"Why are you up so late?"
Robert snuggled into the sheets and turned curiously to Georgia.
"You weren't waiting for me all along, were you? Didn't I tell you? No need to wait for me. It's so cold. You should have bedded down earlier."
Georgia typed up what she was just thinking, then turned around and smiled at Robert.
"I wasn't waiting for you specifically. I just talked with Aston about some experiments tonight, and we kept on going and drew some conclusions. So we continued chatting, and then we both started checking data. Then it got late and I washed, then kept on researching with the computer in bed. I didn't notice it was this late."
"Are you done now? If it's not urgent, go to sleep for now. It's not healthy to stay up late."
Georgia, though, felt energetic enough. With some things not done yet, she couldn't just let it go.
She turned to Robert apologetically and smiled.
"I've still got some things to summarize. Otherwise, if I don't write down these inspirations, I'll forget them tomorrow. Besides, I'm almost done arranging data. I need to confirm my speculations, then look at the tangible data from my experiments. If I don't do this, I wouldn't be able to sleep."
"Never mind, then. My wife is a mad scientist buried deep in her experiments, after all. You just keep working, and I'll stay with you. We can get some rest together when you're done."
"Then never mind. It's noisy when I work on my computer, and you were busy for a while today. You must be tired. I'll keep working in the study."
Georgia was about to get out of bed and take the computer to the study when Robert reached out and tugged at her hand.
"I'm fine. I just finished my business outside and haven't even taken a nap yet. Even if I fell asleep, I wouldn't hear you typing. I had some things to talk with you about anyway. You want to hear what the results were from talking to Vincent Poole, right?"
That was true. Georgia really had been about to ask what the two had talked about when Robert went to meet Vincent.
She'd been so focused explaining her experiments that she'd forgotten.
"Let me arrange this data first. When I'm done, you can tell me about what happened today with Vincent."
Georgia said that, then focused her eyes on her laptop, drawing up forms, inputting data, seeing what the calculated models looked like.
After resolving all of it, over another dozen minutes had passed. Georgia typed her finished thoughts on the computer and continued to speak with Robert.
"I can multitask. Tell me, did Vincent agree?"
"He agreed. I thought it'd take a lot to convince him to help, but he up and told me my father saved his life thrice. So he didn't hesitate when I made my request at all. He just asked if I had the determination to see it through. He also promised that he'd look in on Wesley and see the reason behind his memory loss."
"Since he agreed, that's a good thing. Don't overthink it. Oh, I also forgot to tell you one thing.
"I'm going to see Sierra tomorrow. Wilson's made the arrangements. I want to ask her why Wesley ended up like this. She definitely won't tell me the truth, but we might get something observing her reactions."
Georgia had just said that when Robert turned to her concerned.
"Need my help?"
"No, but pay attention to the internet commentary for me. After all, I'm going to see Sierra, and I'm worried that people would follow me and find that out. If there's the beginning of any drama, pinch it off straight away. I feel like someone's keeping their eye on us. And Sierra's emotional response to me is really huge. If you were there too, it wouldn't have the best effect."
The two discussed the details of tomorrow, and Georgia worked for another half an hour before finishing it all.
By the time the two fell asleep, it was past two.
The next morning, the two of them didn't wake up early.
The kids, though, were early birds as usual, and hearing the butlers say that their parents had stayed up late, the children very obediently refrained from knocking on Georgia and Robert's bedroom, instead eating breakfast seriously, then playing with jigsaw puzzles.
When Georgia and Robert woke up, it was already past ten in the morning.
Georgia washed and came downstairs, and Annie rushed over, grabbing her hand.
"Look at you, Mommy, you and Daddy are both lazybones now!"
"Are you jealous of Mommy, Annie? If you want to wake up a bit later, Mommy won't mind."
Annie shook her head right away.
"When I was in class, the teacher said to develop healthy sleep habits. I'm not going to wake up late. Staying up and waking up late like Daddy and Mommy are bad habits. I'm going to be a kid with good habits."
"You listen that much to your teacher?"
Georgia found that funny.
Seemed that children were just like that. Sometimes they didn't listen to their parents, but remembered every word of what their teacher said.
"It's been so long since I went to school, Mommy. That's all I remember from the teacher, and I've almost forgotten about what they teach on the textbooks. Can Wesley and I not go to school like the other kids? I wanted to ask about that, but Mommy and Auntie Elsie got hurt these few days, and I didn't remember to ask you."
At that, Georgia showed a guilty expression.
"Do you remember last time when Wesley was attacked by bad guys? It happened at the doorway to the school. Daddy and Mommy can't keep the both of you safe at school right now. There are too many people there. Your Daddy and I can't guarantee that everyone who goes in is okay. And it's not peaceful around us lately."
"But Wesley and I have to go to school and learn. The other kids are all learning about the knowledge in the textbooks. If Wesley and I don't learn, we won't know our letters properly!"
Annie didn't argue with her parents, but she felt like she quite enjoyed studying and learning.
Now that they'd gone this long without restarting their studies, she missed it a bit.
In the beginning, she was of course happy to lounge around the house and have fun every day.
But as it went on, children really did want to study, and learn off their textbooks. No one was willing to just play on without consequences.
Even if they were playing, kids wanted to play with more kids.
At Annie's words, Georgia didn't know how to explain, while Robert walked over.
"Daddy's already been looking for a home tutor. We're still running auditions, but when proper tutors come around, they'll come over to teach you and Wesley."
As Robert said that, Wesley piped up happily.
"How long will that take, Dad? I've got a lot of stuff on the books I want to ask a teacher, but ever since we stopped going to school, I didn't know who to ask."
"You can ask me about textbook stuff."
Georgia chuckled at the side.
"For first grade knowledge, I can still teach you. I'm just not too free to be a home tutor, and I'm not a professional. So we'll still hire home tutors over to teach you. If they're not here, though, you can ask me anything you don't understand. I promise I'll explain them clearly."
At that, Wesley suddenly sprinted into his own room.
After a moment, he took several books with him and came up in front of Georgia.
One of the books was an exercise booklet for mathematics. Wesley flipped straight to one page and painted at a geometry question.
"I never knew how to do this one. Can you teach me, Auntie Georgia?"
The next dozen minutes turned into a session between teacher and student.
Georgia became a first-grade teacher, and Wesley her obedient student.
After they got through the question, Georgia and Robert exchanged a glance. Robert turned to his son and spoke.
"Wesley, can you talk about what you remember when you were small? Like when you were three or four, where did you live? Which kindergarten did you go to? Did you have any friends?"