Legal Prejuduce 3 - Lessons In Life

Chapter 24

Back in California Allie and Daniel kept the girls off school and pre-school for the remainder of the week. As they wanted to head into the office, Susan had offered to look after them. She called on Thursday morning to find they'd been up for hours thanks to the time difference and Daniel hugged her warmly. "You'll have your hands full Susan these two are going to be tired and grumpy later." Susan kissed him and bent to hug Emmie, "It's fine isn't it Emmie, Aunty Susan remembers the jet lag well so we'll snuggle up and try and keep you guys awake." Allie appeared and squealed to see her friend, "I've missed you!" Susan laughed, "I need to know how it all went when we do breakfast. Was Chris okay?" Allie nodded looking warily at the children, "Yeah, he was fine. I think he enjoyed it and he did a good job in the meeting."

They were a little late getting to the office and found they had the elevator to themselves. Daniel caught her by the waist and stole a kiss and she stroked his face. The doors opened and they hastily sprang apart and walked to the reception desk to say Hi to Sara, Everley and Pauline. Pauline laughed as they approached, "Get a room you two!" Allie blushed and Daniel grinned slightly sheepishly. Sara took pity on them and said, "Max and Chris beat you to it, and Robyn's hanging around waiting for you. They went through and dropped their laptops in Allie's office before crossing to the paralegal area where Max and Chris were standing with coffee. Max put his down and said, "Here they are." Daniel clapped him on the back and threw a bag at Chris, "Catch, show 'em the chocolate Chris." Liam's face lit up and Amanda looked curiously as he emptied the bag on Carly's desk. The desk's owner whacked Liam with a document, "You can move that right now unless you want me to claim it." Liam grinned and refilled the bag grabbing a couple of bars as he did. Robyn had also snatched a couple and seeing Amanda's face she said, "What? I'm pregnant, the baby needs it." Max laughed and leaned on Carly's shoulders, "You tell him Carly. Give me half an hour and then come through so we can catch up. He looked at Daniel and Allie and said, "Why don't you two grab coffee and then come through to my office. You too Chris."

As Max left Allie hugged Robyn and Carly, laughing at Amanda and Liam bickering over the unfamiliar candy bars. Later in the morning Allie called for Robyn and they got drinks to take back to her office. After catching up Robyn said, "How was Chris?" Allie smiled, "He was fine. Max just wanted to keep him close and he seemed to enjoy it. I had a really good chat with him on the flight over. He's getting better I'm sure. I think he'll probably want to go back to the apartment soon." She laughed, "Especially now Tom's sister is moving in above him." Robyn smirked, "Yeah, they seemed to hit it off. What do you think? Do we need to be on expensive purse alert?" Allie giggled, "Jessica doesn't strike me as an expensive handbag demanding girl." She took a more serious tone, "Actually I know I've only met her once, but I really liked her and I think she and Chris could at least be friends since their both living alone." Robyn nodded, "Yeah I guess so. She's like female Tom so she's hard not to like. Tom's really excited to have her move here." Allie laughed but her features softened, "Awww she is a lot like him. His whole family were so nice."

Robyn changed tack, "So come on I need the lowdown. How was the first Mrs Matthews?" Allie rolled her eyes, "She was fine. Not quite as acerbic as usual, subdued by jet lag." Robyn sniggered and Allie continued, "I think she was regretting flying in the same day. She looked exhausted to be honest."

After lunch with Daniel Allie was grabbing a coffee to counter her flagging energy levels and she bumped into Chris doing the same. She laughed and he poured her a mug. Allie took it gratefully and reached into the fridge for the milk. "You flagging too?" Chris smiled, "Yeah, I was drooping at my desk." Allie nodded, "Me too. Fancy taking a break?" He followed Allie to her office and she dropped down with him at the meeting table. He took a sip of coffee and said, "Thanks again for letting me stay at your place Allie. I loved getting to see where you come from. It's a really beautiful place." Allie smiled, "You're more than welcome. It was lovely to have you there. It's always a bit strange for me going back. On the one hand I want to go and be in my old home, but on the other I don't feel like I belong there and the more of you guys I have with me the better." Allie sighed, "Anyway, jet lag aside how's things with you?" Chris gave a small smile, "I'm okay. Actually I'm wondering if I should make plans to move back to the apartment." Allie drank some coffee and then said, "I'm glad you're feeling you can plan for that. Have you spoken to Max and Margie about it?" He shook his head and grinned, "Not yet. I thought I might wait until Max is over the jet lag." Allie laughed, "Yeah, wise plan, he'll be pretty grumpy tonight. Poor Margie'll have her work cut out."

