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“We’ll take good care of your baby, don’t worry.”
The executive smiles over the Skype call; Elena smiles back but her stomach flutters from something more than nerves. All that hard work out of their hands. For the first time since Elena slipped Nate the Libertalia gold, the Malaysia job isn’t theirs.
“I’m really glad we have another dig to distract us,” Elena confesses to Nate at dinner, realizing he needs it too. More even; Sam is missing whether the camera is rolling or not.
Nate went years without bringing up Sam; it’s remarkable how easily Elena finds herself avoiding the topic as well. She hopes she isn’t misguided in trusting Chloe’s ability to get the other Drake back.
“No kidding. Was it like this with the old show?”
Elena takes a bite to avoid answering. Nate was there when she still had Uncharted, but he wasn’t there. And ten years ago, Nate wouldn’t have asked.
They’ve put everything into this. Their money. Their marriage.
Swallowing, “Worse. I just hope we have something to show for all the work.”
Nate grabs her hand across the table. “I think the show’s gonna do pretty great.”
Elena chuckles, “A few conversations with Liz and suddenly you’re an expert on TV metrics.”
Nate laughs, going back to his food. “I’m learning.”
All their hard work and love to make the show the best it can be and it’s out in the world, waiting to see how it will fare without them. Echoing the executive’s words, Elena murmurs, “It is almost like a baby.”
Nate’s eyes flick up from his plate but doesn’t say anything. The conversation moves away from the impending show release and onto this year’s treasures.
Elena grabs her laptop when they wrap the next day, waiting for Nate. There’s close to a hundred emails waiting in her inbox and she has the energy to deal with exactly none of them.
Sighing, she opens up Facebook; the first thing on her feed is a dozen pictures of Megan’s new baby. The flutter is back and somehow, stronger.
“Ready to go exploring for some food?” Nate asks from behind.
Elena startles and snaps her computer shut. “Yes. I’m starving.”
Whatever’s been growing in the back of her mind gets pushed back down. The longer they don’t hear back from Chloe, the more distracted they become. Elena can mostly hold it together, but Nate’s focus is elsewhere in front of the camera.
“Hey, let’s take fifteen, everyone,” Elena waves to the crew. Urging Nate, “Call Josh, please.”
He makes a face like he wants to argue, but nods. Of all the times to not be home to get him to his therapist… A call isn’t the same as in person, but it’s something.
Nate’s in the middle of a phone session the next day while Elena reviews the previous day’s footage. Nate’s good at feigning attention, but it’s painfully obvious to her he wasn’t all there as he pulled artifacts from the silt.
Her phone buzzes and Elena could swear her heart stops at the caller ID. “What have you heard, Chloe?”
Except it’s not Chloe’s voice on the other end. “I get Nathan screening her calls but, come on, he should be pissed at me, not her.”
“Shit. Sam.” Elena’s heart restarts. “Nate’s not ignoring her, honestly. He’s on another call, let me –” As if on cue, Nate walks in. Elena puts the phone out, “Sam.”
He snatches the phone out of her hand, practically collapsing on the nearby bed. Elena can hear Sam doing an awful lot of talking on the other end.
Nate remains silent. Finally, “Get on the next flight here.”
Sam says something else, Nate hangs up without another word.
Elena crawls onto the bed next to him. He pulls her close.
“Shit,” he breaths.
Elena runs a finger along his jaw. “All’s well that ends well though, right?”
He turns to face her a little better for a kiss to the forehead. After a moment, “Yeah, I think so.”
The stress of the past few weeks finally catches up to them and they fall asleep on top of the covers, still in their clothes.
Elena wakes up in the middle of the night with a headache. She stumbles to the bathroom and opens the cabinet, but the aspirin isn’t the first thing she finds; it’s the old pregnancy tests. She takes the box out and stares.
It’s been a year and they’re no closer than they were then, riding high on the adrenaline of Libertalia and Malaysia. Careless, maybe, but happier than they’d been in ages.
“Hey,” Nate’s voice says over her shoulder.
Elena spins around, “Hi.”
Nate’s gaze isn’t on her but on the box, still in hand; they both look at it like it’s one of his priceless relics. “I think we need to talk.”
