Carlos still isn’t entirely certain what he thinks of his cousin’s family.
Well. That isn’t completely accurate, and Carlos, as a scientist, always strives to be completely accurate, or at least scientifically accurate, which is similar to complete accuracy but allows for the ignoring of outliers. He does know what he thinks of Jonny’s family, as a whole. He likes them. Charlie reminds him very much of Janice at his age—sweet, outgoing, loving, looking at the world with trust and optimism while also being very painfully aware of the fact that many parts of the world, especially outside the boundaries of Night Vale, are not going to be kind to him—and he obviously adores Esteban. And Jonny is happy. It’s obvious that Martin and Tim are good for him, and he’s good for them, and they love one another very much, even if the shape of it is very different than the way Cecil and Carlos love each other. Carlos is inclined to like anyone who makes his cousin smile like that.
But if he’s being honest, he’s a little afraid of Tim.
There’s just…something about him that isn’t right, scientifically speaking. Even for Night Vale. The idea of him getting energy from making people tell him things isn’t the hard part, especially since Cecil always seems perkier on days when he’s been able to interview someone in person and that’s likely what the others actually mean when they say they have an energy; it’s the way he didn’t ask questions, just…ordered Carlos to talk, and Carlos did. It’s also the way he sometimes just comes out with facts or comments that shouldn’t be known by a newcomer, or the way he actually asked Cecil if he wanted to keep things secret from Carlos. (Cecil doesn’t do secret. It’s been a struggle to keep him from mentioning Esteban on the radio, even though they agreed that some things should be for just them, even though plenty of people in town have seen them with Esteban, but…still. If it’s said on the radio, everyone knows it, and you can’t even hate Cecil for saying it because once he says it, it just…has to be said. Sometimes people tell him not to say things on the radio, but they always say it at the end, which Carlos knows means they can’t help but let him say it.) And if he’s really being honest, his question about the “other radio station” was unnerving. Sometimes the radio broadcasts from…sometimes other radio broadcasts break in, even overtake the signal, but usually everyone hears when they do. Carlos has always assumed that if nobody in Night Vale hears it, it isn’t broadcasting.
But if Tim did hear it, if the show goes on daily and he just can’t tell…
Carlos shakes his head slightly and checks on dinner. It’s almost ready, which is a good thing, because any minute now—
Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
“Din-don! Papa!” Esteban sings out from down the hall.
Carlos can’t help but laugh as he straightens up. “Yes, I hear it, Esteban,” he calls back. To Jonny, who looks suddenly nervous, he adds, “Can you finish setting the table? Just come into the living room when you’re ready. I promise it’ll be okay.”
“All right,” Jonny says, not altogether sounding as though it is.
Carlos comes into the living room just as Cecil emerges from Esteban’s bedroom with their son, now in a change of clothes and (presumably) a clean diaper, propped on his hip. He gives Carlos a quick glance, then, without further comment, passes him Esteban and kisses the air next to his cheek before heading over to the door.
Carlos smiles. It’s nice to have a husband who just gets him like that.
Cecil throws the door open with a flourish. “Hi, guys!”
“Hey, Cecil!” Steve Carlsburg beams, a smile so wide it nearly splits his broad, open face in half—a thing that is incredibly plausible in Night Vale and has in fact happened, although not to Steve. He’s holding a platter wrapped in foil, which gives them a few moments, and his other arm is wrapped around the waist of his wife, Abby, who still goes by her maiden name of Palmer to make things easier on her daughter. Abby, as usual, looks slightly embarrassed and slightly resigned and slightly pleased to see her brother and brother-in-law. At the front of the group, of course, is Janice, who pops a wheelie in order to maneuver herself over the threshold, even though it isn’t necessary.
“Dandan!” Esteban squeals in delight and throws out his arms, nearly launching himself out of Carlos’ grip.
“Hey, squirt!” Janice grins, in a way that makes her look far more like her uncle than her mother, and reaches up. Carlos carefully transfers Esteban to her, and she settles him on her leg, wedged against the low arm of her chair. He throws his arms around her neck and plants a smacking kiss on her cheek; she nuzzles his temple rapidly, making him giggle uncontrollably. It’s a familiar and heartwarming routine.
