Franz had packed and unpacked the same suitcase twice before settling on what actually needed to go, a ritual that had less to do with clothes than with delaying the moment he zipped it shut for good. Two weeks. He’d said the number to himself so many times over the past few days that it had started to sound made up, a distance too large to actually measure against a house full of people who needed him at breakfast.
He hadn’t left for this long since the day they’d found out Arianne was pregnant with Lexx, the day he’d stepped back from acting without a second thought about it. Not for a location scout, not for a single meeting, nothing that pulled him out of the house overnight more than once or twice since. This was different. Two weeks of script readings and pre-production and a director who wanted him physically present for decisions Franz used to make from behind a phone, and no version of packing a suitcase made that easier to accept.
Lily found him in the bedroom, still in her pajamas, hair uncombed, holding one of Lexx’s socks that had gone missing sometime yesterday.
"Is this the last one?" She held it out like evidence. "Leo found it under the couch."
"That’s the one. Thank you." Franz took it from her and set it on the dresser instead of the suitcase, since it belonged to someone who wasn’t going anywhere. "You’re up early."
"I wanted to say bye before you left for the airport." Lily climbed onto the bed, watching him fold a shirt with more attention than folding usually required. "Two weeks is a long time."
"It is." He didn’t try to make it sound shorter than it was. "But I’ll call every night, and I’ll be home before your play. I already told your Mommy Aria that, and I’m telling you too, so you have two people holding me to it."
"I’m still going to miss you."
"I’m going to miss all four of you a lot more than you’ll miss me." Franz sat down on the edge of the bed beside her. "Which is exactly why I’ve been folding the same shirt for the last five minutes instead of finishing this properly."
Lily thought it over, arms crossed, weighing whether to accept the apology before she’d even been offered one. "Leo said you’d probably cry at the airport."
"Leo’s guessing."
"Are you though?"
"I’m not answering that on the record." Franz zipped the shirt into the suitcase before she could press further, and stood to check the hallway. "Where is your brother, anyway?"
"Guarding Lexx’s crib. He said someone has to make sure Lexx doesn’t forget what you look like while you’re gone."
Franz found both of them exactly where Lily said, Leo standing sentry beside the crib with his arms crossed, Lexx wide awake and gumming on the crib rail, entirely unaware of the security detail assigned to him.
"Report," Franz said, keeping his voice serious enough that Leo answered in kind.
"He’s fine. He had breakfast. He looked at your picture on the dresser twice." Leo delivered this like testimony. "I think he knows something’s happening."
"He’s seven months old. He mostly knows breakfast is happening." Franz crouched by the crib anyway, resting a hand against Lexx’s back, feeling the small rise and fall of him settle under his palm. "I’ll be back before you know it. Both of you keep an eye on him for me."
"We always do," Leo said, like the instruction was beneath him.
Franz found Arianne downstairs a while later, standing by the front door with his coat already in her hands, the car idling in the driveway with more patience than either of them currently had.
"You’ve got the flight information memorized," he said, taking the coat from her but not putting it on yet.
"I’ve got everything memorized. The flight, the hotel, the number for the production office if I can’t reach your phone." Arianne looked up at him, something behind her composure working to stay in place. "You have everything you need?"
"I have everything except two more weeks of mornings like this one." Franz set the coat down again and pulled her in instead, both arms around her, her forehead settling against his collar the way it did every time either of them needed a minute before letting go of the other. "I don’t want to leave."
"I know." Her voice came out steadier than his had. "But you’re coming back, and the twins have a countdown taped to the refrigerator already, so you don’t get to be late."
"I wouldn’t dare." He pulled back enough to look at her properly. "Call me the second Lexx does anything worth reporting. Rolling over, a new tooth, anything."
"I’ll send you a full itemized account every night whether he does anything or not." She smoothed the collar of his shirt, a gesture more about keeping her hands busy than the collar needing it. "Go, before you miss the flight and the director decides he doesn’t need you there after all."
Franz kissed her once, unhurried despite the car waiting outside, and pressed his forehead briefly to hers before he finally let go. "Two weeks."
"Two weeks," she echoed. "We’ll be counting every one of them down with you."
He carried that all the way to the car, the weight of the house behind him settling somewhere in his chest that hadn’t fully settled since he’d zipped the suitcase shut. From the window, Lily waved with both arms, Leo gave him a single, solemn nod like a soldier accepting orders, and Arianne stood between them with Lexx balanced on her hip, lifting his small fist in a wave he hadn’t learned to mean yet.
Franz waved back until the driveway disappeared behind the hedge, and spent most of the ride to the airport wishing two weeks were a shorter number than it actually was.
At the terminal, he texted Arianne before he’d even cleared security, a single line: already counting the days down, tell the twins I said so again in case Lily didn’t believe me the first time. Her reply came back before he’d found his gate. She believes you. Go charm a director. We’ll be here.
He read it twice, tucked the phone away, and boarded the flight carrying two weeks folded up small enough to fit in his pocket alongside everything else he hadn’t wanted to leave behind.