Cut to a musical montage of Ted posing naked to Christian rock (oh, Alan, you little scamp, you), looking all goofy and self-conscious while Claire snaps away with the digital camera Billy bought her. Because you don't bring that kind of film to the photomat, and it's not like she could use Billy's darkroom for these.
Brenda stands in the hallway outside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, nervously watching Willa in her incubator. The NICU that M. Small spent the first eighteen days of his life in was much nicer than this; we could go in and hang out with him indefinitely. The couch even folded out. It was like a hotel room with an incubator instead of a bed, and a shitload of medical equipment instead of a TV. Oh, and a really tiny baby. If you ever give birth prematurely, do it in St. Paul. "Too bad you don't believe in anything," says a voice behind her, and she turns to see Late Nate, Jr. approaching, saying, "or you could pray." He takes up position next to her at the window. "This is exactly what I was afraid of," he says. "Fuck." Like taking care of her is going to be his problem. He's dead; all he has to do is show up and bitch. Then Brenda is standing alone at the window again as the camera looks past her down the hall to a bright, white light.
Anthony and Durrell sit watching what I'm told is The Fairly Oddparents (at this point my familiarity with children's television is still limited to Baby Einstein) as the dads come into the room, David carrying a bag slung over his shoulder. He says he's leaving for a few days, and Anthony asks why. Durrell thinks he's got it figured out: "'Cause y'all are splitting up, and you're gonna leave us with him," he says, pointing dismissively at Keith. David assures them that he's not leaving, which is kind of an odd thing to say when holding a suitcase. Durrell says as much, and David makes up a lie about a funeral directors' conference in Portland. He promises he's coming back. "I heard that before," Durrell says. Rather than pointing out that he never heard it from David, David gets up and leaves without another word.













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