There had been something off about Steve since last night, but Edward couldn't quite put his finger on it. 

"Can you pass the cream?" Edward asked at breakfast.

"That's good," Steve said, not reading his paper.

"The cream, Steven."

"Here you go," Robbie said, passing the cream quietly.

"So what do you have going to day, Steven?" Edward asked, pouring the cream in his coffee.

"Uh huh... " Steve replied.

"That's it!" Edward cried, snatching the paper from Steven's hands. "What is up?"

"Maybe I be excused?" Robbie asked, startled.

"You may," Edward said, never taking his eyes off of Steve. After Robbie retreated to his room, Edward asked: "Steven, what is going on?"

"What would you do if you found out you were dying?" Steven asked difficulty.

"Oh my god. Steven, are you dying?"

"Hypothetical you."

"Well, if I found out I was dying, the first thing I'd do is tell my partner."

"It's not me Edward."

"Oh my god, is it... "

"Or you."

"Right. Well... I suppose I'd try to get my affairs in order."

"And then after?"

"I suppose... I'd try to live whatever time I had left to the fullest. Go to places I'd never been. Try things I've always wanted to try."

"So... if you found out someone close to you... "

"Oh god!"

"Not you, Edward. I should say, someone that used to be close to you... "

"What's going on, Steve?"

"Well, the other night... " Just then, Edward's phone rang. It must be from Haven, Steve thought as Edward hastily took it: there was no other reason Edward would've interrupted the conversation. After a hurried and wrought conversation, Edward hung up the phone and sat back down at the table.

"Everything ok?" Steve asked.

"The grant for expansion didn't go through."

"Oh babe, I'm so sorry."

"I don't know what I'm going to do babe. More and more kids are coming into the shelter every week. And other kids... they're outgrowing the system before they're ready to go out. They all need us. Where are we going to put them?"

Steven chuckled to himself, crunching the numbers in his head, and thinking of Bruce's plea to him the other night.

"What's so funny?" Edward asked.

Steve took Edward's hand. "I think I may have a solution."

 

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