The phone rang three times before Maher picked it up, but it felt like an eternity to Ella, as she sat alone in a hotel room in Washington, D.C.

"Maher!" said Ella, not even bothering to greet him, "did you bring him with you?"

"Bring who?"

"Our little guy, you know, to your trip?"

Maher laughed. "Papple? No, baby, I did not bring the bright yellow and green stuffed toy to my investor meetings down in California. My employees would think I'm crazy!"

Ella contemplated the fact, which she supposed seemed reasonable. After all, that had been the same reason why she herself had not brought a stuffed toy with her on her work trip, which she regretted immensely. "Okay, well did you at least remember to let Papple know you'd be gone for a few days?"

"Oh, shoot. No, I didn't. But does it even matter? He doesn't technically need to eat or anything, right?"

"Well, no, but he'll be so lonely and confused. Can't you see him running from room to room yelling "You in Other Room?""

"Ella, he spent two years in a bag all by himself, I think he'll be fine for a few days."

"He insists he spent three . . .."

With an indignant sigh, Maher said, "He isn't very bright, you know. We've gone over this a million times. Who are you going to believe, the portfolio manager of a venture capital fund or Papple? I did actually go to college, you know?"

"Well, he was the one in the bag all that time," replied Ella, "and he is very, very adamant about it."

"Papple still thinks the people on the television are real," said Maher. "He thinks they're just in another room or something."

Ella giggled over the phone. "Can you believe he still calls the guest bedroom, Other Room? Did you know he used your phone to send me a bunch of texts the other day that consisted of, Ella you no here. You in Other Room? You no in Other Room. You hide in Room? HAHAHAHA – I find you. It was odd."

"Oh!" said Maher. "That explains it. He asked to borrow my phone last week and then spent the entire day running into Other Room, closing the door, and then running back to Couch Room asking me if I'd seen you. The Knicks game was on so I didn't really pay him much attention . . .."

"He is just the most adorable thing, Maher," said Ella, snuggling up in the big armchair in the hotel room, "he really makes me smile."

"Me, too."

"But what should we do? What were the chances that we'd both be traveling this week? I'm just worried sick about him."

Ella too was away for work--she was on a legal due diligence trip in Washington after having been the unlucky desk monkey chosen for the assignment, which involved sifting through dozens of boxes of contracts in a windowless conference room for days on end.

"Don't worry, baby," said Maher, trying to soothe her, "I'll try and call him on the landline. If not, when we get back we'll just tell him we were only gone for a few hours. It's not like he has any sense of time."

"Oh, Maher. That's so mean, though," Ella lamented, "but I guess you're right." Then after a pause she timidly added, "We should really get him his own cell phone so that he can communicate with us."

"Really?" asked Maher incredulously, "You want us to buy a stuffed toy a cell phone?

Ella blushed. "Okay, okay. No cell phone for the pineapple."

"Plus, you know what, I'll be back home before he knows it."

"I know, but I'm still so worried about the little guy."

"Hey babe," said Maher, "I have to run to a meeting with a potential investor now. I'll call you back later, okay? But don't worry, he'll be just fine. I'll try and reach him right after."

"Okay, baby," she replied. "Good luck with your meeting." After hanging up the phone, Ella unfurled from the armchair and grabbed her laptop bag and proceeded to head back down to the dedicated conference room for more due diligence work.

She knew she had to pay her dues, but law just wasn't as inspiring as she had thought it would be in her law school days, when everything seemed to be seen through rose colored glasses. The passion she had once had for the legal field felt like it was getting continually dimmer and dimmer and Ella often wondered if she had made the right choice.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she pressed the elevator button to the conference floor and pepped herself up for another sleepless night. After all, the quicker she finished, the sooner she would get to go back home to Papple and Maher.