The morning after the almost-Apotheosis is fairly quiet, at least at Henry's house. No one had wanted to go home for fear that it wasn't truly over like they'd thought, and Henry had plenty of spare bedrooms, so they'd all just stayed the night. Ted and Lex slept in one bed with Hannah curled up between them; Alice and Deb had awkwardly shared a bed with Emma; Ethan and Peter (Alice's friend) took the room with two twin beds; Paul and Bill had each taken a couch.

Henry didn't sleep much after burning his manuscript in the backyard. When he'd come back inside, Ted was already passed out in bed next to his daughters, so there wasn't much flirting Henry could do at that point. It's a good thing he'd already invited the man (and everyone else) to stay the night.

But now it's a new morning, and Henry is pretty determined to flirt with the 'hot single dad' (as he'd put it last night). Starting with breakfast. Henry didn't have much in his pantry and fridge at the moment, but he did have enough raw ingredients to make pancakes.

Henry had hoped that Ted would be the first one awake, but he has no such luck. It's the boy that Emma, Paul, and Bill had brought back alongside Bill's daughter, Alice. Henry doesn't remember his name.

"Uh, good morning," the kid mumbles.

"Good morning," Henry says slowly. "I'm afraid I didn't catch your name yesterday. We were all quite distracted, I think."

"I'm Peter," the kid says. "Peter Robinson. I go to school with Lex, Ethan, and Deb. Alice, too, until she and her mom moved to Clivesdale."

"Nice to officially meet you, Peter," Henry says, chuckling. "I'm Henry Hidgens. I teach biology at the community college. Are you hungry?"

Peter nods, and sits on a barstool at the counter. "I can feel my blood sugar dropping."

"Well it's a very good thing that I'm almost done here," Henry says, flipping over the last pancake of the first stack. Henry's recipe is a silver-dollar recipe, thin and dense. So while most people would have two or three big, thick pancakes, Henry's allows for seven or eight. He plates them up and gives it to Peter, passing along the butter and maple syrup.

As he ladles out the next batch, he watches Peter. The poor kid is quiet, fidgeting nervously as he eats. His hands are shaking ever-so-slightly, which could be due to the low blood sugar Peter had mentioned, but Henry has a hunch that there's more to it than that.

"Is something wrong, Peter?" Henry asks gently. He tries to make a joke. "You can tell me if it's the pancakes, I won't be offended."

Peter shakes his head quickly. "No, they're really good!"

"Then what is it?" There's a long moment of silence, where Peter doesn't even eat. He just picks at his food while he seems to debate whether or not to say what's bothering him.

"My mom," Peter finally admits quietly, his voice cracking slightly with emotion. "She, um, she's the one who chased me to the high school yesterday."

"Well," Henry sighs. "She wasn't herself, no one really was. But as you can see from Lex, Ethan, and Deb, your mother should be fine now."

Peter shakes his head again, more slowly this time. "I had to do something to stop her... I found the baseball team's equipment. I— I had to—" He cuts off with a shudder, eyes watering.

Henry lays his hand on top of Peter's. "You did what you had to do," he says gently. "If you hadn't, there's no telling how she would have infected you. We saw someone here, one of the people who came to me yesterday, had her stomach torn open and her guts ripped out, by her own husband. She wouldn't have survived without those spores sustaining her. Your mother would have killed you— whatever it took to get you to join the Hive."

Peter shudders again, but nods. "Thanks... that helps a little... but what am I gonna do now? It was just the two of us. My dad died a few years ago."

"You are more than welcome to stay here with me until the authorities can sort things out," Henry says. He gestures toward the hallway with the three spare bedrooms. "As you can see, I have plenty of space."

Peter smiles a little, but it's more of a grimace. "Thanks," he says quietly, and goes back to eating. Henry nods, satisfied.

The next person awake is Lex Foster, Ted's elder daughter, just in time for the second stack of pancakes. She silently accepts it when Henry offers it, but gives him a grateful smile. Sitting next to Peter at the counter, she coughs into her elbow, then speaks.

"Thanks," she croaks, and winces. Henry quickly grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and gives it to her. She chugs it all in one go.

"I have a feeling Ethan and Deb will be the same way," Henry mutters. "You all did quite a bit of singing yesterday, and I don't think any of you are used to that much, let alone while dancing."

Lex nods. "I—" She cuts off with another cough into her elbow, wincing again.

Hannah comes shuffling in, clutching her stuffed dog to her chest and still yawning. Henry quickly pours out a smaller batch, while Lex gets down from her stool to help Hannah get on one. Setting her dog on the counter, the little girl smiles shyly at Peter, then a little brighter Lex, and finally Henry. Each of them smiles back. Henry plates up the pancakes— only three for now, but he can make more if she wants them.

Alice and Deb join the party next, Ethan trailing not too far behind them. Henry doesn't quite understand why all the kids are the first ones up until he glances at the clock. Oh, of course. It was about the time they'd all be getting up for school. It's their circadian rhythms at work. There isn't enough room at the counter for all six of them, so the newcomers sit at the table behind the first three. Peter, finished with his pancakes, passes each of them a plate as they become available.

