“That works, yeah. And we hadn’t had dinner yet, I can bring something by if you’d like. Want to say….half an hour, to give you time to do a little prep before we arrive?” She was trying not to be overbearing, letting him have final say in the plans.
“Yeah, if you want to. I have some gluten-free mac and cheese here, and that’s enough to make her and me happy without burning the house down.” Carlos chuckled. “But you’re welcome to bring food over tonight if you want to. Half an hour sounds good… or whatever ‘half an hour’ means for me here in Night Vale. I’ll expect you soon.”
“I’ll whip something up while Angie finishes getting ready, then. See you in a bit~” Without further preamble, the Fae woman hung up her phone to give their daughter the time frame for the trip to Carlos’ apartment. The real question was what to bring over that wouldn’t necessarily need bread or gluten in it.
Still, a half an hour later as promised, the door in the apartment that connected to Mia’s pocket dimension swung open to allow both child and guardian to enter, a pot of sloppy joe-covered tater tots held in Mia’s hands.
“Knock knock~”
“Papa! Hi!”
Carlos came trotting in, wearing a simple pair of sweat pants and an old tshirt and no socks. At the sight of Angie his heart leapt – higher than usual – and he hurried forward, dropping down to his knees to pull her into his arms.
“Angie! It’s good to see you!”
He wasn’t sure why he was so excited – they’d been talking regularly on the phone and through email or face-time. But just seeing her… it made him ridiculously happy, for some reason.
Angie returned the hug enthusiastically, an excited giggle escaping her as she threw her arms around her Papa’s neck. “It’s good to see you too, Papa! Mama said that she was going to be joining us for dinner tonight? Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine, Angie,” Mia was heading for the kitchen as she spoke. “Your Papa and I just need to talk to you about something together before I leave you two to your visit, but it’s nothing bad. Right, Carlos?”
Hopefully, Carlos couldn’t help but think to himself. But Mia was here, he reminded himself. She wouldn’t let anything bad happen.
“That’s right, Angie,” Carlos said as he pulled back from the hug enough to look at her. “This visit’s going to be a little different, and it’s going to require you to be very responsible, okay? Can you be responsible for me?”
“I can be responsible,” she agreed, nodding as she looked up at him. “Do you need my help with something? Do I get to help you with a project?” Obviously, Angie’s idea of something requiring responsibility was a lot more mundane than the current situation.
“Well, yes,” Carlos said. He stood up and took her hand. “Come on in. Mia? Should we talk about this over dinner? Or should it wait until after? What do you think?”
The Perfect Scientist 