Bye bye Miss American Pie

Covet: Kelsey was sitting on the couch with Connor's head in her lap running her fingers through his hair as he slept. She gave a soft look to him focusing less on the TV and more on the moment. "I'm going to miss you guys over the next few weeks."
Alexithymiaa: -Brad was sitting on the opposite couch with his suitcase open at his feet, in the process of sort of packing his things so they could head out tomorrow. He basically was folding each item to stick in his suitcase, but getting halfway through and sort of just balling them and stacking them inside. "We're going to miss you too. You're going to be so busy here you won't even have time to miss us."-
Covet: "Excuse you, I am capable of multi tasking, thank you very much." She said with a laugh. "If you need anything for Connor, you'll call immediately right?" Kelsey asked, being just a little paranoid, but this was a kind of different situation.
Alexithymiaa: "How many times are you going to ask me that? We're going to be fine. Just like we always are." He added, shaking his head and wedging a wadded up shirt between two pairs of crumples jeans.-
Covet: "You better get used to it, because I'm going to continue to ask it and if you're okay every day that I'm gone." Kelsey told him watching him, trying not to cringe at what Brad was doing because he was terrible at packing.
Alexithymiaa: "I have Holly, I have Evan, I have your parents... what do you think is going to happen that we can't handle?" He asked with a small laugh, continuing to be an abomination to packing.-
Covet: "I don't know, It's a mother's worry. I'm sorry." She said apologetically. "If you keep packing like that you're not going to get it all back in there."
Alexithymiaa: "It'll fit." He reassured her as he stuck the last remaining items into the suitcase, pushing the top down with his foot so that he could force the zipper closed. "See. It fits."-
Covet: "You're not checking that bag are you?" Kelsey asked him, "Cause I'm not sure it's going to fit if you are."
Alexithymiaa: "Uhhhh.... I don't know. I guess I could carry it on. But wouldn't that be more of a pain in the ass to do?" He asked as he stared at his bulging suitcase.-
Covet: "No, don't carry it on. Not if you're going to have Connor with you." Kelsey said. "That just means you need to get there early enough that you can check it."
Alexithymiaa: "I was planning on it. JFK is a nightmare of an airport as it is. Navigating security takes long enough. Would you quit worrying?" He asked a little sharply.-
Covet: "I'm sorry..." Kelsey said, "I'm normally doing all this, so I'm just kind of still in that mode." She said explaining to him."
Alexithymiaa: "But you're not doing it. I think me and your parents can manage getting back to Oregon safely with Connor. You need to chill." He took a deep breath, shifting over on the couch toward her. "You need to worry about you."-
Covet: "I will once you guys are home, safely. I can't help it." Kelsey said to him "It's nothing personal I promise."
Alexithymiaa: "I know it's not, but your focus needs to be on you now. It's your turn. Let me worry about Connor. It's time for you to take care of yourself first."-
Covet: "It just seems... so selfish, at least while you guys are still here." She told himshifting a little so she could lean over on him. "I feel like I've been selfish enough, hence getting to this point."
Alexithymiaa: "On the contrary, I don't think you've been selfish at all. You haven't been taking care of yourself. You've been worrying about everyone else and that's why we're at this point. You need to remember that you're important too. Your life doesn't revolve around everyone else." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, giving her arm a squeeze.-
Covet: "Okay, okay. I get it." She said to him. "I promise I will work on myself. And I'll make sure that I'm right as rain by the time I get back." She said to him leaning up to give him a kiss on the cheek.
Alexithymiaa: "You better be otherwise I'll stick you on the first flight back here to start all over again." He said with a grin, leaning into her kiss. "If anything, I'm more concerned that he's going to miss you. This will be the longest he'll be away from you and I'm sure the first few days will be fine, but what about after that?"-
Covet: "It will be the longest he's been without me in one go, at least recently. I mean, before I brought him to Portland with us, he'd only see me for a couple of days every five days. Besides, he probably won't miss me that much because he'll be having too much fun with you." Kelsey said.
Alexithymiaa: "I'm kind of hoping I can distract him from realizing his routine is a little skewed for a few weeks. And I promise it won't be ordering in every night for dinner. I'll make some stuff." He said with a nod even though he wasnt confident.-
Covet: "You can always ask Connor to help. He's getting pretty good at it." Kelsey said. "I'm sure you guys will be well fed all the same. Even if you eat out, just try to eat healthy a couple of nights."
Alexithymiaa: "Well maybe we'll discover some new recipes while you're gone and when you come back we'll cook them for you. Hopefully they won't have a base of jelly beans and twizzlers though." He grinned, trying to joke around.-
Covet: "Oh I'm pretty sure Connor won't let you do something that sweet. He's usually more on top of your sugar intake than I am." She said with a laugh. "I look forward to seeing and hearing all about it. I'll feel a little left out, but it's probably good for you both to have some guy time."
Alexithymiaa: "We might even make some Cooking With Connor videos for you to see pop up online. That way we can have our time, but you can see what we're up to. How does that sound?"-
Covet: "That sounds absolutely perfect. I'd love that." She told him with a smile. "I'll keep you guys updated with what I'm doing to. I'll call my boys every night, How does that sound?" She retorted.
Alexithymiaa: "That sounds like a plan. Maybe I'll tuck him into bed and you can read him a story over the phone, that way at least you're still sort of there for bedtime."-
Covet: "I definitely think we need to do that. For sure." Kelsey said with a nod. "And it will give me an excuse to kick Bryan out if he's over too late."
Alexithymiaa: "I have a feeling you're going to do a lot of that, especially since it's closer to the wedding and all CJ talks about is wedding plans. He's probably going to flee over here every opportunity he gets."-
Covet: "Or, he could stay home and send CJ over and we can talk wedding shop. I'm okay with that too. It would be a good distraction." Kelsey said laughing.
Alexithymiaa: "You know, if you suggested that, I doubt he'd fight you on it. He'd be shoving her out the door to come over here before you could even get the words out of your mouth." He shook his head.-
Covet: "I know. I'll save it for when it's absolutely needed. Once you know how to work him, Bryan's not so bad to deal with."She grinned, then gave a yawn. "I'm tired, but I also don't want to miss these last moments with you either."
Alexithymiaa: "I disagree. Bryan is pretty bad to deal with all the time. It's different for you because he actually likes you. He's never liked me and he's always made it pretty obvious." He rolled his eyes, standing up from the couch and turning to offer her his hands. "Come on, let me take him and put him to bed and we can relax on the couch before we sleep."-
Covet: "Alright, be careful, He shoudln't wake up, we've kind of worn him out over the last few days, but I think we've all had fun." She said smiling, helping get Connor up into Brad's arms. Then she went about getting her boots kicked off to get comfortable on the couch.
Alexithymiaa: -He gently took Connor from her arms, hoisting him up and walking off into the bedroom to get him tucked in with Haven for sleeps.-