Cecil gives his sister a quick hug, then relieves Steve of the platter, hands it to Carlos, and hugs his brother-in-law tightly enough that one can almost hear his ribs shifting around in his chest cavity. “It’s so wonderful to see you, Steve!”
Steve laughs, although it sounds a little strangled, and hugs him back. “Good to see you too, buddy,” he wheezes.
Over by the sofa, Martin hides his mouth behind his hand briefly. Tim raises one eyebrow and gives Carlos a knowing smirk; Carlos manages an embarrassed shrug and half smile before cutting his eyes away. He almost wishes Tim didn’t understand. Esteban looks over his shoulder and stretches one arm towards Charlie. “Chawee!” he demands, and Carlos’s heart leaps, because up until now, Esteban has only had five proper words in his vocabulary, not counting imitating sounds, and it seems fitting that his newest word is Charlie. It’s the first time he’s said it, too, at least as far as Carlos is aware.
Charlie glances up briefly at Tim, who nods encouragingly, then moves closer to Janice and gives her a tentative smile. “Um, hi.”
“Hi.” Janice’s smile, impossibly, amps up another notch.
Cecil finally lets go of Steve, incidentally swinging him into the house, and shuts the door behind him. Steve starts to turn towards Carlos, who—he can’t help it—tightens his grip on the platter ever so slightly, but before he can even open his mouth all the way, Tim steps forward with a grin of his own and a glint in his eye and holds out his hand. “You must be Steve Carlsburg. I’m Tim Stoker.”
“Good to meet you, Tim!” Steve says enthusiastically. He accepts Tim’s handshake. His own grin becomes slightly fixed, and he laughs a bit nervously and awkwardly. “Heh! That’s—quite some grip you’ve got there.”
“Just really pleased to meet you at last, Steve.” Tim’s teeth flash slightly as he gives—even Carlos can see it—another squeeze before letting go.
Steve, surreptitiously, rubs at his hand and offers Martin a weak smile. “So! Uh—which one of you is the cousin?”
“That would be me,” Jonny says from the doorway of the dining room. He comes fully into the room and, ever so subtly, positions himself next to but slightly behind Tim, in such a way that if Steve goes in for a hug, he can use Tim for protection. Carlos doesn’t blame him. He likes Steve, but sometimes he can be…well, a lot.
“Oh! Heh. Should have guessed. You two look so much alike!” Just like that, Steve’s usual good humor is restored. “I’m Steve Carlsburg. This is my wife Abby, and our daughter Janice.”
“Ah—Jonathan Sims.” Jonny gathers his sleeve into his hand in a familiar gesture—not familiar because Carlos has seen him do it recently or often, but familiar because Carlos himself often does it when he’s nervous.
Thankfully, Martin steps in, much like he did with Leann Hart the day before, smoothing things over and saving the situation. “I’m Martin Blackwood. This is our Charlie.”
“Charlie’s a cool name,” Janice says. “I thought about calling myself Charlie for a while.”
Charlie’s eyes light up at that. “Really?”
“Yeah. I thought Charlie Palmer had a good ring to it, but I think I’m always going to be a Janice.” Janice shrugs her free shoulder. “What’s your last name, Charlie?”
“Cane.”
There’s a beeping noise from the kitchen, and Carlos starts and turns. “Oh! That’ll be the oven. Dinner’s ready.”
“Oh, good,” Steve says. “Then we can eat before the scones get cold!”
Carlos keeps his smile in place, well aware that he can still be seen even if he doesn’t turn his head. “What would a family dinner be with cold scones?”
He doesn’t know what Janice whispers exactly, but both Esteban and Charlie start giggling uncontrollably, so he can guess.
Jonny has set the table exactly right, complete with the gravy boat shaped like a cow Cecil has had as long as he can remember. The only thing missing—which wasn’t missing before but is definitely missing now that Steve has brought his famous homemade scones—is the butter dish, but before Carlos can open his mouth to mention it, Tim has already slipped past him into the kitchen. Carlos sets the plate on the table and goes to get the roast out of the oven only to find Tim pulling the blue and white dish out of the refrigerator, along with a jar of strawberry jam.