“Yeah. One sec.” Swallowing a pill with a gulp of water, her heart shouldn’t be hammering so hard.
When Elena goes back to their room, Nate’s sitting up in bed, light on.
“Are we ready to start trying?” he asks.
Elena blinks.
“For a baby, I mean,” he clarifies.
With all that’s been going on, she didn’t see that coming at all. Just like last year. Elena sits back down beside him, still processing, “What brought that up?”
“Your face just now. And a couple other times recently.”
Elena laughs nervously, rubbing the back of her neck, all the signs converging on one. That Nate’s been watching her that closely, in spite of everything else, must speak to the same want in him as well.
“And honestly?” Nate continues in her silence, “It came up more in therapy than Sam today.”
Elena puts her hand on Nate’s arm. “That’s something.”
“Yeah.”
Elena scoots to nestle under Nate’s arm. The show’s underway; that’s no longer a distraction. They live on a boat, which isn’t great, but it’s manageable. But Elena still worries.
“I’m thirty-seven. You’re almost forty-one. This might not even work.”
“Then let’s not waste any more time.”
Elena can’t remember the last time they took their intimacy this soft and slow; reveling in the touch of skin on skin. It’s so tender, she feels tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.
“Shit, I don’t even have pregnancy hormones to blame this on.”
Nate laughs, not unkindly. “Not yet.”
The next day, Elena’s birth control reminder goes off; she ignores it. They’re doing this. They’re ready.
----------
Having spent nearly all his life in transit, Nate’s got a bit of a headache from house hunting, round two. He’s always landed where he’s landed; thinking too much about it makes him nervous.
“We really shouldn’t have sold the old house,” Elena sighs as they climb into the car. “Renting it out would have made this a lot easier. What were we thinking?”
Except the money from the sale helped supplement Avery’s gold and let their first dig be what they wanted it to be.
“To be fair, it wasn’t the dumbest thing we’ve ever done,” Nate grins. “I can think of a few other things that were dumber.”
Elena laughs.
The realtor gives them both a strong look when they walk into her office. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into ownership again? You’ve already lived in the area, you clearly like it.”
“Work has us travelling a lot, so it’s probably wiser not to get pinned down to one place,” Elena explains.
“What line of work is that?”
“Archeology,” Nate says reflexively.
“TV archeology,” Elena elaborates.
“That must be exciting,” Barbara says, more out of politeness. Nate should know better, but it’s still funny how this profession raises so many people’s eyebrows.
“It has its perks,” he chuckles.
One house has a kitchen that reminds Nate too strongly of his childhood – in all likelihood it hasn’t been updated since the late seventies. There’s little question where his wandering foot came from and it sends a chill down his spine.
To distract himself, Nate wanders upstairs while Elena and Barbara discuss the state of the foundation. He finds himself lingering in the doorway of a room flooded with sunlight.
“Hey,” Elena says, breaking the spell as she lightly touches his side.
“This wouldn’t be half bad for a nursery,” Nate murmurs to just her, but Barbara catches on like a bloodhound.
“Are you expecting? We need to look at places better suited for growing families,” she says with a determined look in her eyes that frightens Nate a bit.
Nate clears his throat as he watches Elena’s face go pink.
“No, not yet,” Elena finally manages. “But it’s why we’re looking to move off the boat.”
“I mean we’re pretty irresponsible, but we’re not that irresponsible,” Nate deadpans. Barbara isn’t amused, but Elena successfully chokes down a laugh.
Armed with new intel, Barbara shows them places Nate admits are a bit nicer.
As she goes on about the school district, they turn down a street that’s sleepy, but peaceful, something that’s been absent so much of Nate’s life. The place is smaller than their old house, but there’s a yard, bigger than Nate’s ever had. It’s not perfect, but it feels right.
Even settled, Nate will likely be chasing the restlessness the rest of his life, but as long as Elena and maybe their kid are there, it’ll all be okay.
After they sign the rental paperwork, Nate and Elena sit on the back porch. They really could be here a while.
“It’s not permanent,” Elena says, practically reading his mind.
