked them dinner anyway. At least there'd be something Tristan liked to eat if he could get him to change his mind. He didn't want to watch a movie, he didn't want to leave the apartment. Caleb was at a loss. What was the point of knowing all of Tristan's favorite things if none of them were working? 

They were supposed to have a family dinner with Fraser, cozy up at home, and fall into bed together without that damned cast coming between them. He hadn't counted on Tristan suffering some kind of meltdown. He still wasn't sure what had happened.

Lying alone in the bedroom, events of recent months kept playing on repeat in Tristan's mind. He had given everything of himself to make things work with Jed, and yet he'd been so easily discarded. The family he dreamed of, becoming the final piece in someone else's puzzle... he felt so empty now. Life had been too cruel. It didn't matter that the man waiting patiently outside was prepared to give him everything he'd ever wanted, in his heart he felt abandoned... worthless. It was only a matter of time before it was destined to happen again.

Caleb had grown tired of pacing back and forth like an idiot. At last, Tristan's freshly laundered clothes arrived.

"Baby... I'm going to turn on the light" he said.

Tristan tried to shield his eyes from the glow of the overhead fixture, as a large hamper was placed on the bed beside him.

"They apologized for the delay" said Caleb, "seems they got our things mixed up with another apartment..."

What did Tristan care? They were only the things his 'husband' had bought to sell his lie.

"Do you want to hang them up yourself..?" Caleb asked him, "Or should I help?"

His body couldn't move. There wasn't the energy the pull himself up. Before Caleb had the chance to conspicuously shake them out and hang them up in front of Tristan's eyes, the building's fire alarm began to sound.

"What is that..?" Tristan asked.

Caleb didn't bother to explain. He pulled his husband from the bed, and holding him firmly in his arms, made a dash for the emergency staircase. They were twelve floors up, regardless of anything else, all that mattered was getting Tristan to safety.

As he was being carried from the bedroom, Tristan caught sight of the laundry. Sitting at the top of the hamper was a dark blue button down with a hole at the back of the collar. It was unmistakable. He tried to reach for it, but he was already too far away. 

Dad's shirt...

"Later, Baby" Caleb had told him.

By the seventh floor, Tristan had come enough to his senses to ask Caleb to put him down. His words fell on deaf ears, his body bouncing with each bounding step his husband took down the fire escape. Only when they were out through the lobby and tasting the evening air did Tristan's feet touch the ground. Caleb stopped to catch his breath, the residents of the Phoenicia swarming in worried groups on the sidewalk across from the building, and fielding questions from their curious student neighbors.

The first thing Caleb did was check on Tristan. He was a little shaken up, but he was safe. So long as he was safe...

"Here, baby" he said, taking off his slippers, "Put these on. Stay here, okay? I'll find out what's going on."

The silent alarm had been triggered, but when the security guard had gone to investigate the situation on the fourth floor, it wasn't a simple case of burnt toast. The fire department were alerted, and it seemed inevitable that he was about to lose his job. At the very least, he'd fulfil his final duties, and try to make amends to the people he'd put in danger.

As he explained to Caleb in Modeshi, there'd been a visitor that evening. 

"You remember me, right? I'm Michael's friend" she'd told him.

She was charming, beautiful, and smiled so kindly. The guard wasn't sure if he'd seen her before, there'd been too many for him to keep track, but he appreciated a pretty face, and felt sure the man upstairs must have too at one point.

"He's still out, isn't he..?" she asked, "Good, good, good! I'm planning a little surprise for him, you see. Don't worry, I know his door code already."

As far as he knew, not even the cleaning boy had been given such privileged information. In the worst case scenario, if he came home with another woman he'd give Michael the heads up before he even reached his door. He nodded his compliance and waved her through to the elevators, curious what she was wearing under her tightly fastened trench coat.

True to her word, there was definitely a surprise in store. There'd been no malicious intent, she hadn't planned to seek revenge on the man she'd only been granted one night with, she'd only sought to seduce him. But when the hours dragged on and still he hadn't come home, she'd fallen asleep, naked on the bed, and surrounded by all the romantic candles she'd lit.