“What’s the jam for?” Carlos asks as he presses the button to make the beeping stop.
Tim glances over his shoulder as he shuts the door to the fridge. “The scones. Is that all right?”
“Yes, that’s fine—I just never thought to put jam on them.”
“It’s the only way Charlie will eat them.” Tim pauses. “Maybe he and Esteban can just split one.”
Carlos slowly nods in agreement and opens the oven door. “Yes. I think that might be for the best.”
Janice always sits next to Esteban—he insists—but tonight Carlos is at least a little surprised to come in and find Charlie seated on Esteban’s other side. Cecil catches his eye and winks, so he knows it’s okay, but it’s still a bit of a surprise. And a pleasure. As much as Esteban loves Janice, he’s attached himself to Charlie even harder, and it’s what he deserves. It’s a shame they don’t live in Night Vale all the time, but…well, Carlos and Jonny did all right living on separate continents, so probably they’ll be all right too. Martin is sitting on the other side of Janice, next to Cecil; across from him is Steve, and Tim sits in between Steve and Abby. Jonny is down at the end of the table next to where Carlos will be sitting and across from Charlie. It’s an interesting arrangement, but Carlos admittedly isn’t terribly upset about it. Cecil usually puts himself between Steve and Carlos anyway, at least on Carlos’ bad days, and he’s glad for the chance to spend time with his cousin.
“So how long have you three known each other?” Steve asks as they begin passing the side dishes around the table. The roast needs to be sliced, but they’ve all learned by now that whoever is furthest away from Steve has to do it or he’ll try to take over, so tonight it falls to Carlos.
“Tim and I have known each other…what, five years, give or take?” Jonny hazards. “We met Martin about two years later.”
“I met Tim before I met you,” Martin corrects him. “He used to chat with me when he was looking for books.” To Steve, he adds, “I worked in the library back then.”
“You were a librarian?” Steve asks, obviously shocked.
Carlos is about to reassure Steve that librarians look very different outside of Night Vale, but Martin is already shaking his head. “Just a checkout clerk. And I was on the restoration team, so I did some bookbinding from time to time. But I was never a librarian by any means.”
“Where were you working in a library?” Janice asks, spooning a bit of corn pudding onto Esteban’s plate and handing the bowl over to Charlie.
“Same place we work now. The Magnus Institute of London.”
Jonny nods. “Tim and I were in Research. So was our friend Sasha. They came down to the Archives with me when I got appointed to replace the previous Archivist. Martin was a bonus.”
“You didn’t think so at the time,” Martin says, but he smiles as he says it. Jonny has the decency to look abashed.
“What sorts of things were you researching?” Abby asks, almost absently.
Tim answers promptly and crisply, like he’s reciting a press release. “The Magnus Institute, London, is an organization dedicated to academic research into the esoteric and the paranormal.”
“Oh, ghost research?” Steve brightens. “You should go to Pine Cliff while you’re here! It’s entirely populated by ghosts. There was a cataclysmic event a few years ago that—” He breaks off with a hearty laugh. “But Cecil already told you all about that, I bet!”
“Uncle Carlos and Uncle Cecil showed us the whole town this morning,” Charlie says. Carlos notices that he’s carefully nudged his food so that none of it touches, which is, of course, the only correct way to eat food, even if the people in his life rarely seem to acknowledge that. “They said we could go to Pine Cliff this week.”
“Wednesday,” Cecil clarifies. “For the ominous gathering of ravens.”
“Should be a good day for it,” Abby says. She accepts a slice of roast. “Sunny and cloudless.”
“Yeah, you all have some interesting cloud formations here,” Tim says in an offhand way.
Carlos pauses in the act of cutting Esteban’s meat into manageable bites and glances at Jonny, who looks equally confused. Martin frowns slightly. “What do you mean?”
Tim raises an eyebrow at Martin, obviously surprised. “You didn’t notice? The ones that look like dotted lines?”
“You can see the lines?” Steve looks like he might actually hug Tim for a second, but the memory of his handshake apparently stops him and he just beams. “This is so…cool! Nobody else ever seems to see them.”
