The next morning

Dan woke first to the sound of his alarm. He rolled over and almost slammed face-first into the brick wall. It took him a moment to realize he was on the opposite side of the bed. With a groan, he tried to gently get off the air mattress without waking his mother.

"I've been up for a while," Laura said into the darkness. "You don't need to worry about waking me."

"Morning," Dan greeted with a smile. He'd slept better than he had since the night before the disaster. His shirt was a little damp from cuddling up to his mother, but overall, he felt refreshed. A breeze on his sensitive skin made him realize he'd come out of his boxers again. With a groan, he tucked himself back in and sighed.

"I can get it," she said as the air mattress shifted a little.

"I've got it. I might as well get up and get a shower."

"...okay, enjoy. I'm going to start breakfast in a few," Laura called after him. "Could you get the light before you go in?"

"Sure," Dan said as he redirected to the light switch. Blinking away the sudden bright light, he looked back over at the bed. Laura sat up on one arm, her heavy breasts pushing her shirt down to one side. He could see a lot of exposed flesh and the hint of her dark areola.

"Oh," Laura said as she pulled the sheet up to cover herself.

"It's okay," he said as he walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. A short time later, he came out and toweled off his hair. "I smell eggs and bacon," he commented. "It smells amazing."

"Thank you, dear," Laura said from the stove. She'd put on another shirt. It already had little splatters of clear flecks across the front. "We need an apron," she said with a **** laugh. "Put it on the list, please."

"Oh man, yeah. Grease burns are no joke," Dan commented as he put on his jeans and pulled them up. He tucked himself in and looked up to see his mother looking at him. She smiled slightly before going back to cooking.

"Almost done," she called as Dan finished dressing. "You're off at what? Seven?"

"No, it's an early day. I'm off at one."

"Oh good, we can shop for a while before traffic really starts up. I'll keep thinking of things to add to the list. If I can, I'll pop down to the library and see what prices we're working with. I've still got the other gift card, too."

"Works for me," Dan said as he came over to the stove and hugged his mother from behind. She stiffened for a moment before sighing and relaxing into his embrace. "Thanks for cuddling with me last night," he said.

"... I enjoyed it," she said as she continued to gently scramble the eggs in the pan.

"Think we can do it again tonight? I haven't slept that well in a long time." Laura gave a little strangled laugh, almost as if she thought his words were funny but didn't want to outright laugh. "What? I'm serious," Dan challenged.

"No, I'm not laughing at you, dear. Well... yes... we can... if you want," Laura finally answered. She seemed to realize something and pushed back, releasing his grip around her stomach. "The eggs will burn. Go sit down," she said, not looking at him.

"Okay," Dan shrugged before kissing his mother on the shoulder. "Thanks for breakfast."

"I... you're welcome."

Dan cruised through work with a smile. Ms. Carmen eyed him once or twice but never said anything. She was dealing with one crisis after another and didn't have time to do much else. On his last break, Dan texted his mother.

Dan: Hey, mom, do you want me to come get you after work?

Laura: No, I'll just drive over. I can go ahead and start looking around while you finish your shift. We can meet up once you're clocked out.

Dan: Awesome, works for me. I've got a few more ideas and I spent my lunch looking over prices.

Laura: I did a little legwork myself.

Dan: And what great legs they are! I can't wait to see what you've got.

Laura didn't answer his text and he'd wondered if he'd gone too far. He wasn't really thinking and texted the first thing that came to mind. Before Dan could text again, his coworker came and found him. Some devil spawn had thrown up near the bathrooms and Ms. Carmen volunteered Dan to help clean it up.

"Hey, mom!" Dan greeted as he stepped up beside his mother. She wore a deep red blouse and long skirt.

"How was work?" she said with an affectionate hug.

Dan got a good view of his mother's cleavage as he pulled away from the lengthy hug. "Great actually. Well... except cleaning up some kid's sick on the floor. That's never fun. Anyway, here's my list," he said as he drew out a bit of scratch paper.

"Let's see if we agree on what is necessary," Laura mused as she took the sheet.