“No, but I’m looking forward to staying.”
“Me too.” Nate leans over to kiss her, already home.
----------
After Sully, it only makes sense they call her parents next. Any resolve Elena built up wavers as the phone rings. Not telling Sully in person is one thing: he’s in and out of the country so often they have to catch him when they can.
The guilt of not telling her parents when they saw them days ago is another thing entirely. Elena lets out a nervous exhale; Nate grabs her hand and squeezes.
“Hello?’
“Hi dad, is mom around?”
“Yeah, she’s outside, I can go get her.”
“Actually I want to talk to both of you. I’ve got some news.” She can hear the phone being put down and dad walk away. “I totally just gave it away,” she scrunches her nose up at Nate.
“What, like it was going to be a secret so much longer?”
“Hey sweet pea, we’re both here,” dad’s voice returns.
Her heart’s hammering but Elena can’t stop smiling, “Nate and I wanted to tell you the big news: you’re going to be grandparents.”
Elena needs to pull her cellphone away from her ear for the noise on the other end. She and Nate burst out into giddy laughter. There’s be a lot of that the past week or so.
“My goodness, sweetie, congratulations!” mom says between sniffles. “How far along are you?”
“It’s still really soon, only about five or six weeks. I’m sorry we didn’t say anything when we saw you, but we wanted to be sure.”
All is easily forgiven and her parents demand Elena hand over the phone to Nate, held hostage by their well-wishes for far longer than he’s comfortable. He frowns as she stifles a giggle at his discomfort.
“Your father’s already bought plane tickets for July,” mom informs Elena when the phone’s passed back to her.
“I’ll let you know when you can start telling everyone else,” Elena says. It’s early and God forbid anything happen and bad news has to be passed around.
Getting in contact with Sam proves more difficult; Nate leaves a vague voicemail. He calls back in the middle of the night; Elena rigorously rubbing her eyes when Nate picks up.
“You’re gonna have to do a lot better at checking the time difference,” Nate warns as he hits speaker phone.
“Because you’re good at that either,” Sam says sarcastically.
“You could show a little deference to a pregnant lady,” Elena says teasingly. If Sam’s going to make this conversation a hassle for them, she can make it one for him right back.
There’s no need to tiptoe around the subject with Sam. Although her parents never prodded her about grandchildren, they expected to one day be grandparents; Sam never anticipated being an uncle.
There’s a beat for it to sink in. “Like on purpose?”
“Wooow,” Nate drags out, but Sam bounces back quickly.
“I mean congrats, you guys. You sure you wanna see Nathan as someone’s dad, Elena?”
Nate scoffs as Elena presses her cheek to his shoulder. “Yeah, he’s gonna do pretty great.”
Illuminated by the phone Nate stares at her a moment before acknowledging Sam. “What about you, jackass? Think you can clean up your act now that you’re gonna be someone’s uncle? Maybe finally kick the cigarettes?”
Scoffing, “Only if Elena asks, she’s way nicer than you.”
Elena laughs. This is really the weirdest time to be having this discussion. “I know you want to be around for your niece or nephew so maybe, just maybe, it’s time to quit smoking please.”
“Thank you, Elena, I’ll work on that. See how well manners work, Nathan?”
“We’re going back to sleep, Sam.”
They catch one final congratulations as Nate hangs up.
The news gets slightly out of their hands at that point, they soon discover. A message appears from Chloe in their group text.
[Chloe 1:05 PM] Congrats on the successful sex you two 👶
[Me 1:08 PM] Sam?
[Chloe 1:09 PM] Sam
Shit. They should’ve guessed Sam wouldn’t remain quiet.
[Me 1:09 PM] 🙄
[Me 1:10 PM] Thanks though! We’re only slightly terrified
“I can’t believe him,” Nate mumbles from the other side of the room. His contribution to the thread shows up a minute later.
[Nate 1:12 PM] Shouldve shoved a gag down his throat
Liz and Jane are in town for the weekend, looking for a New Orleans holiday experience. While Elena definitely considers Chloe a good friend, it would have been nice for her best friends to know first. At least they get to hear it in person and not secondhand.