Janice rolls her eyes. Abby’s expression is…less than thrilled. Carlos knows she would prefer Steve didn’t mention the dotted lines in the sky; none of the rest of them have ever seen them, although apparently Steve’s grandfather did too, but the point is that they’re technically forbidden knowledge, so it’s better if he doesn’t talk about them. Polite people, or people who don’t care about the danger, usually tune him out; others run away from him when he tries to explain.
Tim’s eyes glitter for just a second, and he studies Steve with interest. Carlos can’t explain why he finds himself holding his breath. The moment passes, though, and Tim shrugs, ever so slightly. “If we have time this week, you and I will have to have a talk about them. I’d love to hear more about it.”
“I can tell you now,” Steve offers eagerly.
Tim smiles, and Carlos swears he hears a very faint hiss of static. “Not at the dinner table.”
Steve’s mouth snaps shut like someone has forced his jaw together. Martin gives Tim a warning look, but doesn’t say anything.
The rest of the meal is actually pretty pleasant. Abby asks a few questions about their work, which Jon and Martin mostly answer, although Tim cuts in every once in a while; Steve mostly has questions about London, and the rest of Europe, which they also answer pretty thoroughly. Charlie interjects a few times, which usually leads to questions being directed to him about the sorts of things adults often ask children about—his schooling, his friends, what he wants to be when he grows up. Martin, in turn, politely asks about Steve and Abby’s work, and gets the same responses Carlos did seven years ago: a brief, almost apologetic comment from Abby about selling real estate and a detailed explanation of Steve’s duties at the Last Bank of Night Vale.
“What’s your school like, Janice?” Charlie asks when Steve pauses long enough to draw breath that it sounds like he might be done. Carlos knows he isn’t, but he also knows Charlie doesn’t know that, and he knows nobody is going to correct him, even if Steve does maybe look a little hurt.
“It’s pretty cool,” Janice says. “I make good enough grades to play sports, anyway.”
“What sports?”
“Mostly basketball. I’m a point guard on the Scorpions wheelchair basketball team,” Janice says proudly. “Steve’s our coach. We’re in our third straight undefeated season.”
“Game this Friday night against the Red Mesa Ant Carpenters,” Steve interjects. “Say, would you all like to come? If you’ll still be in town, of course. We would love to have you come support us.”
“Can we?” Charlie begs.
Martin smiles at him. “Of course. We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Esteban claps his hands. “Dandan ‘blit’rate!”
The grown-ups at the table laugh. Obliterate is the longest word in Esteban’s limited vocabulary, and he’s learned to chant it at games with the rest of them, sort of. Janice grins at him, then leans around him to look at Charlie. “How long are you going to be here?”
Charlie looks at Jonny, who shakes his head slightly. “Just a week. We fly out again on Saturday. Charlie has to be back to school on Monday.”
“It’s so cool that you get breaks in the middle of the term like that.” Janice takes a sip of milk. “We should totally have a ‘cousins’ day out’ on Thursday. You, me, and Bite Size here. Would that be cool? I can come get you first thing in the morning and we can have breakfast at the Moonlight All Night Diner, and then—”
“You do have school this week,” Abby reminds her.
“Thursday is Senior Skip Day,” Janice reminds her mother in turn. “All the underclassmen and kids who can’t skip get the day off so we don’t get in the way. I’ll even do all my homework Wednesday night after practice so I don’t have it looming over my head. Promise.”
Charlie clasps his hands together and looks hopefully at Tim. It’s as though he knows that Tim is the one he really needs to ask about this. “Can I? Please?”
“We’re okay with it,” Tim says. He doesn’t even look at Martin or Jonny, but Carlos can see that he truly is speaking for all of them. He knows them that well. Or, possibly, he’s reading their minds. Carlos would like to think he would ask before he did that, but maybe they have blanket consent for that kind of thing.
Cecil makes eye contact with Carlos, who nods, then turns to Janice. “All right. Just remember to have them back for dinner. I’ll bring home some pizzas from Big Rico’s, how’s that?”
Janice, Charlie, and Esteban all cheer. Esteban even holds out his chubby hands for high fives, which Janice and Charlie oblige him with.
Carlos notices that Esteban’s plate is clean and empty and smiles brightly. “Well! Now that that’s been settled…if everybody is finished with dinner, who wants dessert?”