Ruth Sadelle Alderson

There's some sort of open house kind of thing at the kids' school one night, and Danny calls Claude to say he can meet them there, but he needs Claude to take them. Claude gets them fed and drives them over to the school and goes in with them. Caelan is the one to spot their mom, but it's Cameron who grabs Claude's hand and drags him over there.

"Mama, this is Claude!"

The kids' mom looks him over, and there's a sort of amused smile on her face when she says, "Hello, Claude."

Claude says, "Uh, hi," because he's not sure what to call her.

That only makes her look even more amused, and she says, "Call me Sylvie. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

They talk for a minute about the kids, because Claude knows almost as much about their lives as Sylvie does, and then Danny shows up and Sylvie turns her amusement and a pair of raised eyebrows on him. Danny's mouth tightens for a moment, and then he says, "Thank you for bringing the boys over."

"Sure," Claude says. "No problem. I guess I'll-"

"No," Cameron says, pulling on his hand again. "You have to stay!"

Neither Danny nor Sylvie look like they're going to object to it, so Claude stays for the whole thing and gets introduced to a lot of parents and kids whose names he's probably not going to remember and the boys' teachers who he probably will.

*

As glad as Claude is to go see his family over Christmas break, he's going to miss the boys, and he and Danny work it out so he's not gone too long and there isn't too much extra coverage Danny has to arrange for.

The boys all get new skates and sticks for Christmas so they spend a lot more time playing hockey or horsing around on the ice in January. Claude started keeping his skates in the trunk of his car so he can go with them as soon as it got cold.

Claude's cooking class goes well, and he starts cooking for the boys on nights when Danny's going to be home late, and sometimes they're still at the table when Danny comes home and he joins them with a smile that makes the corners of his eyes crinkle up.

One night, Danny comes home a little late, but the boys and Claude are so involved in their game that they don't even notice. Danny slips by them and comes back downstairs in a jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt and asks the boys about dinner and Claude if he wants to stay.

"You have to stay," Carson says. "I want grilled cheese, and you're the best."

Danny shakes his head. "I didn't mean we should make Claude keep working."

Claude shrugs. "I don't mind making grilled cheese."

Danny smiles at him and says, "Okay, but maybe you can teach me how."

The boys hang around the kitchen and watch Claude walk Danny through the exact way he makes grilled cheese.

Danny cuts the first sandwich into fourths and gives one piece to each of the boys and the fourth piece to Claude.

"You cooked it," Claude says. "You should get to try it."

"You're the expert," Danny says, so Claude takes a bite and gives the rest of it back to Danny.

"It's good," Claude says.

The boys make muffled agreements through their pieces of sandwich, and Danny smiles at Claude and takes a bite out of the piece Claude shared with him.

Later, Claude will look back and remember this as the moment he fell in love with Danny, but right now all he knows is that Danny's smile takes his breath away, and it takes an act of sheer willpower not to lean over and find out what it tastes like.

He manages to say, "Let's see if you can do it again," and cuts up carrot sticks while he supervises Danny's sandwich making.

When he leaves Danny says, "Thanks," and, "We should do this again sometime."

Claude goes home and throws himself onto the couch and tells whichever of his roommates are around, "I'm totally into Danny."

His roommates are very unsympathetic and say things like, "Yeah, we already know that," and "You want to be his kids' stay at home mom."