They beat Elena and Nate to the bar.
“I put in your usual,” Liz informs Elena as they peel off their coats.
“I’m good with water,” Elena defects, waiting to be settled before dropping the good news.
“You’re pregnant,” Jane guesses immediately.
“So much for the surprise,” Elena scoffs in disbelief.
“Crap, you got that fast,” Nate blinks, marveling at Elena’s friends’ ability to suss out anything.
“Elena never passes up the chance to drink with us,” Liz points out. Passing Nate a drink and raising her glass to them, “Congratulations, both of you.”
“This is so exciting,” Jane says. “You two ready?”
Elena turns to Nate as they both break into identical grins. They’re scared shitless, but they’ve been working towards this for years. “Yeah, we are.”
----------
Nate almost expected Elena to suggest they hold off finding out if the baby is a boy or a girl, turns out she’s just as impatient as he is.
“Yes, I want them to tell us. This isn’t like cracking a coffin; it’s nice to know what’s in there without having to wait,” she says on their way to the OB/GYN.
Nate chuckles, “Okay, that’s officially the weirdest thing you’ve compared your pregnancy to.”
“Hmm. The first wild thing we did together,” Elena reminisces.
“And not the last,” Nate says as he pulls into a parking spot.
The readout on the sonogram is about as murky as any old map and doesn’t make a lick of sense to Nate, but the technician points to the vaguely baby-shaped blob, “You definitely have a girl.”
Nate’s braced to Elena as they stare at their daughter.
“Wow, a girl,” he murmurs as Elena brushes away tears. It was a coin toss they’d win either way, but just knowing their daughter’s on the way makes it sharply more real.
The sonogram printout doesn’t go on the fridge, Elena attaches it to the computer at the office.
Sully drops in on an unseasonably warm March day, fresh off a job. They all sit out on the deck well past dark.
“Can I just say how glad I am you two are having a girl?” Sully says after another sip of whiskey. “The world probably couldn’t take another Drake boy.”
“I’m a little offended you think our daughter won’t have Nate’s capacity for trouble,” Elena laughs.
“Or that a boy wouldn’t be as smart as Elena,” Nate points out.
“Well with a little bit of luck, she’ll be both,” Sully concedes. Raising his glass, “To this still unnamed Drake girl.”
“Fisher-Drake,” Elena quickly corrects him.
“You’re killing me darling.”
The baby inevitably becomes the center of discussion at therapy.
“They deliberately make those cribs impossible to put together, that’s freaking me out,” Nate jokes after Josh asks if he’s feeling overwhelmed. “As long as that’s the hardest part,” his jovial mood starts to fade away.
“What else are you worried about?”
It’s like his ghosts are in the room.
Nate shrugs, tapping the armrest idly. “I mean, you know, I don’t have the best examples to follow. Would rather swallow pills than be there; would rather be literally anywhere else than there. Actually, Sam and I were talking the other day it’s kind of a fluke we even exist.”
“But you are here. And you know what that uncertainty is like. Because you and Elena made this decision together, there’s already no chance your daughter will feel the same way.”
Nate sighs. He knows Josh is right, even if he feels down in the moment. “Maybe I’m being a little harsh about my mom. She deserved better than that.”
Sitting on the couch after dinner, Elena’s legs stretched across Nate’s lap, she flips through the baby name book her parents mailed them. She flips past the boys’ names they’ll never use. Though the pregnancy is going smoothly, they’ve decided: their daughter will be their only one.
Nate finds himself testing the names he skims past in history books. None of them quite fit right.
“What about Cassandra?” he breaks their comfortable silence.
“You want to name her after your mom?” Elena asks gently. It isn’t an accusation of ego, but a gentle reminder of what it could bring up for him.
Nate runs a hand through his hair in thought. “If she’s going to be the best parts of you, me, us, it stands to reason the best parts of Cassandra Morgan could be there too.”
Elena’s mouth quirks into a small, sad smile. “Cassandra. Cassandra,” she murmurs to herself, testing the name as she idly rubs her stomach. “She could go by Cassie, make it a little easier.”
Nate catches Elena’s hand, lacing his fingers in hers and resting them back on her stomach.