The following night Max settled down on the couch with the whiskey he always gifted himself on a Friday night to celebrate the end of the working week. After the previous night's sleep the worst of the jet lag was over. Chris was helping Margie clear up and they both came in to join him. Chris cleared his throat and said, "I actually wanted to talk to you both about me going back to the apartment. I think I might be ready, but I wanted to run it by you guys." Max drained his glass and leaned forward saying, "Well, you can stay here as long as you like Chris, but it's great if you feel ready to go back home to your own place. Thing is son, if you get there and you change your mind it's okay, just come back for a while longer. No big deal." Chris thought for thousandth time how lucky he was to have these people in his life and looked at his boss. Max saw the expression and wondered for the thousandth time how any parents could treat their son the way Chris' parents had treated him. Margie shuffled along the couch and hugged him, "Max is right Chris. Just know you can always come here."

The next morning Chris told them he was going to go over to the apartment to check it out and also take the opportunity to drop in to see if Tom's sister Jess was in. After looking through his small apartment and finding everything just as he'd left it he headed upstairs to knock on Jess' door. She answered swiftly and squeaked seeing him, "Oh my god you're back!" She pulled him inside and started making coffee. "How was your trip? Tom said Jeremy was sad to have missed out this time, said Allie's place over there was really cool." Chris leaned on her counter, "It was really good, pretty short though. It wasn't anything like I imagined. When I think of England it's all red buses and Big Ben, but where Allie's from, it's really different. Even the city is pretty, cobbled streets and Roman remains. Jess sighed, "There's so many places in Europe I'd like to visit." Chris lifted up a plastic bag, "Well in the meantime here's some British chocolate." She beamed and grabbed a couple of the crunchie bars, "You have to join me for one of these with your coffee. They are awesome."

They took the drinks and chocolate over to Jess' new sectional couch and she bit into her chocolate in ecstasy. Chris tried his and laughed, "Errr, it's kinda sweet! Aren't you like a dentist?" Jess giggled, "I know right, all wrong. Don't tell anyone, it's my secret vice." They chatted for a while and eventually Chris said, "I'd better go. Are you coming for breakfast in the morning? Jess grinned and nodded, "Yeah, Tom's off work so he and Nathan are calling for me." Chris smiled and said hesitantly, "I think I'm going to move back into the apartment this week." Jess rubbed his arm warmly as they walked to the apartment door, "That's great news Chris, and to be honest I'll be glad to know I have someone I know nearby. Maybe we could get takeout pizza one night this week?" Chris nodded, "I'd really like that Jess. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow."

After breakfast Chris went back to Max and Margie's and packed a few things into his car to take over to the apartment. Margie caught him for a hug and Max put an arm around him as they walked to his car. He said, "You'll be fine Chris, but just remember, if you decide you're not ready you can come back for as long as you need okay?" Chris nodded and not caring if it would be awkward or not, grabbed his boss. Max put his arms around him and Chris said quietly, "Thank you. I owe you both so much." Max released him and said, "You're a good person Chris, and you're going to be fine. Don't let anyone tell you different."

The next morning Max met Daniel in the lift and followed him to the kitchen, anxiously looking for Chris. Dan grabbed the mugs and said, "Chill Max, he'll be fine." His boss grimaced, "I know, just got Margie on my case. She made me promise to call her to let her know he was okay." Daniel smiled, "I'll call in to see her later on my way home. Allie's collecting the girls." Max clapped him on the back, "Thanks. You're the original stray lawyer so that'll cheer her up." Dan laughed in response. Chris arrived and shouted he was just dropping his stuff and would be back. Max raised an eyebrow at Daniel and Chris jogged over. Glancing at Daniel he said to Max, "I'm fine, honestly. I got back and unpacked then Jess came down to see if I wanted to order pizza with her. Then I got an early night so I'm good to go today. Want me to carry on listing those contracts on both sides for Cannon?" Max beamed, "Yeah, bring 'em through when your done and we'll see what's next for the supplier work stream." Daniel turned to see Allie arrive having dropped her laptop in the office and he beamed, "Hey, all okay with the drop off?" Allie smiled back touching his arm, "Yes, fine. Morning you two. Let me at that coffee before I get withdrawal symptoms."