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EARLY MORNING FINALLY SEEPED into the crowded living room of Lyle's apartment, where the team were lounged around in an amusing display of exhaustion.
It had been barely twenty minutes since Stuart walked into the front door with Bree in tow, a McDonald's bag carefully tucked under his arm, but Billy, Nick and Neha were already knocked out cold. Neha had disappeared into the spare bedroom down the hallway without another word, and Billy and Nick were already occupying the remaining couches, their limbs contorted together with how little space they had. Nevertheless, their snores sifted through the silence of the apartment in an obnoxious harmony.
Stuart had already caught Bree up with their progress during the taxi ride over, so when she sat down on the carpet and skimmed through his open laptop on the coffee table, she could already tell that they were halfway done. She could code the rest with Lyle and Yo-Yo within the next two to three hours, and they would be good to go.
She hated to admit it, but Stuart was right about her needing that nap. It was barely two hours long, but she was more recharged than she had ever been since she arrived at Google. Her overall productive demeanor was pushed up a notch too, her mind already whirring with everything she needed to get done before the sun was fully out.
Bree must have been more distracted than she realized because she didn't hear Stuart approach her until he was right behind her. Without uttering a single word, he reached around her and dropped a blanket around her shoulders, briefly making her startle before she glanced up and realized it was just him.
Visibly relaxing, Bree offered him a nod as she shrugged it on properly. "Thanks."
Stuart simply let out a low hum in return before making a quick turn around the room to throw another on to the two sleeping across from her. Neither of them moved when he pulled the blankets around them, not even when he childishly slapped Nick by the shoulder when the older almost rolled over him.
When he finally straightened himself up, Stuart bit back a yawn. As if reading his mind, Bree stole a quick look at the clock display on the bottom right of the laptop screen. 6:54 AM.
"You should probably get some sleep," she said, her eyes flickering back to him almost accusingly. "You can leave the rest to us."
Based on the group conversation ten minutes before, Yo-Yo was already awake and making his way to Lyle's apartment. The owner, on the other hand, was still in his room, fast asleep. Neha had told Bree to give him another ten minutes before waking him up since he had the roughest night out of all of them.