“I like that.”
“Me too.”
Nate wakes up in the middle of the night when Elena goes to the bathroom.
“I was thinking about my Aunt Anne,” Elena mumbles, curling back under the covers. “About how much I miss her too.”
“Yeah?” Nate says groggily. It’s unfair how Elena’s beloved aunt was taken away by cancer, unable to meet her great-niece.
“How about Cassandra Anne?” Elena murmurs.
Her name is their secret until Cassandra Anne Fisher-Drake is ready for the world.
----------
“Cut! Elena, you’re in the shot,” Angela points out.
Elena does little to suppress her groan of frustration. She was initially averse to the idea of being in front of the camera, but she’s gotten used to it. And when she and Nate decided to limit her screen time for this dig to appease the doctor’s orders, she’d been a little relieved. This is too much.
Elena steps back and watches Nate crack open the small box they found, but not before he shoots her a sympathetic look.
Ankles sore, it’s not too long before Elena needs to sit again and as soon as she’s comfortable, she needs to pee. Three more months of this.
“You’re killing mommy, just a little bit, you know that, Cassie?” she teases the bump as she walks out of the bathroom.
Nate hasn’t degrimed when he walks into the office.
“Want a back rub?” he offers.
“Please,” Elena adjusts herself in the chair. The frustration slowly slides away the deeper Nate massages, “Mhmm.”
“Glad my hard work’s appreciated,” Nate chuckles.
“You’re a real miracle worker.” Basking in the rare moment of peace, Elena thinks out loud. “Everyone’s right, aren’t they? We’re kind of crazy taking on this show and having Cassie at the same time.” Chuckling, “Not that I’m really complaining, but it’d be a little easier if Drake & Fisher Fortunes wasn’t doing as well as it is, maybe the network would, I don’t know, give us leniency in production.”
Nate's quiet, which is never a great sign. Elena cranes her neck around to see his brow furrowed in thought.
“Oh boy, what are you thinking?” Elena asks warily. Nate’s ideas have tempered over the years, but some of them can still be a little harebrained.
“That wounds me,” he feigns offense, but continues. “So what if we ask to postpone the next season? Take time off? What’ll they do, cancel us?”
“Uh, probably,” Elena raises her eyebrows. “We’re doing really well, but you can’t just up and leave that easily in this line of work. It’s not treasure hunting, Nate.”
He frowns but seems to take her point.
Elena continues, “And especially if we’re making them money, they definitely don’t want us to up and stop doing that on a regular basis just because we decided to have a baby. They can threaten to drop me but keep you on too.”
They’re in all of this together and the thought of an executive making a decision to divide them makes Elena nervous. Even if it was an executive who insisted they add her name to the title in the first place.
Nate chews on his lower lip, still thinking. “So we say we’re looking for bigger finds, bigger treasures. We’ve been good for our others, who’s gonna say we won’t deliver on these? We just need time to research and pinpoint them better. Oh and on top of that, maybe a year off to take care of our daughter,” he hurries at the end in mock presentation. “I want to give us the time, Cassie the time. I don’t really care what the network thinks at the end of the day.”
Elena purses her lips, despite the lifting feeling in her heart. “I can’t say I dislike the idea. Being nonstop the past three years has been a lot and Cassie will double that. I just don’t want us to lose what we’ve made here too.”
“We’ll figure a sell on it,” Nate shrugs. “Find something really good to promise them. Maybe not El Dorado good but worth at least a twelve-month break. It’ll be worth it, for all of us.”
Elena stands; Nate’s slumped enough to be at just about her height. She leans over and kisses his forehead. Dryly, “I mean we know where El Dorado is, why not give them that?”
“Elena Fisher, you might be downright evil,” Nate chuckles.
“Come on,” she lightly smacks his ass. “We’ve got to hit the books now if we want to take it easy once Cassie’s here.”
----------
Nate pulls out a coat as Elena blocks the air conditioner with her body.
“Being pregnant in July is the worst,” she whines, trying to fan herself off. “I mean it probably sucks any time of year but God. Don’t get me wrong, the boobs are great, but they’re so sweaty.”
