Ring Ring -- Ring Ring

Howie jolted in his bed, the sound of the phone jarred him from his finally peaceful sleep. He'd been up three times with Cash since they'd gone to bed only hours before, and in his mind he was cursing the arrival of morning.

Ring Ring

He rolled over and squinted his eyes against what he expected to be the sunlight coming through the window... but wait. It was still dark. Pitch black in fact and when he rolled over to examine the clock he knew why. 4:21 am. What?

Ring Ring

He stumbled out of bed to the dresser where the phone was located, cursing whoever the hell was calling at this time of the morning. Cursing the morning too. He was cursing everything really. He wanted to curl up and go back to sleep. Maybe he could just ignore them.

Ring Ring

Maybe not.

He finally reached the phone and yanked it from it's base, "This better good!" He said harshly into the line before really thinking. He highly expected to hear Nick's voice on the other line... to hear that he was drunk and needed a place to crash or a sober friend to give him a ride home, but the voice he heard was not Nick's at all.

"Mr. Dorough?"

He nodded his head before realizing the voice on the other end of the line couldn't see him, then he spoke. "Yes?"

"Mr. Dorough, I'm really sorry to bother you at this time of the mornin' but there is someone out here that really needs to speak to you."

He recognized the voice now, it was James, the security guard at the front gates to their secure neighborhood. He liked James, always had, but this was 4 am and he really didn't plan on having company and he certainly didn't want company at this hour.

"Who is it James?" He asked, his patience growing a wee bit thin.

"Um... well one is a police officer."

"Oh." Howie sighed. Now he really figured this had something to do with Nick. What kind of trouble had he gotten himself into? Public intoxication this time? Thrown out of bar again? He shook his head only imagining what the outcome would be when he invited them in and proceeded to smack Nick upside his bloody head right there in front of the police. Maybe they'd cart him off to jail too. Then at least he might be able to get a good night's sleep.

"Go ahead and let them through..." He finally sighed into the phone, "just give me a minute to get dressed and check on the kids."

"No problem sir. Sorry again to bother you."

"It's okay James."

He hung up the phone and sighed, if he could only catch a break... well that or a good night's sleep. It had been about 4 years since he last had one of those...