Ash was silent for a moment, before looking at Casey.

"Ah..." he stated.

"Well... hmmm." he muttered.

"See... you know the boss is a good guy, right?" he asked.

"...yeah...?" Kelly responded, suspicious.

"Apparently if you come in within the next month or so, he's sending you back to take care of me." her father informed her.

"I swear I didn't steer him in that direction, though!" he then insisted. "He said this of his own volition!"

"Covered for the next month or so." Ash clarified.

"A LITTLE time has been bought, in terms of that. But we don't know how long this will last." he warned. "For now, we just need to be thankful for small blessings, I suppose." he muttered.

"And I'll keep you updated. I promise." he told her.

"Love you too, Kelly." he said.

He then sighed quietly, and looked at his phone.

'...respond sooner, rather than later, Ashleigh...' he thought.

Ash thought for a moment, before nodding.

"Yeah, I can eat." he told her. "I feel those little twinges of hunger in my stomach." he chuckled.

"Where IS Sammy, anyway?" he then asked, seemingly out of nowhere. "I know you said you were seriously considering sending her to stay with the vampires for a bit." he remembered.

"And the sooner that's done, the better... most likely." he continued.

"She out for another run again?"

Ash chuckled.

"She's good at that sometimes." he said.

"And it's good for him. He needs to do cardio more." he muttered.

"As for what, I feel like having Japanese." he told her.

"...sushi, is what I'm saying." he clarified.

"I want to demolish some sushi rolls."

"ALL the sushi!" Ash declared hungrily.

He then paused and chuckled.

"But seriously though, I feel like I could eat about 50 sushi rolls and 15 hand rolls." he told her.

"So... yeah, the more I speak of it, the more my stomach's rumbling and my mouth's salivating." he added sheepishly.

"So... like, a lot." he concluded.

"Go for a larger order, if you wouldn't mind."

"You want MY card to charge it?" Ash asked.

"You know I have an insane limit to it." he told her.

"I know you said you'd order it in and all, but if you think your own card might not be enough, you know you can use mine." he said further.

"And yeah, I'll call... Sammy." he then said.

"Lindsay has a penchant for zoning out and tuning out the world when he exercises, even if it means just paying attention to his running, or talking to Sammy while they're running." he reasoned.

Ash laughed as well, and Casey left the room to do what she needed to do. He booted up his phone and found Sammy's number, calling it. He was waiting for about 20 seconds before there was an answer, but he knew that was because she needed to come to a slow and natural stop, not just halt her running.

"Yo." Ash said when she answered.

"You and your Dad are gonna wanna get your butts home." he told her.

"Your Mom's ordering sushi and if you're not here when IT'S here, I'M eating it all." he laughed.

"So make sure you're home REAL soon."

"Hey!" Ash heard Lindsay said.

"A little RESPECT!?" he demanded.

Ash just laughed out loud.

"Be back in a half-hour." he told her. Now, he was sure that the order would take a bit longer to make than THAT, but... he wanted them back sooner, rather than later, and didn't want to panic them yet.

"Don't run your father TOO ragged, now." he then laughed.

"ExCUSE me!?" Lindsay retorted.

"See you when you guys get home." Ash chuckled.

"I will have you know-" Lindsay started to protest, as Sammy said goodbye and hung up the phone.

Ash then laughed once more.

"Casey!" he called out.

"Seems a hot-button for Lindsay is insinuating he's an old and frail fossil!" he declared.

"And your daughter is abusing the HELL out of it!"

Ash rolled his eyes.

"We're.. well, we're not the oldest ones in the house." he said. "THAT distinction and honour goes to Ashleigh." he said further. "But my brother and I ARE pretty damn old." he admitted.

"But it seems that Lindsay doesn't like being told that truth." he chuckled.

"Maybe that's why he's always working out..." he mused, thinking about it, before shrugging.

"Oh well, they should be back in about 10 minutes or so." he reported.

"I don't know how much longer until the food arrives, they could be waiting for longer than they expect, but I did want them back sooner, rather than later, and I wasn't going to panic them. Not just yet. That's... well, we'll broach that topic AFTER eating." he figured with a small sigh.