Rather than try to tackle the blaze that ensued, she'd panicked and tried to find her coat. By the time the security guard reached her floor, the apartment was already filled with smoke, and all she could do was run. The guard had only needed a single look at the growing flames before he signaled the evacuation. All that remained was to wait and hear what the firefighters had to say. Luckily the only damage done was to Michael's apartment; the building itself was still habitable.

When Caleb returned to the spot where he'd left Tristan, he found his husband was missing. He scanned the large crowd of people but he couldn't see him among them. He wouldn't have gone back in for that shirt... would he? Before he was able to breach the fire department's cordon, he heard Tristan call out to him.

"Here!" he shouted, "Caleb come help me!"

His bare feet pounding the pavement, Caleb was by his side in an instant. Tristan was crouched by a large planter between the entry and exit lane of the building opposite.

"Are you hurt?!" cried Caleb, "Is it your leg? Your arm? Did you breathe in any smoke..?!"

The way down had been clear, not to mention he'd been safely carried in Caleb's arms. There was nothing that hurt. When his husband went to speak with the security guard, he'd sat a short distance from the crowd and waited. It was then that a little stray cat found him. She was meowing loudly, and many of the Phoenicia's residents were growing annoyed by her desperate cries.

Tristan offered her his hand and she was quick to press her face against it.

"It probably has fleas" one helpful bystander told him, "I've seen it before, always making noise... it's a wonder no one's bothered to report it. You'll end up catching something if you get too close." 

Tristan ignored them and continued petting the little cat. After their friendly introduction she took a few steps away before turning and meowing at him again. After the second time she did it, Tristan began to realize that she wanted him to follow her. Caleb was busy anyway, it shouldn't matter if he stepped away for a minute. 

Crossing the entry lane to a grand, imposing building, he was led to the planter by the little cat. Three little kittens were mewing there beneath a large, prickly shrub. It was clear their mama wanted to free them, but with cars coming and going on either side, and the steep incline of the wall that surrounded them, the stray little kittens were stuck. Tristan's hands were already cut to pieces from trying to grab them; it was clear they were not yet as used to humans as their mother was.

"What happened?" asked Caleb, noting the scratches beneath the streetlight, "Let me find you some band-aids, or maybe we should go to the clinic..."

He abandoned all thought when he saw Tristan smiling.

"They need our help" said Tristan, reaching down and picking up a clawing little cat before passing it to its mother; "Do you think... I mean, could we take care of them...? For a little while at least... until the kittens have grown?"

He knew that Jed had hated animals. A friend's cat had once ruined a pair of his designer jeans, and dogs were deemed too dirty. The others too, had never seen the point in them. 'You're not thinking of getting a pet are you?' Sarah had asked him, 'It would be pretty selfish given how much Jed dislikes them... Can't you just do some dog walking? Oh, actually never mind! You'd reek of dog! Maybe you could think about getting a plant instead? Let me look into which ones aren't too much of a nuisance...' 

Caleb reached beneath the shrub and took hold of the other two siblings, paying no mind to the scratches on his own fingers. 

"We should be able to go back in soon" he said, "We can take them with us. Though we'll need to go out and pick up a few things if we're going to care for them."

The word 'we' was the brightest in his vocabulary.

He hadn't considered a pet, but if it could make Tristan smile... if it could give him another reason to stay, then what more was there to it? He'd happily fill the apartment with cats.

"And... I mean... do you think it would be alright for them to stay with us?" asked Tristan, petting the mama cat as it nuzzled in thanks against his leg, "We wouldn't get kicked out for having pets, would we..? I haven't seen the lease so I don't know what the landlord would say..."

Caleb crouched beside him with the feisty little kittens in hand.

"Baby" he said, "I am the landlord."

After the all-clear from the fire department, Caleb, Tristan, and their four new roommates made their way inside together. Not yet used to interior living, it was decided that the cats should stay out on the terrace until they acclimatized.

Caleb cooked them some chicken, and Tristan found a box to fashion them a bed beneath the patio table. Caleb watched him line it with something unexpected.

"Baby..." he said, "Isn't that one of the shirts we just had cleaned? Do you want me to find you something else?"

Tristan wiped a tear from his eye and placed a sleepy little kitten in its dark blue bed.

"It's alright" he replied with a smile, "Dad loved cats..."