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Daren watched James' face as he held the gun, reading his expression, his body language, seeing how the boy was reacting to holding a gun for the first time. "thanks." he accepted the gun back and put it together again before hiding it once more. "i'd recommend you go for a knife, though. you don't really know anything about guns so it will be safer for you to do so." he patted James' shoulder and looked around, "So, with that uncomfortableness out of the way, what would you like to do?"

Daren started to laugh, "alrighty then. that we can do easily enough." he moved James in front of the television and gave him the remote before going to get his laptop. "go ahead and find something to watch, i don't mind. i will watch pretty much anything, so find whatever you want, ok?" he plugged in the laptop and grabbed his lap desk, which he placed over James' legs and put the laptop on it as well. "the password is caramelApple. no spaces, caramel is all undercase and the 'a' in Apple is capitalized, but the rest is lowercase as well. we'll need to get you a laptop as well so you can get on the internet whenever you want. i don't use the laptop much, i usually use the desktop in my office, so go ahead and claim it as your own until we can get you one you like."

Daren sat on his lounge chair, which was right next to where James was sitting and glanced at the webpage. "that's a long time, i bet they would like to hear from you again. you should post something. or send them a message." he had a facebook page, but rarely checked it. it was mainly for the group the men at the station had created, and he's only joined that because Iroh had made the account for him and ordered he check it at least once a week or else be labeled antisocial and have to keep a sign on his desk at all times. it had made him mad at the time, but now he was grateful for it. he was able to keep up with the guys at the station and make sure they were all doing alright and that was important to him. other than his coworkers, Anne and Tarte, along with those of their children who had accounts, were his only friends. "i bet your mothers would be happy to see you posting and the like, getting back in contact with everyone. it will at least assure them that you are ok." and that i'm not locking you up in here like Givens, he added mentally

"Me?" Daren sat back and had to think a bit. "It's boring, but i would normally either be working on cases in my office, working out or reading. occasionally i'll watch a movie, but generally if the television is on it's the cooking channel. i just don't have time to get invested in a television series so i never bother watching them. i guess i'll have time now, at least until i'm taken off medical leave. i like walking through the park too, it helps clear my mind and people watching is always fun." he shrugged a little, "other than that i play basketball with Tetsu and Taiga, pose for Yuki's art when he asks and help the girls with whatever project they are currently on." he thought a bit more, "Does avoiding Anna's 'Get Daren a Girlfriend' group count as something? i'd count it personally, but i don't know if that's legitimate or not."

Daren put his hand on James' shoulder, smiling warmly, "of course you aren't dead, James. look, see how loved you are? not even a minute has gone by and all of these people are expressing their joy at your return." he glanced up to the friends request and saw that it too was in the double digits. "And it looks like there are a lot of people trying to befriend you as well. i'm willing to be the majority of them are from your work." he was glad at the results of James' simple post. "you aren't dead, James. you are loved, you are needed. all of these people are so happy to hear from you again. if you want we could have a little party here to celebrate and you can invite all of your friends. i don't mind and we could cook all the food and treats together. i bet Anna and Tarte would contribute as well."

"Of course you can. you can invite anyone you want, James. it's your party after all," was Daren's immediate reply. he didn't hesitate in the least, knowing that doing so would probably make James think too much again. "let's figure out a time and we'll start planning the details from there. sound good?"

Daren chuckled, "i wouldn't dare say no to her if she offered to help out with foodstuffs. how about you create a poll and ask if people would be able to attend a party? or maybe even we could figure out dates and they could vote on which one would be best for them. then we can see how many of everyone on your friends list could make it to each date. we could even have a couple if there are enough people on two different dates. that way you could see everyone, the ones from work and the ones from your personal life. sound good to you?" he wasn't going to let James think he could only invite one group of people or have to worry about which date if some he wanted to see were available on days that others weren't.