Group Chat - Phan/Jaspar/Zouise/Marfie

32.

Dan, Phil, Zoe, Louise, Marcus and Alfie all arrived at Joe's apartment after there interviews were finished. It felt like forever that they were in the dark room answering questions they didn't want to.

They didn't complain because they knew it would have been ten times worse for Joe.

"hey guys, come in," Joe said in a natural voice, the kind where you couldn't tell how a person was feeling.

"hi, how were the kids?" Louise asked when they all piled into joes apartment and had taken off their large coats.

"good, they're now watching a movie," Joe said, looking over at the two girls sat on the white sofa watching despicable me.

"did you guys have fun?" Dan said walking over to the children on the sofa, engaged in the movie.

They all took a seat, Alfie sitting on Marcus' lap, Phil, Zoe and Joe taking the bar stools and Dan and Louise sat with the children.

Small convocation built up about family and the kids as the movie came to an end.

"hey, you want some food?" Joe asked at about 4:45.

"yeah I'm starving!" Dan said, laughed slightly as he rubbed his stomach.

"oh Joe, you need to show us your excellent cooking skills!" Alfie said excitedly, still sitting comfortably on Marcus' lap.

"I can try and make a stir fry?" Joe asked, opening the fridge to see when they had.

Joe hadn't been out much since Caspar had gone, he mainly stayed inside and slept. If he wasn't sleeping he was probably eating, crying or trying to sleep. He just felt useless. Like not knowing if Caspar was alive made his whole body stop working.

"stir fry sounds great!" Zoe said as Joe got out multiple vegetables to begin cooking.

It didn't take long to cook but certainly more than it did for two people.

Joe layed the table with cutlery and place mats along with two small plates for Darcy and Faye.

Everyone took a seat and Joe, with the help of Marcus, gave out the food.

Everyone dug into the chicken and vegetables within the noodles. Even the kids seemed to enjoy it!

Dan took a box of pills from his pocket and handed them to Phil as he had promised to never take them without Phil giving him the right amount, just so Phil could know he wasn't over dosing.

He handed Dan two circular pills and folded the packet back up. Dan popped the tablets into his mouth and swallowed them before beginning his meal.

"mmm, this is really good!" Marcus said, swallowing a mouth full of food.

"thanks, it was Caspar favourite so I used to cook it all the time," Joe said, his voice and expression still without emotion.

"you know he's still alive, right?" Zoe said, putting her hand on top of her brothers.

"how do you know?" Joe asked, his voice painfully upset and his palms sweaty.

"I can just tell," Zoe said sympatheticly, smiling reassuringly to Joe.

"we all can," Alfie said, Joe looking up at him with plead, just wanting Caspar back.

"but if the police haven't found him then-then maybe he's... not-"

"Joe, it will be fine," Dan said, interrupting Joe's statement before he made things worse by telling himself a possible truth.

"I can't do anything without him, I feel useless," Joe admitted.

Everyone had stopped eating their meals, accept Faye and Darcy, and watched Joe cry as they tried to help him.

"its gonna be ok," Phil said, but nothing anyone said could make Joe feel any better.

Caspar was gone, maybe this was his life now.