Henry grabs a whole armful of bottled water and sets them on the table. "For any recovering throats," he says with a wink.

Finally, Ted comes in. He blinks around, still sleepy, and takes in the scene in front of him. Five teens and one five year old, all eating pancakes (or having already finished eating), and Henry Hidgens cooking more still.

"Bet you never expected to have this much company before," Ted says, chuckling. "Especially this many under eighteen."

"Um, definitely not," Henry admits. "But it's a nice change from my usual morning routine."

Ted laughs a little harder. "Yeah, me too— oh, shit, d'you think school's gonna be open today? I doubt it, but you never know—"

"There's a TV in that room," Henry says, pointing to the living room. "I only get news channels. They should be announcing what schools and businesses will be open today."

Ted rushes over and flips the TV on, hoping to hear that everything's closed for the day. Yesterday, Tuesday, the elementary school had been closed for renovations, which was why Hannah had been with him to begin with. As Dan and Donna talked about the town's mysterious joint memory loss, scrolling text at the bottom of the screen announced that all schools and businesses— even government buildings— would be closed for today and tomorrow, but were expected to be reopened on Friday.

Ted breathes a sigh of relief, and mutes the TV. He goes back to the kitchen. "No school or work for anyone today or tomorrow," he announces. Henry offers him a plate of pancakes, and Ted takes them with a chipper smile. "Thanks!"

Lex leans down to whisper something in Hannah's ear, and the littlest Foster giggles. "Lexie wants to know if she can go back to bed since she doesn't have to go to school," Hannah announces.

Ted shrugs. "If the professor's okay with us staying a bit longer, sure," he says. "If not, you can go back to bed as soon as we get home."

"You all can stay as long as you'd like," Henry says quickly. "I wouldn't mind the company."

"I need to—" Deb coughs into her elbow, and Alice rubs her back soothingly. Deb grabs one of the waters and drinks about half of it before trying again. "Parents—" she gets out, then coughs again. She finishes off the water and sighs, leaning her head on Alice's shoulder.

"Of course," Henry says. "Your parents must be worried sick. We'll get you home as quickly as possible, then."

"Dad and I can take her home," Alice says quietly, still rubbing her girlfriend's back.

Ethan groans before coughing, too— not nearly as bad as Lex or Deb, though. "My mom's gonna be freaking out," he mumbles.

"We'll get you home," Ted promises. "I could drive you now, if you want?" He starts to get up, and Henry has a slight moment of panic, but Ethan waves him off.

"She can wait—" he coughs again.

"All three of you need to drink plenty of water," Henry says sternly. "And try not to use your voices today. None of you are used to that much singing in one day."

Ted bites his tongue to keep from smiling. Hot and fatherly? Damn. There was still the matter of the whole 'tried to kill us' thing to consider, but Ted couldn't help noticing all these more positive things in the light of a new morning. There's just something about successfully stopping an alien invasion that's got him in a good mood. He quickly finishes his pancakes, and gets up to help Henry clean all the dishes.

Emma slowly shuffles in. "Hey," she says, yawning.

"Hello, Emma," Henry chuckles. "You just missed out on pancakes." Henry's quite glad that Ted had arrived in time, considering he'd been the intended recipient for them to begin with. Emma shrugs him off.

"I'm more of a pop-tart kinda gal," she mumbles, checking the pantry. "And of course you don't have any..."

"Au contraire," Henry says, and reaches around her to grab two boxes off the top shelf. It had been pushed all the way to the back, so Emma wouldn't even have been able to see it. "Chocolate chip, or strawberry?"

"Mm, chocolate," Emma says, and Henry hands her the box before setting the other one on a more accessible shelf. Emma sits at the table where Ted had sat, closing her eyes as she eats. "Someone's gonna have to give me a ride home. My car got left at Beanie's."

"The only reason I have my car is because we grabbed it on the way back last night," Ted says. "I'll have to give all of you guys a ride into town. Probably have to make a couple trips."

"If the professor's not in any hurry, neither am I," Emma mumbles.

Ted ticks off everyone on his fingers. "I guess I'll take Bill, Alice, and Deb first," he says. "Then the second trip I can get you, Paul, Ethan, and Peter."

Peter freezes, and Henry speaks up. "Peter will actually be staying with me for the time being," he says. "His mother was killed yesterday, and he has nowhere else to go."

Ted glances at Peter, who nods sadly. He wipes his nose on the back of his hand, and grabs a napkin to do it properly.

"But as I've said earlier," Henry continues. "I'm in no hurry to rush any of you out the door."

Henry quite likes the company, he decides. Not just the individuals, but in general. Part of him had always wanted a family, but then his growing obsession with the Apotheosis had gotten in the way. Now that the Apotheosis is out of the picture, perhaps he could work on changing his lonely state. Peter could be a good start. Henry already has a few ideas…