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Chapter 26 ~ For the Best

It'd been a long time since he'd been able to wake up completely undisturbed. The thick light-blocking shades that hung over all his windows kept any sun light from coming in, and his soundproofed walls surrounded him with complete silence. Looking at the clock on his bedside, he almost gasped. 4:30 p.m. "Shit, now I'm gonna rushed gettin' that press statement down," he grumbled as he rolled out of bed and began rummaging through his wardrobe looking for something to pull on. It had been a few very long months since he'd had all of these options to choose from. It was a luxury he hadn't taken the time to appreciate until now.

He pulled out the very first pair of black slacks he could find and began stepping into them. They did seem a little spacious around his legs at first, but by the time he pulled them up around his waist he realized that they were at least three sizes too big for him. He groaned. "Have to restock the whole damn wardrobe." It was frustrating, but at the same time it was cool to see how much weight he'd actually lost.

Grumbling, he put back on the same outfit he'd worn the day before. He could have just buzzed for one of the maids to come up to order a restock of his wardrobe right then, but he figured it would be faster to just have one of the guys run out and pick up a few essential items and the rest could wait to be restocked later on in the week. I'll have to remember to put a resize down on a new jumpsuit. His thoughts wondered as he combed his hair through with his fingers. "Let's see what other kind of changes they've made to the place," he mumbled to himself as he stepped out his bedroom.

It was odd, the house was quiet. As he walked down the stairs and into the foyer, Elvis didn't hear anything. No voices or boisterous laughter or one of the boys playing around on the piano, just silence. He walked towards the kitchen. Peering around the corner, he found Mary his long time cook sitting on one of the bar stools reading a book. He cleared his throat, "Finally, I find somebody in this house." He smirked as he leaned back against the wall.

The look on ole Mary's face as soon as she heard his voice was priceless. "Mr. Presley!" She exclaimed overjoyed as she dropped her book and wrapped him up in a welcoming embrace. "I heard you was s'posed to be home last night. No one tells me nothin' round here."

He laughed.

"What in heaven's name happened to you?" she exclaimed. "Ya hair's back to natural, and Lord have mercy, look at you. Boy, you lost some weight."

"Been a crazy few months, Mary, I'll tell ya that," he smiled as he pulled her over to sit down on one of the bar stools in the kitchen. "Sure good to be home though." Elvis loved how he could talk to Mary. She still treated him like he was a little boy sometimes, giving him advice whether he wanted it or not.

"I can only imagine," she gave him a sly look. "Those girls are gonna eat you up."

Elvis caught the look she was giving him, but decided to change the subject. "Where is everybody? The house is dead quiet."

"It's been like this ever since you'd gone," Mary sighed. "Nobody knew where you were, didn't know if you'd be back. The place just turned into a mausoleum. Some of the boys moved out and your daddy just locked the place up. I justa bout don't know what to do with myself no more. Sure am glad you're back. Suppose, the boys will be movin' back in shortly and the house will liven up some."

"Some of them will," he mumbled under his breath as he thought of Red. How could he not've told anyone.

"Ya daddy's probably up in the office. I think Charlie and J.D. are down in the Jungle room keepin' an eye on Lisa. And if I ain't mistaken, Pricilla's up in one of the guest room packing her and Lisa's things."