Nate grins, “It’s not for much longer now. And not that you asked my opinion, but your boobs are great.”
Elena frowns and clicks the temperature even colder. Nate zips up his coat.
As Nate makes scrambled eggs one morning, he daydreams about coffee. Elena said he didn’t have to give it up just because she was, but the ever-present if usually dormant Catholic guilt reared its head.
“Oh shit,” Elena’s yelps.
Nate rushes into the living room; Elena doubled over.
“Everything alright?” It clearly isn’t.
“It’s happening. Now.”
“Let me call –”
“No time, now. We gotta go.”
Nate darts up the stairs, practically skipping every other step to snatch the bug-out bag as Elena dubbed it. She’s barely halfway to the car by the time he’s back.
“Squeeze my arm if you need to,” he offers.
Nate tries to ignore her fingernails, digging into his forearm as he speeds.
Either all those labor-prep classes are going out the window or this baby’s coming faster than everyone said she would, if Elena’s breathing is any indication.
“Should’ve asked your mom how fast you came,” Nate tries to distract Elena.
“This is all you and you know it,” Elena wheezes.
The car in front of them is moving too slow; Nate lays on the horn. The driver’s hand pops out the window to give them the middle finger just as Elena yells so loud; the car veers into the shoulder.
“Neat trick,” Nate jokes as they zoom ahead; Elena’s sweating so hard she’s past humor.
“Shit,” Nate mutters. “We’re almost there.”
The nurses that meet them at the hospital door are impressed by Elena’s progress. “Keeping your legs crossed must have been the only thing keeping the baby in.”
By some miracle, Elena doesn’t push Cassie out in the middle of the hallway, but the doctor’s only just stepped in when Cassie enters the world screaming as loud as her tiny lungs will allow.
Nate’s seen the marvels of the world, cities and treasures beyond words. Clichéd as it is, nothing compares to the doctor putting Cassie against Elena’s chest. Nothing’s more beautiful. There’s no need to sketch the scene: Nate will never forget it.
Elena’s wrecked from the exertion, but all the same, Nate marvels, “She’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
Elena snorts at his second comment, before attempting to wipe away her tears. Nate gives her a helping hand.
After a few moments, Elena murmurs, “Your turn.”
Talking to or touching Cassie in the abstract through Elena is nothing like her being placed into his hands. She’s tiny and fragile, to be handled more delicately than the rarest artifact.
Something inside Nate closes with Cassie in his arms. The wanting he’d spent his whole life chasing is gone, he feels it. In spite of everything, in spite of himself, this is who he’s supposed to be and he never wants to change it.
“God, we’re both a mess,” Elena laughs, a little congested from crying. It’s only then Nate realizes he’s crying too.
“Welcome to the world, Cassie. You better get used to your mom and dad being super embarrassing like this,” Nate says.
Cassie lets out a small sigh Nate takes as, “I already am.”
---------
Eyelids heavy, Elena’s sure every fall, cut, and punch she’s taken over the years are nothing to ache she feels now. Only the grenade shrapnel surpasses this but there’s no way in hell she’s comparing that to giving birth to her daughter.
The sky is almost dark when she opens her eyes and looks out the window. “How long was I out?”
Nate leans back to look at the clock. Maybe other mothers would tell their husbands to not tip the chair so much when holding their newborn, but Elena doesn’t have to worry on that score.
“You’ve only been out maybe forty minutes. Oh, and your parents called to say they were on their way to the airport.”
Elena stretches a little before making gimme hands at Nate. Never before has she felt his need to be possessive of something. Someone. “My turn.”
“You got to carry her around for nine months,” he protests but passes Cassie over.
“That’s not remotely the same and you know it,” Elena frowns, cradling Cassie.
Not that the past nine months didn’t feel real, but it’s like the end of a long journey, the reward finally in hand. Only Cassie will be the gift that keeps giving. Elena can’t wait to see the person Cassie will become, but she’s more than happy to keep the wriggling bundle close for now.
“How much time do we have left alone?”
“Dunno about Sully, but Sam should be –”
On cue, there’s a rap at the door, Sam peering in. “I’m not interrupting, am I?”
