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Guillermo was expecting Nandor to be up and about by the time he went into the vampire's room to clean. Nandor was a creature of habit, he liked routine and got cranky if that was disrupted- he'd been insufferable for a week just from Guillermo's switch from familiar to bodyguard, and that hadn't even made much of a difference as far as Guillermo himself could tell.
Anyway, the fact that the coffin lid was still shut was something of a concern. Nandor had been out of sorts lately, first with Meg and then Gail, and then his whole worldview (a view mostly consisting of elephants and one very large turtle) being shattered in Atlantic City. But he'd still been getting up every evening even if he'd spent most nights feeling sorry for himself. This was different. This was new.
Guillermo braced himself to open the coffin lid; he wasn't sure which he'd prefer, Nandor being even more miserable than usual, or another corpse and the knowledge that Nandor had gone back to Gail. Again. He lifted the lid gently and found-
-Nandor, eyes wide open and slightly pink, one hand clutching Guillermo's old iPod.
"Hey, good evening," said Guillermo. Nandor blinked, removing one white earbud.
"Oh, hello Guillermo… I didn't think you'd be coming to wake me any more…"
"It's seven-thirty. That's pretty late for you to sleep in at this time of year."
"I had…" Nandor waved a hand vaguely. "Things to think about."
"Uh-huh," said Guillermo. He could hear tinny noises coming from the loose earbud- as he picked it up, the noises resolved into music.
"I was in your arms
Thinking I belonged there
I figured it made sense
Building me a fence"
So that was it. Nandor had rummaged through his collection of junk and objects he'd 'borrowed' from his former familiar so he could listen to sad songs and wallow. Alright. Guillermo knew what to do.
"Okay buddy, time to get up. Maybe you could pause the ABBA for a little bit and go help Nadja with some Council stuff? You wouldn't want to leave her unsupervised, would you?"
Nandor simply sighed. "Guillermo, you don't understand," he said. "Nadja is never on her own, she has Laszlo. I on the other hand…" He turned mournful eyes on Guillermo. "I have nobody. No husband or wife of my own. No familiar now either. No friends outside this house. Maybe in your little human brain you don't realise how lonely it can be, watching everyone around you loving each other and being happy when you yourself are- hey!"
Guillermo snatched the iPod from Nandor's hand, quickly pressing the buttons before throwing it back into the coffin and slamming the lid shut. He leaned against it for a moment, breathing deeply, before walking away to finish the evening's chores.
Meanwhile, inside the coffin, the music started up again- only this time, it was playing a different tune.
"If you change your mind
I'm the first in line
Honey, I'm still free
Take a chance on me"
And very slowly, there in the dark, the ancient, rusty cogs of Nandor's brain began to turn.