If the Venturi boys were on their own for awhile (and George was capable of noticing... anything, ever)
What if the McDonald girls had to leave for a few days for Reasons, and the Venturis couldn’t come, also for Reasons, and it was just the Venturi boys and Marti in the house again? Or maybe the McDonalds took Marti with them to make it into a kind of girl’s weekend and it’s just the boys by themselves.
The first day is great. Junk food for every meal, feet on the furniture, nothing but sports and violent action movies on the tv.
The second day is... less great. George missed Nora all last night, which is to be expected, but then the boys are a little subdued too and that’s... a little weird, actually. They’re going through the motions of testosterone fueled anarchy, but their hearts just don’t seem to be in it.
The third day is when it becomes evident that Something Is Off, because George feels restless and unmoored and a little bit mopey, and the boys are acting... restless and unmoored and a little bit mopey. And that’s weird, because, while George misses his daughter and his step daughters too, he mostly misses his wife. His life partner. The person he talks to about everything and spends the vast majority of his free time with.
And then he thinks about the way Lizzie is always nagging Edwin to eat healthier, and how she’s the first person Edwin goes to with all his weird little schemes, and how the two are all but joined at the hip despite not actually sharing any of the same hobbies.
And he thinks about how Derek and Casey are always touching, and how they planned each other’s sixteenth birthday parties, and how, despite claiming to hate each other, they always choose to sit right next to each other. He thinks about how they always seem to end up on the same side, and how they sometimes have entire conversations just through facial expressions, and how they’re able to talk each other into the most ridiculous things.