“Not at all,” Elena replies. There’s some hesitance, but Sam comes in and takes a good look at Cassie. Offering, “You want to hold her?”
Sam shakes his head but doesn’t stop staring, “She’s real cute, so good work there you guys. Not that looks are everything. Knowing our family, she’s probably real smart too.”
He’s rambling and a little panicked. Elena thinks it’s kind of sweet. She and Nate glance at each other, silently amused.
“Don’t you want to know her name?” Elena asks gently.
Sam looks at them both.
Nate leans forward in his seat, “Sam meet Cassandra. Cassandra Anne.”
Sam’s speechless, collapsing in the seat next to Nate.
“That’s… that’s a good one,” Sam says quietly, then sniffing loudly and making no secret of wiping away his tears.
Elena knows how important honoring his mom was to Nate; it’s of little surprise it hits Sam hard. Though she never met the woman, Elena can’t help but feel like she owes Cassandra Morgan a great deal.
“I really think you should hold her,” Elena insists to Sam.
He doesn’t protest this time, awkwardly but not ungently taking Cassie in hand. He tests her name out, “Cassandra.”
“Or Cassie,” Nate chimes in. “A little easier for every day.”
Elena reaches over for her phone on the bedside table to snap a picture. Someone ought to document all of this.
----------
It’s little secret that Nate and Elena thrive in chaos. Only they would be so stupid as to come back from a couple years of hiatus, do a major dig, relocate their show, and move within a few months of each other.
Plus, Cassie’s discovered the joy of climbing; Nate walked in to find her standing on top of a desk and nearly fainted.
“Can you say you’re surprised?” Elena asks wryly after Nate tells her.
“No, but I thought she’d wait a bit. You know, when she’s thirty.”
Elena laughs so hard she walks out of the room.
The good thing is Kauai is a quiet island. Sure, there’s some nosey neighbors, but Nate can paint the outside of the house to nothing more than the sound of waves lapping the shore. It’s not art, but it’s therapeutic in its way.
He stares out at the empty dock. The realtor kept going on about the previous owner’s boat. Maybe one day when there’s a bit more in the bank, when they’re sure of Cassie’s college fund, he’ll get a boat for him and Elena. Nate has no desire to move again, but there’s something comforting in a home that can lead to more adventure.
A car comes rolling down the driveway; Sully sticks his head out the window. “Hey kid!”
Nate waves with the paintbrush, “Good to see you Sully!” Gesturing to his paint splattered clothes, “Can’t give you the tour right this second, but Elena’s inside editing.”
Something’s off. Sully’s not getting out of the car. Nate squints, “Everything alright?”
Sully reaches for something in the backseat and when he steps out, in his arms is a puppy, tail wagging.
Any issues Nate had with being covered in paint vanishes as he runs up to give the dog some head scratches.
“Well isn’t this a good dog?” Nate coos as the dog tries to lick his hand; Nate gently deflects her.
“What am I, chopped liver?” Sully grouses good-naturedly.
“You’re a good dog too, Sully,” Nate laughs.
Sully chuckles. “I’m a few years overdue on my promise to get you one –”
“Wow, I kind of didn’t remember that.”
“Which is good, because she ain’t for you, she’s for Cassie.”
“Sully, you can’t give a two-year old a dog.”
“Okay, you go in and tell your daughter this puppy isn’t staying. I’m not gonna be the bad guy here.”
Not that Nate isn’t excited at the prospect of a dog, but they’re only just getting the house in order; their lives in order.
“Elena –”
“Relax, I already cleared this with her. We both know she gets final say around here.”
“Damn straight,” Nate lets out an exhale of relief. If Elena thinks they can manage a puppy on top of everything else, they definitely can.
Nate wipes off his hands and they walk up the porch. Opening the door, “Hey Cassie, Uncle Sully’s got a big surprise for you!”
A lifetime ago, Nate would have thrown away the whole picket fence and a yard existence.
Hell, he has, and with both hands. But now, with a puppy barking and Cassie’s toddler squeals, there’s just as much life and energy here as there is anywhere. Nate wouldn’t trade it for anything else.